This Sunday’s sermon wrestles with the question, “Who sinned?” and explores how God calls us to follow Jesus’ example of treating a man born blind not as an object lesson in punishment, but as a beloved child of God.
When bad things happen in life, it’s human nature to look for a reason. What went wrong? Who caused the tragedy? Is this a punishment from God? And if so—as the Pharisees ask in this Sunday’s reading—who sinned? Whose fault is it?
Sometimes, of course, identifying who’s at fault is easy. We humans are quite skilled at messing things up and causing hurt and chaos. But other times, bad things just happen. And the impulse to blame and find fault can get in the way of the work Jesus calls us to, the work of seeking justice and proclaiming hope in the midst of this broken world.
This is week four of our Seeking Lenten theme from A Sanctified Art, and there are some similarities to my previous sermon on this text from 2020. Today’s Scripture reading is John 9:1-41. Here’s the worship livestream from Living Hope and the sermon audio from Christ the King.
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Grace to you and peace, from the One who was, who is, and who is to come, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
When I was in high school, I went on a weekend mission trip with a small group from church – a very small group. In fact, it was only two families and one other girl named Paige.
Somehow on the way, we decided that if anything went wrong, it was Paige’s fault. Traffic jam? Wrong turn? Somebody having a bad day? We blamed Paige.
I think—I hope—we were all in on the joke. We all knew it was not actually Paige’s fault if it rained when we were going to eat lunch in the park. Sometimes things just go wrong.
But imagine what it would be like if we weren’t joking, if we truly believed everything that went wrong had to have an explanation.
Put yourself in the shoes of the man in that Gospel story. He’s been blind his whole life. And for his whole life, he’s had to put up with people wondering why—exactly what the disciples ask out loud: “Whose fault is it? Why did this happen?”
I’m sure the disciples don’t mean anything by it. They’re not teasing the man, or trying to hurt him. They’re trying to learn more about God. And so they ask Jesus our question for today, “Who sinned?” After all, this man or his parents?” I mean, someone must have done something to deserve this, right? God must be trying to send a message through this guy’s condition. So whose fault is it? This many, or his parents? Maybe he had a “no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing great-great-grandfather” or something (that’s from a book called Holes, about a kid who blames all his bad luck on his ancestor’s sins).
I think it’s human nature to want to assign blame when something bad happens, or if not to blame, at least to explain. After all, if there’s an explanation, if it’s someone’s fault, then there must be something I can do to avoid having it happen to me. I just have to avoid doing whatever sin that guy did, and I’ll get to keep my sight. It’s a way of feeling in control.
So, who sinned, that this man was born blind? What message is God sending?
Answering the disciples, Jesus is clear: This man’s blindness has nothing to do with sin, either his sin or his parents’ sin. That’s just the way he was born.
Sometimes, perhaps more often then we think, more often than we’re comfortable with, there is no explanation, other than that we live in a broken world. The disciples are asking the wrong question.
Jesus makes this point at least one other time as well, in Luke 13. In that passage, there had been a tragedy where 18 people died when a tower collapsed, and Jesus says they weren’t any worse sinners than anyone else living in the area.
As it turns out, the disciples are partially right. God is trying to send a message. But it’s not a message of punishment, Jesus says; it’s an example for us to follow.
The man’s blindness is not a result of sin. Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him.
Be careful here. I don’t believe Jesus is saying God caused the man to be born blind. That’s a slippery slope to saying God chooses people to get cancer, or causes car accidents. That’s not the way God works. Jesus says the man’s blindness is an opportunity for God’s work to be done, an opportunity for God’s goodness to be revealed, but God did not set this man’s life up just to be an object lesson. This man born blind is called to discipleship, called to follow Jesus, like all of us.
In this story, where the disciples see an object lesson, an opportunity to point out sin, Jesus sees a person. Not only does Jesus see him, he takes the initiative to transform his life. The disciples got hung up on trying to interpret a message in the man’s suffering. Jesus moved to meet his needs.
