1 Samuel 16: 1-13; John 9: 1-25
by Rev. Carson Overstreet
Van Wyck Presbyterian Church
March 26, 2017
Fourth Sunday in Lent
The Lord said to Samuel, ‘How long will you grieve over Saul? I have rejected him from being king over Israel. Fill your horn with oil and set out; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons.’ Samuel said, ‘How can I go? If Saul hears of it, he will kill me.’ And the Lord said, ‘Take a heifer with you, and say, “I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.” Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do; and you shall anoint for me the one whom I name to you.’ Samuel did what the Lord commanded, and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet him trembling, and said, ‘Do you come peaceably?’ He said, ‘Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord; sanctify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice.’ And he sanctified Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.
When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, ‘Surely the Lord’s anointed is now before the Lord.’ But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.’ Then Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. He said, ‘Neither has the Lord chosen this one.’ Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, ‘Neither has the Lord chosen this one.’ Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel, and Samuel said to Jesse, ‘The Lord has not chosen any of these.’ Samuel said to Jesse, ‘Are all your sons here?’ And he said, ‘There remains yet the youngest, but he is keeping the sheep.’ And Samuel said to Jesse, ‘Send and bring him; for we will not sit down until he comes here.’ He sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and had beautiful eyes, and was handsome. The Lord said, ‘Rise and anoint him; for this is the one.’ Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the presence of his brothers; and the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward. Samuel then set out and went to Ramah. - 1 Samuel 16: 1-13
As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’ Jesus answered, ‘Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.’ When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man’s eyes, saying to him, ‘Go, wash in the pool of Siloam’ (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see. The neighbours and those who had seen him before as a beggar began to ask, ‘Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?’ Some were saying, ‘It is he.’ Others were saying, ‘No, but it is someone like him.’ He kept saying, ‘I am the man.’ But they kept asking him, ‘Then how were your eyes opened?’ He answered, ‘The man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and said to me, “Go to Siloam and wash.” Then I went and washed and received my sight.’ They said to him, ‘Where is he?’ He said, ‘I do not know.’
They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. Now it was a sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. Then the Pharisees also began to ask him how he had received his sight. He said to them, ‘He put mud on my eyes. Then I washed, and now I see.’ Some of the Pharisees said, ‘This man is not from God, for he does not observe the sabbath.’ But others said, ‘How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?’ And they were divided. So they said again to the blind man, ‘What do you say about him? It was your eyes he opened.’ He said, ‘He is a prophet.’
The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight and asked them, ‘Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?’ His parents answered, ‘We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; but we do not know how it is that now he sees, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.’ His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus to be the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. Therefore his parents said, ‘He is of age; ask him.’
So for the second time they called the man who had been blind, and they said to him, ‘Give glory to God! We know that this man is a sinner.’ He answered, ‘I do not know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.’ - John 9: 1-25
Alicia’s first obstacle was crawling on elbows and knees through a trenched pool of mud and then climbing a fifteen foot curved wall covered in mud and grease. Once she scaled the wall with help from new friends an exploration course of self-discovery was set before her. As soon as she came in contact with the mud she thought, “O Lord, what have I gotten myself into?”
What began as an uncomfortable and crazy situation has now helped to redefine Alicia’s sense of being. She has since competed in three Tough Mudders and they have completely changed her life. With every competition and challenge comes an opportunity for Alicia to overcome with a hidden strength she didn’t realize she had. Sometimes the hardest challenges bring her to tears. They remind her of the fears, trials, and failures she has endured in life and what it takes to overcome them.
Alicia says the Tough Mudder competitions train her mind to pay attention to her immediate surroundings in a way she never has before. They push her to focus on new ways her body, mind, and spirit need to respond in order to overcome the next obstacle. She even has a new motto that now guides her outlook: mud, sweat, and tears are the grit of life.
The disciples were given an opportunity to see a defining moment in another’s life. The twelve were following their Teacher’s lead in their community of Galilee. Jesus was opening their eyes to see and experience things they never had before.
As Jesus walked along, he saw a man who had been blind since birth. (Click the link to watch the dramatization of this scene from John's Gospel). Those in the community of Galilee simply saw the man as a beggar and probably walked past him day after day without much notice. But Jesus saw something different. He saw a fellow brother who needed an opportunity to receive the hidden power of God’s grace.
As Jesus’ hands touched the man’s face with mud, the very hands of the Creator were reshaping and redefining this man into God’s new creation. And as the man obeyed Jesus’ command to wash in the pool, his eyes were opened to a moment that forever changed his life. That man left the pool of Siloam and was sent to share his story of God’s amazing grace.
