Are You Blind?

March 30, 2014

1 Samuel 16:5-13 Are you blind? It sounds odd to ask, but this morning we will discover that a great many people have the ability to see, but are still quite blind. You may have heard of Commander Chris adfield. e recently retired from the Canadian !pace Agency and the "oyal Canadian Air #orce. Commander adfield flew on two !pace !huttle missions $!%!&'( and !%!& )**+, led the spacewalk that installed the Canadarm on the International !pace !tation, and, most recently, between ,*), and ,*)-, lived aboard the I!! during ./pedition -0 and commanded the crew during ./pedition -1. Commander adfield became well known and recogni2ed internationally for his ability to communicate the wonder of his time aboard the space station through social media and the Internet as well as for a video he did in orbit where he played the guitar and sang the 3avid 4owie song, 5A !pace 6ddity.7 4ut there is another story that you may not know about Commander adfield. Imagine that you are him. An astronaut orbiting the planet .arth, outside of the space station on a spacewalk with nothing between you and the vacuum of space but a spacesuit made of thin layers of cloth, rubber and glass. In this particular story, the glass is the important part. You see, if your windshield fogs up in your car, you turn on the defogger or you wipe away the moisture with a towel. If you are !C84A diving and your mask fogs up, you can let a little water in, rinse the fog off, and then blow air back into the mask to flush the water out. 4ut if you are in a space suit and your visor fogs up, you have a real problem. #or that very reason, astronauts always coat the inside of their visors with a mi/ture of soap and oil to keep them from fogging up. 4ut on this day, as you hang onto the space station with one hand, a drop of that solution finds its way into your eye. 9ow if that happened to you here on earth, your eyes would produce tears, your tears would wash the soap out of your eye, and together they would run down your cheek. 4ut in orbit your tears don:t go anywhere. !urface tension makes them stick to whatever surface they are on. And so, instead of running down his cheek, his tears ;ust spread from one eye over his nose, and into the other eye rendering Commander adfield completely blind, outside the space station, holding on with one hand, while orbiting the earth at )',,(' miles per hour. <e:ll come back to the story of Commander adfield, but as we read about the day that the prophet !amuel anointed 3avid as king over Israel, we discover that even though !amuel:s sight was fine, his vision was lacking. Although he could see the physical world, he was utterly blind compared to what =od could see. "1 Samuel 16:6-13#
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ohn !:6-34

When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, Surely the Lords anointed stands here before the Lord.

ut the Lord said to Samuel, !o not "onsider his a##earan"e or his height, for $ have re%e"ted him. &he Lord does not loo' at the things #eo#le loo' at. (eo#le loo' at the outward a##earan"e, but the Lord loo's at the heart.
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&hen *esse "alled +binadab and had him #ass in front of Samuel. ut Samuel said, &he Lord has not "hosen this one either. , *esse then had Shammah #ass by, but Samuel said, -or has the Lord "hosen this one. ./ *esse had seven of his sons #ass before Samuel, but Samuel said to him, &he Lord has not "hosen these. .. So he as'ed *esse, +re these all the sons you have0 )

&here is still the youngest, *esse answered. 1e is tending the shee#. Samuel said, Send for him2 we will not sit down until he arrives.
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So he sent for him and had him brought in. 1e was glowing with health and had a fine a##earan"e and handsome features. &hen the Lord said, 4ise and anoint him2 this is the one.
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So Samuel too' the horn of oil and anointed him in the #resen"e of his brothers, and from that day on the S#irit of the Lord "ame #owerfully u#on !avid. Samuel then went to 4amah. !amuel shows up and tells >esse that =od has commanded him to anoint on of his sons as the ne/t king of Israel and >esse naturally assumes that =od will pick his firstborn son, and so, beginning with the eldest, and then proceeding down the line, >esse parades his sons before !amuel and each is as good looking as the last but even though !amuel is impressed by what he sees and thinks that surely =od has chosen 5this one,7 =od chooses none of them. After looking over seven sons =od still hasn:t picked one and so !amuel asks if >esse is holding back on him and asks, +re these all the sons you have0 It turns out that there is one more, the youngest son, the one no one thought was important enough to invite to dinner, the one they left out in the field to watch the sheep so that the older brothers wouldn:t miss the party. At this time, 3avid is perhaps twenty years old, he was ;ust a country boy who knew nothing e/cept herding sheep, but =od saw something in him that his father and his brothers did not see. .veryone in attendance, including !amuel, =od:s own prophet, was blind to the things that really mattered. And then in ohn !:6-34, >esus meets a man born blind. 4ut as we will see in this story, despite the fact that he couldn:t see this man had more vision than most of Israel:s leaders?
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+fter saying this, he s#it on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and #ut it on the mans eyes. 7 6o, he told him, wash in the (ool of Siloam 7this word means Sent8. So the man went and washed, and "ame home seeing.
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1is neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging as'ed, $snt this the same man who used to sit and beg0 , Some "laimed that he was. 9thers said, -o, he only loo's li'e him. ut he himself insisted, $ am the man.
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1ow then were your eyes o#ened0 they as'ed.

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1e re#lied, &he man they "all *esus made some mud and #ut it on my eyes. 1e told me to go to Siloam and wash. So $ went and washed, and then $ "ould see.
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Where is this man0 they as'ed him.

