Pastor Scott Jonas
John 9
I am Healed
2/4/18
Over the last two months we’ve been
going through the Gospel of John, 1 book at a time. For our guests, let me catch you up. In the beginning, Jesus was with God and He
was God. Jesus came into the world to
save it, so said John the Baptist. Jesus
calls his first disciples and they go to a wedding where he stuns the unready
crowd by turning water into very wine. At
night, an inquisitive Pharisee named Nicodemus, learns from Jesus that you must
be born again. In the heat of the
day, an inquisitive woman learns from Jesus has living water. At a public pool, a paralyzed man listens to
Jesus and his life is radically changed.
Thousands of people flock to this miracle worker and he feeds them,
proclaiming “I am the Bread of Life”, you must eat my flesh and drink my
blood. Right after is the feast of
Tabernacles where the high priest pours water and wine on the Temple
altar. Jesus stands up and shouts “If
anyone thirsts let him come to me and drink.”
Then last week, as the festival winds down, a woman is caught in an
unseemly act. Jesus puts the accusers on
the spot, telling them that if they have no sin, go ahead and throw the
stone. As the morning sun rises over the
risen Jesus takes the hand of the woman and says “I am the Light of the World.”
Which brings
us to John chapter 9. I like to act out
a story with the kids in chapel. I don’t
know if you know this about me but I’m a bit of a ham.
Man born
blind
Disciples
ask, “Who sinned this man or his parents?”
Jesus says
“neither. Just watch what I’m going to
do through him.”
He spit on
the ground, made mud, anointed the man’s eyes, and told him to go and wash in
the public pool.
The great
thing about the bible is that there are so many levels of understandings. I want you to think about this story and
describe it in one word. What one word
describes this story about Jesus spitting in the mud, anointing the man’s eyes,
and he can finally see.
Here are the
three words that I thought of after I read this story. This Healing is Messy. This Healing is Intimate. This Healing is Personalized.
Let’s start with the messy. Parents are used to telling their children
that Life is not fair. Raise your hand
if you’ve told this to your kids. Aren’t
we really saying that Life is messy? It
doesn’t go the way we planned. Things
happen. Family pets die
expectantly. Kids throw up out of no
where. Your aging parents all of a
sudden need your help. Nothing is
clean. It’s all messy.
Jesus did not come to provide us with
a clean, no hassle life. If that were
the case, then he would have just seen the blind man, snapped his fingers and
the man would be healed. No muss no
fuss. Instead, Jesus hocks a loogy into
the ground. Can you imagine what the
blind man was thinking? Why am I hearing
a loogy? Is this man just using my
condition to degrade me? I have no way
to protect myself. I guess I will just
allow whatever is going to happen to happen.
And then this sloppy mud is placed on his eyes. Saliva is known to have some medicinal
purposes but home remedies are not going to cure blindness from birth. No you have a man with gook all over his face
and another man with smutz all of his hands.
It seems like all of this messiness isn’t leading anywhere.
But Jesus wants us to know that all
of this messiness we call life is leading somewhere, somewhere good. It’s leading towards something we all need,
healing. You and I may not be born blind
but we need all kinds of healing. Can
someone say amen? Our lives are so messy
because we need physical healing, emotional healing, relational healing and
spiritual healing. We need families
healed, churches healed, neighborhoods and nations healed. Jesus did not come to help us escape the
mess. He came to bring us healing in the
mess.
Let me give you a messy situation
that I experienced this week. It started
when I saw a preschool teacher and a two year old outside my office.
I bet your life is messy also. That’s the way it’s supposed to be. In baptism, Jesus cleans us of our sins but
he sends us back to messy homes, and complicated relationships. Don’t mind the mess. Look for Jesus in the middle of the mess.
Which brings me to my second word
describing this story. It’s messy and
It’s Intimate. Touch is intimate. Jesus touches the blind man. It’s really personal to get close enough to
someone to touch their eyes. The
comedian Brian Regan talks about how uncomfortable it is to go to the eye
doctor, sit knee to knee facing him and have his face inches from yours. Shines a goofy light in your eyes forever. Then he says “How are you doing there?” “Can you back up a little bit? Are you looking into my soul?”
Jesus used intimacy and touch to
heal. Modern science knows the power of
touch. It doesn’t even have to be human
touch. Having a Comfort dog by the side
of a trauma victim is very powerful.
Part of why I shake hands at the back of the church is because of the
healing power of physical contact. You
also may have noticed that when I place the communion wafer in your hands, I
try to have hand to hand contact. For
some people it’s the only touch they have all week.
Jesus hugged children. Held the hands of trauma victims. Allowed a woman to anoint his feet and hair.
Kissed Judas. Embraced his disciples and
touched a blind man’s eyes. His
followers should follow his example.
The third word for this story is
personalized. This story is messy,
intimate and personalized. Jesus never
had a one size fits all when it came to healings. He custom fit them to the needs as he saw
fit. One woman touched his prayer
tassels. Another time Jesus just told a
guy his sins were forgiven and the man walked.
Another time Jesus just sent word that the man was healed, long distance
like a text message. Why did this man
need spit and mud? I don’t know. Maybe no one had touched him in a long
time. Maybe mud had spiritual
significance in the man’s life. Maybe
because he was blind the man fell in the mud a lot. It became his identity. You could see the blind guy a mile away
because he always had mud on him. The mud
became a negative part of his identity.
Jesus took the mud and anointed him with it. He made the mud Holy. He made the man holy.
Jesus wants to heal you. It may be messy, intimate and
personalized. All you have to do is ask.