Trinity Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

Sermons 

The gospel of John is full of this image

of Jesus being the light.

Even at the very beginning of the gospel,

where John talks about

the Word becoming flesh and living among us,

he also says,

"in him was life,

and the life was the light of the world."

John describes Jesus as

"the true light that enlightens everyone."

But, "the world knew him not."

Even his own people, says John, did not receive him.

But there were a few who did …

who welcomed him, and came to know him,

and themselves received power to become children of God.

And that’s really where this story

of the man born blind begins,

and where it ends.

We must invite the light of the world

into our lives.

Christ doesn’t just show up uninvited

and take up residence in us.

He doesn’t force himself,

or his ways, upon us.

We must allow him to come to us,

and then he will do so, gladly.

Now sometimes, perhaps always,

Christ will take the initiative.

Will let us know that he is there and waiting,

if we choose to make the invitation.

After all, he healed the blind man

without being asked to do so.

But then he waited,

until at the very end of the story,

the man believes and accepts Jesus Christ

and lets the full strength of that light into his life.

While the Pharisees who were standing by

had the same opportunity,

but instead chose to remain in the darkness,

trapped by their blindness.

… Does that sound like anybody you know?!

Doesn’t it seem easier sometimes

to stay with the familiar

and by now comfortable darkness,

than it is to venture out

into the unknown light?

Some days it just feels better

to stick with our old blindness,

than to receive illumination and to learn the truth,

and then have to do something about it.

We’re human, after all.

I’d bet that each one of us here

has at least one or two things in our past, or present,

that we don’t want the light to shine on!

There are some things we would like to keep

covered up, dark and secret,

hidden away, even from God.

That’s a battle we have to fight ourselves,

but let me say this about it:

Somewhere along the way, we do find out

that the light of Jesus Christ

is a warming and healing light,

not a threatening and condemning glare.

Now once we have decided

to welcome the light into our lives,

it may not come right away,

and it may not come all at once.

For some people, it happens all at once

and their lives are suddenly and permanently changed.

Think about the apostle Paul on the road to Damascus:

One moment he is out traveling about persecuting Christians,

and the next moment, boom! he is one.

For others or us,

being born again, born anew, is a slower, day-by-day,

lifelong process.

For the man born blind,

his enlightenment came in phases.

First he was literally, physically,

healed of his blindness.

Then, when he first spoke with the Pharisees,

he was beginning to understand a little, in his head,

what had happened:

"This man healed me,

therefore he must be a prophet."

The second time he comes before them,

he goes even a little farther:

"This man is from God."

And finally, when he sees Jesus again,

his heart catches up with his head,

and he worships him;

he offers himself as a disciple.

So too, when we invite the Light to be part of our life,

it may not come like the sudden switching-on of a spotlight …

It may be more like a slow and peaceful sunrise,

one or two rays at a time.

But be prepared for either way!

There’s another interesting thing that happens

at the very beginning of this story about the blind man.

Jesus’ disciples see the man, and they ask Jesus,

"Why was this man born blind?

Is it because he sinned,

or because his parents sinned?"

And Jesus says to them,

that’s not the point.

What matters is that the works of God

will be made manifest in him.

The same thing is true for each of us.

It doesn’t matter how the darkness got into our lives;

it doesn’t matter how we each became blind,

whether we sinned, or someone else sinned,

or because that’s just the way things are.

The works of God can be shown in us;

we can ask for, and receive,

the light and its healing.

That is important,

because it is very easy to get hung up on

the problem of evil in the world.

Theologians have debated for centuries, questions like

is evil a force in and of itself,

or is it merely the absence of good?

Either way you answer that,

you get into trouble!

Same thing with this one:

where did evil come from?

If we say that it certainly didn’t come from God,

then we’re saying that

there exists something in the universe

that God didn’t create …

and that’s a problem.

But if we say that somehow God did create evil,

that calls into question all we’ve been taught

about how God is good, and loving.

There are no satisfactory answers to these questions.

So it’s a good thing that Jesus says they don’t matter.

The darkness, the blindness, are part of us.

And whether it’s because we sinned,

or our parents sinned,

or our society sinned,

is not what’s ultimately important.

Because no matter how we got where we are,

the light is available to us.

All we have to do is invite the light to come in

and chase the darkness away.

The last thing,

and maybe the most important, is this:

the light does have power

to overcome the darkness.

The blind man does receive his sight.

He receives understanding.

We receive understanding,

enlightenment, warmth, healing.

Sometimes, when we take a look at the world around us,

we seem to be surrounded by darkness.

And we may wonder sometimes

if the darkness is simply too strong for us.

At times we see things getting worse instead of better,

and we wonder if the light is really strong enough

to penetrate the darkness and cast it out.

Again, the gospel of John assures us,

"The light shines in the darkness,

and the darkness has not overcome it."

That is a promise.

Even though it may seem in individual cases and at certain moments

that the darkness has won out,

the ultimate victory belongs to Jesus Christ,

who is the light of the world.

Jesus Christ, who was crucified,

which looked like an ultimate victory

for the powers of darkness …

But who was raised,

and showed us, for certain,

that light is stronger than darkness.

Stronger even than death.

The victory is ours.

So let that light shine into you,

and chase away the dark.

Amen.

© 2008 Julie Adkins (e-mail: DrJAdkins@trinitypresdallas.org)