John 9:35-41; March 15, 2026; Fourth Sunday in Lent
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(Part 1)
Sometimes the problems that ruin our lives are right there, aren’t they? Right in front of us, and yet so often we can’t see them, nor the solutions. Is that because we don’t want to see them? Or is it because we can’t see them even if we wanted to?
Our text from scripture today seems to suggest that it’s sin which ever remains with us that gets in our way and causes spiritual blindness and ignorance. And, specifically, it’s the sin of false piety; that sense of phony righteousness, that makes us think we can see clearly when so often we do not.
So, how do we fix that? How can we clear our vision getting back to 20/20? The answer is obvious: Jesus, of course. His teachings. His altruism. And his piercing words of correction, calling us all to repent, to be humbled, and to be better.
See, if you think you are just fine and don’t need any correction today, well, Jesus is here to tell you that you are wrong. That you are blind. And, that you’ve been led astray by this world, whose powers want you to always be comforted by illusions; and whose rulers are only interested in their own voices rather than the Voice of all voices: His. Christ’s. God’s.
I saw a documentary the other week on Netflix called Evil Influencer about Jodi Hillebrandt. Anyone see it? The short of it: she so poisoned the minds of her listeners, that she got them to do truly horrible things, by making them no longer see reality clearly… making husbands and wives feel so terrible about their supposed sin (as the Pharisees attempted to do with this blind man, and his family, in the verses we didn’t hear), that she convinced them that the only voice worth hearing was her own. Not the voice of Reason. Nor Christ. But her’s: Jodi Hillebrandt’s.
Right in front of these people was all the evidence they needed to stop listening to her. To stop her from abusing them and their children. Yet somehow they didn’t see them. And so, their sins not only remained but they multiplied, and they wounded and scarred forever.
Has this ever happened to you or someone you know and love? Where they got themselves trapped in a destructive echo chamber listening to an evil influencer? Well, if so, here’s the good news: there is yet hope… for there is always hope… as here in the very first verses of our lesson, even a person who had only ever known blindness receives insight.
And it happened, as it happens, through Jesus Christ, our Lord and our redeemer, our social worker and psychiatrist, our friend, whose words in addition to healing, can also bring humility, clarity, and wisdom. If we but walk with him…
Valerie sings “I want Jesus to Walk with Me”
(Part 2)
John 9:39-41:
“Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment, so that those who do not see may see and those who do see may become blind.” Some of the Pharisees who were with him heard this and said to him, “Surely we are not blind, are we?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.”
Well, this is honestly a bit confusing, so let’s restart this sermon with the question: why? Why would their sin remain now that they finally see?
Because you see, they don’t actually see, for still they can’t perceive. If they had just conceded that they didn’t know everything, and we’re willing to learn, then they might actually have been able to see. But they didn’t, because they wouldn’t, or maybe, they just couldn’t.
Mark 4:11-12:
“To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of god, but for those outside everything is in parables; so they may indeed see but not perceive, lest they should turn again and be forgiven.”
But the Pharisees didn’t want to turn. To learn again. So, in the end, their sin remained.
Now, I don’t know about you, but all of this sort of reminds me of that great Socrates guy, who was called the wisest person on earth principally because he didn’t claim to know everything on earth; and yet when he investigated those who claimed to know everything on earth, he realized that they hardly knew anything about heaven or earth; thus making him realize that there is as much wisdom in claiming what you don’t know as there is in proclaiming what you do. Amen?
The Gospel of Thomas, that famous apocryphal text that we’ll hear more from in the Fall says:
“Know what is in front of your face, and what is hidden from you will be disclosed to you. For there is nothing hidden that will not be revealed”
Now this could be heard in one or two ways. 1) Know thyself, the person in the mirror, and what is hidden within you (the Holy Spirit) will be revealed, for it abides. Or, 2) See that this world in front of us tries to blind us from the Kingdom of Heaven that is all around us.
Romans 12:2
Be not conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
Perhaps this is why the blind man in our story can see when the Pharisees cannot. Because he was born blind and never had to see the garbage that the world constantly puts in front of all of us, the Pharisees included.
Both our canonical and apocryphal texts are telling us that those who see and believe in what this world teaches are those who are in fact blind, while those who cover their eyes to the ways of this world and only see with vision from Heaven are those who have true sight and insight.
Make sense?
The Gospel of Philip, also from the Apocrypha (that beautiful Greek word meaning hidden): says this:
- “Whoever knows the truth is free. Truth is the Mother. Knowledge is the Father.” (77,15-35)
- “Ignorance is the creator of all evil. Ignorance leads to death. … If we know the truth and join with it, it will bring us fulfillment.” (83,30-84,14)
- The master/Jesus put it very well: Redemption is no laughing matter, but a person goes laughing into Heaven’s kingdom out of contempt for these rags.” (74,24-75,2)
Ooh, I love that one!
My friends, Jesus wants us to shed these rags, these cataracts, these ignorant blind spots that the world and its rulers have sought to enslave us with…and to laugh at them! And what power that truly is, to laugh at that which oppresses.
For as one final apocryphal text tells us today, The Nature of the Rulers (great title):
- “The rulers throw humanity into great confusion and a life of toil, so that their people might be preoccupied with the things of the world and not have time to be occupied with the Holy Spirit.”
Isn’t that good, and sadly true?
My friends, Jesus wants us all to be healed. To have new vision, to see things with clarity and wisdom, so to be occupied by the Holy Spirit, rather than the toil and confusion of life.
And we can be healed right now, with 20/20 acuity, if we but embrace the truth. His truth.
Bowing down to him by listening to his teachings and following his ways.
Amen
