The Gate.

John 9:35-10:6.   (August 16, 2015)

I.

After passing his interrogation by the Pharisees with flying colors, and getting excommunicated from the synagogue, the man who had been born blind finally meets Jesus a second time.  Jesus also interrogates him, but he only asks him one question: “Do you believe in the Human One?” or Son of Man.  He could have said, “Do you believe in me?”  He could have asked if he believed in the Son of God.  

It is intriguing to me that “Human One,” or “Son of Man,” is a title Jesus uses about himself all the time.  Yet it is a title we use about Jesus… almost never.  It doesn’t even occur to me to begin a prayer by calling on Jesus as “Son of Man,” or “Human One.”  We acknowledge  in our faith statements that Jesus is “fully human,” but in our actual worship life we prefer to emphasize how he is “fully God,” which of course is also true.

Jesus self-identifies as the Human One.  (And I will be using that term now because it is more descriptive; literally it is “Human Son” or “Son of Humanity.”)  When he does this, he is lifting up what he shares in common with us: our humanity.  He is saying, “I am just like you… only more so.”  So when he says to the man he healed, “Do you believe in the Human One?” there is a sense in which he is saying, “Do you believe in yourself?”  Or, more accurately, “Do you believe in God-in-you?”  Or with more theological precision, “Do you trust that in your deepest and truest Self, you are united to me, and therefore united to God?”       

Well, the man already showed his trust in Jesus by obeying him when instructed to wash in the pool of Siloam.  Now, being miraculously able to see, the man is more than ready to keep trusting in the One who did this, if he ever runs into him again.  Remember that when Jesus smeared the spit-mud on his face, the man was still blind; he has no idea what Jesus looks like.  Maybe he recognizes his voice, but he really doesn’t know whom he is looking for except that the person’s name is Jesus (which was a common name at that time).  

That’s why the man says, “Who is he, sir?  I want to believe in him.” He seems to realize that this Human One is the man who healed him.  And he expresses a desire that this healing not be an isolated incident in his life but part of an ongoing pattern.  He wants to keep trusting in the One he trusted when he washed in Siloam; he wants to stay connected to this Human One who set his life in a completely new direction.

And finally Jesus affirms that he is himself this “Human One,” the man through whose intervention his eyes were opened.  It reminds me of when Jesus revealed his true identity as the Messiah, the Christ, to the woman at the well in Samaria, back in chapter 4.  People have these remarkable experiences, and then Jesus in the end pulls back the curtain to reveal that he is the One at the center of it all.

II.

Realizing who Jesus is, the man affirms, “Lord, I believe,” and immediately bows down in worship of the Human One, Jesus Christ.  This should remind us not to get deluded into thinking all this talk about locating our true humanity is just another way to make our own ego the center.  When I suggested earlier that Jesus is really asking the man, “Do you believe in yourself?” it is very easy for us to imagine that he means what we usually mean when we say that.  Which is to trust in our own ego-centric, personality-driven, individual identity, our skills and powers, our reasoning, our desires and aspirations.  

That’s not what Jesus means at all.  That is the precise opposite of what he means here.  He doesn’t mean to trust in our basically blind, sleepwalking, unconscious, limited, conditioned, little selves according to which we function virtually all the time.  He means trust in this capital-S Self that is much, much deeper in us.  That is our true Self which we share with him and with everyone, and also, through him, with God.

This is why Jesus finds the man and has this brief conversation with him.  It is to retain the focus on this deeper Self, which is Christ-within-us.  This means that God is never to be identified with our small, broken, restricted, and fearful humanity, which is to say our sin; rather it means that we discover our truest “I,” our deepest Self, to be one with God through Jesus Christ, and therefore to be wildly expansive and embracing and universal.  It is the difference between identifying with darkness and light.  And this is illustrated in the story of a man who was born into and therefore knew nothing but darkness his entire life, who is delivered into sight and light and blessing and love.

Jesus Christ is the touchstone.  When we focus on him it is to prevent us from imagining that it’s all about us.  When we focus on him we realize it is all about everyone, including me.

The Lord explains to the man, “I have come into the world to exercise judgment so that those who don’t see can see and those who see will become blind.”  Here we find the same reversal theme that pervades the New Testament: the last will become first, the lowly will be lifted up, the empty will be filled, the lame walk, and the blind see.

And then he goes on to state the reverse.  Like when he says in Luke,  “Woe to you who are rich, for you have received your reward,” here he insists that those who now see will become blind.  What he means is that those who think they see will be shown to be actually blind.  Those who claim wisdom and leadership will be shown actually to be foolish and stumbling in the wrong direction, the blind leading the blind and falling into the ditch.

III.

The Pharisees, who must have been following Jesus around, waiting for him to say something arrest-worthy, hear him.  They know he is talking about them, but they can’t believe it.  “Surely we aren’t blind, are we?” they ask.  I mean, obviously they’re not literally blind, their eyes and brains do process physical light.  And with all their Scripture knowledge, could Jesus be saying they are spiritually blind and out of touch with reality?  These are the leaders, the educated, the influential, the pious and most obviously religious people in the society!     

