by Fr. Bill Garrison

Please note that the following sermon text was provided prior to the audio recording. The two versions may differ substantially.

“The Healed Blind Man Tells His Story to the Jews” - James Tissot

As Jesus walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 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, saying to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see. 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?” Some were saying, “It is he.” Others were saying, “No, but it is someone like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.” But they kept asking him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” 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.” They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.”

They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. Now it was a sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. 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.” Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not observe the sabbath.” But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?” And they were divided. 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.”

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 and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” His parents answered, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; 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.” 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. Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”

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.” He answered, “I do not know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” 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?” Then they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.” The man answered, “Here is an astonishing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but he does listen to one who worships him and obeys his will. Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” They answered him, “You were born entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us?” And they drove him out.

Jesus heard that they had driven him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” He answered, “And who is he, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him.” Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he.” He said, “Lord, I believe.” And he worshiped him. 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.” Some of the Pharisees near him heard this and said to him, “Surely we are not blind, are we?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.”

—John 9:1-41 (NRSV)

For her entire life, 48-year-old Madison Powell heard the constant refrain, “Stop being so indecisive!”

And she tried, she really did. As a child, she practiced making smaller decisions of lesser import, like choosing Cheerios over Raisin Bran for her breakfast - only to find herself plagued with doubts while eating her Cheerios, wondering whether the Raisin Bran, or even Corn Flakes, might have been more enjoyable.

As a single adult woman, her indecisiveness caused her relationships to suffer, as she pored over restaurant menus while on dates, sometimes taking 30-40 minutes to choose a dinner entrée - only to change her mind the moment the waiter asked for her order.

Her indecisiveness affected her professional success, too. “Getting dressed for work in the morning was a nightmare,” she confided. “Should I go with the black dress or the maroon sweater with the charcoal-gray pencil skirt? Patent leather pumps or the adorable ballerina flats? There are always so many wonderful options that, “it was sheer agony to choose just one.”

Things came to a head when, at the age of 45, Madison was forced to choose between two suitors. There was Keith, a successful and powerful advertising executive determined to bring New Age ethics to the business of psychological manipulation for profit. And then there was Greg, an introspective research scientist devoted to studying the habits of Japanese beetles.

“I couldn't do it,” said Madison. “I just couldn't do it. And at that point, I realized that indecisive was just who I was. Why should I have to make a choice?” So, she didn't. In effect, she became anti-choice.

That approach worked out spectacularly with Keith and Greg, who both grew so frustrated at her indecision that they dumped her - leaving Madison so happily single that she realized she'd never truly been in love with either of them (she's pretty sure).

“It's just like the Rush song says - 'If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.' That says it right there! I found that when you don't make decisions, life decides for you. And life sometimes comes up with some amazing ideas.”

For that reason, Madison decided simply to continue being indecisive. Immediately thereafter, though, she wondered whether in doing so, she'd just gone back on her decision. And if so, was that okay?

Madison's not going to decide.

Today lots of decisions are being made about the “virus” and everything surrounding it. Schools are closed along with churches and many businesses and other sorts of organizations. The government on every level is making decisions that impact everyone in society. We are being asked to make choices about staying home, going to work or play, and when to seek medical attention or not. As we think about decision-making this morning we wonder how we might make ethical decisions especially. What is an ethical decision? What goes into the thinking of an ethical decision? How do we arrive at the proper ethical decision?

Carole Horton-Howe and I were talking about seminary classes the other day and we remembered that we shared a professor for our ethics class. We took the class at different times but from the same teacher. I don’t pretend to be an expert in ethics but I am somewhat conversant in the subject, hopefully enough for our purposes this morning. Here is some of what I learned.

To begin with in my mind there are three primary schools of thinking when it comes to making an ethical decision. We will review them in an order that fits our conversation and fits the gospel which we will eventually tackle.

