Welcome to this week’s episode, a special rerun from our Speaking of Life archive. We hope you find its timeless message as meaningful today as it was when it was first shared.
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Program Transcript
Speaking of Life 5015 | Blessed to Be a Blessing
Cara Garrity
There is a popular old hymn called “Count Your Blessings”.
The chorus simply says:
“Count your blessings, name them one by one.
Count your blessings, see what God hath done.
A friend of mine shared a story of how he was reminded about counting his blessings while stocking greeting cards at grocery stores. In one store, the greeting card section was right near one of the checkout lines and he could hear the checker give a compliment to every person that went through his line. My friend also noticed there were several people in this checkout lane, and not many in others.
He decided to buy something and the checker quickly complimented him on his new haircut. My friend then asked the checker how his day was going. The checker responded by saying, “Oh man, I am blessed!” To which my friend responded, “Yeah, I’m doing good as well.” The checker then said, “I didn’t say I was doing good. I said I am blessed.” My friend appreciated the reminder, smiled, and admitted that he was also, indeed, blessed.
In Genesis 12, we see a story of blessing-happy God. This story is the pivotal moment in the history of the nation of Israel and would become equally important to the whole world.
The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.” “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”
Genesis 12:1-3
In this passage of scripture, we see the word “blessing” five times, making God’s intention to bless both Abraham and the whole world abundantly clear to Abraham. Although God had the power to accomplish his will, because of who he is, he invited Abraham to participate to follow where the Spirit led. And where he went, he went with the blessing of God and the promise that through him all people would be blessed.
This promise has been fulfilled in the person, and work of Jesus Christ. He took upon himself the consequences for the sin of mankind. He has taken our darkness and has restored us to fellowship with our Heavenly Father.
Paul says this in his letter to believers in Galatia:
He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.”
Galatians 3:14
We have been abundantly blessed in Christ Jesus, whom we follow by the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Every day is a walk with God to leave behind our old ways and walk into a life that is blessed beyond measure.
Like Abraham before us, we have been sent out into this world to make a blessing-happy God known to others. It’s so much easier to be a blessing to others when you know how much you have been blessed.
Like the hymn reminds us, let us count our many blessings and see what God has done.
I’m Michelle Fleming, Speaking of Life.
Program Transcript
Speaking of Life 5015 | Blessed to Be a Blessing
Cara Garrity
There is a popular old hymn called “Count Your Blessings”.
The chorus simply says:
“Count your blessings, name them one by one.
Count your blessings, see what God hath done.
A friend of mine shared a story of how he was reminded about counting his blessings while stocking greeting cards at grocery stores. In one store, the greeting card section was right near one of the checkout lines and he could hear the checker give a compliment to every person that went through his line. My friend also noticed there were several people in this checkout lane, and not many in others.
He decided to buy something and the checker quickly complimented him on his new haircut. My friend then asked the checker how his day was going. The checker responded by saying, “Oh man, I am blessed!” To which my friend responded, “Yeah, I’m doing good as well.” The checker then said, “I didn’t say I was doing good. I said I am blessed.” My friend appreciated the reminder, smiled, and admitted that he was also, indeed, blessed.
In Genesis 12, we see a story of blessing-happy God. This story is the pivotal moment in the history of the nation of Israel and would become equally important to the whole world.
The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.” “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”
Genesis 12:1-3
In this passage of scripture, we see the word “blessing” five times, making God’s intention to bless both Abraham and the whole world abundantly clear to Abraham. Although God had the power to accomplish his will, because of who he is, he invited Abraham to participate to follow where the Spirit led. And where he went, he went with the blessing of God and the promise that through him all people would be blessed.
This promise has been fulfilled in the person, and work of Jesus Christ. He took upon himself the consequences for the sin of mankind. He has taken our darkness and has restored us to fellowship with our Heavenly Father.
Paul says this in his letter to believers in Galatia:
He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.”
Galatians 3:14
We have been abundantly blessed in Christ Jesus, whom we follow by the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Every day is a walk with God to leave behind our old ways and walk into a life that is blessed beyond measure.
Like Abraham before us, we have been sent out into this world to make a blessing-happy God known to others. It’s so much easier to be a blessing to others when you know how much you have been blessed.
Like the hymn reminds us, let us count our many blessings and see what God has done.
I’m Michelle Fleming, Speaking of Life.
