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I DON’T UNDERSTAND IT, BUT I KNOW IT
A sermon preach March 2, 2008 at University United Methodist Church, East
Lansing,
by John Ross Thompson
John 9:1-41
9:1 As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth.
9:2 His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents,
that he was born blind?"
9:3 Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born
blind so that God's works might be revealed in him.
9:4 We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is
coming when no one can work.
9:5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world."
9:6 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,
9:7 saying to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which means Sent). Then
he went and washed and came back able to see.
9:8 The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar began to ask,
"Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?"
9:9 Some were saying, "It is he." Others were saying, "No, but it is someone
like him." He kept saying, "I am the man."
9:10 But they kept asking him, "Then how were your eyes opened?"
9:11 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."
9:12 They said to him, "Where is he?" He said, "I do not know."
9:13 They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind.
9:14 Now it was a sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes.
9:15 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."
9:16 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.
9:17 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."
9:18 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
9:19 and asked them, "Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then
does he now see?"
9:20 His parents answered, "We know that this is our son, and that he was
born blind;
9:21 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."
9:22 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.
9:23 Therefore his parents said, "He is of age; ask him."
9:24 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."
9:25 He answered, "I do not know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know,
that though I was blind, now I see."
9:26 They said to him, "What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?"
9:27 He answered them, "I have told you already, and you would not listen.
Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?"
9:28 Then they reviled him, saying, "You are his disciple, but we are
disciples of Moses.
9:29 We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not
know where he comes from."
9:30 The man answered, "Here is an astonishing thing! You do not know where
he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes.
9:31 We know that God does not listen to sinners, but he does listen to one
who worships him and obeys his will.
9:32 Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the
eyes of a person born blind.
9:33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing."
9:34 They answered him, "You were born entirely in sins, and are you trying
to teach us?" And they drove him out.
9:35 Jesus heard that they had driven him out, and when he found him, he
said, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?"
9:36 He answered, "And who is he, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in
him."
9:37 Jesus said to him, "You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is
he."
9:38 He said, "Lord, I believe." And he worshiped him.
9:39 Jesus said, "I came into this world for judgment so that those who do
not see may see, and those who do see may become blind."
9:40 Some of the Pharisees near him heard this and said to him, "Surely we
are not blind, are we?"
9:41 Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now
that you say, 'We see,' your sin remains.
How many times have you said about faith or religion, “I just don’t
understand that.” The good news is that you don’t have to understand faith.
I have spent a good portion of my life figuring out faith, trying to
understand how God works through our bodies, our minds and our spirits – all
three parts of our being. I’m still trying to understand, and will never give
that up. But I made a big discovery – I can know things that I can’t understand.
I have good company. John Wesley was an academic, an intellectual, a scholar
of the best sort in the early 18th century in England. He was so
methodical in the ways he learned and lived that he and his friends were called
“Methodists”, a name that sticks to this day.
Wesley knew more than religion. He wrote a medical book that was state of the
art in its day. He studied history, literature, and many other key factors in
his day. He was convinced that if he just tried harder and learned more, he
would be able to figure out God and help others to understand God, too.
Though he had many accomplishments, he was a failure at this goal. The
harder he tried, the more futile his attempts seemed. When he failed as a
missionary to America, he bottomed out, but not for long.
It was soon after he returned to England that he went in May 1738 to a prayer
meeting:
Here is what he said about his experience:
“In the evening I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street,
where one was reading Luther's preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a
quarter before nine, while the leader was describing the change which God works
in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I
did trust in Christ alone for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He
had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and
death.” (from The Journal of John Wesley, May 24, 1738)
What was the difference? Wesley knew God’s saving power, even though he did
not fully understand it. It was more real to him than anything he had ever
known, and it made him one of the greatest preachers and evangelists of all
time.
Assurance since then has been one of the marks of Methodism. This
understanding is grounded in
Paul's affirmation in Romans 8:15-16, "...you have received the Spirit
of adoption, whereby we cry Abba, Father. The same Spirit bears witness with our
spirits, that we are the children of God..."
The religious leaders in Jesus’ time thought they understood faith and life,
too. They decided that if a person had an affliction, such as blindness, it was
because that person had sinned. If a person was born blind, it must be because
his parents had sinned. A nifty way to explain something that they couldn’t
otherwise explain!
The only problem was that they were wrong. Their minds could not fully
understand the workings of God, and neither can we.
In the gospel story we have just heard, one thing is for sure. The man who
was born blind could now see. That was real. However, wondering about why it
had happened was confusing.
We are body, mind and spirit. We have wonderful knowledge about our bodies,
and we understand a lot about how the mind works. Our spirits are more
difficult to understand, but they are very real and a vitally important part of
who we are.
Please do not go away from this morning’s message and tell others that Pastor
John Ross told you not to try to understand things, or that you should not learn
as much as you can.
Especially in this University community, we know how important it is to learn
as much as we can, and to continue that learning our whole lives. Our minds are
a gift of God, created to help us live better lives and to be able to help
others. The expansion of our minds is one of the most rewarding parts of
living.
But all of us can say about things of the spirit, “I don’t understand that.”
We can say about prayer, “I know it works, but I don’t understand it.”
We can say about healing, “I know it happens, but I don’t understand it.”
We can say about the way God works in our lives, “I know it’s real, but I
don’t understand it.”
Our faith is not contrary to reason. It is in a different realm than reason,
but just as real, perhaps even more real.
Consider with me what heaven is like. There may be a few of us who say there
is no such thing, but most of us believe eternity is something real. We know
it, but we can’t understand it. The more we try to explain what it will be
like, the more confused it becomes.
Consider with me the love you feel for someone very close to you. It’s
perhaps the most precious thing in the world to you, but do you understand how
it works? Most of us would say clearly, “I don’t understand it, but I know it
is for real.”
Consider with me the time when you felt closest to God. Perhaps it was a
time when you felt lifted up inside, or had a warm heart like John Wesley, or
felt a presence that was beyond something you could see or touch. You know how
real that was, but you don’t understand it.
Consider with me the meaning of the sacrament of Holy Communion. We all know
that this is ordinary bread and this is grape juice. Almost all of us have
received it before, and in some unreasonable way, felt closer to God and ready
to see God even more. How does Christ come to us, fill us, and recharge our
spirits through Holy Communion? We don’t understand it, but we know it.
Our spirits take us beyond our minds. They help us to connect with things
that our reason cannot understand. God has made us with the capacity to reason
things out, but also to know the things which are beyond reason.
Jesus took his followers to that level. The man who had been blind was the
example of someone who knew what had happened to him and told others about it,
but could not explain it except to say, “I once was blind, but now I see.”
I invite us all to stretch our minds, but also to stretch our spirits. I
invite us to go beyond the things we understand to the things that we don’t
understand, but know are real.
In our Lenten study, the unnamed author of The Cloud of Unknowing from
the 14th century said it well, “By love God can be caught and held,
but by thinking never.”
This is an invitation to faith, to trust in God and others in the spiritual
realm. It’s not risky, but it is a stretch beyond what is comfortable.
And when others say to us, “Why do you believe that?”, we can say, “I don’t
know that by logic or reason, but I know it is true. It’s from God.”
Keep on learning. There’s so much more that we CAN understand, but don’t stop
there. Let’s all rejoice that our experience is not limited by our minds. Our
spirits, together with our bodies and minds, can know God and rejoice in all
that God creates us to be.
Claim all that God created us to be – body, mind and don’t forget spirit.
Our prayer hymn today is based on 2 Timothy 1 – “I Know Whom I Have
Believed.”
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