John 9
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. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. 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. The neighbours and those who had seen him before as a beggar began to ask, ‘Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?’ Some were saying, ‘It is he.’ Others were saying, ‘No, but it is someone like him.’ He kept saying, ‘I am the man.’ But they kept asking him, ‘Then how were your eyes opened?’ He answered, ‘The man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and said to me, “Go to 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.’
They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. Now it was a sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. 15Then the Pharisees also began to ask him how he had received his sight. He said to them, ‘He put mud on my eyes. Then I washed, and now I see.’ Some of the Pharisees said, ‘This man is not from God, for he does not observe the sabbath.’ But others said, ‘How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?’ And they were divided. So they said again to the blind man, ‘What do you say about him? It was your eyes he opened.’ He said, ‘He is a prophet.’
The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight and asked them, ‘Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?’ His parents answered, ‘We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; but we do not know how it is that now he sees, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.’ His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus to be the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. Therefore his parents said, ‘He is of age; ask him.’
So for the second time they called the man who had been blind, and they said to him, ‘Give glory to God! We know that this man is a sinner.’ He answered, ‘I do not know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.’ They said to him, ‘What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?’ He answered them, ‘I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?’ Then they reviled him, saying, ‘You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.’ The man answered, ‘Here is an astonishing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but he does listen to one who worships him and obeys his will. Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.’ They answered him, ‘You were born entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us?’ And they drove him out.
Jesus heard that they had driven him out, and when he found him, he said, ‘Do you believe in the Son of Man?’ He answered, ‘And who is he, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him.’ 3esus said to him, ‘You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he.’ He said, ‘Lord, I believe.’ And he worshipped him. Jesus said, ‘I came into this world for judgement so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind.’ Some of the Pharisees near 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.
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Today is Mothering Sunday, a time when we give gifts to our mothers to thank them for all that they have been to us. Or, if we are mothers ourselves, receive those gifts. But historically it was not always so. During the Middle Ages, around the sixteenth century, on the fourth Sunday of Lent, people would travel to their ‘mother’ church. The church that they were baptised in, the church that they grew up in, the church where their Christian journey began. Sometimes this would be a journey of many miles.
There was another tradition, in which people who worked on farms of the wealthy were allowed to go to their home son the fourth Sunday of lent to go and visit their mothers and possibly go to church as well. If you lived away from family, you wouldn’t see them as often as people do nowadays as there was no modern transportation, so as you can imagine, some journeys would take a long time.
I think that we could say there is the idea and the imagery of the ‘mother church’ here as well, who has kept safe the truths and beliefs of the Christian faith, and has, through the centuries nurtured each generation with this truth.
When we think our mothers, in principle at least we see the one who carried us, gave birth us and nurtured and loved us as we grew up. We see people who, every day sacrificed their own desires for their families.
Of course, life is complicated, and very sadly this isn’t always the picture we have or experience. Some did not know what it’s like to have a mother or mother figure, some had very complex relationships with their mothers or none at all. But I think that in principle we know how it ‘should’ be deep within us.
We call God, our heavenly Father; but the motherly qualities of God have always been acknowledged by the church. Saint Anselm, in a song he wrote in 1109, so that’s the 12thCentury says this.
“Jesus, like a mother you gather your people to you;
you are gentle with us as a mother with her children.
Often you weep over our sins and our pride,
tenderly you draw us from hatred and judgement.
You comfort us in sorrow and bind up our wounds,
in sickness you nurse us, and with pure milk you feed us.
Jesus, by your dying we are born to new life;
by your anguish and labour we come forth in joy.
Despair turns to hope through your sweet goodness;
through your gentleness we find comfort in fear.
Your warmth gives life to the dead,
your touch makes sinners righteous.
Lord Jesus, in your mercy heal us;
in your love and tenderness remake us.
In your compassion bring grace and forgiveness,
for the beauty of heaven may your love prepare us.”
Elsewhere, in the gospels, when the Angel Gabriel visits Elizabeth and Zachariah, the parents of John the Baptist, at the end of that story when his song that he sang when he knew the blessing that God brings and speaks about ‘the tender compassion of our God.’ This seems to fit well with the image of the nurturing mother.
I recently had a very powerful image in my own life of how God sees us, really sees us. Much of the church history has emphasised the sin within and our fallenness away from God, and it is right that we emphasise that. but these other images are just as true, and the image that I had was of us as a new-born, being held tenderly, and being protected by God; as a mother or father holds a baby tenderly in their arms.
Jesus is tender to us, he is kind to us. where other’s bring judgement, Jesus brings mercy and compassion and love. In our gospel passage today we see this clearly. A man has been born blind, and it is assumed that his predicament is his own fault, it is assumed that he is a terrible sinner. It is assumed that he must have sinned, or indeed his parents must have sinned, and that’s the reason why he is blind. Jesus says, no that is not true. The teachers and the pharisees do nothing but condemn the man as a sinner, and they cannot see their own hypocrisy when they do so.
If you are going through something difficult today , and if you ever hear anybody say that it is from God, or if you feel that for whatever reason you are being punished by God, it is not true. Remember Jesus’ response to his disciples. But also remember what Jesus says afterwards that is challenging.
‘Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him.’
Somehow, in our afflictions, God shows us his power to heal and to save and to do his work. Elsewhere in the New Testament, the Apostle Paul is speaking about an affliction that he has, a ‘thorn in the flesh’, and he asks God to remove it from him, and God responds by saying ‘my grace is sufficient for you, my power is made perfect in weakness.’
Now this is a difficult teaching, particularly with those of us like myself and members of my family who have genetic conditions. But I think that somehow it’s true, somehow God’s power works in our weakness. And though there are things about us that are broken, God, through it, somehow brings restoration.
In our passage this morning, a man who has been blind from birth has received his sight from Jesus. He has in a real way, experience new birth! Restoration! In being given his sight, he has been renewed and restored.
What kind of God do we follow? do we follow God who is a distant parent who does nothing but judges and condemns, who is never happy with us, who never shows his love for us? Many people experience God like this, but it is not meant to be so, it’s not meant to be so at all.
We follow a God who brings healing to a man whom others would simply discard and dismiss, as they did in the case of this blind man. We follow a God who looks on us tenderly, not waiting with a rod to beat us with, but one to whom we can hide in the shadow of His wings; who loves us deeply and tenderly. When I started to see God in this way, I found I wasn’t angry about my own afflictions anymore, I was and am still sad about them at times yes, but I have that image of God cradling me tenderly as a loving parent does for a child, I still have questions, like all of us do but I still trust God and his plans, despite them.
We follow a God who gives us new birth and new life. As we remember this week, our mother churches, the places where we were baptised, and experienced the new birth that Jesus brings, we remember that we follow a God, as Zachariah says, Is tender and compassionate, and as Saint Anselm says, weeping when we fall away from his path , comforting us in sorrow and binding up our wounds.
If you want a true image of what our God is like, hold that image in your hearts, of a parent tenderly cradling their child, cradling you, pouring His love into you.
Amen