March 2, Fourth Sunday in Lent

Lesson: 1 Samuel 16.1-13; Ephesians 5.6-14

Sermon Title: When the Blind See or X-ray Vision

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INTRODUCTION:

  1. There is an old story about Sherlock Holmes and Watson who went on a camping and hiking trip. (1)

They set up their tent and went to bed.

After a while Holmes was lying in bed looking up at the sky.

Holmes woke up Watson and said: "Watson, look up. What do you see?"

"I see thousands of stars," Watson replied.

"And what does that mean to you?" Holmes asked.

"Well, I guess it means we will have another nice day tomorrow. What does it mean to you, Holmes?" replied Watson.

Holmes replied, "To me, it means someone has stolen our tent."

    1. One person saw the reality.

    2. The other person did not notice anything missing.

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MAIN BODY

  1. There is an old expression: "He couldn't see beyond the end of his nose." (Of course this applies to her as well.)

    1. If you cannot see beyond the end of your nose, you think so much about yourself and what affects you that you do not see what is really important.

      1. For the individual what is currently seen in important.

      2. What is not seen, nor understood, may also be very important, or even more important.

    2. Blindness is not only a physical disability, it can be a mental disability as well.

The old image of sleepwalkers is like that from Abbott and Costello comedies - walking right-angles, with arms stretched straight out in front. True sleepwalkers have no telltale signs. They could be walking, running, lying down. Usually the only indication are wide-open, dilated eyes.

In Macbeth is Shakespeare's portrayal of the sleepwalking Lady Macbeth:

[Enter LADY MACBETH, with a taper]

Gentlewoman: Lo you, here she comes! This is her very guise; and, upon my life, fast asleep. Observe her; stand close.

Doctor: How came she by that light?

Gentlewoman: Why, it stood by her: she has light by her continually; 'tis her command.

Doctor: You see, her eyes are open.

Gentlewoman: Ay, but their sense is shut.

  1. In 1 Samuel 16:1-13 (NRSVA) is an example of the necessity for sight and sense.

    1. 1The LORD said to Samuel, "How long will you grieve over Saul? I have rejected him from being king over Israel. Fill your horn with oil and set out; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons."

    2. 2Samuel said, "How can I go? If Saul hears of it, he will kill me."

    3. And the LORD said, "Take a heifer with you, and say, 'I have come to sacrifice to the LORD.' 3Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do; and you shall anoint for me the one whom I name to you."

    4. 4Samuel did what the LORD commanded, and came to Bethlehem.

      1. The elders of the city came to meet him trembling, and said, "Do you come peaceably?"

      2. 5He said, "Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the LORD; sanctify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice."

    5. And he sanctified Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.

      1. 6When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, "Surely the LORD'S anointed is now before the LORD."

        1. 8Then Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. He said, "Neither has the LORD chosen this one."

        2. 9Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, "Neither has the LORD chosen this one."

      2. 10Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel, and Samuel said to Jesse, "The LORD has not chosen any of these."

      3. 11Samuel said to Jesse, "Are all your sons here?" And he said, "There remains yet the youngest, but he is keeping the sheep."

      4. And Samuel said to Jesse, "Send and bring him; for we will not sit down until he comes here."

      5. 12He sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and had beautiful eyes, and was handsome.

        1. The LORD said, "Rise and anoint him; for this is the one."

        2. 13Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the presence of his brothers; and the spirit of the LORD came mightily upon David from that day forward.

      6. Samuel initially looked at appearance and the size, and comeliness of the candidate for the monarchy.

        1. God had other criteria by which he would establish the king.

        2. 7But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the LORD does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart."

In Sholem Asch's novel The Nazarene, (2) a blind man mocks the miracles and teachings of Jesus, even though he could have been healed if he would have asked.

Jesus remarks, in response to his blindness, What shall it avail one to be made seeing with the eyes and have the heart remain blind?

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  1. This brings us to an incident in the life of Jesus that bears directly on the sermon title and precis for today.

