Giving Up Enemies

GIVING UP ENEMIES

Well, today is the fourth Sunday in Lent and as usual, God being in control, has given us much to ponder. This is our fourth sermon in our series “Giving It Up,” which focuses on our Lenten theme of giving up something that we feel has control over our lives as a means of discipline, in order to encourage us to practice a more disciplined faith in our journey with God.

Today we are encouraged to recapture our humanity as we focus on giving up enemies since we are most human, and reflect the image of God more fully, when we love rather than hate. I started out by saying that God has given us much to ponder because we find ourselves isolated and out of sorts as the pandemic rages around us. In a nutshell, for many of us, this time could be categorized as one of the most trying times of our existence. 

Historically speaking, Martin Luther spoke of trying times during his initial spiritual training.  He said, "I myself am deeply indebted to my enemies that through the devil's raging they have beaten, oppressed, and distressed me so much. That is to say, they have made a fairly good Christian of me, which I would not have become otherwise."  What he meant was that when the Pope's people persecuted him, he had to study Scripture deeply in order to defend himself.  There were also times when it seemed that the whole world was against him.  Through this persecution God strengthened his faith.  He understood that he was a better Christian because of this persecution, or in another sense, because of his enemies.

In today’s reading we see a similar situation with the blind man whom Jesus heals. He also became a fairly good disciple of Christ because God's enemies persecuted him.  The persecution began at birth.  It was hard enough to grow up blind, but it was even harder to grow up believing that this disability was a sign of gross sin in the family, as this is what Jewish law taught.  When the disciples asked the question, "Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" they reminded this man of all the people who had told him that he was damaged goods, that either he or his parents must have committed some horrible sin. That the hardships he had faced were directly tied to some evil action. Just think of the various teaching rabbis who had come by with their disciples over the years speculating on the gross nature of the sin that caused this man's blindness.

And now along comes this Jesus fellow who has his own disciples to teach.  The blind man most certainly expected another guilt trip, but this rabbi was different.  He said, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life."  A little while later, this rabbi made some mud with his saliva and put it on the blind man's eyes.  Then he told the blind man to wash his eyes in the Pool of Siloam.  Suddenly, the blind man could see. Jesus had given him sight!

This might have been the end of the story if it weren't for one tiny detail.  Some Pharisees heard about the healing and they launched an investigation.  They called the man who had been born blind on the proverbial carpet and forced him to testify.  The Pharisees hoped to intimidate this man who had been blind and convince him not to follow Jesus.  You see this man's story caused a major contradiction in their Jewish law.

Remember, the Pharisees had hundreds of traditions or laws and according to these laws, making mud from saliva and dust was work.  This would be all right on an ordinary day, but John tells us that Jesus did this work on a Sabbath.  This would seem to indicate that Jesus was a sinner.  On the other hand, God obviously listened to Jesus and gave sight to the blind man.  This would seem to indicate that Jesus was not a sinner.  This contradiction really bothered the Pharisees.  They either had to resolve this contradiction or they had to change their way of thinking.

Here is where we see the Holy Spirit at work.  As the Pharisees applied all this pressure, the testimony of the man who had been blind only got bolder and stronger.  Listen to his reply at the start of the interrogation, "He put mud on my eyes, and I washed, and now I see."  This answer is as short as possible and it volunteers no additional information.  The Pharisees intimidate him. These are the people who have made his life miserable all the years he was blind. His enemies you might say, and he hopes that he can testify and go home.

He doesn't know it, but he is about to have another eye-opening experience.  You can almost see the wheels turning inside this man's head as the interrogation continues.  He perceives that these Pharisees are only human after all and he grows bold enough to contradict them.  "Whether he is a sinner or not, I don't know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!" Finally, at the end of the grilling, he begins preparing his first sermon.  "Now that is remarkable! You don't know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes.  We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will.  Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind.  If this man were not from God, he could do nothing." 

As we read the account of this interrogation, we see the control slip away from the Pharisees.  They had hoped to break this little beggar and get him back under their control, but God made him into a theological spokesman instead.  God had taken a blind beggar and made him into a spiritual David and these Pharisees were beginning to take stones between their spiritually blind eyes.  The Pharisees witness a miracle much greater than giving sight to the blind.  They are watching a faith grow and mature right before their eyes.  Ultimately, the Pharisees lost control and, with all the bluster they could muster, they expelled this man from the synagogue.

The man who had been born blind now understood that the Pharisees had no answers for him.  Their faith in a collection of man-made traditions could not save him.  His only hope was in the great prophet who had given sight to him.  It was then that this greatest of all prophets found him.  Jesus heard that the man was expelled and He found him in order to continue the work that He had started.  The Holy Spirit prepared this man's heart so that when Jesus asked him, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" he was ready to listen, "Who is he, sir?  Tell me so that I may believe in him."  Then Jesus revealed Himself with the words, "You have both seen him and the one who is speaking with you is he."  The man's faith took action as he confessed with his mouth and fell to his knees to worship the one who brought light to both his eyes and his soul.

So, what do we learn from this story?  Jesus himself provides the answer, "For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind." Yet another radical pronouncement from our Lord and Savior.

You would think that by now we would be very comfortable with the radical thoughts of Jesus but here we are again today faced with the idea of loving our enemies or giving up enemies as a way to strengthen our faith journeys. But, just as the man who had been born blind received much more than his sight from the savior so too might we if we allow the Holy Spirit to work in our hearts.  The blind man learned that Jesus was not just a prophet, but that he was the Lord of the prophets and even more. 

At times we too see hardship, illness and yes, even a pandemic, enter into our lives. It is times such as this that we need to slow down and allow the Holy Spirit in. We need to go about the business of loving others, yes even our enemies, and engage them in conversations of healing and grace. It would be easy for all of us to take the low road and blame others for what is going on in the world today, but the key, as Jesus teaches us, is to love those with whom we disagree, with whom we have conflict, and let them know they too are children of our God.  

There will be many trying times in the next few weeks and possibly months. We can be like the Pharisees and blame our “blindness” translated isolation, financial hardship, stress, upended lives, you fill in the blank, on perceived “enemies” or we can remember that we were created in God’s image and God is love, thus allowing these trying times or ‘enemies’ to transform us for the good. We must rise to the level of love that seeks to defeat evil, not the person or situation that is caught up in it. We begin to love our enemies, not because they are likeable, but because God loves them. And as we do, we begin to see them as God sees them and we find we are being transformed into the likeness of the one who loved us so much, he died so that we might be free from hatred and its consequences. Who knows, is it possible that along with transforming ourselves we might also transform our enemies? Might they just get a taste of the power of God’s transforming love through the extension of the Christ like love we can offer? The answer is of course, YES! Not just possible but probable. You see, when we as followers of Jesus Christ, make the decision to give up our enemies, we become disciples of Christ in more than name only. So, as we face the current situations in our lives, may we always remember we give up enemies by simply loving them and praying for them. AMEN.