I don’t know what it is like to be blind. I do know what it is like to not be able to “see” the way forward, to feel lost in an unknown space, to swallow back the fear of unseeable danger each time I venture out – I think you do, too.
My brother Bishop, Rev. Craig Satterlee, who is legally blind, points out that people whose eyes work come to believe that what they see with their eyes is all there is to see, therefore what they know is all that is important to know, therefore how they behave is the right way to behave. He, like Jesus in the Gospel of John, has learned to be suspicious of conclusions drawn from “sight.”
What is sight? It is simply the physiological process by which light bounces off an object, passes through the lens of the eye and is projected (upside down) on the little screen at the back of the eyeball – the retina. From there the optic nerve carries the signal generated by the projected image to the occipital portion of the brain which flips it right side up and sends it to other portions of the brain which try to determine if there is a story, a set of experiences, associated with that image. If not, nothing is registered; we do not “see” the image. The physical information coming into a working eyeball is infinite, and therefore the brain must ignore nearly all of it in order to be able to create a “story” a word, a memory, an idea for the tiny bit of information it can process.
And so, what we “see” ends up being based on what we’ve been told is there.
In the Gospel of John Jesus is working to get the disciples to “see” that there is a whole universe of happenings beyond what they have been told is there, that “there are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” (Hamlet Act 1, Scene 5, lines 167-168). There is a bigger, fuller, richer, more merciful story here, than the cramped little one we’ve been telling ourselves.
The cramped little story is warping our “sight” until we see other humans as only good or bad, guilty or not, friend or foe, safe or threatening, infected or “clean.” The cramped little story is warping our sight until we see everything that happens as either good for me or bad for me.
Our cramped little story is warping our sight to see that whatever happens, happens because we have made it so – by our good deeds or by our sins. It’s a puny story with an irrelevant god whose sole activity is to asses behavior then mete out rewards and punishments accordingly. In this weak little story humans, even and especially the religious ones, are the sole agents, the only ones whose activity matters. There is no god in this story.
Jesus is telling a different story – can we see it?
In Jesus’ story each moment is an occasion for the Glory of God to shine through. In Jesus’ story the hero is the one who allows herself to see something new. In Jesus’ story “blindness” is not a scourge, but a path to enlightenment. In Jesus’s story death is not only a shameful, brutal, unfortunate or tragic end, but also the gateway to new life. And because of this, life, in Jesus’s story, is not only something to be protected at all costs, but also something to be given away in love.
And so, what of our blindness in this moment, when the path ahead is not visible, and we grow fearful of what is unseen?
Our cramped little story would lead us to believe that it has to be someone’s fault. In Jesus’ story most happenings are a mystery, but all of them are an occasion for God to be God – for there to be mercy and compassion, revelation and yes, even miracle.
Our cramped little story would lead us to believe that it is only the end of the world as we know it. In Jesus’s story it is also birth of something new.
Our cramped little story would lead us to believe that the only heroes will be the ones who stop the bad things from happening. In Jesus’ story the heroes will be everyone who comes to see their neighbor and their God with new eyes: God seen through the lens of Jesus for this time and place.
Our cramped little story would lead us to expect no more than what we can pull off. Jesus’ story is calling us to expect God to show up in myriad and brilliant ways.
In John 9, the story goes that the man is born blind; it’s congenital, defining, shaping. In this story Jesus demonstrates that his touch upon our lives overcomes what is congenital, defining and shaping.
There can be a new story.
May the peace and the blessed touch of Jesus be upon you, my friend.
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