"Here's Mud in Your Eye" John 9:1-41 Sermon July 17, 2016

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1 "Here's Mud in Your Eye" John 9:1-41 Sermon July 17, 2016 Did you ever wonder about the origins of certain expressions? Why, for instance, do certain members of my family say, 'a rabbit just ran over my grave, every time they feel a chill'? Or why do we as children, did we insist that our friends "swear on your mother's grave," if we wanted to be sure they were telling the absolute truth? Or, why do we excuse certain unacceptable behavior with the expression, "that's just the way it is"? Do you have such expressions that cause you to wonder why and when you say them? One of my favorites has always been the somewhat strange toast, here's mud in your eye." Why would someone say that? What could possibly be good about mud in one's eyes? Where does the expression come from and what does it mean? I got to thinking about this the other day as I was reading the passage from John's gospel which we just heard. In it, Jesus makes a mud pack out of saliva (ugh) and dirt from the ground, for use in healing a man's blindness. Somehow in this story having mud in one's eye might be a good thing. So much so that I titled this morning's message: Here's Mud in Your Eye! I began reading commentaries, as is my habit, before writing a sermon. Was I surprised when the very first commentary was from an old issue of HOMILETICS, March/April The commentary said Jesus may have been the first person to utter the humorous drinking toast, "Here's mud in your eye. It struck me that the expression may be the key to unlocking this strange story of healing. It is a long story. In it are several sermons. If you remember some of the details of the story, there is a sermon about sin and its results. There is a sermon about spiritual blindness versus physical blindness. There is the message about the purpose of the Sabbath. Go home and reread the story. There are several messages from God in it. But for now, just focus of the issue of having mud in your eye. But first let me tell you two stories about blind people. One is fictional, as far as I know. The other is drawn from my actual experience. The first is about the woman who was just about to take a shower, when the doorbell rang. She called out, "Who is it"? The voice outside said, "It's the blind man." Figuring she was safe with a blind man, she opened the door dressed 1

2 as God had dressed her. He looked at her in shock and asked: "Where do you want me to hang these blinds?" The other comes from one of my earliest pastorates when I went to lunch with one of the women in my congregation, who happened to be blind. After lunch I drove her home and walked her indoors. She asked if I would sit down for a minute while she got out of her coat, since there was something she wanted to ask me. As I sat and waited, I could not help but notice that she was undressing in the next room. Not knowing what to do, believing that she, being blind, was unaware of where I was sitting, I called her name. She quickly made it clear that her actions were purposeful and I could guess what she wanted to ask me. Understand I followed my first impulse, which was to leave immediately, calling out as I did so, that she needed to get help and that I was not the one to give it. Being upset, and only two short streets from the parsonage, I decided to get home as quickly as possible. I ran! Several hours later, I got ready to go out again, only to realize my car was parked outside her house. Needless to say, neighbors, many of whom knew the history of this woman, had made assumptions based on what they thought they saw, which was far from the actual reality. I can laugh at these stories now. Both of them suggest that blindness is less about the ability to see physically than it is to see spiritually. Both suggest that our first response to a situation is not always the correct response. Both suggest that vision, seeing what is really there, is not always an assumption we can make. Which gets us back to the sermon title and the direction it is leading us. What is it that makes it difficult to see clearly? I was speaking with a woman the other day, who shared her concern for a family member. "It is so obvious she is walking down the wrong path. Why can't her parents see it? I asked, "Obvious to who?" For one of the things I have learned over the years is that what seems obvious to some is not always that obvious. Recall the story from John's gospel! In it, it is obvious, to the disciples that the man's blindness is the result of sin. In it, it is obvious to the Pharisees, that Jesus has broken the law by healing on the Sabbath. 2

3 It is obvious to the man's parents that the healing poses a danger to them. In it, it is obvious to many that this is a story of physical healing. And as you recall the details of the story, recall that Jesus suggests that what is obvious to others is not obvious to God. He tells us the man's blindness is not due to sin. He is clear that healing is more important than keeping the Sabbath. The threat to the parents is minimized and the physical act of healing becomes far less important than the spiritual healing to which it leads. What it obvious to those around him is not obvious to him. The healing is not about physical cure, but rather about spiritual wholeness, about being able to see as God sees, to see as Jesus sees. I came into the world for judgment so that those who do not see may see and those who do see become blind. The obvious is not so obvious. Especially is this so for the one who points to a new reality - he calls it the Kingdom of God which is already at hand. His disciples do not see it. What we assume to be the reality may not be the reality. Especially is this so for the one who suggests that the power of love is more powerful than any other force on the face of the earth. His followers - who live under an oppressive rule - do not see it. What we take to be the most important tasks of our lives might not be that important. Jesus tells them (and us) to lay up treasures in heaven rather than treasures on earth. No one around him seems to get that. And so what can be done to allow us to see beyond the obvious? What can be done to help us see through the eyes of eternity? How might we see as God sees? Confronted with blindness, Jesus bends down, grabs a handful of dirt, spits into to several times, until he has a muddy mix. He takes this mess, made of two least desired ingredients, and covers the eyes of the blind 3

4 man. Then the blind man is given marching orders. Go, wash in the pool of Siloam (which means sent). Go, wash in the pool of Siloam. Go where I send you, even if you cannot see the way you are going. Go where I send you, even if you have mud in your eyes, even if you have been dirtied by the world, and are spit at and despised. Go where I send you, even if it does not seem to make sense. Then he went and washed and came back able to see. Blindness, the inability up to see as God sees, to see what God wants us to do with our lives, is cured when we allow ourselves to be dirtied by the world, allow ourselves to be misunderstood and ridiculed by those who cannot see beyond the obvious. Blindness is cured when we understand it as a spiritual deficiency, rather than a physical fact, that keeps us from relating to the world and its people as God would have us relate. What might these musings have to do with you and me? Have you wondered how to get from today to tomorrow, because the way in front of you is not clear? Have the events of your life made it difficult to even believe that God exists, let alone cares for, and is guiding, you? Have you come to moments of unfaithfulness - not by choice - but by a sense that, in fact, you are alone? Have you wondered if this 'trust in Jesus' message is hogwash? You and I both know that blindness is a reality. It may take human, emerging scientific insight to correct physical blindness. It takes divine intervention to cure spiritual blindness. The sickness and death, which overtake our lives at one time or another, blind us to the reality of God's love. How much differently we might face them if we saw those facts as mud in our eyes, as facts through which God could work! 4

5 How much different we might face the failures and frustrations of life, if we saw them as mud in our eyes, through which God could lead us in new directions! How much differently we might minister to the world and its people, if we saw their need as mud in our eyes, through which God was calling us to wholeness, calling us to salvation! There is much mud in our eyes that blinds us to the presence of God in our lives and in the world. God is calling you and me to Go to the pool of Siloam, calling you and me, calling us, to go into the world, blurred or blinded, to do what Jesus calls us to do. God is sending us to be of service, even if we do not know just where that is. So, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam! So, my friends, Here's mud in your eye! in new directions. Go, do something for God! It is God given and will send you 5