Which Way Are You
Heading?
1. Good Morning. Let’s Pray – O Lord, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing to You O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
2. Opening Comments: This is the Fourth Sunday of Lent and we continue our “interior” journey into a deeper and more profound relationship with our Lord.
This morning’s reflection begins with this fundamental question: Which Way Are You Heading?
This morning’s reflection is really the story of two journeys – one which is heading towards the Light and the other which is inevitably heading towards the dark . . . and so the question being begged here is “Which way are you yourself heading? Are you heading towards the Light or the dark.” Christians can lose their way and find themselves heading back towards the dark. I say it again – which way are you yourself heading?
When we were baptized we turned away from and renounced the dark and turned towards the Light and so this morning can be for many of us a renewing of our baptismal orientation towards the Light!
Would you like to do that? I’m
convinced that our Lord is going to give us all that opportunity today – the opportunity to renew our commitment
to our Lord.
We’re going to be focusing on the Gospel reading from the 9th
chapter of St. John but before we do
that let’s quickly review what the other readings are saying to us along the
line of drawing us towards the Light shall we?
3. Scriptural Review: Our Old Testament reading from First Samuel (1Sam 16:1,6-7,10-13) is about God using the prophet Samuel to select
David as the new king of
What does this tell us? God’s choice is not always that obvious! But what I found most interesting is the way God led Samuel to choose David – He didn’t tell him David’s name which would have been rather simple but instead He led him through a process to identify David. As soon as Samuel’s eyes finally fell on David he knew that this was the one.
God led Samuel beyond his initial enthusiasm to an inner knowing that “this was the one.” It’s that inner light that reveals God’s will – it’s certainly not always what is most visible and most likely to be the one!
God wants to teach you and me how to choose what He
wants us to choose – it’s by that inner light.
It requires a waiting
for God’s illumination.
It can be missed by an all too immature choosing. God is saying – wait, watch, I will reveal my will to you in good time and you will know beyond the shadow of doubt what it is at the right time. And if you choose wrongly I will call you onwards to the right choice if you’re listening for me. I will be a Good Shepherd to you! But follow my leading.
Ah! This brings us to the 23rd Psalm – the Psalm of the Good Shepherd – “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want . . . “ We all know it don’t we. And again God is saying to us in the desert-like nature of this Lenten Season “I will guide you beside still waters and verdant pastures – I will give you rest for your souls!”
Again we hear this call of the Shepherd for us to follow His leading for truly He will lead us aright! He can be trusted. Let us, like good sheep, be willing to wait for His leading!
And now let’s turn to our Epistle reading (Eph 5:8-14). The key verse in these verses is “Try to learn what is pleasing to the Lord.” Paul is encouraging us to “lean in” and learn how to hear the voice of our Good Shepherd – how to know His heart! - and the way to do this is to “stay awake and to stay in the light.”
4.
Focusing
in on the Gospel Reading (Jn 9:1-41).
Now we’re ready to focus in on our Gospel reading from the Book of John chapter 9. What does God want to teach us about following His leading?
Before we begin I need to let you know that what we’re going to be reflecting upon are two journeys – the journey of the Blind man into spiritual and physical sightedness but concurrently we’re going to witness the journey of the Jewish officials into spiritual blindness!
The question that this event is asking of us is “Which journey are you on – are you heading towards the Light under the guidance of our Good Shepherd or are you heading towards darkness and death? Let me say it again – Christians can lose sight of the Good Shepherd and can be lead towards the darkness! Which way are you ultimately heading?
Let’s go right to it now shall we? Please turn with me in your Bibles to the Gospel of John chapter 9 beginning at verse 1:
John 9:1 As Jesus went along, he saw a man
blind from birth. 2 His disciples
asked him, “Rabbi,
who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” The disciples
were making the assumption that any handicap like was caused by sin in the
person or his parents but listen to what Jesus said, 3 “Neither this man
nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus,
“but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his
life.
O I love that verse – “but this has happened so that the ‘work of God’ might be revealed in his life.” This happened so that God and His action – His movement, His Presence - in His world, could be revealed to those watching and those of us reading about it 2,000 years later!
Now think about that – this blind man was being used by God to reveal Himself through the man’s handicap. The man had the choice to go down the path of playing the “victim” – or even of becoming bitter and certainly angry at God. But rather He chose to be healed!
Let’s read on: Now
skip forward to verse 5:
5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 6 Having said this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. 7 “Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means Sent). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.
Now that’s a pretty stark description of what was “the” most staggering event in the life of this poor man – blind from birth and now he could see because of the action of God incarnate – Jesus Christ!
Jesus said, “Go! Wash in the Pool of Siloam.” Very simple – no theatrics – no drama - a simple statement – and . . . . and a miraculous result!
Now how are the key players going to react to this
wonderful miracle – watch
now as the paths diverse – some turn to the Light while others inexorably turn towards the
darkness! Which way are you heading –
towards the light or have you given up and are heading towards the
darkness. As Robert Bork so aptly puts
it – Are you “slouching towards
Now skip forward to verse 13 The townspeople
who had questioned the man who had been blind brought him to the
Pharisees. 14 Now the day on
which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man’s eyes was a Sabbath. 15 Therefore the Pharisees also asked
him how he had received his sight. “He
put mud on my eyes,” the man replied, “and I washed, and now I see.” 16 Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not
from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.” Ah!
