By: Pastor Brian Krause and Erin M Diericx
Pastor Brian Krause says…
Why? When? How? There are lots of questions on everyone’s mind right now. If you have kids you are probably getting a lot of questions: “Why can’t we go to the park?”, “Why do we have to stay home?”, “How long will this last?”, and “Why is everyone so scared?” Adults have many “Why” questions as well. We too want to know: “How long will we be quarantined in our own homes?”, “Will things ever return to normal?”, “How will I continue to buy food and the necessities if I cannot work?”, and of course, “Why is this happening?”
There are lots of questions floating around right now. Everyone is scared and anxious. We seem to be living in a nightmare from which we can’t seem to wake up. There are moments that I even try to forgot what is going on and pretend like life is normal. I watch a movie, or some video on Youtube that had nothing to do with the global pandemic and for a brief moment I forget the reality of our time. Then, when the movie or video is over I am brought back to reality. I am still in the same house that I have been in all week, and I haven’t left. Is this our new normal?
Erin M Diericx says…
I think that is the key question for everyone: is this the new normal? We are so accustomed to just going out and getting what we need or just going to visit friends. Now we are facing a real threat by just leaving our home, our bubble; or inviting someone into our home.
Pastor Brian Krause says…
The gospel lesson appointed for the fourth Sunday in Lent this year is filled with questions as well. A man who had formerly been blind is now able to see and everyone wants to know how it happened and who did it. The story begins, however, with a question that has at it’s core a false assumption about God and God’s work in the world. It is a question that we too find ourselves asking in various forms that also expose our own false assumptions about God and how God is working in our lives. The disciples, upon seeing a blind beggar, ask Jesus, “Who sinned that this man was born blind; him or his parents?” The question assumes that God is a god of wrath whose primary work in the world is to punish sinners. We often fall back on this same basic assumption when times are bad. Who has not at some point in their life asked the similar question, “What did I do to deserve this?” The assumption is that somehow our suffering is brought on by our own sinfulness and God’s anger towards us. When things are good we confess that God is loving and gracious. When times are tough, however, our true beliefs about God often bubble to the surface. We want to believe that God is loving and forgiving, but when times are tough we just can’t seem to get over our basic assumption that God really is angry at us and out to get us.
Erin M Diericx says…
This is what drove me to write my thesis on John 9, because so many people have this notion of God being angry or the individual has a lack of faith. The truth is as Christians we are battling the devil who is always desperately trying to take us away from God.
Pastor Brian Krause says…
How many of you have been thinking these thoughts in the past few weeks as this pandemic has exploded before our eyes? How many of you have thought, “What did we do?” “How have we as a world so angered god that god now sees fit to make us all sick and kill us?” Things are nuts right now and completely out of our control. When things are out of control we often look to the one whom we believe is in control, God. If this is happening and God is ultimately in control, then God at the very least had to allow it to happen and at the worst we might even say that God caused this to happen.
All of this, however, continues to expose our basic assumption that God is angry and out to get us. The disciples assumed that the blind beggar’s blindness was God’s wrath for sin either in his own life or in the life of his parents. How does Jesus confront their question and their assumption? Jesus says, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him.” Jesus does not look at the blind beggar and automatically assume that the man is a horrible sinner being punished. Jesus sees this man and looks at what God might do in and through him.
Erin M Diericx says…
The reason why Jesus heals the previously blind man is to bring God the Father glory. The parents did not sin. The previously blind man did not sin. The blind man was healed to bring glory to God.
Pastor Brian Krause says…
At this point it is really tempting to say, “God healed the man of his blindness, so why doesn’t God come and reveal God’s glory now by removing the Coronavirus?” To focus on the healing alone, however, misses the wider work of God as seen in this narrative. The man receives his sight in verse seven, but the story continues for another thirty-four verses. What is God doing in that part of the story?
The healing of the blind man begins a conversation, first in the community and then in the synagogue with the religious leaders. The conversation revolves around the events of the man’s healing, but ultimately at their core the conversations are about the one who has performed the healing, namely Jesus. When the people ask questions about the man’s healing they are trying to figure out who this one is who could perform such a sign. Through his answers we can see the former blind man himself evolving in his understanding of who Jesus is.
When his neighbors in the community ask him how he received his sight the formerly blind man says, “The man called Jesus…” A little later the religious leaders ask the man what he himself thinks of Jesus and he replies, “He is a prophet.” Later when the Pharisees accuse Jesus of being a sinner. They accuse the formerly blind man of being a disciple of Jesus and they say that they are disciples of Moses. The Pharisees say to the man who had been blind, “We know that God spoke through Moses, but as for this man we do not know where he comes from.” In reply the formerly blind man tells the Pharisees that from the foundation of the world we have never heard of anyone giving sight to a blind man and that, “If he were not from God he could do nothing.” So we see the former blind man’s faith progress through this passage from saying calling Jesus, “the man called Jesus,” to, “a prophet” to finally, “from God.”
Erin M Diericx says…
It is so important to highlight that through the conversations with the community and the Pharisees that the previously blind man experiences a spiritual healing. He meets the Messiah, Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world.
Pastor Brian Krause says…
The work of God in this passage begins with the healing of the blind man, but God’s work does not end there. The story continues and as it continues we see this former blind man grow in faith and become a bold witness to Jesus. John’s gospel follows a similar structure in story after story. Jesus performs a sign that leads to a conversation that then later leads people to faith.
So what does all of this mean for us in the age of Coronavirus and social isolation? First, God did not send this virus on the human race to punish us or to take out God’s wrath on us. The God we know in Jesus Christ is the God of mercy and love. God came to us in Jesus to share in our sufferings. Jesus bore our sin, suffering, fear, and our sickness in his body on the cross. Jesus experienced the whole human condition. Jesus lived among us and was truly one of us even dying just as all humans eventually die. Two weeks ago we heard Jesus tell us himself, “For God did not send his son in to the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” (John 3:17) God is not working in the world to bring God’s wrath down upon us.
Erin M Diericx says…
I love how you quote John 3:17. So many people forget this verse. People know John 3:16 by heart, “God so loved the world that he gave up his son…” John 3:17 reminds us that God does not condemn his child but loves us, his beloved child, and that is what gives us hope in this time of uncertainty.
Pastor Brian Krause says…
At the same time God is not a magic genie who grants wishes or a fairy who fixes everything that is wrong in our lives. If you hope that one day you will wake up and the coronavirus will all be gone, then I have bad news for you; that is not likely to happen. If, however, you are willing to ask deep questions, pray, read the word, and meditate on it then you just might see God’s greatest work accomplished in you. As we struggle, question, ponder and pray we might just find that God is renewing our faith. We might even hear God calling us to be witnesses to God’s mercy and grace whether it be in word or in deed.
Erin M Diericx says…
So when you are watching the news or talking with family and friends: pray! Pray without creasing. My favorite prayer is the Jesus Prayer, “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, a sinner,” and repeated it over and over again, silently or aloud. So when I am watching the news or talking with family and friends, I am praying the Jesus Prayer silently. It truly helps my anxiety as well as inviting Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit into that situation.
Pastor Brian Krause says…
This is indeed a difficult time in our world, but we believe in the one who shares in our sufferings. Jesus came into our world not to take away everything that is broken and scary, but instead to show us that the way to a better and fuller life leads though death. Through his death and resurrection Jesus opens up for all the way to eternal life with God. It is through our death and subsequent resurrection that we too shall enter into a life that has no more pain, no more viruses, no pandemics, no fear and ultimately no more death. This ultimately is God’s work, not to fix the problem of the moment, but to give us a fuller richer life in God’s presence forever. Amen