Last night, I was one of the ten "Film Friends" who went to the 19th Street Theater to see the movie Hotel Rwanda. It is a powerful, arresting movie which tells the story of the 100 days of genocide in Rwanda, when the Hutu government, fearful of the Hutu exiles who were returning after years of drought and economic depression, began scapegoating the Tutsi people.
Now, that’s the problem...the Hutus and Tutsis had one language, a common set of religious beliefs, and a common culture that valued song, dance and poetry. They were neighbors and friends and went to the same schools and churches. They worked with each other. Some marriages were mixed. So who was in and who was out? Sometimes you could not tell. You could look and not see.
You could look and not see. The genocide in Rwanda was carried out by the military which recruited participants with the rewards of food, drink and "promotions". There was wide spread looting. Killings happened in the day light hours and bodies were left unburied. The world looked and did not see.
Almost 1 million Rwandans were murdered by their fellow citizens. The world looked and did not see.
Why?
What was going on?
Sight. Oversight. Insight.
I think our gospel today deals with these same issues. Jesus takes on people who have made many assumptions and are stuck in their ability to see and understand. Lacking insight, they live in fear and protect themselves.
Let’s look at the today’s gospel.
Jesus walked along. Casually. Strolling. And he sees a man who had been blind from birth. Do you see the irony in that? Jesus sees a man who can’t see anything and never has.
Jesus sees. And in John’s gospel we know that Jesus is the light coming into the world…the light that is not overshadowed by the darkness of sin, despair or even death. Yet here is a man born blind who is trapped in darkness which resists God’s work to enlighten the world.
This man cannot see the wonders of God’s creation.
This man cannot earn an upright living.
He sits and begs.
Day after day.
Jesus acts to heal him. He made a paste of mud and spit and smeared it on the man’s eyes. He told him to go wash in the pool of Siloam.
Why? Why all this?
Couldn’t Jesus who told the paralyzed man, "Pick up your mat and walk. Your sins are forgiven," have just said, "Open your eyes and see. Your sins are forgiven?"
Why all this?
Some things to consider.
First, maybe this time, Jesus wanted this man to be active in his own healing. So he directed him to the pool built during the reign of King Hezekiah. It was a rock-hewn area that captured spring water from the outside of the city wall. It was designed so that the city might have water even in times of seige.
This pool had developed a reputation for its healing qualities. Good, fresh life giving water. So people went to it for all kinds of ailments. The man did as he was directed and his sight was restored.
Second, maybe Jesus was also acting out some theological truths. About the Sabbath and about sin.
This healing happens on the Sabbath.
When Jesus kneels down, takes the dirt and kneads it into a clay paste, he is working. He is working on the Sabbath. This is against the law. This is not the only time Jesus does this.. He teaches that the Sabbath is good but there are times to act during the Sabbath—one of those times, is to relieve suffering.
Jesus does not forgive this man’s sins.
Oh, we can be sure he has sinned. He has been unkind, untruthful, and dishonest in many of the very same ways each one of us has been at one time or another. We are all sinners.
If we cannot see ourselves a people who miss the mark and fail short of the Glory of God, then we ourselves are blind.
Jesus wants us to know that the man is not born blind as a punishment for his sin, his Mother’s sin, his Father’s sin— or for anyone’s sin. He is just born blind.
If there is any sin in that blindness, it is that the man is not free to show forth the marvels of God. He is not an attractive witness of how God is working in his life….
In fact, people walk right by him as he sits begging. Day after day. That’s why the people were so amazed when he returned from the pool of Siolam. They asked, "Isn’t this the guy who used to sit and beg?"
They didn’t recognize him because they’d never really seen him.
Never really seen him.
There is a South African greeting...the people stand face to face and say: "I see you."
Not "Hey, cold enough for you?"
But, a heartfelt, "I see you."
What a blind spot it is not to see others as children of God, as beloved of God.
The people had not really seen the man born blind.
So I ask, in today’s gospel who is sighted? Who is slighted?
Day after day they passed him by. They didn’t believe his condition would ever change. They never looked him in the eye. They never stood face to face with him. He sat. They stood.
Maybe they could recognize his voice.
The voice of a beggar.
Not the voice of a neighbor or friend or co-worker.
A nameless, faceless beggar.
Their disbelief and astonishment sets off a round of inquiry that reminds us of how Jesus is brought to trial before Herod, the Sanhedrin and Pilate. Everyone questioning. But not really knowing what they are asking. Both men make simple statements and let the whole affair swirl around them.
It would be interesting later today for you to look at the story of Jesus on trial before the the chief priest and the elders and before Pilate to see the similarities.
What is the point of all the questioning this man receives?
It puts the man born blind squarely on a new path. He is a beggar no longer. He is upright. He looks those who question him in the face. He has new words. He is now showing forth the works of God—he is the walking around, talking, seeing, healing miracle of new life that is a sign of God’s Messiah, the Christ, come into the world to save sinners.
And the only point of all this questioning is to safeguard the status quo of the questioners—to protect the crowd and the Pharisees against change in the way they understand the world. They are not ready to see.
They want the comfort of the familiar.
They want their own agendas.
They are not ready to see.
Are we?
Are we ready to see the unseen around us?
There is much that is unseen. You know I’m not talking about the microscopic levels of living organisms.
I’m talking about that "mote in our own eyes".
The things about ourselves which we would rather not see.
Overindulgences.
Laziness.
Pride.
If you pray for humility, be ready to be humbled. Sent back to square one.I’ve heard that the angels in heaven love beginners. Those first steps are always precious.
Are we ready to see the unseen around us?
The things around us which normally we block out of sight.
Poverty.
Racism.
Genocide.
Hatred of the other.
I hope that many of you will watch the movie Hotel Rwanda. The story centers around one man, Paul, a Hutu and the manager of a five star luxury hotel were tourists and diplomats stay. As the crisis deepens, he tries to protect his Tutsi wife and his children. His family grows to include many, many Hutus and Tutsi. He acts with compassion and without resorting to violence. He doesn’t see himself as a leader. His neighbors and co-workers do. Yet, of all those portrayed in the movie, Paul sees the most and sees most clearly.
There is much to see to which we are blind.
We are like the disciples who have traveled with Jesus, eating, sleeping, walking from town to town, listening to him...
And yet they are slow to see that he is the Messiah, the Christ.They are stuck in old ways of thinking, "who sinned, Master, that this man was born blind?"
Sometimes it’s our language and preconceptions which keep us blind. We’ve all see a full moon—big in the sky. And we talk about a "moonless" night. The moon is there. Shadowed. We just can’t see it…until there is that silver of light in the sky that we call the new moon.
What is new in your life?
How would God open your eyes today?
Christ is the light and life of this world.
How can you carry that light to others? Today?
LET US PRAY:
Gracious God, overcome our darkness with the light of Christ, our selfishness with his love, and our laziness and cowardice with his steadfast devotion to your truth, so that we may live forever in the new light of everlasting life, we pray in Christ’s name. AMEN.
Other Sources: The Complete Idiot’s Guide to World Conflicts, Steven D. Strauss, 2002
