Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
This morning I’d like to talk to you about a certain creature, a specimen you don’t see on the seminary campus very often.
I’m talking about … an unbeliever.
A non-Christian. Someone who does not have saving faith in Jesus. The type of people we like to talk about as we figure out how best to get them into our churches.
We want to get inside the mind of unchurched Harry and Mary. We like to develop strategies to get them connected to the church.
We like to ask tough theological questions about them, like, “Why does God choose to save some and not others?”
The unbeliever is an odd creature, and interesting to discuss.
I encountered such a creature on an airplane flight recently. Her name was Cheri. She was sitting next to me, reading a brochure about a non-Christian spirituality. It had to do with tapping into your inner spirit and things we might call New Age spirituality.
I asked her about her religious beliefs. She said she took her kids to a Christian church, but she wasn’t Christian. She wanted her kids to have a nice environment to make friends and learn values.
She didn’t believe the stuff about Jesus, she said. He’s a nice guy and everything, but she said the Jesus story didn’t ring true with her. Besides, she said, Christians are too judgmental.
Interesting creatures, these unbelievers.
In a similar manner, the disciples in today’s Scripture reading encounter someone they consider to be an interesting creature: the blind man. They ponder his unfortunate situation and wonder why he has been given such a sad fate. The blind man is little more than a theological dilemma.
The blind man is probably within earshot of the disciples as they ask Jesus: “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
You see, people assumed that blindness was God’s curse on a person for doing something wrong. So not only does the blind man of John’s Gospel have physical limitations, he has the burden of moral suspicion weighing on him.
But then Jesus speaks: “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.”
Jesus looks with compassion on the blind man and approaches him. Jesus spits in the dirt, makes mud, and smears the mud on the blind man’s eyes.
Then, instead of speaking about the blind man, Jesus speaks to him. He tells the blind man to go wash the mud off. When the blind man does, his world is changed.
Sight. He can see! People. Trees. The water in front of him. His own hands and feet. He can see everything … except the Man who had healed him. The Man is not there.
Instead the people he sees are people with questions. “Who did this? Where is the Man who healed you?”
Now his eyes are opened, but all he sees is an unbelieving world. He sees Pharisees shaking their fingers in accusation. “This Man who healed you must be a sinner. He healed you on a Sabbath. He can’t be from God. We know how God works. We are highly trained in theology.”
The man sees his parents shrugging their shoulders at the Pharisees’ interrogation: “How he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don’t know.”
Again, the man sees the Pharisees as they ask him another round of questions. Their faces are turning red and their voices are raised. “We are disciples of Moses. We’re orthodox believers. You’re telling us that some Mystery Man is going against the laws of nature and giving sight to you, a blind man, a wretched sinner.”
The man sees, all right. He sees an unbelieving world. He sees it all … except the One who gave him sight.
After the Pharisees in disgust throw the man out, a strangely familiar figure re-enters the scene. It’s Jesus, who is intent on fulfilling His mission, that the work of God would be seen in the blind man’s life.
In the midst of a world of unbelief, this Person asks a question of belief: “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”
The man asked: “Who is He?”
Jesus said: “You have now seen Him; in fact, He is the one speaking with you.”
Then the man, having his spiritual eyes opened by the Holy Spirit, said, “Lord, I believe,” and fell on his knees.
Jesus, who opened the eyes of the blind man and gave him faith, is still at work in this world removing blindness. Even for Christians, for you and me, Jesus is removing our blind spots.
We display blind spots when we judge unbelievers. We often look down on them and pity them for their unfortunate situation instead of loving them as people. We treat them as objects instead of people. We can become smug over being chosen by God when really our hearts should break for those who don’t know the Lord.
We have chances to speak words of encouragement in this world, even the saving word of the Gospel, to the people in our lives. I’m not just talking about random meetings on the street. I’m talking family, aunts and uncles, siblings, friends, the people who are close to us. And I know fail to speak as often as I should.
Praise God that even though we’re not always faithful in speaking words of hope and comfort to others, the Lord has been faithful in speaking His Word to us.
Through that Word, He allows us to see a Savior hanging on a cross, taking the sins of the world on Him – my sins and your sins. He lets us see a risen Lord, who has conquered death and given life, salvation … sight.
The Lord has opened our spiritual eyes. And He continues to remove our blind spots as He daily works in our hearts.
And be assured, brothers and sisters in Christ, that our Lord continues to open eyes in this world.
For a project for World Religions class, I interviewed a Muslim named Karim. Karim moved to America a couple decades ago. He worked at a restaurant and fell in love with one of the waitresses there, Susie. The two of them decided to get married.
She took him home to meet her mother, a life-long Missouri Synod Lutheran. That’s right, this girl took her Muslim boyfriend home to meet her LCMS mother, Edna. How do you think that went over?
At that moment, Edna was coming face to face with one of those creatures, an unbeliever. And she was faced with a decision. Would Karim be nothing more than a hopeless unbeliever to her … or a person, in need of God’s grace?
In loving gentleness, here’s how she responded to their desire to get married: “I don’t think so! You two aren’t getting married. But Karim, I’d like for you to come to church with us.”
Karim reluctantly agreed. But all along, he thought: Christianity is a foolish religion. Why should someone else die for my sins? I don’t need that kind of charity. He said to himself, “These people are weak. They should have to pay for their own sins.”
But over time, Karim felt his defenses becoming weak. He said, “God’s Word was bigger than me.” Gradually, God’s Word was convicting Karim of his sins and pointing him to One who can take away the burden of sin.
A week before the wedding, Karim was baptized into the Christian faith. Now, many years later, Karim is a Lutheran pastor in Texas.
Karim has shared that Word with some of the most important people in his life, his nine siblings living around the world, in Israel, France, the United States, and their home country of Morraco. Seven of the nine have been baptized into the Christian faith.
You and I, like Karim, like the blind man, are the eyes that see Jesus in the midst of a world of unbelief. God has brought us to this place, Concordia Seminary, strengthened us with His Word, and given us the mission of bringing that transforming Word to a world of spiritual blindness.
The world of blindness isn’t a place to be avoided. It’s a place to enter into with eyes like Jesus, who sees people in need of His grace.
And believe me, Jesus hasn’t stopped giving sight to the blind and displaying the work of God in people’s lives.
Until the day that all eyes will see Him and all lips praise Him, all glory be to Christ, who gives sight to the blind. Amen.