Psalm 23:1–6 • 1 Samuel 16:1–13 • Ephesians 5:8–14 • John 9:1–41
On this fourth Sunday in Lent, we celebrate that God gives sight in darkness. Each reading reveals God’s power to look beyond appearances, to see what others cannot, and to lead us from blindness into sight, both physical and spiritual. In Psalm 23, David proclaims the Lord as his shepherd, guiding him through shadowed valleys and into places of peace. Even in darkness, God’s presence brings light, comfort, and renewal. This psalm reminds us that we do not walk alone. The passage in 1 Samuel 16 recounts the story of God sending Samuel to anoint a new king from Jesse’s sons. Samuel expects greatness in outward appearance, but God teaches a deep truth: “The Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” David, the youngest and least expected, is chosen: divine sight penetrates beyond what human eyes can see. In Ephesians 5, Paul urges believers to “live as children of light,” leaving behind the works of darkness. “Sleeper, awake! Rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” God’s light exposes what is hidden and transforms it into goodness and truth. Finally, in John 9 Jesus reveals himself as “the light of the world” as he heals a man born blind. Physical sight becomes a symbol of spiritual awakening. While others remain trapped in judgment and disbelief, the healed man grows in faith, recognizing Jesus as Lord. Together, these scriptures proclaim a God who sees, restores, and gives us his light, opening our eyes to grace, truth, and new life.
God Gives Sight in Darkness
John 9:1–41 NRSVUE
In the year 2000, a man named Mike May experienced something most of us will never have to imagine. When he was three years old, a chemical explosion took away his sight. For more than forty years, he lived in total darkness. Then doctors offered him a way to gain some of his sight back.
When the bandages finally came off, light flooded his world.
But seeing was not easy.
Mike could detect color and shape, but his brain could not make sense of what his eyes were sending. Faces looked flat. Objects appeared disconnected. Stairs felt dangerous. At one point, he said something surprising: “Seeing is more confusing than being blind.”
For years, his body had adapted to darkness. Vision was a gift — but it was also disorienting. He had to learn how to live in a world he wasn’t used to.
Mike May’s story helps us step into John 9, where Jesus encounters a man who had never seen at all. Not because of an accident. Not because of disease. But because he was born blind.
Both men faced darkness. And in both stories, sight comes not because they figured something out, but because light comes to them. Grace comes before understanding, and sight — real sight — is given, not earned.
John 9 is not just a healing story. It is a story about how Jesus enters human darkness and gives the sight we cannot give ourselves.
At the center of this story is the good news of one clear truth: God gives sight in darkness.
Not after we fix ourselves.
Not once we understand everything.
Not when we finally get it right.
God gives sight in darkness.
Let’s read the story. (Read or ask someone to read John 9:1-41 NRSVUE now or during the “scripture reading” portion of the service.)
As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3 Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. 4 We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 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, 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. 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 Some were saying, “It is he.” Others were saying, “No, but it is someone like him.” He kept saying, “I am he.” 10 But they kept asking him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” 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.” 12 They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.”
13 They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. 14 Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. 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.” 16 Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not observe the Sabbath.” Others said, “How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?” And they were divided. 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.”
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 19 and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” 20 His parents answered, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind, 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.” 22 His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus[c] to be the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. 23 Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”
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.” 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.” 26 They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” 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?” 28 Then they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. 29 We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.” 30 The man answered, “Here is an astonishing thing! You do not know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. 31 We know that God does not listen to sinners, but he does listen to one who worships him and obeys his will. 32 Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” 34 They answered him, “You were born entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us?” And they drove him out.
35 Jesus heard that they had driven him out, and when he found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” 36 He answered, “And who is he, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him.” 37 Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he.” 38 He said, “Lord,] I believe.” And he worshiped him. 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.” 40 Some of the Pharisees who were with him heard this and said to him, “Surely we are not blind, are we?” 41 Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.
A Question We Still Ask
The story opens with a question that feels familiar.
As Jesus and his disciples pass by, they see a man blind from birth. The disciples ask, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
It’s an old question, but it’s still with us.
Who’s at fault?
What went wrong?
Why did this happen?
We may not always say it out loud, but when suffering shows up, we often look for someone to blame. We want to blame ourselves, others, even God. We want a reason that will make it feel less painful.
Jesus refuses to blame the son or the parents. “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” Jesus says. Maybe he’s thinking, stop looking for someone to blame. Stop turning suffering into a moral math problem. You see, at this time, it was a common belief that suffering was because of sin. Someone did something that resulted in God’s punishment.
Jesus does not explain the man’s blindness. He seems to be challenging the thinking behind the question itself.