To which Jesus responds: “If you were blind you wouldn’t have any sin.”  He means, on the one hand, literally, physically blind.  He has already disconnected that kind of blindness from sinfulness, which is more than they have done.  They are still going around telling people that if they get sick or have some kind of disability it is a punishment from God for sin.  So he’s messing with them right away.

I think Jesus also means that if they realized they were blind and admitted it, they would also avoid sin.  That would be a confessional step in the right direction.  Such honest self-knowledge creates the possibility of repentance and redemption.  

But what these guys are doing, which is being blind but not knowing it, and then selling themselves as the experts with 20/20 vision, really is sinful.  “Now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains,” states Jesus.  Claiming to be a “visionary leader” while not being able to see beyond the end of your nose is the height of hypocrisy.  Such leaders do not perceive anything but their own self-interest, which they have self-servingly identified with the best interests of their nation and faith.   

Then Jesus launches into this blistering critique of these leaders.  But he doesn’t do it directly; he uses a kind of parable that people at first don’t understand.  Using the image of a sheepfold, which is a common one for Israel, he talks about two different kinds of shepherds or leaders.  

One doesn’t enter by the gate, but climbs over the wall because his intent is to steal, kill, and destroy.  “I assure you that whoever doesn’t enter into the sheep pen by the gate but climbs over the wall is a thief and an outlaw,” he asserts.  I suggest that “climbing over the wall” means entering by climbing over the bureaucratic, institutional hurdles and processes, walls, we project around communities.  They overcame the usual boundaries for choosing leaders.    

This kind of leader is in it for what they can get out of it.  It is not about caring for the sheep; it is about making money, having status and social respect, and wielding power.  The sheep are just means to an end.  Their role is to make the leader look good.

I suspect that the way you can identify this kind of leader is a matter of simple math.  The thief and the outlaw make out like, well, bandits.  The effect of their leadership was to make them dramatically richer.  They end up with a lot more assets than they started with, and way better off than the community they were in charge of.  They are blind to everyone but themselves, and manage to extract from others more than what they need.

IV.  

But the other kind of leader enters the sheepfold by the gate with the guard’s permission and approval.

We’ll see later that Jesus is himself the gate.  The good leader comes into the sheepfold through him.  Which is to say that the way in and out of the true Israel, the true people of God, is through the living Word of God’s love, which Christ embodies.  

The authentic way into God’s family and household is through all the things Christ is and does: forgiveness, acceptance, healing, welcome, wisdom, justice, peace, and blessing.  The one who comes through him, comes for the benefit of the people.  The one who comes through him comes for the sake of life.  The people recognize and follow this leader, who knows their names.  He leads, and they follow.

“They know his voice,” Jesus says.  When we know someone’s voice it is because the sound of their voice is already within us.  It is already in our memory and consciousness.  When we hear them the sound of their voice matches what we have within us, in our memory.  The good leader appeals to something already inside of us.

The best leaders don’t have to convince us of anything; they only have to help us remember who we most truly and deeply are.  The best leaders don’t have to sell us on anything; they don’t have to sweet-talk us or ply us with promises or spin a beautiful vision for us.  They don’t have to reinterpret our past; and they certainly don’t have to concoct enemies out there for us to be afraid of from whom these false leaders can save us.  That is the behavior of thieves and outlaws, people who need to convince us to work for them.

Good leaders inherently appeal to our best, deepest, most blessed and good selves, the places we share with all humanity and all creation, and their voices resonate with Christ-in-us, and they connect us to each other in love, service, and forgiveness.  Good leaders don’t climb over the wall of political or institutional process; they emerge in our hearts as voices we always knew.

That must have been why the man who had been born blind obeyed Jesus.  That must be why he let this stranger smear his spit-mud on his lifeless eyes, and why he stumbled and staggered across the city to the pool of Siloam, and splashed his face with the cool water.  Maybe he recognized in Jesus’ voice the call of his own deepest Self; maybe he heard the Light calling to him from his own heart.  Maybe, vetted by his own soul, he realized a voice he could finally trust.

V. 

Jesus has turned this whole incident, which began with the healing of the man born blind, into a conversation about leadership.  It is about leadership in the community; but is it also about interior, soul leadership.  Which elements and influences and voices will lead us within, in our own decision-making.  For there are always different values and voices vying for influence in our heads.

I know I have in my own head Pharisees: judgmental, puritanical, critical, legalistic, condemning voices, telling me that the world is a harsh and unforgiving place and must be met with unsentimental ruthlessness, voices that tell me to ally myself with the forces of retribution and preemptive violence in the world.  I was a Stated Clerk for 15 years, I understand walls and boundaries and institutional maintenance and preservation and processes.  I drive on the Parkway several times a week; I understand the need to drive at the speed of traffic and not let jerks cut me off.  And so on.  

When we listen to and follow those kinds of voices within us, we create that kind of world outside of and among us.  It is a world of blindness and unconsciousness based on fear and anger, scarcity and turf, violence and force.  And it is a living hell, as even a cursory glance at the newsfeed will demonstrate.  

Jesus urges us to listen deeper than that.  He calls to us with his own voice, and we recognize it at our deepest and truest place.  In a sense it is the voice of our own best and most original and blessed Self, opening our eyes to a different way to live and be: a way of light and truth, justice and love, peace and goodness, beauty and blessing.   

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