Fourth
Sunday in Lent
John
9:1-41
Baptism
"As he passed by,
he saw a man blind
from his birth. And his disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this
man or his parents, that he was born blind?" Jesus answered, "It was
not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God
might be made manifest in him. We must work the works of him who sent
me, while it is day; night comes, when no one can work. As long as I am
in the world, I am the light of the world." As he said this, he spat on
the ground and made clay of the spittle and anointed the man's eyes
with the clay, saying to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which
means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing. The neighbors
and those who had seen him before as a beggar, said, "Is not this the
man who used to sit and beg?" Some said, "It is he"; others said, "No,
but he is like him." He said, "I am the man." They said to him, "Then
how were your eyes opened?" He answered, "The man called Jesus made
clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, 'Go to Siloam and wash'; so 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 clay and opened his eyes. The Pharisees again asked him how he had
received his sight. And he said to them, "He put clay on my eyes, and I
washed, and I see." Some of the Pharisees said, "This man is not from
God, for he does not keep the sabbath." But others said, "How can a man
who is a sinner do such signs?" There was a division among them. So
they again said to the blind man, "What do you say about him, since he
has opened your eyes?" 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 how he now sees we do not know, 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 feared the Jews, for the Jews had
already agreed that if any one should confess him to be Christ, he was
to 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 said to him, "Give God the praise; we know that this man is
a sinner." He answered, "Whether he is a sinner, I do not know; one
thing I 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 too want to become his disciples?" And 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, "Why, this is a
marvel! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes.
We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if any one is a
worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. Never since the
world began has it been heard that any one opened the eyes of a man
born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing." They
answered him, "You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?" And
they cast him out. Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having
found him he said, "Do you believe in the Son of man?" He answered,
"And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?" Jesus said to him,
"You have seen him, and it is he who speaks to you." He said, "Lord, I
believe"; and he worshiped him. Jesus said, "For judgment I came into
this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see
may become blind." Some of the Pharisees near him heard this, and they
said to him, "Are we also blind?" Jesus said to them, "If you were
blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, 'We see,' your
guilt remains." John 9:1-41, RSV.
Grace and Peace to your from our Lord
and Saviour, Jesus the Christ.
Out on the cattle ranches of the West the unbranded calves that roam at
large are known as "mavericks." They are claimed by the man who is the
first to get his brand on them at the annual "round-up." A little
Western girl had been baptized one Sunday by the Methodist minister of
the town. Her school-mates questioned her the next day as to the
meaning of the ceremony. "Well," she said, "I will just tell you. I was
a little maverick out on the prairie, and that man put the Jesus mark
on my forehead so that when He sees me he will know that I am one of
His children."
The Jesus mark on my forehead is an original way of talking about
Baptism. We are marked with the sign of the cross and through the water
and the word, we are made children of God.
Our gospel text this morning is an early example of what the act of
baptism is all about.
Jesus and the disciples are walking down the road and they see a blind
man begging. The disciples ask Jesus the age old question who sinned
that this man was blind his parents or him. For in Jesus day and even
in our day and age disease is seen as a sin of sinfulness. The man was
blind because someone did something wrong. either the parents or the
man himself. Even people today look at a person with a disease or
handicap and wonder what did they do to deserve that. Who sinned?
But Jesus says clearly that no one sinned, the blindness just happened
and happened so that God through Christ might be glorified.
The text says: Jesus answered, "It
was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God
might be made manifest in him.
The man was born blind because of the sinfulness of the world, not the
specific sinfulness of this man's parents or himself.
Now that we are psst who sinned, the main point of this text is about
baptism. Jesus told the man to come to him, Jesus spat on the ground,
made some mud and put the mud on the man's eyes and told him to go wash
in the pool of Siloam.
The early church saw this as an act of baptism. The man was born blind
an now when he washed was set free from his blindness.
And that is exactly what happens to us in our baptism. We are born into
sin, then the water and word of Baptism cleanses us so that we become
children of God. It shows how Jesus took something from the past,
the water at the pool of Siloam, and used that with his present spirit
to bring into being the washing that occurs for each of us in Baptism
today. The man was born blind, born into a sinful world, then Jesus
enters, brings healing through water to this man, and then as we see at
the end of this text, this man believes that Jesus is the Son of God
and as the Amplified version says,"The
man answers (Jesus) 'Who is He sir? Tell me, that I may believe in and
adhere to him"'
The man asks Jesus who the Son of God is and when Jesus answers
that he is the Son of God, the man believes, as the text says: Jesus said to him, "You have seen him, and
it is he who speaks to you." He said, "Lord, I believe"; and he
worshiped him.