This matters. Because for people who are already hurting, explanations can feel like accusations. Jesus does not say the blindness was good. He does not say God wanted it. He does not say God caused the suffering. He says something different:
“This happened so that God’s works might be revealed in him.”
Jesus refuses to blame the man, his parents, or God. Instead, he points to what God will do. Darkness is not explained — it is interrupted. God does not stand at a distance analyzing suffering. God steps into it and brings light where none existed before.
Suffering is not the place where God gives up. Because God gives sight in darkness.
God Acts First
Without being asked, Jesus kneels. He spits on the ground. He makes mud. He places it on the man’s eyes.
It is strange. Messy. Physical. This is not a polished miracle.
This is the Incarnation — God in human flesh. It’s Jesus, using dirt and saliva, using his real body, interacting with real bodies and real wounds. God does not heal from a distance. God gets close enough to touch.
Before the man understands who Jesus is, before he believes anything, before he obeys anything, Jesus acts.
That order matters.
God’s mercy, God’s grace moves first. Grace does not wait for readiness.
Jesus then tells the man, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam.” John adds, “which means Sent.”
The man goes. He washes. And he comes back seeing.
It would be easy to turn this into a lesson about obedience. But notice: the healing is already underway. The mud is already on his eyes. Jesus, the Healer, has come to the man; Jesus has touched him. Jesus is our healing!
The washing does not earn sight. It receives it.
This is how grace works. God acts first. We respond later — often without fully understanding, often confused, often stumbling toward what we do not yet see.
Because God gives sight in darkness.
Confusion After the Miracle
You might expect celebration. Instead, there’s confusion.
Neighbors argue about whether he is the same person. The religious leaders interrogate him. His parents distance themselves out of fear.
Healing doesn’t always make life easier right away. Sometimes it makes things harder.
But watch what happens to the man. At first, he refers to Jesus simply as “the man called Jesus.” Later, he calls him “a prophet.” Eventually, he will call him “Lord.”
His understanding grows. God’s grace keeps meeting him where he is.
Faith here is not a leap. It is a slow awakening. Like Mike May learning to see, this man has sight before he understands clearly.
That is important for anyone who feels unsure, hesitant, or confused about faith. You do not have to see clearly to be healed. You do not have to understand everything to be found.
Because God gives sight in darkness.
The Ones Who Think They See
The irony of the story sharpens.
The Pharisees — the ones confident in their vision — cannot see what is happening. Their certainty becomes their blindness.
They know the rules. They know the categories. But they cannot recognize life standing in front of them. They don’t recognize Jesus.
Jesus later says, “I came into this world so that those who do not see may see, and those who think they see may become blind.”
This is not an insult; Jesus is never cruel. It is a warning.
It appears that blindness here is not about intelligence or morality. The religious leaders refuse grace because it does not arrive on their terms.
Sometimes the hardest thing isn’t learning something new but letting go of what we think we already know. Sometimes our darkness is certitude and stubbornness.
But God gives sight in darkness.
Jesus Finds Him Again
One of the most tender moments in the story comes later.
After the man is thrown out of the religious community, Jesus goes looking for him.
The healed man does not chase Jesus down. Jesus seeks him and finds him.
Jesus asks, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”
The man answers honestly: “Who is he, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe.”
Jesus says, “You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he.”
And the man believes. And he worships him.
Notice again the order.
Jesus seeks and finds him.
Jesus reveals himself.
Faith follows.
Even when we’re unsure and questioning, like the man was, Jesus doesn’t shame us. He shares his faith with us! Jesus, the Son of Man, who is both God and human, has perfect faith in his Father God. Mysteriously, we are included in that! Faith is a gift from God. So is sight.
Because God gives sight in darkness.
The Cross Behind the Story
John 9 is not only about eyesight. It points forward.
The one who gives sight will soon be treated as blind.
The one who heals will be wounded.
The one who brings light — the One who is the light of the world — will willingly submit to darkness for us.
Jesus will go to the cross.
On the cross, Jesus enters the deepest darkness — rejection, shame, and death itself. He is not a victim of circumstance; he goes by choice for the sake of the world.
We cannot face the darkness alone, so Jesus faced it for us, in our place. This is what we mean by vicarious love. Jesus stands where we cannot stand. He carries what we cannot carry.
Jesus entered our world with all its darkness, the darkness of the cross, and the darkness of death. But trusting his Father, by the power of the Spirit, Jesus rose from the grave. Now darkness does not get the final word.
