The man born blind shows up this Sunday in the gospel lectionary. He has no name, but every reader of the Bible has met him and knows his story. It is a long story which reminds us that sometimes Jesus uses very earthly stuff to accomplish His work. Who would have ever thought that spit, dirt, and water would be the tools Jesus would use to affect this man's healing? Of course, there was another thing which was surely useful as well. Had the man born blind not exercised the faith to do as Jesus told him to do, his story would have had a very different ending. Desperate people do not tend to think about how foolish they might look. They just act out of a desperate faith and such is always pleasing to God.
It is unfortunate that our faith is more measured and thought out than desperate. Too much we follow our head instead of our heart. When we sense God pushing us into something which might be life changing, we start thinking through all the possibilities as well as all the consequence of acting on what we are being told. We are the ones who weigh the cost instead of walking forward into the risk. This man born blind had a life changing experience that day for two reasons. Obviously, he was no longer blind. And secondly, since he could see as did others, his days could no longer be spent waiting on others to tend to his needs. He would now have to do for himself as he had never done.
The farther we go on this journey, the more we see how little we understand one of its most basic ingredients. Faith is something which seems simple enough to understand; yet, seeking to live with it soon becomes an exercise is realizing how little we really know and how little is actually practices. Faith always takes us to the place of no longer depending on what is reasonable, logical, and maybe even sane. Instead it takes us to the place where practicing it becomes so risky that only God can truly be trusted with the life it creates.
It is unfortunate that our faith is more measured and thought out than desperate. Too much we follow our head instead of our heart. When we sense God pushing us into something which might be life changing, we start thinking through all the possibilities as well as all the consequence of acting on what we are being told. We are the ones who weigh the cost instead of walking forward into the risk. This man born blind had a life changing experience that day for two reasons. Obviously, he was no longer blind. And secondly, since he could see as did others, his days could no longer be spent waiting on others to tend to his needs. He would now have to do for himself as he had never done.
The farther we go on this journey, the more we see how little we understand one of its most basic ingredients. Faith is something which seems simple enough to understand; yet, seeking to live with it soon becomes an exercise is realizing how little we really know and how little is actually practices. Faith always takes us to the place of no longer depending on what is reasonable, logical, and maybe even sane. Instead it takes us to the place where practicing it becomes so risky that only God can truly be trusted with the life it creates.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment