RonBlog

Sunday 3rd April, 2010 Fourth Sunday in Lent
Mothering Sunday

Sentence
Jesus said, “I am the Light of the world: those who follow Me will have the light of life.” John 8: 12

Collect
Almighty God, in Christ You make all things new; transform the poverty of our nature by the riches of Your grace, and in the renewal of our lives make known Your heavenly glory, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

Old Testament Lesson 1 Samuel 16: 1 – 13

The LORD said to Samuel, "How long will you grieve over Saul? I have rejected him from being king over Israel. Fill your horn with oil and set out; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons." Samuel said, "How can I go? If Saul hears of it, he will kill me." And the LORD said, "Take a heifer with you, and say, 'I have come to sacrifice to the LORD.' Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do; and you shall anoint for me the one whom I name to you."
Samuel did what the LORD commanded, and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet him trembling, and said, "Do you come peaceably?" He said, "Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the LORD; sanctify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice." And he sanctified Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice. When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, "Surely the Lord's anointed is now before the LORD."
But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the LORD does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart."
Then Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. He said, "Neither has the LORD chosen this one." Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, "Neither has the LORD chosen this one." Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel, and Samuel said to Jesse, "The LORD has not chosen any of these."
Samuel said to Jesse, "Are all your sons here?" And he said, "There remains yet the youngest, but he is keeping the sheep." And Samuel said to Jesse, "Send and bring him; for we will not sit down until he comes here."
He sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and had beautiful eyes, and was handsome. The LORD said, "Rise and anoint him; for this is the one." Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the presence of his brothers; and the spirit of the LORD came mightily upon David from that day forward. Samuel then set out and went to Ramah.

Psalm 23

The Lord is my shepherd: therefore can I lack nothing.
He will make me lie down in green pastures: and lead me beside still waters.
He will refresh my soul: and guide me in right pathways for His Name’s sake.
Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for You are with me, Your rod and Your staff comfort me.
You spread a table before me in the face of those who trouble me: You have anointed my head with oil and my cup shall be full.
Surely Your goodness and loving-kindness will follow me all the days of my life: and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

Epistle Ephesians 5: 8 – 14

Once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Live as children of light--for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true. Try to find out what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what such people do secretly; but everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for everything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, "Sleeper, awake! Rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you."

GOSPEL John 9: 1 – 41

As Jesus walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God's works might be revealed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world."
When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man's eyes, saying to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see. The neighbours and those who had seen him before as a beggar began to ask, "Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?" Some were saying, "It is he." Others were saying, "No, but it is someone like him." He kept saying, "I am the man." But they kept asking him, "Then how were your eyes opened?"He answered, "The man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and said to me, 'Go to Siloam and wash.' Then I went and washed and received my sight."
They said to him, "Where is he?" He said, "I do not know." They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. Then the Pharisees also began to ask him how he had received his sight. He said to them, "He put mud on my eyes. Then I washed, and now I see." Some of the Pharisees said, "This man is not from God, for he does not observe the Sabbath." But others said, "How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?" And they were divided.
So they said again to the blind man, "What do you say about him? It was your eyes he opened." He said, "He is a prophet." The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight and asked them, "Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?" His parents answered, "We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; but we do not know how it is that now he sees, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself." His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus to be the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. Therefore his parents said, "He is of age; ask him."
So for the second time they called the man who had been blind, and they said to him, "Give glory to God! We know that this man is a sinner." He answered, "I do not know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see." They said to him, "What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?" He answered them, "I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?" Then they reviled him, saying, "You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses.
We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from." The man answered, "Here is an astonishing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but he does listen to one who worships him and obeys his will. Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing."
They answered him, "You were born entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us?" And they drove him out. Jesus heard that they had driven him out, and when he found him, he said, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" He answered, "And who is he, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him." Jesus said to him, "You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he." He said, "Lord, I believe." And he worshipped him.
Jesus said, "I came into this world for judgment so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind." Some of the Pharisees near him heard this and said to him, "Surely we are not blind, are we?" Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, 'We see,' your sin remains.

© New Revised Standard Version of the Bible
Copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the
Churches of Christ in the USA, and used by permission. All rights reserved
NOTES ON THE READINGS …….

As I often say to congregations, make sure that you read the fine print in the Readings – so often we miss important bits because we have become used to running past such items .....

Old Testament
This is an interesting cameo, of the Lord ‘having decided’ that Saul had lost his eligibility – even his sanity. It was a double-edged sword perhaps. Israel wanted a king no matter what, and this man started off well, but degenerated, as sadly, leaders can do when they get carried away with their own importance.
The command from God put Samuel in a tight spot, where he could have been charged with treason; and it is interesting to note that the sons of Jesse got to the end of the line before David was selected. This time it was a ‘little person’ who was nominated, and although David showed some rather dark sides to his character, he did basically remain rather more humble than Saul.
Seems to me that the moral in this story, as in many other Biblical ones, is that God works through little people, not Big Egos. Tis a pity that sports people do not take some notice of the very human trait.
Psalm
As I have said for years now, if you cannot draw some inspiration from such a well-known psalm, then it is about time you could!