God gives sight in darkness.
The Work of the Triune God
This story is shaped by the life of the triune God. Triune simply means consisting of three — God is Trinity, three in one.
The Father sends the Son into the world — not to condemn it, but to bring light.
The Son enters human darkness, gives himself fully, and reveals God’s heart.
The Spirit opens eyes, awakens trust, and sustains new life.
Sight is not a human accomplishment. It is the shared work of Father, Son, and Spirit.
We do not climb our way into clarity. We are found.
Mission as Overflow
The healed man does not become a preacher. He becomes a witness.
He tells the truth: “I was blind, and now I see.”
Mission here is not pressure. It is the overflow of the goodness he received.
When God opens our eyes, we naturally speak from what we have received.
We notice people differently.
We listen more carefully.
We carry light into ordinary places.
Not because we must to be able to earn God’s love or grace, but because God has already changed how we see.
How has God changed how you see? Could you tell someone about it this week?
Why It Matters for You Today
Some of us may feel we’re in the dark now.
Some of us see glimmers of hope and light but still feel unsure.
Some of us are confident we see clearly — until we don’t.
This story makes room for all of that.
It promises that darkness is not disqualifying.
Confusion is not failure.
Questions are not the opposite of faith.
Jesus still kneels in the dirt.
Jesus still touches what others avoid.
Jesus still finds people who have been pushed aside.
And he still gives sight.
Not once we are ready.
Not once we understand.
But right in the middle of darkness.
Because God gives sight in darkness.
Amen.
Chris Breslin—Year A Lent 4
Listen to audio: https://cloud.gci.org/dl/GReverb/GR073-Breslin-YearA-Lent4.mp3
Sunday, March 15, 2026 — Fourth Sunday in Lent/Easter Preparation
John 9:1-41
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Program Transcript
Chris Breslin—Year A Lent 4
Anthony: Alright, let’s transition to our next pericope of the month. It’s John 9:1–41. Again, because of the length, we’ll read just a portion of the text. It is the Revised Common Lectionary passage for the fourth Sunday in Easter Preparation, March 15.
As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3 Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. 4 We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 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, 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. 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 Some were saying, “It is he.” Others were saying, “No, but it is someone like him.” He kept saying, “I am he.” 10 But they kept asking him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” 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.” 12 They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.” 13 They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. 14 Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. 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.” 16 Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not observe the Sabbath.” Others said, “How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?” And they were divided. 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.” 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 19 and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” 20 His parents answered, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind, 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.” 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. 23 Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.” 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.” 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.” 26 They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” 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?” 28 Then they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. 29 We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.” 30 The man answered, “Here is an astonishing thing! You do not know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. 31 We know that God does not listen to sinners, but he does listen to one who worships him and obeys his will. 32 Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” 34 They answered him, “You were born entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us?” And they drove him out. 35 Jesus heard that they had driven him out, and when he found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” 36 He answered, “And who is he, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him.” 37 Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he.” 38 He said, “Lord, I believe.” And he worshiped him. 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.” 40 Some of the Pharisees who were with him heard this and said to him, “Surely we are not blind, are we?” 41 Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.
“I was blind. And now I see.” The religious leaders questioned who was to blame for the man being blind. No one was to be blamed. Was that type of blaming game isolated to that culture or do you see it at work today? And that’s like an understating question. And if so, how does this blame and shame game persist? And what is the solution?
Chris: Yeah.
Anthony: What do we do with that?
Chris: And can I say that it’s strangely heartening that, like this sort of stuff, we didn’t invent this sort of stuff or that it’s not that it happens in a analog culture, like you can totally imagine a confrontation like this in this like AI and social media, deep fake age, right, where there’s just so much suspicion and disputation of what is real.
I think there are a couple of things happening. There’s the blame of it all. There’s an attempt at a simple answer to horrible suffering. It seems that Jesus’ disciples need to be “un-discipled” from these old ways of thinking.
Anthony: Well said.
Chris: Yeah. Matthew’s gospel has that formula. “You have heard it said, but I say to you” — this might be like a Johannine version of that. Jesus clears the way of old thinking off the table, a way that has no room for God’s presence and work, but only a zero-sum blame game of who screwed up. And Jesus resets the terms with just a more expansive, mysterious, complicated, and, like, theocentric, God-centered view of the world. They want an either / or. Jesus gives them a neither /and. I don’t know if that’s how that works.
Anthony: Yeah, I like that.
