Lent 4 Year A
Sunday, March 22, 2020
Lent 4 Year A
John 9:1-41
I don’t know about you, but this week, I am viewing everything through the lens of “social distancing.” I even find myself applying the distancing principles to whatever it is I’m watching on TV. For example, I was watching a cooking show, and I had to shake my head when two chefs grabbed spoons to taste-test a recipe together. I watch in horror those pharmaceutical commercials which show large multi-generational parties. All I can think is, ‘You’re putting granddad at risk!’ I even read this morning’s Gospel through that lens . . . applauding the neighbors and Pharisees for being such good Roman citizens, keeping appropriate social distance from the “man born blind.”
Of course, Jesus, as he always does, turns everything upside down and inside out with his boundary-free love, not just by approaching the blind man, but leaning in so close that he actually touches the man’s eyes with a mix of saliva and dirt. What I’ve never appreciated before, but understand now in this time of pandemic, is that essentially, by touching the man’s eyes with that saliva-laced mud, Jesus is blending his cells with the man’s . . . and the man is healed. All of it, Jesus says, in order to make God’s work manifest in the world.
What’s important here is that while the neighbors and Pharisees were asking questions of the man, greedy for more information . . . needing more news . . . more evidence . . . more facts . . . , Jesus lets all of that go, and instead, moves toward connection. God’s work in this story – God’s work manifest in the world - involves moving closer, rather than stepping away.
Now this might seem like a tall order – or even an impossibility - in this time of social distancing. I mean, how are we to be, as Teresa of Avila said, Christ’s hands, feet and body in the world while not putting ourselves or others at risk adding to the individual and communal trauma?
Jesus gives us the answer in today’s Gospel. And no, it doesn’t involve saliva or mud. But it does involve “relationships.” Jesus saw the man who had been born blind – really saw him - when no one else in the community would. Jesus saw him as whole and worthy, and Jesus saw him with compassion. So, yes, while we would be crazy to make a paste of spit and dirt right now, or even to touch our own eyes!, what we can do right now is “see” – see our neighbor with compassionate empathy.
Unfortunately, one of the side effects – or outgrowths – of increased fearis decreased empathy. The hoarding of toilet paper and hand sanitizer is evidence of this; it’s a lack of concern for someone other than our own self.
But Jesus is calling us to see in a different way now – to see ourselves as vulnerable and connected to one another in our vulnerability, not resorting to panicked hoarding or the darkness of despair. Now this doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t take care of ourselves and those we love. And it doesn’t mean that we are not afraid. But what it does mean is that we see the stranger as our neighbor and make empathetic room for their economic and their physical needs as well.
Yes, social distancing, right now, is an act of love. As much as I miss worshipping with you on Sundays the most loving and holy thing we can do right now is not to gather in person. But there are so many needs in our community that we can meet, just by being a little creative. And the benefit, the side effect, is that action – active steps toward relationship – can calm our minds.
*For example, is there still a toilet paper shortage? Well, tithe from your supply.
*Or, are our senior members concerned about going out to shop for groceries or other supplies? Then some of us from lower-risk populations can shop for you.
*And we can’t forget those who struggle to keep food in their homes, who use the food bank to feed their families. We can buy extra items, beyond our own immediate needs and donate them to the food bank.
*I know that our knitters, right now, are making prayer shawls, so we can enfold the sick with our prayers.
Local clergy are meeting with the Chatham Mayor, to anticipate and respond to the mental and emotional needs of this community.
These are all tangible ways to be Jesus’ hands, feet, and eyes in our world right now. I’m sure you have come up with even more.
This week, I heard an interview with the author Rebecca Solnit. She has done research on the communal effect of disasters – including the 1985 earthquake in Mexico City, the 1989 Bay Area earthquake, 9/11, and Hurricane Katrina – and she called her book, “A Paradise Built in Hell.” She noted that in both San Francisco, after the earthquake and in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, when the all of the power went out, the light pollution that normally blocked out the night sky went away. The “paradise” that emerged was the visible starry sky.
Perhaps together, we are lights from the stars. The light of the world. What a gift it would be, right about now, to be blinded by the light of empathy and relationship. It would certainly be healing, and no doubt, God’s work made manifest in the world.
Amen.