This is fifth in the UCCDM Lenten Devotional 2014 Series. This reflection for the fourth Sunday in Lent comes from Rev. Jeanne Tyler, Vice Chair of UCCDM. Her bio is available on the Board of Director’s page.
John 9:1-41
It is a tense time for Jesus and his followers. Jesus has enemies who seek his death. They are on his trail; waiting for him to make a mistake, say an inappropriate remark, or act badly.
Jesus is known as a healer. He has the power of healing and offers healing. As Jesus is escaping a murderous plot, he is presented with a man born blind. Jesus is asked a question we ask even today. Who messed up, this man or his parents? Who can we blame because somebody is responsible? Somebody is always responsible for perfection made human; which is to say not perfect. Blemished by whom and why we seek to find the culprit.
Jesus healed the man by making clay out of his spit and the dirt on the ground and placed the clay on the man’s eyes. He then told the man to go and wash his eyes in a pool of water away from Jesus. The man gained his sight and came back but did not recognize the healer.
This is in some way guerrilla theatre with sighted men not recognizing a healer and a man who gained sight also not recognizing the healer. Is this about our compulsive need to make judgments about human form and what passes judgment and what does not? Are we willing to accept one another as we are?
O Holy One, we come to You with our judgments about who is human and why l he/she matters in the universe. You help us name ourselves as human as the one born blind. Amen
