Transcript

Who Sinned? · Faith at Work

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There is a particular kind of cruelty that arrives wearing the
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costume of theology.
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SPEAKER_01: It does not announce itself as unkind.
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Instead,
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it comes dressed in the language of reason,
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of cause,
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and of fact.
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SPEAKER_01: of a tiny universe where suffering always has a satisfying explanation.
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SPEAKER_01: As we've heard in John chapter 9,
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Jesus and his disciples are walking along the road when they
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encounter a man who
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SPEAKER_01: has been born blind.
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And before anything redemptive can happen,
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the disciples ask a question of him.
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SPEAKER_01: Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?
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They're so proud of themselves for asking such a thoughtful
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theological question.
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SPEAKER_01: Notice what the question does not do.
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SPEAKER_01: It does not ask his name.
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SPEAKER_01: It does not ask what he needs.
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SPEAKER_01: He's right there.
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And they talk about him as if he is some exegetical theological
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conversation to have.
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SPEAKER_01: A problem to be solved rather than a person to be encountered.
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SPEAKER_01: The question seeks to assign blame and justify his suffering.
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And that search for blame and justification dressed in
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spirituality and theology
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comfortably keeps the questioners at a safe distance from the
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one who suffers.
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SPEAKER_01: Jesus refuses that frame.
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SPEAKER_01: Jesus does not take the bait.
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SPEAKER_01: He clears the spiritualized
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SPEAKER_01: Buffer creating theological underbrush with a single sentence answer.
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SPEAKER_01: Neither this man nor his parents sent.
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SPEAKER_01: Full stop, no cap.
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SPEAKER_01: Then,
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rather than waiting to have a more spiritual and theological
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discussion with him,
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SPEAKER_01: he turns towards the man saying,
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SPEAKER_01: We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day.
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SPEAKER_01: Night is coming.
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Jesus' response is the best response to a bad,
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spiritualized question about suffering.
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SPEAKER_01: His answer is not theological.
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SPEAKER_01: It is a movement toward the person who is suffering.
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SPEAKER_01: Jesus stops talking.
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SPEAKER_01: and starts acting.
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SPEAKER_01: And he becomes what I like to call the great spitter.
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Jesus does something that deserves our full attention,
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I think,
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this morning.
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SPEAKER_01: He spits on the ground, makes mud,
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SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I would give that because I know she likes to make fun.
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SPEAKER_01: And presses it onto the man's eyes.
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SPEAKER_01: Why?
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SPEAKER_01: Why not a simple word?
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SPEAKER_01: Certainly works for Jesus in other cases, right?
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SPEAKER_01: Well, a few reasons.
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SPEAKER_01: First,
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the act directly should remind those who are looking on and who
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are listening on
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and those of us who are reading of the act of creation in
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Genesis chapter 2.
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In Genesis chapter 2,
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God forms the human being from the dust of the ground.
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SPEAKER_01: Jesus,
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SPEAKER_01: kneeling into the dirt,
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SPEAKER_01: using earth and moisture,
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SPEAKER_01: is recreating this man's life and this man's world.
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SPEAKER_01: He is doing what the Creator does.
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The one making mud is the one who made the world we are
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supposed to get from this text.
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SPEAKER_01: But, there is more.
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I want to tell you a story that I heard a long time ago when I
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was a missionary and
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SPEAKER_01: I have never forgotten.
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There was a missionary who had spent years translating the
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Bible for a remote
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SPEAKER_01: indigenous people.
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SPEAKER_01: He translated the Old Testament.
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SPEAKER_01: He translated the prophets.
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And the people listened and they acknowledged these wonderful
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faith stories.
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SPEAKER_01: But belief, deep, transforming faith...
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SPEAKER_01: It didn't come until he translated John chapter 9.
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And when the people heard that Jesus had healed a blind man by
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spinning on the
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SPEAKER_01: ground and making mud,
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SPEAKER_01: something cracked open for them.
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SPEAKER_01: The reason is because in their tradition,
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SPEAKER_01: Certain gifted individuals were known as spitters,
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healers who used saliva as a medium for their restorative power
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among the villages.
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And woven through their ancient tradition was a prophecy that
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one day the great
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SPEAKER_01: spitter would come.
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SPEAKER_01: The one whose healing would extend to the whole world.
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SPEAKER_01: And when the missionary read these words aloud,
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the people did not hear an old story from a foreign culture
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that they had no idea
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SPEAKER_01: about.
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SPEAKER_01: They heard the fulfillment of their own prophecy.
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SPEAKER_01: The great spinner had come, and his name was Jesus, and they will leave.
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SPEAKER_01: Full stop, no cap.
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SPEAKER_01: Go, wash, come back seen.
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SPEAKER_01: Jesus sends the man to the pool called Salome.
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SPEAKER_01: And John pauses to tell us that the name means sent.
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SPEAKER_01: So he is sent by a sent one to the pool called sent.
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SPEAKER_01: The mission of God is embedded in the geography of this miracle.
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SPEAKER_01: And he went and he washed and he came back seeing.
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SPEAKER_01: This Lent, we have been invited to examine the questions we ask.
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SPEAKER_01: The disciples' question, who sinned?
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is a question that looks backwards.
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SPEAKER_01: It assigns blame, and it keeps us standing above those who are suffering.
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SPEAKER_01: Jesus' question,
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SPEAKER_01: unspoken,
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SPEAKER_01: but embodied in every single action that he takes,
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SPEAKER_00: looks at the present...
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SPEAKER_01: offers healing and moves towards those who are suffering and in need.
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Jesus' question is,
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what can be done now to reveal the healing work of God?
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SPEAKER_01: That question moves forward.
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SPEAKER_01: It moves towards.
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SPEAKER_01: That question requires something of us as well.
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SPEAKER_01: The light of the world did not illuminate from a safe distance.
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SPEAKER_01: He knelt in the dirt.
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SPEAKER_01: He made mud with his hands.
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SPEAKER_01: He touched what others refused to touch.
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SPEAKER_01: May we too ask better questions than the first disciples.
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And may we be willing,
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like Jesus,
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to kneel in the mud to bring healing to others.
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Amen.