The first would be Utilitarian Ethics. This is making a decision that will benefit the most people with the resources available. As an example suppose this current virus situation outstrips our medical community’s ability to handle it. Who will get medical attention in that event and who won’t? Someone will have to make a decision eliminating some people so that the resources available help the majority. Perhaps those too sick to help will be abandoned. Perhaps those that aren’t very sick will not be treated. Or perhaps the decision will be some mix of each. Maybe another way of attacking the issue will be found.

The second school of ethical decision making is Deontological in nature. This means rules, decision-making governed by rules. We seek a rule for every decision to be made. The speed limit is thirty miles an hour. So stay at a lower speed. No exceptions. Give ten per cent of you income. No exceptions. (I thought that would get a reaction.)

So let’s say in the current virus situation the rule is that patients are served in the order they arrive at the hospital. This would work as the general rule of thumb wouldn’t it? Unless of course we have limited resources or someone has greater need or some other extraneous factor were present. Then we have to decide when to break a rule and what sort of a price we are willing to pay for having broken it. Is it ok to break the speed limit to get a pregnant woman to the hospital? Hmmm.

And then we have the third form of ethics. This is the one in which we have a lens through which we view a situation. The lens might be previous experience. It might be the advice of a respected person or council. It might be a religious leader. It might be a conception of God’s desires. Whatever the lens is that we choose to run our decision-making through we use that lens to help reach a final decision.

For the Christian the lens through which we make important decisions is Jesus Christ. As a result we are led to ask a famous and important question. What would Jesus do? What decision would Jesus make if faced with the same issue?

In the gospel today we heard a story about an ethical decision that Jesus made. Let’s set the story up with a little background, some of the same information we covered a couple of weeks ago. Here is a very quick review.

The Pharisees were students of scripture. They were the founders of what is called the Oral Torah. The Oral Torah was designed to flesh out the true meaning of the written word. It recognized metaphor within scripture and didn’t take everything literally as the Sadducees did.

The example to which we continually refer is the Sabbath day. Scripture says to keep it holy and not do any work, but what does that mean? Through the work of the Oral Torah the Pharisees had decided the answers to this issue and made up a list of does and don’ts. What you are permitted to do and what you weren’t. Referring back to our discussion of a few minutes ago we see that the Sabbath rules were Deontological weren’t they? Ontological ethics is all about rules. Rules work great until they don’t.

Today’s gospel takes place on the Sabbath and Sabbath rules were in effect. No work. Apparently healing someone was considered work and was on the list of don’ts. Jesus had to make a decision whether to heal the man or not. If he followed the rules he wasn’t allowed to heal him. He therefore had to break the rule if he was to heal him. Jesus broke the rule.

Why would he do that? The man had been blind since birth. Was one more day of blindness really going to make any difference?

Apparently for Jesus one more day was one day too many. He made some things apparent. Human suffering is more important than Sabbath rules and when suffering is encountered it is to be taken care of now, not later. Nothing is more important.

We say that if we want to discover the nature of God all we need do is study the life of Jesus Christ. This is also how we develop and focus our ethical lenses. So what do we find when we do study Jesus? Please see if you agree with me. We find compassion for one, and intelligence for another. We find love, an incredible love that’s impossible to wrap one’s head around. Common sense abounds in everything he did. There’s more, but you get the point. Everything Jesus did pointed in the “right” direction.

The temptation would be to make lists of his virtues and use the lists much as the Pharisees used Torah. I am certain doing that would dismay him. And so here is the point. Christian decision-making is best understood as a combination of our intelligence and experience, the input of other human beings, and running all of that through the lens of Jesus Christ, as we ask the big question. What would Jesus advise us to do in this particular instance?

So I think our invitation in this uncertain time is to partner with Jesus all the time in our decision-making, but especially now. These are difficult times. Decisions are being made for us and we are making decisions for ourselves and others. Let’s remember to partner with Jesus for all of them. His input changes things sometimes and confirms things at other times. He is the difference maker as we travel down the road deciding which fork to take.