The Church of St.
Paul & Incarnation, Jersey City NJ
March 22, 2020
Year A: The Fourth
Sunday in Lent
1 Samuel 16:1-13
Psalm 23
Ephesians 5:8-14
John 9:1-41
The Gift of Sight
One
of the less important, but still real, effects of our present crisis is that it
is getting hard to keep track of what day it is.
That’s
true in our personal lives – and it’s true for church, too.
Fortunately,
today we have a big change in liturgical color – from purple to rose (not
pink!) signaling that we have reached the Fourth Sunday in Lent, offering us
the hope that soon our Lenten journey will end in the garden where women will
discover the empty tomb and the disciples will soon understand that love does
defeat hate and life conquers death, once and for all.
For
this reason, the Fourth Sunday of Lent is usually called Laetare Sunday, from a
Latin word meaning “to rejoice.”
Rejoice!
It will soon be Easter!
But.
But, this has been
the most extraordinary Lent of our lives, a time spent focused not so much on
the usual Lenten business of giving up pleasures like chocolate or taking on
the holy work of repentance, but instead it’s been a time shadowed by worry,
illness, and loneliness.
So,
this year a liturgical color change is probably not going to be enough to get
us rejoicing.
This
year, even the knowledge that Easter is just a few weeks away is probably not
going to be enough to get us rejoicing.
But,
I believe that by gathering together today even in this less than perfect way,
by saying these familiar words, and, most of all, by hearing and reflecting on
God’s Word, we can find the joy that we so desperately need.
Because
today – just like every day – God offers us the gift of sight.
As
we did last Sunday, today we heard a lengthy and complex lesson from the Gospel
of John.
There
is a lot going on here.
There
are the disciples who see a blind man and ask Jesus, “Who sinned, this man or
his parents, that he was born blind?”
And
there’s Jesus who gives the challenging and uncomfortable answer that this poor
man had been born blind “so that God’s works might be revealed in him.”
And
there’s the concern among some that Jesus gave the gift of sight to the man on
the Sabbath – the day when no work was allowed, not even healing, unless it was
a matter of life and death.
Now to be fair,
Jesus’ critics do have a case to make, since this poor man had been blind his
whole life and could surely have hung in there for a few more hours – but, it’s
a strange argument to make since it really misses the point
My God, a man born
blind has just been given the gift of sight!
And,
even stranger is how people give this newly-sighted a man a hard time, asking
him seemingly irrelevant questions, asking the same questions again, instead of
just marveling at the miracle that has occurred.
You’re
really blind if you can’t see a
miracle, like that, right?
I
mean, short of raising someone from the dead, it’s hard to imagine anything
more miraculous than giving sight to someone who has never seen.
It’s
a miracle – and even with people giving him a hard time, even with his parents
playing it cool and keeping their distance – it was by far the best day ever
for this man.
You
know, in the Gospel of John, these wonder works of Jesus are actually not
called miracles.
No,
instead, John calls them signs.
Because
as wonderful as gaining sight was for this one man, in fact what Jesus does is
offer a sign – a sign that points to a deeper and essential truth not just for
one person but for us all.
Today
– just like every day – God offers us the gift of sight.
God
offers us the gift of sight – the ability to see with our eyes, of course – but
also the grace to see with our hearts – the blessing to see with our souls.
God
offers us the gift of sight to see the beauty and goodness all around us, to
see God’s works revealed.
And,
as disorienting and distressing this time has already been, God is giving us
the gift of sight right now.
A
few stories:
So, the other day
an elderly parishioner who lives on her own texted me with news that she
described as miracles.
Like
a lot of people, this woman was getting concerned that she was going to run out
of toilet paper, and she asked if I could buy her some. I went to the
supermarket to look, but, no surprise, the shelves were empty.
But,
it turns out I wasn’t the only one looking.
Now this woman has not been to physical
therapy for many months and yet her physical therapist got in touch with her,
asking how she was doing, asking if there was anything she needed.
Toilet paper.
And so the
physical therapist took the time and, yes, the risk to look all over Jersey
City, finally finding a precious twelve-pack at a 99-cent store and dropping it
off at the woman’s apartment.
And then, the next
day the maintenance man of her building knocked on her door, yelling, “Look at
your door!” and left.
When she opened
the door she found a bag with ten more rolls of toilet paper!
Reflecting on this
experience, here is what she wrote to me: “So, out of the heavens, not manna,
but toilet paper fell to earth and landed at my feet!”
God offers us the
gift of sight to see the beauty and goodness all around us, to see God’s works
revealed, right here and now.
Another
parishioner posted a beautiful story on Facebook about reconnecting with an old
friend.
Years ago, they
had worked together and become like sisters, but then, you know how it is,
people move, phones are replaced, numbers are lost, and before they knew it,
they hadn’t talked for about two years.
Then, out of the
blue, the other day the parishioner’s friend called, explaining that she had
been trying to call for a long time but had gotten the message the number was
“not available.”
When they heard
each other’s voice, the parishioner said that they “screamed with joy”.
Our parishioner
wrote, “We almost cried and hugged each other from the heart.”
God offers us the
gift of sight to see the beauty and goodness all around us, to see God’s works
revealed, right here and now.
And then there
have been our daily prayer services over the phone – “Church By Phone” we’re
calling it.
When we started on
Tuesday I wasn’t sure if it was going to work, not sure if anyone would call
in, not sure if these unusual services would be satisfying, but I have to say
they have been just so beautiful.
Although we can’t
see each other with our eyes, I feel like we can see each other with our hearts
as we hear some very familiar voices and sense of the depth of the prayers that
are being offered.
One of the things
I realized right away is that there is a lag time with conference calls and so
I’ve been forced to speak and pray much more slowly than usual.
Normally, I’m kind
of in a rush and the words go by and then I’m on to the next thing.
But, not this
time.
And, so in a way
that I never have before, I’m seeing
the words of these prayers – words like these from the Lord’s Prayer:
“Save us from the
time of trial.”
And, in a way that
I never have before, I’m seeing all
of you praying with so much heart, and longing, and faith.
And, right now,
yes, it’s only Sue and me here in church this morning, but somehow I’m seeing all of you more clearly than when
we’re all here together.
I’m really seeing
all of you, gathered around your screens, hungry for the Word, hungry for the
Bread of Life, hungry for the community we love so much.
God offers us the
gift of sight to see the beauty and goodness all around us, to see God’s works
revealed, right here and now.
Long ago, Jesus
gave sight to a man born blind, giving that man the greatest miracle – the best
day - of his life.
But, for the rest
of us, that one miracle is a sign – a sign that points to a deeper and
essential truth:
Today – and every
day – God offers the gift of sight.
And for that,
especially in this time of trouble, we should rejoice.
Amen.
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