Can you see the paths diverging now – the blind man is simply witnessing
to the miracle but those who are listening are looking for error – looking for
a way to denounce Jesus! When they heard
that Jesus had actually “done something” on a holy day of rest they had Him –
He had broken the Sabbath law!!!! But
listen to some onlookers reaction to this trap:
But others asked, “How can a sinner
do such miraculous signs?” So they were divided. Ah! The fruit of heaven is compelling. Can you see now how their paths are
dividing!
Let’s read
on: 17
Finally they turned again to the blind man, “What have you to say about him? It
was your eyes he opened.” The man replied, “He is a prophet.” 18 The
Jewish authorities still didn’t believe that he had been blind and had received
his sight until they sent for the man’s parents. Can
you see what’s happening – they don’t want to believe so finally they send for
his parents – look at verse 19:
19 “Is this your son?”
they asked. “Is this the one you say was
born blind? How is it that now he can see?” 20 “We know he is our son,” the parents
answered, “and we know he was born
blind. 21 But
how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself.” 22 His parents said this because they
were afraid of the Jewish authorities, for already the Jews had decided that
anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Christ would be put out of the
synagogue. 23 That was why his
parents said, “He
is of age; ask him.” Do you think the
Jewish authorities are convinced yet?
Look now at verse 24:
24 A second time they summoned the man who had been
blind. “Give glory to God,” they
said. “We know this man is a sinner.” Can you discern some intimidation surfacing
here – “After all this Jesus is a sinner but you’re not – come now give glory
to God and . . . (hint, hint – denounce him . . . )
But how did the
man reply: Verse 25 “Whether he’s a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I
do know. I was blind but now I see!” Wow!
What a reply! Not arrogance but
bold – the sort of response that someone would give were he without fear. This miracle had turned the man into a tiger
– here he was taking on the Jewish officials and not succumbing to their
persuasive intimidations.
Let’s see what
happens next: Verse 26 Then they asked
him, “What did
he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” 27 He answered, “I have told you
already and you didn’t listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to
become his disciples, too?” Oh boy – this man’s really asking for it – he’s actually
getting a bit sarcastic isn’t he? So how
did the Jewish officials react to this – verse 28:
28 Then they hurled insults at him and said, “You
are this fellow’s disciple! We
are disciples of Moses! 29 We
know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don’t even know where
he comes from.” Can you see how far
these people have diverged from the obvious truth – they can’t see it – they’re
blind! They can’t see who Jesus is. But listen to the man’s response to their
denial – verse 30:
30 The man answered, “Now that’s remarkable! You don’t know
where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes.
31 We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the
godly man who does his will. 32
Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he
could do nothing.” Wow! This guy is a wonderful advocate isn’t
he? He’s been chosen well by Almighty
God. You see the Jewish authorities
aren’t looking at the evidence! He’s
arguing that only someone from God could do such things! So how did they reply?
34 To this they replied, “You were steeped in sin at birth; how
dare you lecture us!” And they threw him out. Ah!
They final attack – After all his blindness betrays the fact that he was
a sinner from birth – how then could anybody possibly believe Him!
Do you understand how blind they are? This is what we’re facing as we begin to
actually witness to the reality of Jesus and His miracles in our lives and in
the lives of others! There are many
people out there who simply won’t believe no matter how compelling the evidence
actually is!
(Possibly give
the gold teeth
example here.)
Now what happens next is critically important. Look with me at verse 35: Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” 36 “Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.” 37 Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.” 38 Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him. Ah! Can you see what happened? Jesus sought him out – Jesus found him and they made sure that he knew who had healed Him. And how did the man respond? Like the Jewish authorities? No! He worshipped Him!!!
Now this is the end of all witnessing – Belief and Worship!!! This is what’s going to happen more and more
often in our community – the lost are going to come into the light of our
community and they’re going to see, believe, and ultimately worship our Lord!!!
But we must never forget that there are always two paths being depicted here – one on which we walk towards Jesus - the Light of the world, and the other away from Jesus towards the darkness and death!
You and I are walking towards the Light but most of the people around us aren’t – they are, in fact, walking away from the Light!
5.
Application:
So what do you hear our Lord saying to
us this morning? First it’s a question
to us – “Which path are you on? The path
towards Light or the path heading towards darkness and death? But He’s also telling us that those around who
don’t know Him are heading towards darkness and death. Some defy the truth and won’t believe it no
matter what we say or do – even Christ’s sacrifice for them doesn’t touch their
hard hearts – but there are some who will hear and will respond – they’re the
ones that we must search out and find!
So we’re on a “search and find” operation! Can you and I identify the ones who will turn towards the light as we bring it close to them?
Do we really care enough to give them at least the option to choose for
the light and against darkness?
Are people going to hell around you because you lack the faith – the
love – the hope – the courage to even give them the option?
O Lord, please give us the courage to believe in You
– to heal the blind in body AND to heal the blind in spirit!
Amen and Amen!