Item:  In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.  Then God said, “Let there be light”: and there was light, and God saw that the light was good.” Item:  Some decades into the AD era, Jesus of Nazareth proclaims “I am the light of the world.”  Shortly after this, a man born blind proclaims, “One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.”

Item: In 1947, Hank Williams (a man who knew something about darkness), inspired by something his mother said, writes and records “I Saw the Light” which contains the lyrics “I wandered so aimless, my life filled with sin/ I wouldn’t let my dear Saviour in/ Then Jesus came like a stranger in the night/ Praise the Lord I saw the light!”

Item: At a funeral for a dearly beloved woman of God in Thornhill on April 15^th, 2024, a group of people proclaim in song, “I once was lost but now am found/ Was blind but now I see.”

This is our story, dear family. This is our song as we hear the story of the 6^th sign in John 9.  The 6^th of 7 signs in John that speak of who Jesus is and what it means to live in the light of the one who is life.  Another sign of the ways in which things are turned right side up in the kingdom of God as we hear these words of Jesus – “I came into this world for judgement (a verdict, a decision) so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind.”

So where do we stand on this?  Do we see or do we not see?  Do we say “Lord help me to see in the light of your love and grace and mercy and justice?”  Do we say “Enlighten the eyes of my heart?”  Do we say “I see quite well thank you.  I see quite well in the light of my own education/experience/beliefs about how the world works.  I know who’s deserving and who’s not deserving.  I know who needs to be included and excluded.  I know who’s in and who’s out.  I know what’s possible and what’s not possible.”

They say that what goes around comes around, to which I say “Does it?”  We all know about karma.  The idea that the good you do will come back to you and the bad that you will do will also come back to you.  Good karma.  Bad karma.  Things are said about what karma is that I can’t repeat here.  We get what we deserve good or bad.  We can go to creditkarma.com to track the credit rating we deserve, and the world is a moral vending machine in which what we are rewarded for what we put in.

Which leads to a good question that we’ll come back to - “What is your impetus/motivation for doing good?”  which I will answer right now and say “We must work the works of him who sends us while it is day” – in other words as long as we have life and breath.

Getting back to karma, one day coming out of the supermarket which Nicole and I frequent, I looked in our cart and saw a jar of hamburger sauce (secret sauce) lying on its own.  It had not been checked through with our other groceries.  I’m not saying I’m a paragon of virtue but I do try.  I went back to the customer service desk and explained what had happened.  The young lady there rang it in and as I was leaving said “That was such an honest thing to do.  Good karma for you.”

Now I didn’t want to get into a theology discussion right then and there – I felt it might have been intrusive (not that I’m against such things of course).  This is my issue with the idea of karma.  I get it.  I get that we want to be able to explain why things happen – both bad and good.  I know that karma is often discussed in terms of the good that can come back to one and is often used as a motivator for moral action. 

The problem that I have with karma is that it would explain bad things as being a result of bad things that you have done in this life or in a past life.  I don’t see the universe as that simple and it seems like a bit of a monstrous thing to suggest to someone that they are inexplicably suffering because of something bad that they have done.  The world is one crazy mixed-up place and we are right to be skeptical of those who offer easy explanations.  The Bible never shies away from dealing with the reality in which we live.  It’s a world where, for example, people are born blind.

Jesus and his disciples are in Jerusalem. As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth.  For the disciples it’s not even a question of if this man was suffering due to some sin, it was a question of who was to blame, him or his parents.  Look at what is happening here.  Jesus notices those who are suffering.  Jesus is drawn to those who are suffering.  Jesus comes alongside those who are suffering.  In the face of suffering, Jesus speaks and acts.  In the face of pre-creation formless void and darkness in Genesis 1, God does not enter into a discussion as to where this void came from or why this darkness is here.  God speaks and acts creatively and decisively.  Jesus speaks and acts creatively and decisively.  “’ 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.” (9:5-7)

 Jesus goes about his Father’s work and he goes about doing what his Father does.  He goes about setting things right. God is making things right.  God will one day make all things right.  Suffering is not a problem for us to solve.  That doesn’t mean that we’re not called to come alongside suffering.  It doesn’t mean we are called to turn our faces away from it or not seek to help and comfort.  What are the questions that we should be asking in the face of suffering?  Someone has put it like this, “God, what are you doing in all of this and how can I join you in it? What are you saying and how can I hear you better? What are the works of God waiting to be revealed in me and in each of us?”

In the midst of suffering, God takes creative and decisive action.  We are post-Easter people. We are resurrection people. We remember those words about Jesus “The light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it.”  I know a lot of people were focused on the sun during the eclipse two weeks ago, but one of the wild things I saw (though not in person) was the kind of 360-degree colours of dawn that people on whom darkness fell could still see.  Like a dawn all around you in the middle of darkness! 