    1. Blindness is not only a physical disability, it can be a mental block that prevents insight. God desires us to see and to see.

    2. It is found in the story of the man who was born blind in John 9.

1As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" 3Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God's works might be revealed in him. 4We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. 5As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world." 6When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man's eyes, 7saying to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see.

      1. The neighbors were skeptical.

8The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar began to ask, "Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?" 9Some were saying, "It is he." Others were saying, "No, but it is someone like him." He kept saying, "I am the man." 10But they kept asking him, "Then how were your eyes opened?" 11He 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." 12They said to him, "Where is he?" He said, "I do not know."

      1. The Pharisees Investigate the Healing

13They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. 14Now 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." 16Some 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. 17So 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."

      1. The parents are interrogated.

18The 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 19and asked them, "Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?" 20His parents answered, "We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; 21but 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." 22His 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. 23Therefore his parents said, "He is of age; ask him."

      1. A Second Time The Pharisees Investigate the Healing

24So 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." 25He answered, "I do not know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see." 26They said to him, "What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?" 27He 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?" 28Then they reviled him, saying, "You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. 29We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from." 30The man answered, "Here is an astonishing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. 31We know that God does not listen to sinners, but he does listen to one who worships him and obeys his will. 32Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. 33If this man were not from God, he could do nothing." 34They answered him, "You were born entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us?" And they drove him out.

      1. Jesus Assures the Man Who Had Been Born Blind.

35Jesus heard that they had driven him out, and when he found him, he said, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" 36He answered, "And who is he, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him." 37Jesus said to him, "You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he." 38He said, "Lord, I believe." And he worshiped him.

      1. The Pharisee's are found to be Spiritually Blind.

39Jesus said, "I came into this world for judgment so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind." 40Some of the Pharisees near him heard this and said to him, "Surely we are not blind, are we?" 41Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, 'We see,' your sin remains.

    1. John Tintera, "A prophet sings the blues," writes: "In the [Bob Dylan] song, 'When the Deal Goes Down,' we see the prophet as a vulnerable traveler, lost like Dante in the deep forest of night": (3)

In the still of the night, in the world's ancient light
Where wisdom grows up in strife
My bewildering brain, toils in vain
Through the darkness on the pathways of life…
We live and we die, we know not why…
God speaks this to the bewildered pilgrim:
I'll be with you when the deal goes down.

      1. "What's "the deal" going down?

        1. It is mortality and death. Cancer, heart disease, plane crashes, terrorism and the threat of nuclear holocaust.

        2. Preachers and prophets don't speak of death as "the deal," but old blues men do.

        3. In the plain and repetitive tones of the blues, Dylan has rediscovered a mode of speaking that enables him to communicate not with irony but rather with the authority of the prophet spreading his message of God's undying love for all times and for all people."

      2. This why Paul writes the way he does in Ephesians 5.8-14.

        1. Live as children of light--9for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true.

        2. 10Try to find out what is pleasing to the Lord.

        3. 11Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. 12For it is shameful even to mention what such people do secretly; 13but everything exposed by the light becomes visible, 14for everything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says,

"Sleeper, awake!
Rise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you."

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CONCLUSION:

  1. There once was a starfish that lived in the ocean. (4)

"Pardon me," he said to the whale. "Could you tell me where I can find the sea?"

"You're already in the sea," replied the whale. "It's all around you."

"This?" replied the starfish. "This is just the ocean. I'm looking for the sea."

The frustrated starfish swam away to continue searching for the sea.

"Look no further," yelled the wise old whale after him. "Seaing is a matter of seeing!"

  1. Do you see?

Amen!

1. Source unknown

2. J. Walter Cross, The Magnetism of the Unseen, Bradenton, Fla.

3. John Tintera, "A prophet sings the blues," Explorefaith.org Web site, www.explorefaith.org.

4. Glen Martin, Beyond the Rat Race (Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 1995), 165-166.

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