“TURN A
BLIND EYE”
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A sermon preached Readings: Jer 31:7-9, Mark 10:46-52 |
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Mk 10:51
”What do you want me to do for you?”
Jesus asked him.
The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.”
Seeing
around the world
I want to start the sermon today with a small
exercise.
I want you to close your eyes. Keep
them closed.
Now – imagine
that you have to go through the rest of your life
without opening them again.
You are blind.
Keep your eyes tight shut.
Think about the day ahead of you -
going home at the end of the service –
do you remember where the door is, anything in the way?
How many steps to the car park – and what then?
Keep your eyes closed -
There is someone you want to see before you go –
no don’t say see – someone you want to meet –
they are over there somewhere – how do I find them? –
how many chairs to navigate – and one voice to find in
so many -
Now open your eyes again and look around –
there is the door – there are your friends –
and say “Thank God I can see”.
We
can see – or can we?
Jesus’
healing of the blind man gave him back his physical sight,
but as so often the physical healing also symbolises a deeper healing, a fuller
sight.
Everyone knows HG Wells’ Story the Invisible Man,
or at least David Macallum’s old TV portrayal –
But you may not have come across another book
also called The
Invisible Man – by Ralph Ellison.
This is actually more scary,
because it rings true.
Set amidst the racial tensions of the USA in the
1950s,
The
book tells the story of the Invisible Man -
in one sense he is quite visible, like you or me -
its just that people refuse to see him for what he is
–
They choose to ignore him, pretend he’s not there.
“I am the invisible man, he
says.
I am not a spook…or one of your horror film ecloplasms,
I am invisible, understand,
simply because people refuse to see me.
Like the bodiless head you see sometimes in circus sideshows,
it is as though I have been surrounded
by mirrors of hard distorting glass.
When they approach me, they see only my surroundings, themselves,
or figments of their imagination –
indeed anything and everything except me.”
And
how often do we remain blind to things and the people we don’t want to see
Either
ignoring the reality and the needs of others which are inconvenient and
painful,
Like
Nelson of old we put our telescope to a blind eye, and then –
raking the horizon for a sign of distress from the needy of the world,
we say “I see no signal”.
We
hold the remote control in the palm of our hand
and decide what images to allow into our life and living room.
And
what we don’t want to see,
the TV news guys stop covering, and hey,
the problem goes away.
I
cam across this piece the other day –
it begins with a question “What’s it like in Africa?”
The whole piece is really an answer to that question -
“What’s it like in Africa?” they said.
Imagine
two enormous towers
twin towers, if you like,
filled with millions of people
people of all ages
blameless people, innocent
a few million with children
and other family members
waiting down below
and the towers are burning
they are crumbling and collapsing
crushing and tearing people apart.
And the TV cameras turn away
the sound recording machines are turned off
and everyone ignores the atrocity
as if it never happened.
As
if it is not happening now.
No
one is there to tell us,
”Nothing will be the same again.”
No
one points the finger to say,
”This will never happen again!”
No
monuments.
No international day of mourning.
No
time for analysis.
No ground zero.
No
stock market crisis.
“That’s
what it’s like in Africa,” they answered.
[Ian Smith, “The Warless Victims” – © CTBI, All Year
Road 2003]
Those
of you who heard the woman from Release
International
speak about the persecuted Church during the week
will recall she made exactly the same point.
Suffering people in the developing world who are neither
rich, white nor Western, are not significant news items –
they are just so many invisible men and women.
How many times must a man look up
Before he sees the sky
Yes and how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry…
….Yes and how many times can a man turn his head
And pretend that he just doesn't see
The answer my friend is blowing in the wind
The answer is blowing in the wind
[Bob Dylan, "Blowin'
in the Wind," ]
And
Jesus, confronted by the blind man, said
“what do you want me to do for you?”
And the man said – “Let me see”.
Seeing My Neighbour
Of
course blindness can take many forms.
We look and yet we do not see.
That blindness can be on our doorstep as well as on the other side of the
world.
Another little exercise for you. Close your eyes again.
This time just think about the two or three people
sat next or nearest to you.
Don’t look – can you remember what they are wearing?
have they any jewellery -
what kind of shoes are they wearing -
what colour are their eyes?
OK. Open
your eyes again -
Have a quick look and see if you got it right…
Maybe
you got those questions right – but how about these –
The people around you, can you see under their
skin?
Can you see joy or misery, confidence or fear, doubt or certainty.
How well can you see into your neighbour –
or are you blind to the real person?
