They're making you cry they're making me cry.
That's how I feel about the scriptures, not just about onions. The thing that you need to know about me as a pastor, is that a lot of the passages that you don't like about the Bible, I don't like them either! I'm not really in love with the presence of these passages in the scriptures, and I'd much rather that they weren't in the scriptures as opposed to being there. That's how I feel about them, and it's probably no different from where you are. The passages I like the least, obviously, are the ones that talk about me having to do anything. I much prefer the passages that talk about how other people are the problem and they shouldn't judge me.
But guess which of those two passages there are more of in the scriptures.
This is a problem, and it's a problem that we as Christian people have to deal with, that there will be a great many passages in the Bible that we don't like. But overall, most of us want to find the passages in there that we care for a great deal, and not focus too much on the passages that bother us, that we don't care for, that trouble us. In brief, we want to see what we want to see, and we want God to back us up on that 100%. But the problem with that, of course, is that that isn't the way the world actually is. Now, I don't really want to get too matrix-y here, but unfortunately, it remains the best illustration for all of this, especially when talking about blindness. That you can, in a second, see the truth.
In the Gospel reading, Jesus healed a man who had been blind from birth, and gave him his sight. And when this man received his sight, he went over to the Pharisees, who were displeased, incredibly displeased, with the healing. No, not necessarily because they figured this guy should have stayed blind forever, but because of the way in which Jesus healed him. For Jesus made mud and put it on the man's eyes. Now, if you've ever read this passage in the scriptures, you will probably have found it to be one of the grosser passages in there, where Jesus spits on the ground, makes mud, and puts it on the guy's eyes. Gross. But the Pharisees didn't get angry because it was gross, they got mad because Jesus made mud on the Sabbath. And no, I'm not making that up.
You know how the third commandment says that you shall remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy? You know how the third commandment tells you that in six days you are to do all your work, and then in the seventh day, you are to rest? Well, that begs the question as to what work actually is, and for the hebrews at the time of Christ, they had come up with 39 things that you aren't allowed to do on the Sabbath. One of those is the kneading of dough, and as a category, that includes combining any solid and fluid ingredients to make a paste or dough. Like making mud. So, Jesus made mud, applied it to the man's eyes, and then he was able to see, but the man regaining his sight was a problem based on the usage of mud, the manufacture of which on the sabbath was never expressly forbidden on the Sabbath.
Stop me if I'm getting too technical, but the presence of mud to heal someone shouldn't counteract the healing, but when the Pharisees saw the miracle that had been done, that the man had his sight given to him, they were in a rush to cry foul, and to complain that things hadn't been done to their specifications, even though those specifications were things that they had created for themselves. Meanwhile the man who had been given his sight was having a great time, and upon being questioned for the gorillionth time about his sight being given to him said this much 'why are you asking me so many questions about him? Do you want to be his disciples too?'
Now, this leads to us talking about spiritual blindness, in addition to physical blindness. That is, there are a great number of people out there who are spiritually blind, who are and who remain spiritually blind. There are people out there in the real world who would prize what they think is in the scriptures over what's actually in there, and there are a lot of people who would not want to see things they way they are, given that they disagree with those things so much.
And those people aren't 'out there' somewhere. If you want to see one, open your camera app, and switch the camera to selfie mode.
We aren't much better at this as Christians than anyone else is. Though the Bible tells you to walk as children of light, we don't want the light to shine on our lives, and certainly not in our eyes. We'd rather stay in the darkness to which we have grown accustomed, rather than open our eyes and see the world the way it actually is. And that problem can be traced back entirely, 100% to us. Think about it when it's six am, where it's dark and comfy in your room. Now imagine if someone were to flick on the light. Your first impulse would be to request that the light be turned off again, so that you can go back to the comfy nature of things, back to sleep, back to the darkness that doesn't hurt our eyes, doesn't shine too brightly, lets us rest, and doesn't let us accomplish anything. You're going to get a lot more done if your eyes are open than you are if they're shut. You're going to get much much more done if you can see the things around you than if you're content to clamp your eyes shut, and not to see the way the world actually is. And if you tell me 'but pastor, I have no problem with anything in the scriptures. I love all of God's word equally.' Really? As I said earlier, it's making you cry, it's making me cry. I find it funny that the very next bit from the Bible after the reading from the Epistle that we had from Sunday is this one: "Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church, giving himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he migth present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body."
It goes on like that. It goes on like that for quite a while, talking about the responsibilities of wives and husbands, about the responsibilities of children and parents, of slaves and masters. And you probably fall into one of these groups, and then Paul will tell you about your responsibilities. And you're not going to like those responsibilities that you have been given. But that's the real trick now, ain't it? Clamping your eyes shut lets you stay in the darkness, but it doesn't show you how things actually are, and it doesn't help you to get anything done.
Now, I'm aware that you may not be in love with these passages, and remember, that I'm not either. No human beings are! You may like the parts that don't apply to you, but you suuuuure don't like the parts that apply to you. And you don't want to do them. And that's what you need to ponder in the season of Lent. For in Lent, you will find that you don't have to look too hard to find things to repent of. Christ comes to open your eyes, both to the way things should be, and then to make clear to you that you don't do the things you ought to do. But he makes clear to you that he is there to continue to apply his grace to you, child of dust, who doesn't do what you know, by now, that you ought to do. His forgiveness, his grace applies to the parts you don't like, because those are the parts that you have no intention of keeping. And the good news of Lent is that Christ's work is to place your disobedience, your eyes clamped shut, your lack of desire to see the way the world actually is, your refusal to follow through with his simple edicts and your lack of willingness to do so, and to march all that to the cross. You, like me, tend to think that Christ died for the things that you think other people should be doing, but it's more than that.
He died for the parts that you don't care about. Which is why you need his grace.
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