|
← Back to the List
March 2, 2008 - 7:30 am
The Rev. Canon Grant Carey
If this Fourth Sunday in Lent were to have a theme, that theme would surely be: "out of the darkness and into the light."
In his letter to the Christians in Ephesus - - new Christians who are struggling to discern their place in the world around them, Paul speaks both of their past and of their present:
"Once you were darkness, but now in the world you are light. Live as children of light - - for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true."
It is difficult for us to imagine the world of the First Century. People, of course, were not much different from us; we share many of the same hopes and fears, and joys and sorrows that they did. People, after all, are people regardless of the age in which they live. But the world they experienced was a far, far different world from what we know today. It was a world in which I would not want to live.
There were none of the things you and I have come to consider essential - automobiles, planes, newspapers, radio, television, medical knowledge. No wonder forty years was considered a ripe old age. Most people died before they were thirty.
And there was a tremendous amount of fear, especially fear of the unknown. Fear of death.
The first century was a time when life was ruled largely by superstition and ignorance.
Of course there were enlightened men and women, - - scholars, poets, philosophers; but by and large they were rare creatures in the first century Roman world in which "might made right."
The religious beliefs of the day also helped to fuel the ignorance of the people. The pantheon of gods and goddesses were not taken seriously by the intellectuals who used them mostly to enhance the power of the state. That is one reason why many Christians died horrible deaths; they would not sacrifice to the gods, especially the Emperor. who had proclaimed himself a god.
Because the Christians believed that there was only one God, the God made known to them in Christ, they were considered to be traitors to the state.
So what Paul found in Ephesus and elsewhere on his travels was a crippling superstition which fed on fear.
That is why the Gospel he proclaimed was welcomed in the pagan world. He told them things that they had never heard before. Instead of fear, Paul spoke of love; the love of God revealed in the life and death and resurrection of Jesus; he spoke of a love which overcame fear and ignorance and doubt; a love which enlightened the heart and the mind so that one need no longer walk in darkness.
What Paul taught in Ephesus is expressed in a graphic way in the Gospel for today.
Jesus and his disciples came upon a man who had been blind from birth, ... something not at all uncommon in that day.
There was a strong belief at that time that any physical adversity was the result of God's displeasure, ... that the inflicted person or someone in his family must have done something sinful.
What a dreadful way of think about God, but even today, there are those who believe that see God causes human suffering as a punishment for sin. And so it was not at all unusual for the disciples ask Jesus: "Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind."
Jesus immediately dispels their ignorance by saying that neither the man nor his parents had sinned, but rather that his affliction would reveal God's power to heal not only the blind man, but to give light to all who were blind to the truth of God's loving purpose in the world.
Isn't it interesting that although Jesus restored the man's sight, many of those who witnessed this miracle denounced him for what he did.
The point of both of these lessons is that Jesus is the giver of light and the restorer of sight.
The world is overcrowded with people who are blind and do not know it ... whose sight it limited by fear and doubt, prejudice and negativism.
But Jesus, is still present as the Light of the Word and the giver of sight to the blind. He is present in your life and mine. He asks only that we open ourselves to him in confidence and faith, that he may give us the gift of vision and hope, courage and strength.
Many years ago Arturo Toscannini, one of the greatest orchestra conductors the world has ever known, was invited to conduct Beethoven's Sixth. The orchestra was made up of professional musicians. They knew the music and had played it many times, but had never before been led by Toscannini.
In rehearsal, by the end of the first movement, the members of the orchestra were completely captivated by their leader. They played the music as if it were something entirely new. And when they finished the last movement, and the maestro laid down his baton, the members of the orchestra rose to their feet in applause.
Finally, when the applause ceased, he said to the orchestra: "That was not Toscannini, that was Beethoven. You just never heard him before,"
This, I think, helps explain what Jesus did that day long ago, and what he does today. He gives us the sight to see life as God intended it - - and in ways we have never seen it before.
|