We want to hear the truth when we come to church, don’t we?  In a “your truth vs. my truth/what’s the narrative/post-truth and what does that even mean” world, we want to hear the truth.  I want to hear the truth, I want to tell the truth.  I heard a preacher recently say, “I want to propose something.”  I am not here to make a proposal.  Our faith is not based on a proposition but on a person.  The one who said, “I am the light of the world.”

The second “I am” statement, “I am the light of the world”, and the sixth sign (a man born blind receives sight) come together in this wonderful story (in which a lot of things are coming together) and in this wonderful image of Jesus as light, as illumination, as revealing, as life.  We remember how John started off – “In him was life, and the life was the light of all people.”  In Jesus, life is light, and light is life.  We remember how God’s story began – “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.”

“I am the light of the world,” proclaims Jesus right before our story.  What a wonderful image, even in these long days of summer.  Light a candle.  The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.  (Is. 9:2).  Shine a light.  “You are the light of the world.  A city built on a hill cannot be hidden.” (Matt 5:14)  I saw the light! “Now as he was going along and approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him.” (Acts 9:3)  I once was lost but now am found/Was blind, but now I see.  “For once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light.   Live as children of light.” (Eph 5:8)  Walk in the light.  “But if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.” (1 John 1:7)

All summer, we’ve seen how these signs of Jesus invite us into trust in him.  To acknowledge Jesus as the light of the world is to acknowledge our need for his light. If we say we see just fine, we have no need of Jesus. To say “Lord, I believe,” along with the man in our story, is to acknowledge our need for the light of Jesus.  As someone has said, “Who would claim to lead lives of perfect light, truth, wisdom, holiness, patience, self-giving, and love for all?”  To acknowledge Jesus as light is to acknowledge the darkness that exists in the world, in cities, in communities, in families, in ourselves.  I’m talking about enmity, hatred, vengeance, inward focus, greed, fear, apathy,  fractured relationships. 

Jesus and his disciples come across an individual.. “As he 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.”

The disciples are reflecting a belief (popular at the time and still popular in many circles) that when it comes to sin, what goes around comes around.  You could draw a direct line of causality from suffering to sin, whether it’s the person’s or their parents.  It’s a karmic sort of idea. 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 we are rewarded for what we put in.

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.

“He was born blind,” Jesus says, “So that God’s works might be revealed in him.”  One way of hearing Jesus’ words here is that they speak of a universal truth to what Jesus is saying here.  In our fallenness, humanity is born spiritually blind, and we have a part to play in working God’s works.  What are God’s works?  I’m glad you asked.  John 6:28-29 – “Then they said to him, ‘What must we do to perform the works of God?’ Jesus answered them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he has sent.’”  Belief.  Trust in Jesus will be revealed in this man.

In terms of what God works, let us pay attention to what is happening here in the story.  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 the 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.” 

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 listens to Jesus, and he acts.  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 by making God’s ways known.  “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 use 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! 

Darkness is an ongoing reality.  Opposition to God is ongoing.  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.  The Pharisees know, therefore, 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 born 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.  We hear in God’s word about it, “For I know the one in whom I have put my trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard until that day what I have entrusted to him.” (2 Tim 1:12)  I am not ashamed of this. I was blind and now I see, you see.  I entrust 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 is that though I was blind, now I see.” In the face of a lot of oppositional questioning, the man displays a calm confidence.  I love 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.  The man was given sight at a place called “Sent”.  “The light of the world,” we say as we light a candle.  It’s a powerful image, carrying the light of Christ.  We ourselves are not the light, but we’re sent to testify to the light; to testify to the love, grace, mercy, compassion, justice of Jesus in all our words and acts.  Let’s imagine we’re bearing the light of Christ like a candle always, asking for the Spirit’s help that we may see everyone and everything ever more clearly in the light of Christ’s love.

Amen