So
here is a task for the week.
As you meet others, try really to hear and to see them –
not just the externals –
the shoes and the eyes, but that person’s inner being.
I wonder how much there is there you have been missing?
That person who you hardly give a thought to –
what are their depths of joy and sorrow?
And never forget they are made in the image of God -
have you missed the God there in your neighbour?
So
much to see and learn and act on –
it’s so easy to turn a blind eye.
I don’t know if anyone here saw Stanley Kubrick’s
last movie
“Eyes Wide Shut”. It’s not a laugh a minute -
Tom Cruse and Nicole Kidman are struggling with their relationship –
it is about dreams and fantasy
and the need really to open your eyes to the real person in your
relationship.
The thing which hit the headlines when the film
first came out
was the huge orgy scene –
it’s a very upmarket orgy, -
and significantly those involved wear elaborate masks.
If we are going to fulfil our God-given potential
we need to bring real commitment to our relationships,
we need to strip away the mask so that others can see us
and we need to live
not with eyes wide shut in dreams and fantasies,
but with eyes wide open
to the hopes and fears and needs and realities of others.
And
Jesus, confronted by the blind man,
said “what do you want me to do for you?”
And the man said – “Let me see”.
Seeing Myself
But
there is a final blindness –
Blind to the world, blind to those around me, blind to myself.
It’s
not only other people and their problems we like to turn a blind eye to –
We can
be very unwilling to look at ourselves sometimes too.
We
all have parts of our lives that we don’t care to put on public display,
And
there are often parts we don’t even care to look at ourselves.
We prefer to keep them dark and hidden.
You are out walking in a country lane at dead of
night.
A car, headlights blazing, comes down the road towards you.
You cower in the shadow of the hedge, covering your
eyes.
Its like the creatures under
the rocks in the deep sea bed.
The diver disturbs them and flashes his torch on
them,
They scuttle away desperately looking for darkness
and safety.
Afraid
of the light, afraid of being seen for what they really are.
A lot of Protestants strongly dislike the idea of
confessing to a priest –
and with some good reason in many cases –
We can confess directly to God in Christ; we don’t
need a priest.
But I wonder how many of us are really frightened of the confessional
not on the grounds of high flown theological principle,
but for a much more mundane reason –
For
if we have to articulate our sins and failings to a priest,
we have at the same time to admit to ourselves –
never mind anyone else – what we are really like.
In private prayer it is perhaps easier to cheat,
and not look at those bits of ourselves we’d rather keep hidden,
from God, from other people and from ourselves.
As
Jesus says in Jn 3:
“Though
the light has come into the world,
men have shown they prefer darkness to the light,
because their deeds were evil.
Everyone
who does wrong hates the light and avoids it
for fear his actions should be exposed.”
Trevor Dennis tells a surrealist sort of story about
a man who finds himself in a sort of end-of-the-pier hall of mirrors.
He sees himself in all sorts of strange ways –
then frighteningly, the mirror begins to display his real hidden inner self –
he sees himself for what he really is.
He tries to close his eyes, but they will not close
–
he has to confront the real self.
Them the mirror image dissolves, and looking again
he sees once more the outer image that he presents to the world and himself –
and now he laughs at the ludicrous image he now sees.
At once as he laughs, the mirror smashes,
and he sees beyond it, a ladder to heaven, suffused in the light of God.
[Trevor
Dennis, Speaking of God, SPCK 1992, “The Ladder”]
Now
we see in a mirror dimly, then face to face….
And
Jesus, confronted by the blind man,
says “what do you want me to do for
you?”
And
the man says – “Let me see”.
Let me see
And
so comes Jesus walking into our lives.
Notice
he does not force himself upon us –
“What
would you have me do for you?”
Dare
we ask for the gift of sight???
So
will you do it? Will you let the light
shine?
If you
let the light of the Gospel help you see the world,
You
will find much need and evil
and will be called on for much love and compassion
If
you let the light of the Gospel shine on you,
You
will also find much need and evil,
and you will be called on for much humility and contrition.
But
that is where the miracle happens.
·
For not only do we see the needs of the world,
we also see the strong arm of God
at work amidst the sorrows.
·
Not only do we see our failings,
we also see the oh so strong hands of God
loving and supporting us
And
though we still in this life see but as in a mirror dimly,
already we begin to catch glimpses of the glorious kingdom beyond.
So
Jesus, addresses my blindness and yours.
“What
do you want me to do for you?” he says.
O
Lord, let “Let me see”.