This man’s proclamation “I once was blind and now I see” (John 9:25) has become a refrain of faith passed down throughout the generations of our spiritual ancestors. As you and I encounter Christ, the eyes of our hearts become more opened to see in new and surprising ways too.
The gift of grace through faith opens us to see ourselves as more than what we have been before. We notice God taking the threads of our lives and weaving them into the fabric of community. With each stitch we feel the joy of acceptance and being connected to something bigger than ourselves. We experience the muscles of our faith growing stronger as we face each challenge in life. And as our hearts become redefined we struggle to articulate the ways in which Jesus has made a difference in our lives, just like the man who gained his sight.
Our encounters with Christ can certainly be reassuring as God draws near to us. But if we are really honest about it, we encounter Christ in really uncomfortable and messy ways too. And those are the times we recognize that the grit of life really does come from moments of mud, sweat, tears.
Jesus Christ takes us places that move us out of our comfort zones.
They may be places in our households where we are struggling to deal with the unexpected change that splatters in our faces.
Those zones may be the trampled down places in our own community that we have simply passed by. We either don’t want to get dirty or we have passed by the “other side of town” so many times that we never intersect a different experience of struggle from our own.
Those discomfort zones might even be places on a mission trip where a different culture or context begins a hard conversation to honestly struggle and expand our perceptions of poverty, ethnicity, race, and life experience. It challenges us to gain a new perspective to see past our differences and into what we hold in common. We are all sisters and brothers in the greater family of God.
One church member shared with me this week that he has encountered Christ in nudges. Even though those nudges make him uncomfortable, he keeps drawing close to God and coming to church because he knows God will truly open his eyes for him to see his greater purpose at just the right time.
Another church member shared with me that her encounters with Christ have been like drops that slowly fill a bucket to where it reaches a tipping point. As the bucket turns over and floods her heart, her eyes become a little more opened and it makes her go, “Aaaahhhhh! That’s what God needs me to see differently right now.”
Parker Palmer, an author and teacher of faith, says: “[Muddy ground] holds the seedbed for rebirth. I love the fact that the word ‘humus,’ the decayed organic matter that feeds the roots of plants, comes from the same word-root that gives rise to ‘humility.’ It is a [rich vocabulary] in which I find forgiveness, blessing, and grace. It reminds me that the humiliating events of life – events that leave ‘mud on my face’ or ‘make my name mud’ can create fertile soil that nourishes our growth.”
The season of Lent is training our hearts, minds and bodies to pay attention to our immediate surroundings in new ways. These immediate surroundings are the trenches and seed beds for rebirth. You and I are Jesus’ disciples and he is seeking to lead us into situations where our faith needs to be nourished.
In order to grow, nourishment often comes about in the mud and muck of life. As we follow in Jesus’ steps we might even hear ourselves saying, “O Lord, what are you getting me into?!?”But our hearts need opportunities to be humbled and to respond to trials and challenges with new found obedience and agility.
Jesus Christ is inviting you and me to follow in his steps so that our faith may seek understanding through life’s exploration course of self and communal discovery. God always looks past the surface levels of our lives that we want to look clean, untouched, and perfect by human standards.
But God is not interested in the way life appears or at least in the way we would rather life appear. God is more interested in looking on the heart. And sometimes we have to get neck deep in the muddy parts of life in order for God to redefine our being. After all, that is the heart of the matter.
Jesus Christ looks into our own hearts, our families, our communities, and the wider world and sees his fellow sisters and brothers who need opportunities to experience the hidden strength of God’s grace. And grace is God's love in action which moves through our lives to shape us more into the likeness and the example of Christ. As you and I experience Christ redefining our hearts, the hope is that our encounters with Christ will leave you and I changed – no matter how reassuring or uncomfortable they are.
What is at stake for Spiritual Boot Camp is that we cannot go through the tough mudders of faith with Jesus, wash the mud off, and just go on living the same way we did before.
What is the mud in your life? What uncomfortable situation is Jesus using to touch and change your life? What does Christ want to open the eyes of your heart and mine to see?
In the name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Sources Referenced:
Sermon Theme and Title adapted from "A Preacher's Guide to Lectionary Sermon Series: Thematic Plans for Years A, B, and C (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2016), p. 21, Sermon Theme "Boot Camp for the Soul," by Winnie Varghese.
[1] Parker Palmer, “Spring Is Mud and Miracle,” On Being Blog, March 29, 2016
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