Readings
for Lent 4A:
I Samuel 16:1-13; Psalm 23; Ephesians 5:8-14; John 9:1-13; 28-38
March 6, 2005
The Rev. Mary B. Blessing
St. Jude the Apostle Episcopal Church, Cupertino,
CA
"Seeing is believing." I wonder if that phrase was born out of this story of the blind man? A man born blind, who asks nothing of Jesus. He's just sitting there on the side of the road, begging, as he does every day. The disciples quiz Jesus on a theological point about sin, asking Jesus if it was the man or his parents who sinned, causing him to be born blind? Jesus uses this as a "teachable moment." He says this man is not blind because of sin, but because God will use this man to reveal God's work. Jesus then performs a kind of "operation" on this man, making quite a scene with his ritual of spittle and mud and washing in the proper pool. But God's work revealed in this man is not the success of Jesus' "operation", rather it is this man's powerful witness of faith.
We know nothing of the blind man's prior understanding of who Jesus is. All we know is, when he can see, Jesus asks him if he believes in the Son of Man. It is not even clear if he has an inkling what Jesus means by "Son of Man", yet the formerly blind man is immediately willing to believe in Jesus. He offers complete trust. Complete faith. He proclaims Jesus as Lord, and bows down to worship him.
This story of the blind man and Jesus illustrates that first and foremost, faith is about relationships, not about "belief in doctrines." The problem is, most of us think "Faith" is a set of beliefs in particular doctrines or teachings. As if faith is a matter of the head--what we think--rather than also a matter of the heart. "The heart" in a Christian sense, has to do with a deeper level of self than merely what we think.
Marcus Borg says, "Faith is the way of the heart, not the way of the head." (p. 26) In his book, The Heart of Christianity, Borg offers 4 meanings of Faith. Only one has to do with the head. I cannot possibly do justice to all the nuances of these meanings in one sermon-but I would like to mention them to you. I will look most closely at his final form of faith.
1) The first form of faith, Assensus, is "faith of the head". It is the most common form of faith we in the Western post-modern world use. And, it is our stumbling block. Assensus: is Faith which indicates our willingness to assent, using our minds, to agree that we will believe something, even without evidence; we agree even when belief and knowledge are in conflict. It is precisely because we canNOT "assent" to particular doctrines that many westerners say they do NOT have faith. This "faith of the head" is not the form of Faith Jesus expected.
Borg's other 3 definitions of faith are a "matter of the heart". These are what Jesus expected.
2) "Fiducia" Faith as "trust"-radical trust in God. The kind of trust Jesus asks his followers to have when he says, "Do not worry, do not be anxious. Just as God takes care of the birds of the sky and the grasses of the field, God will take care of you." This is one of the kinds of faith the blind man shows when he allows Jesus to put spittle and mud over his eyes-complete trust in Jesus. This is faith of the heart. This is what Jesus expected.
3) "Fidelitas": faith which shows fidelity in our "faithfulness in our relationship with God." Faithfulness just like the fidelity we show in our personal, intimate relationships with human beings. To forsake all others and love the One God. To show such faith is a matter of the heart. This is what Jesus expected.
4) "Visio": faith as "vision", seeing the whole, all at once, seeing "what is", knowing the ups and downs, the good and the bad of a relationship-seeing it all at once, yet still saying, "yes, this is the relationship I want." "Visio" happens when we open our hearts to allow God to be our eyes. "Visio" is the form of faith highlighted in this story of the blind man. . "Visio"/ "Vision" is the form of faith I would like to examine further.
Borg points out that "visio", seeing the whole all at once, can have various responses in us. We might be frightened for instance, by the awareness that, in the end, death will get us all. We may interpret reality as hostile, and build defenses around us to protect us from the inevitable. Or we may see "what is" is and imagine "swirling force fields of matter and energy" as impersonal. "What is" is neither hostile nor supportive, but just indifferent to human concerns.
A third way we can "see what is" is to view it as life-giving and nourishing; we can choose to see reality as gracious. (Borg, p. 35) This is how I believe the blind man responded to Jesus. It could have been frightening to see the world for the first time, especially as people immediately challenged him and cast him aside. But this man received a gift from Jesus. He experienced a gracious relationship with Jesus, and chose to view reality as life-giving.
The blind man experiences something extraordinary. He has faith of the heart. He proclaims that no one in all of history who was born blind has ever "had their eyes opened"-only a man of God could do such a thing. The blind man displays 3 aspects of faith which are "of the heart". He shows "fiducia", a radical trust in Jesus; he shows "fidelitas", his fidelity, or faithfulness to love just one God, as manifest in Jesus; and he shows most dramatically that his new found "vision" is not just eyesight as every seeing person has. He shows a kind of "vision" of faith that is willing to proclaim Jesus as Lord, even if it means taking the bad along with the good. He knows proclaiming Jesus as Lord puts him at risk. His relationship with Jesus puts him in danger of death. Some might say this is a fate worse than remaining a blind beggar--except he is not afraid of death. His "visio" faith sees the whole of "what is", faces the reality of death, and does not fear. He sees that Jesus is not just a miracle worker or healing doctor. His relationship with Jesus allows him to see The Way to eternal life.
This "visio" Faith, faith as the ability to "see the whole" and not be frightened, to still say yes, intrigues me. For when we "see the whole picture" and still have faith, knowing there are dangers, we open our heart to a vulnerability that requires us to let go of our ego, and let God, the source of life and death, be in control.
Have you ever "seen" with the faith of your heart? Many of you have heard my story of grief over the death of my older brother when I was a teenager. I went alone into a dark cathedral on Christmas Eve, and got down on my knees to pray. I needed to ask God, once and for all, "where is my brother?" I wanted to know. I wanted "to see." In that moment, my heart opened to God as never before, and I knew Christ was present. The relationship I had with God as manifest in Christ Jesus, created that trust. My fidelity to the One God let me know, with a complete knowing, "I am with your brother, and I am with you." In Christ Jesus there is no separation. In that moment, it was as if I could see the "what is", the whole of reality, life and death. And it was good. I saw that death is not the worse thing that can happen--it happens to all of us. I saw that in Christ Jesus there is eternal life, and I was at peace.
After many moments of complete peace, a peace I wanted to hold on to forever, I felt as if someone were pulling on my elbow to get me up, encouraging me to go out into the world, to proclaim this good news. And so I did.
When I went out into the world, everything looked different. I was not afraid of the dark night. There was no fear in seeing strangers. Everything was one, and everything was good. It is this kind of seeing with new eyes of faith that transforms not only our own lives, but the lives of the people around us.
Lent is ending soon. I pray you take time to get down on your knees, open your heart, and ask God to open your eyes to a faith that sees all that is, the good and bad, and still says, "Yes, Lord, I believe."
AMEN
| Updated 3/14/05 |
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