Chris: But I think the second thing that is happening is the encounter with the religious gatekeepers. This seems so social media coded to me. They are looking for a way to trap him. They want to get him to say something that can be clipped so that he can be disputed, dismissed, vilified, disqualified. Again, related to our theme of who can see and hear, those who can, and those who refuse to. If you already “know” that a man can’t be healed, you just have a few options.
Your options are like the disciples, to try to explain it, and blame for it, which that works. And that can be satisfying until that blame comes for you when something bad happens. Another option is you can deny it like the Pharisees attempt to, or then that like denial shifts as denial often does and then they begin to recognize that this “impossible skill” happened, in that it has dark causes; you vilify it. So, those seem to be the ways that blame is operating here, and I think still operates more generally.
Anthony: Yeah. It seems to me when anything happens in our society, that’s the first question we often ask, “Who’s to blame?” We’ve got to be able to set it at somebody’s feet so we can understand what is happening.
And I just love this guy’s response. His testimony is not to wrangle over theology. “I just know what happened to me. I can’t tell you much about this guy, but I was blind and now I see.” What can we learn from the witness of this man?
Chris: Yeah. Of all those previous options and the way that they’re wrestling with this upturning of the way things are, there’s this guy standing over to the side, and imagine him just like ogling at the colors and the shapes and the shadows and the faces and the details and the beauty that he never saw but now can see.
Anthony: Yeah
Chris: Like, I think we learned that, like talking about and bandying about ideas of seeing and perceiving pale in comparison to the indisputable experience of a man who was encountered, who was touched, who was healed, who had things revealed to him. You circle back to the start of the passage, he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. And Jesus says, as long as I’m in the world, I’m the light of the world. And it is that light that is illuminating for this man.
Anthony: I don’t know if you’ve seen the videos of people who had been born deaf and with today’s technology are able to hear.
Chris: Yeah, that’s right.
Anthony: And people who have been colorblind with special glasses can see in colors they could only previously try to imagine. It brings me to tears every time something like that happens. What a wonderful thing the Lord has done here. And I appreciate you just bringing it up, like the astonishment of what that man was experiencing and how that impacted his testimony. I don’t think he ever stopped talking about it. How could you?
Chris: How could you? And again, not to rank healings or encounters, but there’s just something so much more vivid and, like, whole-being-related to gaining a whole sense. Again, someone who is immobilized by leg injury or something like, absolutely — those stories in the gospels they jump up and leap about like calves. That’s so cool. This man is having his whole way of being in the world completely changed in a way that seems analogous to what Jesus is telling Nicodemus. “You need to be born again. You need to come into this world again as for the first time.” It feels like that’s a little bit of what that man is experiencing.
Anthony: Yeah. And yet Pastor Paul wrote to the church in Corinth, no eye has seen, no ears heard, no mind can even comprehend the things that are in store. Like even with this man’s sight, there’s just still so much.
Program Transcript
Chris Breslin—Year A Lent 4
Anthony: Alright, let’s transition to our next pericope of the month. It’s John 9:1–41. Again, because of the length, we’ll read just a portion of the text. It is the Revised Common Lectionary passage for the fourth Sunday in Easter Preparation, March 15.
As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3 Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. 4 We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 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, 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. 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 Some were saying, “It is he.” Others were saying, “No, but it is someone like him.” He kept saying, “I am he.” 10 But they kept asking him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” 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.” 12 They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.” 13 They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. 14 Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. 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.” 16 Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not observe the Sabbath.” Others said, “How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?” And they were divided. 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.” 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 19 and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” 20 His parents answered, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind, 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.” 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. 23 Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.” 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.” 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.” 26 They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” 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?” 28 Then they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. 29 We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.” 30 The man answered, “Here is an astonishing thing! You do not know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. 31 We know that God does not listen to sinners, but he does listen to one who worships him and obeys his will. 32 Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” 34 They answered him, “You were born entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us?” And they drove him out. 35 Jesus heard that they had driven him out, and when he found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” 36 He answered, “And who is he, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him.” 37 Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he.” 38 He said, “Lord, I believe.” And he worshiped him. 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.” 40 Some of the Pharisees who were with him heard this and said to him, “Surely we are not blind, are we?” 41 Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.
“I was blind. And now I see.” The religious leaders questioned who was to blame for the man being blind. No one was to be blamed. Was that type of blaming game isolated to that culture or do you see it at work today? And that’s like an understating question. And if so, how does this blame and shame game persist? And what is the solution?
Chris: Yeah.
Anthony: What do we do with that?
