Fourth
Sunday in Lent
John 9:1-41
Sermon Nuggets by Lindy
March 2, 2008
SCRIPTURES
SCRIPTURES
-All the power evil has, it has not the power to make me afraid
-Why did God let this happen? (9/11) The answer I found myself giving was that God's promise was never that life would be fair. God's promise was that when we have to confront the unfairness of life, we will be able to handle it because we won't do it alone--He'll be with us. Kushner
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SCRIPTURES
(John 9:1-41)
-As a sign that he is the light, Jesus gives sight to a man born blind
-One reason they are so repellent to us, I think, is because they remind us of ourselves. However much we prefer the role of the blind man, we are not naturals for the part. We are not outcasts, most of us. We have not been set outside the community for our sins. We are consummate insiders--fully initiated, law-abiding, pledge-paying, creed-saying members of the congregation of the faithful--or in shorthand, Pharisees, Barbara Brown Taylor
-....wonder, not suspicion, is the beginning of worship, and seeing is believing only if we are willing to believe. Taylor
-The reading also contains a very strong "between the lines" warning. You must have a willingness to examine even your most cherished and deeply held ideas and suppositions." A willingness to engage in self examination is one of the key virtues of the Lenten season
- Light is the great revealer.
-John 8:12; "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life."
-The Pharisees who may have had 20/20 vision can't see the truth. Jesus is the truth, in the flesh, and they were blind to it. But in the end the man born blind sees clearly. He can not only see Jesus, but he can see that Jesus is the Messiah.
-he had 20/20 spiritual vision
- The blind man-- not knowledge, but acknowledgment.
-We have to be willing to see with different eyes and hear with new ears the many ways God in Christ is manifesting God's
self in our daily lives and the world. This will require that we rethink our notions of the nature of God in Christ and our identities as Christians.
-"Spiritual spectacles" Rev. Karl Travis
- It is the nature of light to guide.
-During these Lenten days we draw closer to the day of greatest darkness - the day when darkness covered Jerusalem and the "Light of the World" was briefly extinguished. Yet, as John's gospel says, "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it."
-Are we willing to be changed for the sake of faith? Are we willing to see things as they are, not as we wish them to be?
-Epiphany means to behold the world or one's life in a new way, with new eyes. It is when something becomes clear to us in a way we have never seen or noticed before. New light can be shed on an old problem;
- The Community Church's Lost and Found. Who's lost and who's found????
-As Paul says in the epistle for today, "Live as children of light." (Eph. 5:8) In other words live like people who "get it". John Jewell
-The man was born blind so that God's works might be revealed in him. As a matter of fact that is why all of us are born; all of us are given life that the works of God might be revealed in us. James Forbes
QUOTES
-Amazing Grace, "was blind but now I see." Amazing indeed
--"The Lights Won't Come On If the Power Is Off" Rev. Alex Stevenson
-You cannot find wisdom if you look only through your human eyes...you must look through God's eyes..." Gibran
-The darkness has blinded his eyes
-Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. ML king
-There's nothing so blind as they who won't see.
-Jesus is the light in our darkness. M.Borg
-We are blind-sided to the Presence beside us and within us.
- I read somewhere, "Stop acting so good and start being a Christian." Could that apply to the Pharisees in Jesus' day? Could it apply to some people today? Stoffregen
- In a way the blind man "met Jesus for the first time." Borg
-What we see is determined by what is behind our eyes more than what is in front. lindy
-"None so blind as those who will not see."
- And I said to the one who stood at the gate of the year, "Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown." And she replied, "Go out into the darkness and put your hand in the hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way." Millie Louise Haskins, "God Knows," in Desert, 1908
-Some people have excellent eyesight but do not see further than their noses..
-One day a Christian and a Communist were sitting on a park bench watching the world go by. As they watched, a poor, drunken beggar walked by dressed in rags. The Communist pointed to the beggar and said, "Communism would put a new suit on that man!" To which the Christian responded, "Maybe so, but Jesus Christ can put a new man in that suit."
SERMON SUGGESTION "Blindness"
- We are like those who have eyes but cannot see. Poor vision
-Sometime our vision is too close. We see only that which is near to us. May we see the grand horizons , gain a greater perspective on things around us.
-Sometimes our vision cannot penetrate our own darkness. We refuse to change, to grow, to be transformed, to learn new ways.
-Sometimes our vision does not see past that which is physical. Past the secular. .the worldliness. find the spiritual which is hidden in and beyond the physical
-Sometimes what is behind our own eyes distorts what we see in front of our eyes. bigotries, hatreds, ignorance. There are things which are unfinished within us. We need healing
-Help us with our blindness. .open our eyes, open our windows that we might see what you have revealed to us. .that we might be
like they who “have eyes and see” Lindy
ILLUSTRATIONS
1.Psychologist say that people who live in Alaska have a much higher incidence of depression during the days of prolonged darkness than the average U.S. population. They call it Seasonal Affective Disorder. SAD for short. (How's that for an appropriate acronym?) One successful treatment is to sit under a natural light bulb for a certain time each day. The treatment also works for many depressed persons during the late fall and winter months when the days are shorter. In other words we need light!