Epistle
With the theme of light so obviously set in front of us, this is an interesting passage to have as epistle for today. This light/dark contrast is common in NT writings – and, like the Psalm, needs little expansion, eh!

GOSPEL
John’s Gospel, with his seven signs, is always a source of stunning episodes that present comment on far more than appears on the surface. Here is such a complex plot, answering such a common question from people even to this day, or the refusal of people to respond to what is obviously true, and the determination of ‘little people’ (pardon me) to follow the truth wherever it leads – and never to be gainsaid. Light and darkness are the aspects of life so important; truth and falsehood – and how often have you been there, either as victim or perhaps even perpetrator?

The tale opens with the blind man being a sort of specimen for debate: why are people born blind? And the traditional answer came from the Twelve themselves. Sin, obviously, they said, following the well-known but ill-informed theory of the day. And that theory Jesus refuted, Job of course having come to the same conclusion many centuries before. The blind man needed healing, not discussion or contempt.

Notice the compassionate approach of Jesus to this man! It may sound strange to you, but what Jesus did and the noises He made, would have indicated quite clearly to the blind person that healing was in the wind. Saliva was regarded as a healing instrument then – and now for many. When was the last time you licked a small would? And ‘Go, wash in the Pool of Siloam.’ Even down to the last thing, Jesus called for a real response from the man, even if it would be difficult for him to find the way. He had to make some contribution to his own healing. Good thinking, Jesus! And he went, and washed and was healed. And that is where the real controversy began.

Locals were very surprised, to see the blind man now sighted. And who wouldn’t be! But they had to take sides as the religious authorities started to make a federal case out of it. How stupid of them! Why not simply rejoice in the wonderful thing that had happened. But they saw all this as threat to their authority. What balderdash! So the arguments began, forcing people into one camp or the other, many of them fearful of being ejected from Temple and synagogue. And what a blasphemous action that would have been. Even the man’s parents were forced into being disingenuous about it all.

So the incident of healing turned into a huge debate and argument about who was following the truth and who falsehood. And that is ever a common and evident challenge. Not only in religious matters, but in all others as well. Trace the persistence of the healed man and the insistence of the religious leaders, who refused any vestige of the truth because it weakened their position. What sheer and utter stupidity and evil.

The punch-line at the end is so utterly telling. If you were blind you would have no sin; but now that you say ‘We see’ your sin remains. Here is a challenge to us all to retain the search for and obedience to truth wherever we find it, regardless of where it leads.

NOTES FOR A SERMON

I recall a situation donkey’s years ago, when a young relative of mine was causing great stress to her mother, because – as a uni student of the time – she was campaigning against the Vietnam War. Her deeply devout mother was horrified to think that her daughter was perhaps even Communist, and perhaps she was at that stage in her development. The daughter was profoundly convinced at the truth of her stand about Vietnam, and was actually shocked at the extent of ‘rent-a-crowd’ people that were in the demos just for the kicks.

Her Mum asked me to talk to her daughter and convince her of the falsity of her beliefs. I refused to do that, but was quite happy to raise a discussion on the matters, if the daughter was happy to. She was, of course, and brought all her passion on the subject to bear, as we talked about it. It may have helped a little as I had no fight with her about the Vietnam War, but she was convinced that the Faith instilled in her by her (rather dominant) Mum was not big enough to respond to the situation.

And in that regard, I too had to agree with her. Her Mum’s faith was – honestly – at little more than Sunday School level, and in another matter, she refused to move from where she had been taught as a young teenager many decades before that. So daughter was closer to the realities than her Mum. In fact, as we continued the discussion, I simply suggested to daughter that all she needed to do was to respond as honestly as she could to the truth as she understood it. It may be a long trip home, so to speak, but it was the only valid path to travel. Daughter agreed with that!
Truth and honesty. Light and darkness. In our particular day and age it seems to me that the most common experience of people is in encountering all manner of shades of gray, which makes real choices more difficult. Sometimes the only course open is a matter of choosing the lesser of two evils.

A couple of helpful thoughts may open some doors for us: it is often some relief to note that our choices may well need to fit in a process of change and development. As time goes by my grasp of the truth of important issues may well vary somewhat; and my sense of values may need some adjustment as well. Sticking with settled and decided factors may well prove a false way to go. On the other hand, there may well be some development likely in the path and choice of whoever is opposing you. Politics is always the art of choosing the possible – and even waiting for a better option to arise.

But the real role for the Christian, like that of the healed blind person, is to follow wherever the truth lies, regardless of the opposition, and while that may be a costly path for the individual, it may well provide better outcomes in the future. There is no room in this struggle for fear tactics or false tactics. Both need to be uncovered to show what they really are.