Chris: And can I say that it’s strangely heartening that, like this sort of stuff, we didn’t invent this sort of stuff or that it’s not that it happens in a analog culture, like you can totally imagine a confrontation like this in this like AI and social media, deep fake age, right, where there’s just so much suspicion and disputation of what is real.
I think there are a couple of things happening. There’s the blame of it all. There’s an attempt at a simple answer to horrible suffering. It seems that Jesus’ disciples need to be “un-discipled” from these old ways of thinking.
Anthony: Well said.
Chris: Yeah. Matthew’s gospel has that formula. “You have heard it said, but I say to you” — this might be like a Johannine version of that. Jesus clears the way of old thinking off the table, a way that has no room for God’s presence and work, but only a zero-sum blame game of who screwed up. And Jesus resets the terms with just a more expansive, mysterious, complicated, and, like, theocentric, God-centered view of the world. They want an either / or. Jesus gives them a neither /and. I don’t know if that’s how that works.
Anthony: Yeah, I like that.
Chris: But I think the second thing that is happening is the encounter with the religious gatekeepers. This seems so social media coded to me. They are looking for a way to trap him. They want to get him to say something that can be clipped so that he can be disputed, dismissed, vilified, disqualified. Again, related to our theme of who can see and hear, those who can, and those who refuse to. If you already “know” that a man can’t be healed, you just have a few options.
Your options are like the disciples, to try to explain it, and blame for it, which that works. And that can be satisfying until that blame comes for you when something bad happens. Another option is you can deny it like the Pharisees attempt to, or then that like denial shifts as denial often does and then they begin to recognize that this “impossible skill” happened, in that it has dark causes; you vilify it. So, those seem to be the ways that blame is operating here, and I think still operates more generally.
Anthony: Yeah. It seems to me when anything happens in our society, that’s the first question we often ask, “Who’s to blame?” We’ve got to be able to set it at somebody’s feet so we can understand what is happening.
And I just love this guy’s response. His testimony is not to wrangle over theology. “I just know what happened to me. I can’t tell you much about this guy, but I was blind and now I see.” What can we learn from the witness of this man?
Chris: Yeah. Of all those previous options and the way that they’re wrestling with this upturning of the way things are, there’s this guy standing over to the side, and imagine him just like ogling at the colors and the shapes and the shadows and the faces and the details and the beauty that he never saw but now can see.
Anthony: Yeah
Chris: Like, I think we learned that, like talking about and bandying about ideas of seeing and perceiving pale in comparison to the indisputable experience of a man who was encountered, who was touched, who was healed, who had things revealed to him. You circle back to the start of the passage, he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. And Jesus says, as long as I’m in the world, I’m the light of the world. And it is that light that is illuminating for this man.
Anthony: I don’t know if you’ve seen the videos of people who had been born deaf and with today’s technology are able to hear.
Chris: Yeah, that’s right.
Anthony: And people who have been colorblind with special glasses can see in colors they could only previously try to imagine. It brings me to tears every time something like that happens. What a wonderful thing the Lord has done here. And I appreciate you just bringing it up, like the astonishment of what that man was experiencing and how that impacted his testimony. I don’t think he ever stopped talking about it. How could you?
Chris: How could you? And again, not to rank healings or encounters, but there’s just something so much more vivid and, like, whole-being-related to gaining a whole sense. Again, someone who is immobilized by leg injury or something like, absolutely — those stories in the gospels they jump up and leap about like calves. That’s so cool. This man is having his whole way of being in the world completely changed in a way that seems analogous to what Jesus is telling Nicodemus. “You need to be born again. You need to come into this world again as for the first time.” It feels like that’s a little bit of what that man is experiencing.
Anthony: Yeah. And yet Pastor Paul wrote to the church in Corinth, no eye has seen, no ears heard, no mind can even comprehend the things that are in store. Like even with this man’s sight, there’s just still so much.
Small Group Discussion Questions
- The sermon suggests that God beginning to heal our “sight” often comes before we fully understand it. Can you think of a time when something meaningful in your life made sense only later after it had already begun to change you?
- In John 9, Jesus acts before the man asks for help or understands who Jesus is. What does it feel like to imagine a God who moves toward people before they “have it together” or know what to believe?
- God seeks and finds us; God acts first. How does knowing that influence or affect how you view your neighbors?
- The sermon repeats the idea that God gives sight in darkness. Does it feel hopeful to know God is with you in your darkness, not just when you feel certain or in control?
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