Our invitation is to walk in the light of the world.  To listen to him.  This blind man didn’t understand everything and neither do we.  He listened to Jesus and he acted.  This man becomes another in a line of people in John’s Gospel who respond to Jesus in a right and good and fitting and proper way.  We remember the words of Jesus’ mother, “Do whatever he tells you.” (2:5)  The man did what Jesus told him.  Let us hear Jesus’ words echoing and resonating. Jesus’ words like “Believe in God.  Believe also in me.”  “Abide in me, as I abide in you.”  “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”  “Love one another as I have loved you.” 

Listen to him.  Do whatever he tells you.  Do walk in the light of the light of the world is to join with God in God’s saving work. Not that we save anyone but God invites us to participate in God’s saving work.  “I must work the works of him who sent me” is the line (9:4).  “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” (9:5)  “You are the light of the world,” Jesus says at another point. Matt 5:14) To follow this Jesus – to be in Christ – means that we are illuminated to be illuminating through Christ’s creative saving light-giving sight-causing work.  To be sent daily.  Enabled to be light – to be a reflector of the love and light of God so that it’s bouncing off us onto others in what we do and what we say.

Encountering Jesus changes us.  It might make us unrecognizable.  Have you known this?  “Isn’t this the man that used to sit and beg?”  “It is!” “No, but it’s someone like him.”  The man begins to testify, which simply means, he begins to tell his story.  He tells his story as his understanding of what has happened to him in his encounter with Jesus grows.  He’s telling his story throughout this chapter very plainly and very simply.  “I am the man,” he tells the crowd.  “The man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to the pool of 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.’”  How could he know?  He doesn’t even know what Jesus looks like at this point! 

The world can be a crazy mixed up place and the Bible doesn’t shy away from this.  This story we read isn’t all sweetness and light.  There is opposition to the Light in our story.  There is opposition from established religion.  Pharisees.  The miracle happened on the Sabbath.  You are not supposed to knead on the Sabbath and this would include making mud.  They’re forgetting mercy but they know that this man Jesus cannot be from God (although it must be noted that some of their number said, “How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?” and they were divided).  There’s hope even for the Pharisee.  In the middle of their division, they ask the formerly blind man, “What do you say about him?  It was your eyes he opened.”  The man replies, “He is a prophet.”  He is one chosen to say and do God’s words and God’s will in the world.  After speaking with the blind man’s parents, the Pharisees go to him again.  There are things that they know.  They know that this man Jesus is a sinner. (24).  They know that this man was entirely in sin (29).  Why else would he have been blind after all? We need to be careful about what we claim to know.  I do not claim to know that anyone is beyond the reach of God’s mercy.  I do not claim to know who is on the inside and who is on the outside.    If we’ve been following Christ for any length of time we know that some of the beliefs and practices that we have held have been challenged and changed.  Following Christ is not about blind conformity to a religious tradition.  When we prayerfully and with love for one another consider questions about who should be welcomed, accepted into membership, ordained, in leadership – we should be open to being corrected.  There is so much I don’t know.  There is so much I could never explain.  We sing about it.  I know not why God’s wondrous grace to me he has made known.  I know not how the Spirit moves convincing us of sin.  I know not when my Lord may come.  But I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he able to keep that which I’ve committed unto him against that day.  I was blind and now I see, you see.  I have committed my life to him.  In one of my favourite lines in John’s Gospel, speaking of Jesus, the man replies, “I do not know whether he is a sinner.  One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” The spiritually blind are given sight.  How hopeful do I find that! 

I was thinking I wish we knew this man’s name, so I could call him by it rather than “the blind man” or “the formerly blind man.”  There can be meaning in someone not being named in the Bible.  We can put ourselves in his place.  Jesus finds him after he has been driven out by the religious authorities.  Jesus asks “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”  The man, ever truthful, says, “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 to you is he.”  Have you seen him?  Have you heard him?  Listen to the response, “Lord, I believe.”  And he worshiped him.

As we are sent let us remember that we are sent.  “We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day,” said Jesus.  We.  Must.  How could we do otherwise when we’ve been given eyes to see everything in the light of Christ?  The man was healed at a place called Sent.  At the end of John’s Gospel Jesus will breathe on his followers and say “Receive the Holy Spirit” and  “As the Father has sent me, so I sending you.”  (20:21)

What is our impetus/motivation for doing good?  The question is not so much “what” but “who”.  The light of the world.  The risen Christ.  The night is far gone.  The day is near.  Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armour of light. 

Amen