Be Transformed by the Renewing of your Mind

Rev. Robert P. Travis

Lent 4A Sermon – 8am and 10:30am Church of the Ascension, Knoxville TN

RCL 4/3/2011

1 Samuel 16:1-13, Psalm 23, Ephesians 5:8-14 (and Romans 12) , John 9:1-41

Sermon Text:

Wow, Two weeks in a row

we have these very long, extended Gospel passages.

But they are very different.

There seems to be a lot going on in today's Gospel,

but it is happening on at least two different levels.

I might say,

there's more to this story than meets the eye!

But of course that's a terrible pun.

Really it is all there,

right in front of our eyes.

But we have to be able to see it

That's what I want to help you do this morning.

The difference between this and other stories

of Jesus bringing sight to the blind,

is mentioned right in the first verse.

Jesus saw a man blind from birth.

The disciples' question about sin,

reflects the relationship that sickness and sin

had for jews at the time.

And while there is some connection between

sickness and sin,

Jesus answers them clearly,

that this man was not born blind because of sin,

but “so that God's works might be revealed in him.”

There is more of God's works here than simply a healing.

The thing that struck me about this,

as I was praying over the gospel this week,

what I feel the Holy Spirit revealed to me,

was the way Jesus goes about this healing.

After explaining the need to do the work of God,

Jesus spits on the ground and makes mud,

and spreads the mud over the man's eyes.

This is not some kind of primitive medicine,

Jesus does not heal in this way at any other time,

he was not a doctor, and he is not creating some

poultice or potion out of the mud.

The connection I had missed every other time I read this,

was that Jesus was doing what he did in creation,

when with the Father and the Holy Spirit,

he formed human beings from the dust of the ground.

This man was born blind,

it seems to me, that his eyes were not created fully.

So Jesus, recreates the mans eyes,

from the dust of the earth.

Jesus reveals that he is God,

by participating in creation the same way

as happened in the beginning.

The next thing that happens also speaks more

on a level below the surface of what's happening.

It says the man went and washed,

and came back able to see.

It does not say his eyes were opened,

or that his eyes suddenly worked.

What it says is, he came back able to see.

That is where the deeper miracle here becomes apparent.

I came to understand that because of a job that Jackie did

while we were in Florida.

She worked for Lighthouse Central Florida,

an agency that helps the blind and visually impaired,

and she confronted this story with some understanding

she gained from her work there.

This is what Jackie told me,

“Throughout the history of mankind

there are about 20 accounts of people

who were blind for most or all of their lives

having their eyes restored to normal.

But all of these stories bear similar characteristics.

Instead of becoming joyous for receiving sight,

these people sink into a depression

and rely on the skills they developed while blind

to help them interact with their world.

Modern science has an explanation for why this happens.

In the brain are cells called neurons.

According to wikipedia,

neurons "are electrically excitable cells

in the nervous system that process and transmit information". These cells are instrumental in processing the images

our eyes take in and helping the brain interpret them.

By the age of 4 or 5,

all brain neurons are permanently assigned

to the task they will do for the rest of our lives.

The neurons that help us interpret images

do things like help us see motion,

give us depth perception

and help us differentiate the subtle differences

in faces and facial expressions.

If your brain neurons are not assigned to these tasks

in the first years of your life,

you will never perceive these things.

Neurons cannot be reassigned to a new task as adults,

though they may be able to be reassigned at a young age,

so someone who loses their sight as an infant

may be able to use those vision neurons for other tasks.

What this means is that in the 20 or so cases

of miraculous eye restorations

that have been recorded by humans over the centuries,

the person could not see.

Yes, their eyes could now take in images,

but their brains could not interpret those images.

They sank into sadness,

because what should have made life easier

was actually a burden.

They were bombarded

with unintelligible sensory experiences.

I suppose it would be like

how it feels to be in a room full of people

speaking a language you've never heard before:

it all sounds like noise, but it makes no sense,

you can't even distinguish a single word.

What is truly amazing about the miracle John records is that it's very clear that the man came back able to see. In other words, Jesus has changed not just his eyes, but the very wiring of his brain.”

It is recorded here, in scripture,

long before we understood how these things worked,

and yet what we see is different from those other accounts.

This man was born blind,

and Jesus recreated his eyes, and neurons so that he could see.

It reminds me of

another place in scripture,

St. Paul exhorts us to

be transformed by the renewing of our minds.

It's in Romans chapter 12:

“Do not be conformed to this world,*

but be transformed by the renewing of your minds,

so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

There's the connection to our Epistle from Ephesians today,

We heard we are to “live as Children of the Light,”

and “find out what is pleasing to the Lord.”

How do we do that?

Well in Romans, Paul teaches us

that we will discern what the will of God is,

“what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

In other words,

when we are transformed by the renewing of our minds,

we will know what is pleasing to God.

Who accomplishes the renewing of our minds,

the recreation of our minds?

Jesus does!

He recreated the eyes, and the neurological connections,

in the man born blind,

he can certainly renew our minds.

And all it takes it to be willing,

and not to conform to this world,

the Pharisees show us what conforming to the world is about.

For in this passage they refuse to see what is happening,

and has happened,

they are so concerned with proving things,

according to their own standards,

to what they already know to be true,

that they resist even the clear explanations.

Finally, the man becomes exasperated with them,

saying, “I've told you already, and you would not listen!

Why do you want to hear it again?”

Much of the time we are like that,

God tries to give us clear directions,

but we're so caught up in the ways of the world,

and so enmeshed in our own agendas,

that we refuse to see what God is showing us.

We are blind, but not from birth,

but by our own fault.

The only solution is to allow ourselves

to be transformed, by the renewing of our minds.

To be open to the healing and recreation of our senses,

that God wants to accomplish in us.

Some of us have already experienced this,

and will gladly share stories of our eyes being opened.

If you're already there, give thanks to God,

for what he has accomplished in you.

If you desire this new vision,

if you're sitting there this morning,

saying yes, Lord I want to know

what is pleasing to you.

Pray this with me in your heart.

Lord Jesus,

I know that I have been blind to God's will

for a long time,

and I want to see,

I cannot do that without you.

Help me to no longer be conformed to this world.

Come and transform me by renewing my mind,

recreate my senses to see what it true,

and good and perfect.

Help me to see Lord, so that I can do your will.

Amen