4th Sunday in Lent (April 3, 2011)

The man born blind  (John 9:1-41) has greater insight into who Jesus is than do the Pharisees. Thanks to John Shearman's Lectionary, Russell Rathbun's The Hardest Question and Laurel Dykstra in Sojourner's Living the Word I think I have some new 'in-sights' about this passage. 

Jesus uses this healing as another of so many teachable moments. In the blind man's affliction  being healed Jesus' true identity is more clearly revealed, yet the Pharisees fail to see it.  They are not only fearfully blind to God's power and glory in Jesus, their inability to fathom how God continues to do 'new things,' to create newness in the world, is fully exposed. They stand bare naked, not only before God, but before those who have eyes to see.

Sunset over Dover, PA

Do we have eyes to see the beauty of God's new creating in bareness? Are we able to stand fully exposed before God and humanity? Are we ready for God's continued work of new creation in and around us?

Woods near I-70 (Taylorstown)

 

Cattails along New Salem Road

Pittsburgh Theological Seminary Chapel