Readings: 1 Samuel 16: 1-13; Ephesians 5:8-14; John 9:1-41
The eye is an amazing structure. It is so complex it is often used as an argument against evolution. Some people suggest it had to be given by God as a complete package, because it would be impossible for something so detailed to be formed through natural selection. Yet one only has to look at other species found today or the fossil record to see otherwise.They present stages of development varying from just a slit on the side of the head to a sack with a rudimentary lens to more complicated anatomy closer to the human eye. Natural selection just needs enough time, and a characteristic that gives a survival advantage for evolution to occur. The ability to see, even a little bit was one such characteristic.

Today we know how the eye works, how we can maintain and improve it and where it has come from in our evolutionary past. The ancients writing the bible, however, had no idea how it worked. The ancient writers see the eyes metaphorically, not scientifically.

So the readings today are a blessing to us, for they show us there is much in the bible to take seriously but not literally. The John reading is well known and follows on from similar stories about Nicodemus and the Samaritan woman at the well. In some ways John is a difficult gospel because he repeats himself over and over again. After a while you feel like saying, `Enough already, I get the message` . Yet his message goes to the heart of all we believe. What or who gives light and life? As we journey from Christmas to Lent and on to Easter, it is about Jesus, a light in the darkness. The question is, do we have eyes to see it?

Before we look closely at today`s reading it is worth while noting that this idea, that we are in the dark and cannot see, is a common theme through the bible, both Old and New Testaments. We find it in Isaiah 6, the famous passage where he is asked, `Who will go for us` and Isaiah responds, `Here I am send me`. And what follows is a reference to the fact that people will see and not see and hear and not hear God`s message.

This same kind of imagery is used in the New Testament. There are sighted people who are blind in Mark, particularly the disciples, the blind leading the blind and the futility of during so in both Matthew and Luke. Jesus speaks of people having not only specks, but logs in their eyes, which not only impairs sight but leads to blindness.

And there are healthy and unhealthy eyes, `The eye is the lamp of the body. So if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness`. The health of the eye makes all the difference to life.

Then we have the stories like today about blind people regaining their sight. They do not refer to a physiological seeing or healing, but a new way of looking at the world. There are two in Mark and one in John. In the case of today`s reading, John is announcing that what Jesus offers is more than the law, or rules or customs of his day. Jesus points to a transformation God will make in the lives of those who open themselves to him. It is an invitation and a revelation to see in Jesus and his community all that God offers.

So how does John go about getting his message across? It is a long story, involving Jesus, his disciples and the Pharisees. Remembering that we need to read this symbolically, we hear firstly about the man and his plight. There are already references to darkness and light. `The night is coming` is probably about the crucifixion of Jesus while Jesus is quickly revealed as the light of the world.

Jesus then goes on and heals the man. This is a significant section because Jesus makes it clear the man was blind not because of his own sin or the sins of his ancestors. He rebukes the disciples who think otherwise. Instead it is all about understanding what Jesus brings, what Jesus is saying about life. John is equating sin with a lack of sight or understanding of the message, not some inherited offence.

The healing itself is also full of meaning, as Jesus takes clay from the earth and his own saliva, and sends the blind man to wash in the pool of Siloam. John here is establishing Jesus` authority over the temple system. The man learns to see by becoming a new creation in Jesus, and is welcomed into the community.

Following the healing there is a bit of by play where people are asking whether this man was `the one who was sitting and begging`. `How were his eyes opened?` they asked. The man responds, `Well the man called Jesus did it`.

The remainder of the passage has a trial atmosphere which is quite comical. The Pharisees, stuck in law and ritual, object to the idea that the man was healed on the Sabbath and call Jesus a sinner. They go off to investigate further, even going so far as asking the man`s parents, who also don`t see. The man himself refuses to buckle under the pressure, and in the process gains even greater insight into Jesus. The Pharisees on the other hand thought they knew everything about God and in the end knew very little. Their interrogation and unbelief leads them further into blindness. And in the end they remain blinded and the man is expelled from the synagogue, reflecting the experience of John`s community at that time.

As Bill Loader concludes, the whole passage is like a stage play, a way of highlighting and celebrating the significance of Jesus for his readers and for us. In John. Jesus is not just the light to us and our world, but also the bread of life, the everlasting spring and the way to fullness of life. He is the window through which we discern what it means to be brothers and sisters together under God`s banner and in God`s spirit. If we have eyes to see?

The question is, what things prevent us from seeing?

One of the major things Jesus is seen to be railing against in this passage and in much of John are the rules and regulations and religious customs that blinded people to his message. As Marcus Borg writes, every culture, old and new, has these expectations or conventions. Growing up involves internalizing the conventions of one`s culture so that they end up living within us. We learn to value what our culture values, pursue what our culture tells us to pursue for a good life or fear what our culture fears. Our lives are structured, even driven by the central conventions of our culture.
The problem for us is that Jesus`s call of love, compassion, justice and inclusion is often not reflected in our society`s values. Our culture and customs rule the day. So the wisdom of Jesus is replaced by a type of cultural wisdom about what gives life.

In our time it is the conventions about status, wealth, and power, all deemed essential to a good life, which dominate. It is about what society sees as important, like the rights of the individual over the needs of the community, the over emphasis on nationalism and the eagerness for war, the elevation of jobs over protecting the environment and solving climate change, and the negative response to refugees and migrants who come to Australia and to those in our society who are disabled or needing welfare. All of these lead to greater inequality, discrimination, and violence and a degrading of our natural world. And then there is our religious heritage. As it was in Jesus day it is also about our religious customs. Belief is often a set of rules rather than a way of life, and people are excluded and judged because of them.

It appears from the reading today that Jesus saw his contemporaries as preoccupied with their concerns and convictions and embedded in convention. What was true then seems true today for many of us. We seem to have lost our way in the darkness, in our customs and social rules, and desperately need a new way to go forward together. Paul and John both suggest that if we draw closer to God`s goodness and follow Jesus` light we are not fated to such an existence but can live differently in the world. The reading from Ephesians says it all. The fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true.

In the end it`s all about the eyes. The ancients knew it, and we need to be reminded. As I said at the beginning natural selection just needs enough time, and a characteristic that gives an advantage to survival for that characteristic to ultimately flourish. Seeing in a new way is advantageous. We need to develop our consciousness of God more, see as Jesus saw, and in doing so evolve a new social, political and personal ethic - one that is life giving rather than life destroying. As Bruce Sanguin suggests, instead of natural selection we would then have actual selection. Our eyes would be opened, and we would work towards a transformation of our world, with God`s help.

I close with a quote from Terry Prachett which is on my wall at work, which I find strangely comforting when pondering such things. `Most species do their own evolving, making it up as they go along, which is the way Nature intended. This is all very natural and organic and in tune with the mysterious cycles of the Cosmos, which believes there is nothing like millions of years of evolving to give a species moral fibre, and in some cases a backbone.`

There is hope for us yet!!!

Terry Pratchett (1991) Reaper Man