$ dont 'now, he said.

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&hey brought to the (harisees the man who had been blind. .: -ow the day on whi"h *esus had made the mud and o#ened the mans eyes was a Sabbath. .; &herefore the (harisees also as'ed him how he had re"eived his sight. 1e #ut mud on my eyes, the man re#lied, and $ washed, and now $ see.
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Some of the (harisees said, &his man is not from 6od, for he does not 'ee# the Sabbath. ut others as'ed, 1ow "an a sinner #erform su"h signs0 So they were divided.

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&hen they turned again to the blind man, What have you to say about him0 $t was your eyes he o#ened.

&he man re#lied, 1e is a #ro#het.

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&hey still did not believe that he had been blind and had re"eived his sight until they sent for the mans #arents. ., $s this your son0 they as'ed. $s this the one you say was born blind0 1ow is it that now he "an see0
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We 'now he is our son, the #arents answered, and we 'now he was born blind. 3. ut how he "an see now, or who o#ened his eyes, we dont 'now. +s' him. 1e is of age2 he will s#ea' for himself. 33 1is #arents said this be"ause they were afraid of the *ewish leaders, who already had de"ided that anyone who a"'nowledged that *esus was the <essiah would be #ut out of the synagogue. 35 &hat was why his #arents said, 1e is of age2 as' him.
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+ se"ond time they summoned the man who had been blind. 6ive glory to 6od by telling the truth, they said. We 'now this man is a sinner.
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1e re#lied, Whether he is a sinner or not, $ dont 'now. 9ne thing $ do 'now. $ was blind but now $ see= &hen they as'ed him, What did he do to you0 1ow did he o#en your eyes0

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1e answered, $ have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again0 !o you want to be"ome his dis"i#les too0
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&hen they hurled insults at him and said, >ou are this fellows dis"i#le= We are dis"i#les of <oses= 3, We 'now that 6od s#o'e to <oses, but as for this fellow, we dont even 'now where he "omes from.
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&he man answered, -ow that is remar'able= >ou dont 'now where he "omes from, yet he o#ened my eyes. We 'now that 6od does not listen to sinners. 1e listens to the godly #erson who does his will. 53 -obody has ever heard of o#ening the eyes of a man born blind. 55 $f this man were not from 6od, he "ould do nothing.
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&o this they re#lied, >ou were stee#ed in sin at birth2 how dare you le"ture us= +nd they threw him out.

%his is one of my favorite stories in scripture. %he @harisees are so angry that this man has been healed by >esus that they do everything they can to make it go away. #irst they threaten the parents of the blind man, and then they threaten the man himself but despite the real possibility of being e/communicated and thrown out of the %emple, the man refuses to back down. In fact, instead of retreating, he bites back and critici2es the @harisees for not knowing >esus when >esus had the power to heal and concluding, 5$f this man were not from 6od, he "ould do nothing. .ven though he had been blind for his entire life, this man could see more clearly than the leaders of Israel. -

Aany times we allow ourselves to fall into the same sort of thinking that the @harisees did. <e get tied to one particular way of thinking and we don:t want to let go. <e get tied up with what $e want, what we think is right, and what we think should happen that we blind ourselves to what =od wants. <hen that happens, our prayers become more like a list of demands than requests for guidance. <e begin to pray so that we can tell =od what we think he ought to be doing. 6ur prayers should not be that others would see the world the way that we see it and not that others should believe as we believe, but that we might see the world the way that =od sees it and that we might believe as =od believes. Years of training kept Commander adfield from panicking or getting nervous. e had such confidence in his training, in his crew, and in his support system that he knew he was going to be alright. 4ecause he was so calm, mission control allowed his crew to keep on working and after what must have felt like a small eternity, his vision began to clear, he was able to continue and complete his mission, and then return to the safety of the space station. owever Commander adfield later said that since then, the astronauts have been mi/ing oil with >ohnson:s 59o Aore %ears7 shampoo and probably should have all along. It was ;ust plain common sense for them to use a product that wouldn:t irritate the eye, but everyone was so stuck on how things had always been done, that they were blind to how they might do it better. And so, as odd as it sounds, I have to ask, are you blind? As we go out into the world today, let us pray that we would be open to =od:s vision even if that means letting go of what we want, and what we think is right so that we can begin to see the world, and the people in it, as =od sees them.

You have been reading a message presented at %rinity 8nited Aethodist Church on the date noted at the top of the first page. "ev. >ohn @artridge is the pastor at %rinity of @erry heights in Aassillon, 6hio. 3uplication of this message is a part of our Aedia ministry, if you have received a blessing in this way, we would love to hear from you. Betters and donations in support of the Aedia ministry or any of our other pro;ects may be sent to %rinity 8nited Aethodist Church, -'0' Bincoln <ay .., Aassillon, 6hio ((1(1. %hese messages are available to any interested persons regardless of membership. You may subscribe to these messages, in print or electronic formats, by writing to the address noted, or by contacting us at subscribeCtrinityperryheights.org. If you have questions, you can ask them in our discussion forum on #acebook $search for @astor >ohn 6nline+. %hese messages can also be found online at httpDEEwww.scribd.comE@astor >ohn @artridge. All !cripture references are from the 9ew International Fersion unless otherwise noted.