Lent Exercises: See - A Reflection on Healing and Identity
Snow was coming down hard. I was standing on the sidewalk of the mostly abandoned strip mall shouting. The man ahead of me stepped into the snow. “Dad…” I called out, “where are you going?” He called back, “who the F*#@ are you to tell me what to do?”
The cold snow blew in my face causing me to squint. A single icy tear squeezed out of my right eye.
“I’m the son of an alcoholic!” I shot back as he wandered further into the snow. “You hear me… you’re an alcoholic… and you think I have problems.”
This was a low point in a complicated relationship that took years to heal. Still, whenever I reflect on John 9, I’m viscerally reminded of being a 14-year-old standing in the snow.
John 9 is the story of a man who’d been born blind, but received his sight when Jesus placed mud on his eyes and sent him to wash it off. There are two theological tension points in the story that lead to conflict. The man receives his sight on the Sabbath after Jesus made mud and the man washed. (Both activities were prohibited on the Sabbath by religious leaders because they were considered work.). Jesus’ healing confronts this perspective. His “work” invites the religious leaders to see an act of healing and celebrate God’s restoration. That they can’t see it, except as a problem reveals their spiritual blindness.
The second theological tension point is the assumption that the man’s blindness, particularly his being born blind, had something to do with his sin. The disciples ask Jesus whether the blind man, or his parents sinned to cause him to be born blind. After hearing the man’s testimony about Jesus and his restored sight, they say, “You were born entirely in sins, and you’re trying to teach us!”
This last line that brings me back to that cold night.
In formal debate this kind of response is called ad hominem, (at the man). It’s a powerful (and painful) way of changing the subject. When this happens, my first response is to be angry, defensive, and respond in kind. As you can see above. But Jesus’ way is different.
Jesus explains that the man was born blind so that the works of God might be revealed in him. Blindness is not sin or punishment. This man, seeing or unseeing, shares the same call as every human being; to reflect God’s work. You and I are called to reflect God’s works. The truest thing about us is not our sin, traumas, or vulnerabilities. We can know God. We can reflect God’s work.
Neither Jesus nor the man respond to the personal attack in kind. The sign and testimony are for the very people who respond harshly. It is an invitation to see, to recognize, to have life.
The way of Jesus liberates me from the need to protect myself or lash out. It can even transform a traumatic experience into a space for reflection.
What healing or restoration do you need from Jesus today?
How do you respond to the idea that the truest thing about you is your capacity to know God and reflect his works?
What is Jesus inviting you to “see” today?