It is just like that for us in our Baptism. We are baptized and
then we have the rest of our lives to acknowledge that Jesus is the Son
of God.
I would like to call your attention to the events of this text and the
order in which they happened.
For it is important for us to understand that God acts and we respond.
Notice in the very beginning of this text that Jesus was walking by
this man, and the disciples noticed him and asked Jesus a question
about the man's blindness.
After Jesus made his point about sin, that sin was not caused by the
man or his family, Jesus acted. He spat on the ground, made some mud,
put it in the man's eyes, and then told him to go and wash.
Who acted first? Jesus. The man did not have to prove his worthiness,
or his righteousness before Jesus acted. Jesus acted period, then the
man responded. He responded with his action of going to the temple to
get washed, and then he responded with his declaration of who Jesus was.
In this text and in our baptism it is God who acts first then we
respond. God comes to the baby in Baptism and acts our his plan of
salvation then that baby has the rest of his/her life to respond to
what has happened.
That response can be positive or negative. We are grow up believing in
the saving power of Jesus Christ in our live, or we an ignore it, fall
away from that promise. God acts, we respond.
We baptize babies in the Lutheran tradition because we believe, unlike
our Baptist brethren, that it is God who acts in Baptism first. I do
not need to make myself right before God before I am baptized. It is
God who makes us right first, and we have our whole lives to respond to
that action.
We believe that no matter how hard we try, we cannot ever by ourselves
make ourselves right before God. How can I ever become clean enough for
God? I can't. So God through Christ makes us clean in our baptism.
Luther says:
The anabaptists pretend that children, not as yet having reason, ought
not to receive baptism. I answer: That reason in no way contributes to
faith. Nay, in that children are destitute of reason, they are all the
more fit and proper recipients of baptism. For reason is the greatest
enemy that faith has: it never comes to the aid of spiritual things, bu
- ;more frequently than not - struggles against the Divine Word,
treating with contempt all that emanates from God. If God can
communicate the Holy Ghost to grown persons, he can, a fortiori,
communicate it to young children. Faith comes of the Word of God, when
this is heard; little children hear that Word when they receive
baptism, and therewith they receive also faith.
Of the baptism of children we hold that children ought to be baptized.
For they belong to the promised redemption made through Christ, and the
Church should administer it [Baptism and the announcement of that
promise] to them. (1)
We believe that through the water and the word the child is brought
into the kingdom of God and then has the rest of his.her live to
respond to God's great act.
Those who are baptized in Jesus do not need to strive after a new life.
They have already attained new life through dying with Christ. But they
do need to nurture that new life so it can grow and mature. That's what
church is for. That's what Bible study is for. That's what prayer is
for.
We need to be nurtured in our new faith. That is why at Baptism the
parents and sponsors make some promises about teaching the child what
this day is all about by putting the Bible and the commandments into
the hands of the child as he/she grows. Baptism begins a process that
is carried on the rest of a person's life.
Luther teaches tat each day we must return to the waters of our Baptism
to be cleansed. Each day, we must act out in our mind's eye the
drowning of our old self and the bring of a new person out of the water
of our baptism. In some churchs the Baptismal font is in the back of
the church so that as one comes to worship he/she has to pass by the
font and in our mind's eye drown the old self so that the new self
might be raised up.
You'll go forth a little stronger
With a fresh supply of grace,
If each day you meet the Savior
In a secret, quiet place. —Adamsb(2)
And that secret quiet place is the water of our baptism.
Martin Luther lived in his baptism. When confronted by the devil,
he did not try to turn him away with words or reject him by his own
power. When we are faced by temptation, we usually claim our own
strength, “I can avoid this” or “I can make it go away.” No,
Luther knew he had no power over sin by his own will. He answered
the temptation with “I am baptized.” He knew that it was only by
the power of the Holy Spirit, by the mercy of God, that the devil could
be turned away. The devil has no power over us when we are
covered by the grace of God.
Luther lived in his baptism by remembering it daily. Luther
taught that all Christians should wake to the remembrance of that
moment when they became children of God and that we should go to sleep
with that same thought. In his small catechism, Luther writes
that as soon as we get out of bed in the morning we should make the
sign of the cross and say, “Under the care of God the Father, Son and
Holy Spirit. Amen.” We should do the same in the evening
before we go to bed. Living under such a remembrance helps us to
realize that God is with us daily, walking with us.(3)
Jesus said to him, "You have seen him, and
it is he who speaks to you." He said, "Lord, I believe"; and he
worshiped him.
Amen
Written by Pastor Tim Zingale February 25, 2008
(1) Luther the Smalcald Articles
(2)from Our Daily Bread
(3)from Midweek Oasis Peggy
Hoppes