2. Told that he was
farsighted, he asked his optometrist exactly what that meant.
"Well, technically, the optometrist replied, "it means that you focus
on infinity."
3.We all know what physical blindness is often a metaphor for a deeper malady. "I don't see what you're driving at," we may say. Or, "I can't imagine what she sees in him." Or, "He can't see what's right in front of his nose."
4.A young man came to my office not so long ago and poured out his heart. A self-admitted workaholic, he was increasingly distant from wife and children and his marriage was in jeopardy. He had gotten himself into a vicious circle whereby the harder he told himself he was working for the people he loved most, the further away from them he grew. I really did not have to say too much. He was rehearsing an inner dialogue in the presence of a trusted friend. His job had become an obsession and his efforts to gain all the things for his family that he never had as a child became an enemy of everything he loved most. He finally looked up at me and exclaimed, "I've lost sight of everything that matters most!" John Jewell
5. Six men of Indostan: Six men of Indostan went to see the elephant, (though all of them were blind). One felt the broad belly and said it was a wall. One felt the trunk and said it was a snake. One felt the tusk and said it was a spear. One felt the leg and said it was a tree. One felt the ear and said it was a fan. One felt the tail and said it was a rope. Though each was partly in the right, all were in the wrong.
HUMOR
-It has been suggested that the origins of denominations occurred when the healed blind men met each other. At first they were all excited about the miracle of sight that Jesus had given them, but as they talked about how Jesus had healed them, they began to discover some significant differences. For some, the healing came with simply a touch from Jesus (Mt 9:29; 20:34). Another proudly boasted that he had enough faith so that Jesus didn't have to touch him to perform the miracle (Mk 10:52). Another meekly exclaimed that Jesus not only touched him twice, but also "spit on his eyes" in order for him to see clearly (Mk 8:23). The final one really felt embarrassed to admit that even though a touch wasn't part of his healing, Jesus' "spit" wasn't enough. Jesus had mixed his saliva with dirt and put the mud on his eyes and then told him to go and wash in some pool of water (Jn 9:6-7). Since each one thought his healing was normal and better than the others, they divided into spittites and non-spittites; muddites and non-muddites; touchites and non-touchites. Denominationalism was born. Stoffregen
-Some people change their ways when they see the light, others only when they feel the heat.
- Parrot blindness: A magician was performing on board a luxury liner and was constantly interrupted by a parrot someone had in the audience. As luck would have it the ship had problems and sunk and the magician and the parrot ended up in the same life boat. The parrot stirred at the man for two days until the magician said, "What are you stirring at me for?" The parrot said, "I'm trying to figure out how you made the boat disappear."
-In the beginning there was nothing. God said, 'Let there be light!'
And there was light. There was still nothing, but you could see it a
whole lot better Ellen Degeneres
-You can't have a light without a dark to stick it in.
Arlo Guthrie
CHILDREN
-"To God Be the Glory," Charles Kirkpatrick, Sermons4kids.com. A wonderful story about the hymn writer Fanny Crosby who was blind. Wrote, Blessed Assurance, I am Thine O Lord, To God be the Glory, etc. Fits in perfectly with this weeks scripture
- Tell story:
· The cave heard a voice calling to it: "Come up into the light... come and see the sunshine. The cave replied: "I don't know what you mean; there isn't anything here but darkness." Finally the cave ventured forth and was surprised to see light all around. Looking up to the sun, the cave said: "Come with me and see my darkness." The sun agreed and entered the cave...."Now show me your darkness." But there was no darkness. (The light always overcomes the darkness)
PRAYER PHRASE
-Help us with our blindness ..open our eyes open our windows that we might see what you have revealed to us....that we might be
like they who “have eyes and see”. Lindy
-Finally, may we allow the light of Your Holy Spirit into the dark recesses of our spirits
-Benediction
Go from this place as children of light. Take the love
and comfort
of God with you wherever you go. God's goodness
and mercy shall
follow you and the light of the Lord will be upon your
path. Amen.
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SERMON
“ We are like those who have eyes but cannot see”. Oh God help us with our vision.
Sometime our vision is too close. We see only that which is near to us. May we see the grand horizons , gain a greater perspective on things around us.
Sometimes our vision cannot penetrate our own darkness. We refuse to change, to grow, to learn new ways.
Sometimes our vision does not see past that which is physical. Past the secular. .the worldliness. find the spiritual which is hidden in and beyond the physical
Sometimes what we see behind our own eyes distorts what we see in front of our eyes. bigotries, hatreds, ignorance. There are things which are unfinished within us.
Help us with our blindness. .open our eyes, open our windows that we might see what you have revealed to us. .that we might be
like they who “have eyes and see”.
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