WHO SINNED?

SERMON PREACHED BY FR. TONY NOBLE ON MARCH 2^nd, 2008

1 Samuel 16:7 "Man looks on the outward appearances, but the Lord looks on the heart."

One of the most moving books I've read in recent years is called "The hospital by the river", by Dr. Catherine Hamlyn. It is a story about Dr. Catherine Hamlyn and her husband Reg Hamlyn - two Australian doctors who went to Ethiopia in the 1990's and there their founded a hospital for fistula patients.   It is a story of their dedication, their resourcefulness and their Christian faith. It's also a wonderful adventure - and a profoundly moving story.

Fistula patients are those young Ethiopian women who are married at about the age of twelve or thirteen and forced after they are married to give birth to children by their husbands. At such a young age they soon develop problems, and become incontinent for the rest of their lives. They can hardly move around, yet alone have normal bodily functions. As a result, they become ostracized from their families, often sent to live away from the village. Nothing had been done for these women - until Reg and Catherine Hamlyn went to Ethiopia to work in a hospital and discovered the plight of these unseen young women.

So they started a campaign of education in the country of Ethiopia; and their campaign ended up with them starting a special hospital for these poor young women. The book is a wonderful account of this adventure, and particularly as word gets around Ethiopia that there is a place and people who care, who can perhaps do something for them.   As the book unfolds, one or two women come to the hospital, and then many more, often after several days journey by foot.

I remember one particular incident in the story concerning a woman called Mahjo.   She came to the hospital and inquired if she also could be fixed (in her simple language).   She said to Dr. Catherine Hamlyn "I would be so happy to be with people again".

To be with people again. It might be hard for us to imagine what it would be to feel like that - to want to be with people again. Even if we live alone, we have a parish family to whom we can talk to and relate our lives, and share our ups and downs. But, for these women - no such thing.

It was the same for the man born blind in today's Gospel.   He was ostracized, not just because he had been born blind, but because his blindness was attributed to sin.   "Rabbi, who sinned", the disciples asked, "this man, or his parents?" It seems incredible that someone who was born blind, could be ostracized because it was considered that they, or their poor parents, had sinned.

On the other hand, it is easy to blame other causes or other people for our illnesses and our aliments.

Most sickness or afflictions have an explanation, and usually it's psychical.   But more and more in our society we see that illness can be caused by our emotions, or our state of mind.  Our mental health influences our physical health.

We would no longer say sickness is caused by sin - but the truth is that our sinful ways often affect our health, both mental and physical. For example, I have seen people who are very unloving, and it shows, because they are often uptight or tight-lipped. And then they wonder why they are not well and always feeling down. When we say that someone is a pain in the neck, we often feel some sort of pain in their presence!

The man born blind was not born blind because he sinned or his parents sinned - but his blindness is an image of a sinful world, in which God's perfect creation has been flawed through sin. The man was born blind because the world containing sin has flaws - and that is seen in human beings.

We often say it's not our fault - it's always someone else's fault. How often has a person facing a trial for murder given as an excuse, mental incapacity - they didn't know what they were doing?

The Church has always taught that sin affects our mental, emotional, and spiritual health - and often our physical health is affected as a result. Sin is part of sickness.

How fortunate that today we are half way through Lent. It's time to remember that this is a season in which we are thinking about spiritual health. Just as the man born blind reminds us of sin, and of the healing love of Jesus - so Lent reminds us of sin in our lives, and of the healing love of Jesus.

Perhaps we have slipped now that we are four weeks into Lent? Perhaps we are no longer being diligent about our fasting, or our time for prayer, or our almsgiving? So today is a useful day to re-double our efforts. Soon it will be Holy Week - and then we think of the sin that caused our Lord's Passion and Death.

+ Fasting is an aid to help and self-control.

+ Almsgiving is an aid to being more loving and giving.

+ Prayer is an aid to spiritual and life.  

As always, the Church's traditions are completely up-to-date and relevant to us.

If Psychiatrists want us to talk it over when we have a problem, how much more beneficial must it be to talk it over with God? To talk it over in prayer with Jesus, to hand it over to him - rather than getting ourselves in a stew and becoming sick?

On this fourth Sunday in Lent, we once again have another Gospel reading from Saint John's Gospel involving a stirring conversation between Jesus and someone in need. Someone who represents us - like Nicodemus 2 week’s ago, and the women at the well last week.

Let us consider today's Gospel. It begins with these words: "As he passed by, he saw a man born blind from his birth".  The man cannot see Jesus, of course - so it starts with Jesus seeing the man. The way the Gospel starts is significant. Jesus sees the man - and it's not just a matter of Jesus looking at him, or noticing him as he goes past. This is a deep movement from Jesus towards the person. Nothing casual about Jesus seeing the man - as it was also with Nicodemus, when Jesus saw him in the tree, and also the women at the well. It is a movement from our Lord to this particular person.

All the disciples saw was a blind man begging - but Jesus saw more than this. He saw, as always, the real person behind the blindness. 1 Samuel 16:7 reminds us: "God looks at the heart". We, of course, look at appearances, don't we? But God looks at the heart.

This story now becomes a story of divine grace, as Jesus reaches out to this man.

It reminds us of 1 John 4:10: "Not that we loved God, but that God loved us first". That is surely our experience - that before we loved God, God loved us first? That is what is happening here on the roadside - before the man sees Jesus, Jesus loves him.

So the story begins with Jesus seeing the man - and ends with the man seeing Jesus.  

There are references to light and darkness - reminding us that this is not just a miracle of healing, but an image of the darkness of the world and the light of Christ.  Then the conversation between the man and Jesus moves on, and becomes a conversation between the man and the authorities. And what a fascinating conversation it is! Then the man finally returns to Jesus.  And the gospel  climaxes with that wonderful quote:  “The man said: ‘Lord I believe.’ And he worshipped him".

And there is a final twist. In contrast to the disciples’ speculative questions, Jesus is moved to practical action. The disciples want to assign blame to the situation - Jesus wants to change it. They look for a human cause - Jesus for a divine purpose. At the beginning he says: "That the works of God might be made manifest in him".

That was ultimately the purpose of the man born blind - that the works of God might be made manifest in him. The result is not just a man healed of his blindness - but the works of God made manifest.  

And why?   Because Jesus looks at the heart.