[This is a recast of a sermon given three years ago. But it was, once again, what I wanted to say, so with a few tweaks, here it is]
+Theologian Rick Morley refers to the story of the Man Blind since birth as the "Dirt n' spit n' love Gospel." He's right, it is a dirt n spit n love Gospel...written about a dirt n spit n love savior who established this, our dirt n spit n love faith.
Being Christian is far from neat and tidy. It's a messy business following this Savior of ours, the one born in a barn, the one who violated the mores of the day, who pushed the temple authorities to their limit, who got down in the dirt and the spit of life in order to show that everyone, everywhere, forever, is loved. Ours is a very real, very accessible, very dirty, messy and muddy faith.
That’s been the message these past few Sundays, that without the dirt ‘n spit ‘n love of God as given to us through Jesus Christ, we don’t live, we simply exist. Without the dirt ‘n spit ‘n love of God our eyes may be open but we don’t really see. Without the dirt’n spit ‘n love of God we may hear the noise, but never listen to the message. That without the dirt ‘n spit ‘n love of God our thirst—no matter how much we drink-- will never be quenched.
Today, John continues this message of dirt n spit n love with the story of the blind man who is healed on the Sabbath.
As Jesus is walking along he sees the blind man, he notices him. The man isn’t asking for healing, he isn’t, as far as we know, drawing any attention to himself. Nothing we read today tells us that this man, in any way, was seeking Jesus out. All we know is that Jesus, realizing it’s a healing moment… a teaching moment … a ministry moment, takes action-- regardless of the fact that it’s the Sabbath, a day no observant Jew worth his salt would be doing anything akin to work—. There’s healing to do and love to spread, and Jesus didn't care what day it was.
Now Jesus could have healed the man without the mud and the washing ……all he needed to do was say the word and the man would have been healed…..but for Jesus, it wasn't about the healing of one, it's about the healing of all. And so Jesus and his companions stop.
The disciples immediately step in it by asking a numbskull question about whose sin caused this man’s blindness---as if any of us deserve to be blind, or deaf, or disabled in any way! Instead of rebuking them directly for assuming that God is some sort of spiteful hateful Deity—Jesus says, “watch, listen, and learn. What I'll do for this man I'll do for everyone. "
Through the love of God, as given to us in Jesus Christ all of us, everyone, everywhere, will be cured of blindness, all of us, everyone everywhere who are lost will be found, and all of us, everyone and everywhere who are thirsty will be quenched with living water. And that all of us, everyone and everywhere who feel unlovable will, indeed, be loved.
So Jesus prepares his healing paste, with dirt ‘n spit ‘n love, slathers it on the man's eyes and lo and behold, after a quick wash, the man can see!! Of course, the dirt didn’t heal him. It wasn’t the mud, it wasn’t even Jesus’ touch, or the man’s desire ….it was something else.
Something unquantifiable and indescribable.
What happened was beyond the blind man’s comprehension, it was beyond his neighbors’ comprehension, it’s beyond our comprehension.
And for Jesus, that’s the point—it’s not about practicing religion in a certain "right way." It’s not about crossing the t's of our faith and dotting the "i's". It's about moving from simple belief to deep knowing. It’s about that shift from simply professing faith to living it: lock, stock and barrel.
That transition, that transformation requires something more than dirt, something more than spit and something even more than love. It requires grace. Amazing, miraculous and incredible Grace.
The miracle of the man who once was blind and now could see, the miracle of that dirt n spit n love of God that Jesus formed into a healing paste was in a word, Grace.
Grace--it’s what’s been coursing through our readings these past few weeks. An amazing, limitless, grace.
It’s what gave Nicodemus the courage to go and see Jesus, it’s what gave the woman at the well a voice to be heard, a strength to convert those who once shunned her. It’s what caused Jesus to see the blind man, it’s what carried the man to the pool to be washed free of darkness, to be bathed in light.
It’s what makes firefighters run into a burning building, it’s what led Keith Palmer, a Parliament police officer, to stand between a knife-wielding lunatic and the people Keith had sworn to protect, it’s what makes all first responders go toward disaster while everyone else runs from it.
It’s what allows us to forgive those who’ve hurt us so deeply, it’s what compels us to reach to out to those with less, it’s what peaks the longing we feel for justice, what makes us fight for causes others have long forgotten, what keeps you working to make this church—your church…Grace church—a place of healing and hope for all who enter.
It’s what makes us be better people than we ever thought we could be.
It’s called Grace.
It takes us from blindness to sight, from wretchedness to worthiness, from darkness to light, from lost to found.
The work of God, the work of Jesus, is full of the dirt ‘n spit ‘n love that leads us to Amazing Grace.
A grace which when we believe it, when we trust it, when we embrace it, always leads us home.
Amen.
[Please stand and turn to Hymn 671.]
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