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The Seeing Servant

Pastor Jeremy Schultz
April 3, 2011

Think about all the famous blind people whose names you know! Stevie Wonder, Helen Keller, Louis Braille. Each one - incredibly gifted! Stevie Wonder is arguably the most accomplished musician and entertainer of our lives! He's got all the hits and all the Grammys to back it up! Helen Keller was a celebrated author, activist and lecturer of the late 19th and 20th century, who is even immortalized on the Alabama state quarter. Louis Braille was only three when he accidentally stabbed himself in the eye with an awl. Of course he went on to invent the system of raised dots enabling blind people around the world to read. Each of these people overcame a significant handicap to achieve greatness and because they did, we know their names! But most of the blind and any of the disabled, for that matter, live their lives in relative isolation and obscurity. Take the man in today's story.

Blind from birth, he had none of the visual memories of a person who lost their eyesight later in life. When he dreamt, it was not with pictures, but only with details familiar to him: smells, sounds and feelings. He had never seen his mother's smile, a red rose blushing or cotton candy clouds. He never turned the page of a book. He had never sat in school. His childhood was lived in relative seclusion. Nobody invited the boy and his parents to dinner parties. In fact, every decision they ever made for him was judged by others. His blindness was a source of deep sadness and guilt, for everyone agreed it could only be the result of a curse from God. And so we find him in our text all grown up - and all alone.

Most people who passed by had never looked into his china white eyes, but with casual indifference merely observed, “He's the one who sits there and begs.” Yes, he sits. Alone. With a tin cup in his hand holding a few small, rattling coins. With legs askew, with his white cane propped up beside him he sits day after day.

But on this day, Jesus and His disciples are near. And the work of God is about to be displayed in his life. For you see, while everyone else simply casts this blind man aside as one cursed by God, Jesus draws near. He puts mud on the man's eyes. He tells him to go wash in the pool of Siloam. And the man obeys. After all, he's only blind. He's not paralyzed. For his whole life he's had to figure out how to get from one place to another, thank you very much. Only this time, while washing at that ancient spring that used to lie outside of the city in the days of Hezekiah, the man could suddenly see!

Now he's running - back up that hill toward the gate where he once sat. Smeared across his face was this silly grin. And he kept repeating, “I once was blind, but now I see!” “I once was blind, but now I see!” He touched everyone he ran past. He made sure they were looking right at him. He shook their shoulders and giggled with glee then turned to the next. “I once was blind but now I see!” It is easily the greatest thing that has ever happened! But it would be short-lived.

Arguments quickly erupted all around him. Since no one had ever really noticed the man before, the crowd was divided over whether he was really the same person! And since they couldn't determine an answer, they brought him to the Pharisees. However their interest lay mostly with the identity of Jesus and who He thought He was healing somebody on the Sabbath. Ironically, the seeing man couldn't understand how they could be so blind! Everybody knew that God doesn't listen to sinners. If this man were not from God, then he could do nothing!

It was bold and daring, the kind of courage that normally rallies support. But nobody and I mean nobody stepped in to help. Not even the man's parents! Everybody was afraid. The man was left alone again. Left alone with his testimony about the man they call Jesus. Left alone to face the consequences. With the courage of his new found conviction, he stood up under their scrutiny and their eventual verdict. But in the end, the man was expelled from the synagogue.

Now, again, he really was alone. He would again never be invited to a home for dinner. He would never be offered a job. His presence in public worship would never be requested. He'd probably not even be able to beg...for no one would support him. For the first time in his life, he knew what it was like to be looking through tears. Blushing red roses may as well be stomped under foot...cotton candy clouds? Who needs 'em? And you can forget about that mother's smile. Now, he'd really never see her face again! But just then, Jesus reappears, and again turns things around.

“Do you believe in the Son of Man?” Jesus asked. The man pondered the question for a moment. Believe it or not, it was the first time anybody had ever even cared to ask! He looked up and studied the man's face...that he had never before seen. He looked at the man's hands...they appeared strong enough to sand wood and soft enough to smear mud. His voice sounded familiar. He thought again about the question. Sinners didn't stand a chance of seeing God. He had been born under a curse. Now he had been kicked out of the fellowship! What chance did he have? Still...as if awaking from a dream, he replied, “If only someone would tell me who he is, sir...then yes, I would believe!” Jesus looked into those deep dark eyes and said, “You have seen Him. In fact, He is the One speaking to you.” “Lord...I believe.” He cried. No, he sobbed. The man was now bleary-eyed with tears of joy streaming down His face. “Lord, I believe!” he said with growing conviction and he fell down and worshipped at Jesus' feet. He didn't check any rule book. He didn't know if there were any rules. He just did what came naturally. It was truly a moving spectacle for anyone who has eyes to see. And I imagine that as Jesus eventually went on his way, this man waved at him and kept on waving until Jesus finally disappeared out of sight.

The marginalized and forgotten ones are all around us. The aged grandmother, losing both sight and sound, who rarely gets out of bed or sees her grandchildren. The man who “rudely” ties a bicycle to the tree, but has no other means of transportation. The mentally impaired church member who is avoided at all the potlucks. They live their lives in relative obscurity and isolation. These and others like them are not often loved. They are often despised. These are sometimes invisible, to us, who are often too blind or too offended to see. But God sees them. He loves them. And He has come to shine the light of the Gospel upon them.

Today, He also sees and loves you. He sees and loves you even though through your cloudy vision you have failed to see what they feel and see every day in their hearts. That we're all under a curse. That our sinfulness and shame has led us to the very gate of hell where no amount of begging could ever change our condition. Abandoned. Cast out. Utterly forsaken and alone. But God sees you. He sees your china white, blinded spiritual eyes, and He has come to give you sight - that the works of Jesus might be displayed in your life.

Jesus' inaugural sermon in His own hometown quotes the Messianic work described by Isaiah. “He has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. To proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind. And does Jesus EVER cause us to see! He caused Nicodemus to see the lifting up of Jesus on the cross. He caused Martha to see Him rising from the dead. He stands before you with hands rough enough to be pierced yet smooth enough to bless. And He forgives you for all your sins. Well this sight now changes everything!

Suddenly we also have a testimony to share. We touch everyone we see. We go from person to person, grabbing their shoulders, then turning to the next. “I once was blind but now I see!” “I once was blind but now I see!” And not only do we see Jesus. But now we see our neighbor and her need. And not only do we see her, but we see the isolated Grandma, the forgotten homeless, the quirky person in the pew. Oh, and not only do we see them. But we SEE them. We SEE them like Jesus does, who loves, who heals, who forgives. We go to them. We befriend the. We help them see Jesus, the Light of the World. We help others see the glorious Gospel of God in the face of Christ. As it was for the Blind Man, so it is for us. And that's the sermon on the Seeing Servant. Amen.