The man doesn’t ask to be healed, he doesn’t ask to be an object lesson, and it’s entirely possible he doesn’t know anything about Jesus, much less that Jesus is God.
The main point of this story is not the miracle Jesus performs, but the reaction to it, both the man’s reaction to being given sight, and the crowd’s reaction to Jesus’ actions.
As we read through this chapter, watch what happens to the man.
First, he washes as Jesus told him to, then he comes back and he can see. Other people who know he’s been blind see him and say, “Wait a minute, didn’t that guy used to be blind?”
He tells them “Yes, I was blind, but then some guy named Jesus put mud in my eyes, and I washed it off, and now I can see.”
Naturally, they ask him where this Jesus fellow is, but he doesn’t know.
A little later, the Pharisees, the religious leaders, the ones who think they know everything about God, ask him about Jesus, and the formerly blind man says, “Well, he must be a prophet.”
They keep questioning him about whether Jesus is a sinner, trying to trap him, but he refuses to play along. He won’t speculate or try to explain what happened. Instead, he sticks to what he knows. “I was blind, but now I see.”
Sounds like a song, doesn’t it? Here’s what I know: I once was lost, but now am found; was blind, but now, I see.”
We’re called to do the same thing, to tell how we’ve experienced God, not to try to explain everything. By the end of the story, when Jesus seeks him out and finds him again, he says, “Lord, I believe.”
The man goes from being physically blind to having his eyes opened, but much more importantly, he moves from spiritual blindness to faith.
The Pharisees go the opposite way. At the beginning of the story, they’re convinced they can see, probably better than anyone else. They are perfectly comfortable with labeling people as holy or sinful, as in or out, as good clean religious people or as unclean Others. The disciples’ question of “Who sinned?” makes sense to them, because they’re sure they know the answer.
They assume the man is being punished for some terrible sin, so they can’t understand when he’s transformed by Jesus. Rather than accept him, they banish him.
So often, we are tempted to do something similar, separating ourselves from the people we see as worse sinners. And there’s always someone we can find who’s done worse things than us.But the real answer to the question, “Who sinned?” is all of us. We all need God’s forgiveness. And Jesus offers it to all of us.
In the last verse of our reading today, Jesus cryptically tells the Pharisees, “If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.”
It’s the people who are absolutely sure that they are right, Jesus says, the ones who are certain they’re right in how they’ve labeled others, who are in the wrong.
Light comes from seeing through Christ; but if you claim to see without Christ, all you end up with is darkness.
Jesus doesn’t look at tragedies and try to find someone to blame. He doesn’t look at the labels people have been given and take them as eternal designations. Instead, he encounters people and changes them. Jesus brings a new birth, offering a fresh start. This gift, this fresh start is for you and me. You are not defined by how others see you, but by Jesus, the One who claims you and gives you life. This world’s labels are temporary, but God’s love for you is eternal.
One final detail I want to point out in this story: Look at how Jesus goes about healing this man. He spits into the dirt to make mud, then uses the mud for the healing.
Obviously Jesus doesn’t need mud to heal, and it’s not that he has magic saliva or something; there’s a deeper connection going on here.
Remember the creation story? All the way back in Genesis, at the beginning of the story, what does God form humans out of? God takes the dust of the earth and shapes it, then breathes life into the mud to make people. As we said on Ash Wednesday, remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.
When Jesus uses mud, it’s like he’s giving this man a whole new life. This is the answer to the question from a few weeks ago, “How do we start again?” The answer is through Jesus. Like Jesus discussed with Nicodemus, the man is born again, re-created.
We too are re-created by God’s work, born again. For us, it is not through mud, but through the waters of baptism that we are washed clean.
We drown, and we are reborn as children of God.
May we live as people who are born again. May we share the light of Christ with others.
And may the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus forever. Amen.