"Spit"

This sermon was inspired by two works:
“Spit” by Jane Flanders
“A Tale of Two Heretics” by Barbara Brown Taylor

I could hear him spit on his hands.
That’s how I knew what it was,
    When he touched my eyelids.
It was mud.
    Made with his spit.
It was NOT some fancy smelly potion made from seeds and leaves.
It wasn’t some exotic medicine like other doctors had tried on me.
It was none of that late night TV hocus pocus,
There was no crossing the boarder into Canada for medicine.
            No snake oil.
    It was mud…made with spit.
    And…since nothing else had worked…why not.
    People had pretty much given up on trying to heal me.  And when I heard him spit I almost laughed.  I mean how simple did he think I was?  People were always trying to con me because I am blind. And this was a pretty bald faced try.  He spits on his hands and the next thing I know I’m signed up for a new Visa card with an automatic monthly charge. But as I said I was at the end of the line - - as far as healing was concerned.
    And I guess I could have just laughed and walked away…
        But that’s not what happened.
    I didn’t strike his hands away.
    For some reason I let him put the mud on my eyes.
    Mud made with his spit.
    I remembered how when I was young, my mother spit on the hem of her skirt and wiped my dirty face. She cleaned my grubby little cheeks up with her spit.
She never healed me though.
When people asked her and my dad - - about my healing they didn’t defend me, or explain, or anything. They just pointed their finger at ME and turned away afraid.
    People always ask me what it was like.
        What’s it like to open your eyes for the first time?
            It was terrifying is what is was.
            Darn scary.
    I actually wanted the dark - - back - - at first.
        I even resented the spit and the mud and the hands that healed me.
    I mean - - the world can be a scary place.
        Ask yourself this:
    Do you really want to see clearly?
    Do you really want to see the greed in the world?
    Do you really want to see the suffering of innocents killed by a Tsunami?
    Do you really want to face up to why we have budget deficits?
    Do you really want to see the beauty and the pain of someone in their last days of cancer?
        Really?
            Do you?
    Anyway - - it was too late now - - for me.
    Now I can see - - - and there’s no going back…
        Do you know what Jesus said?
    “Don’t tell anyone” is what Jesus said?
        Ha!!
            Don’t tell anyone!?
            Really?!
    That must have been one of his jokes.
    I heard later that they got him on some charge or other.
        There were strange tales going around about him.
            People were afraid of him.
                I’ve got nothing to say about any of that.
    All I really know is this:
        I was blind and now I see…
            And it was spit…!
                End of story.         [ pause ]
    I talked to him TWO times though.
        The FIRST time was when he healed me.
        The SECOND time - - was after he was thrown out, just like I was.
    The second time I talked to Jesus, he searched for me. He looked for me after I was thrown out by religious leaders. The religious leaders rejected me because they thought I was a sinner. They said I was blind because of my sin. And they couldn’t make any sense of Jesus healing. So both of us upset their world. And BOTH of us got thrown out.
    They considered BOTH Jesus and I - - to be heretics.
    Here’s the amazing thing to me though:
        If I had never been born blind, I would never have met Jesus.   
        If my life had been perfect, I would have missed Jesus altogether.
        So I’m not saying that I want to suffer.
            But in my suffering I met Jesus.
                That’s all I’m saying.
    I mean, why did Jesus come to me TWICE?
        The first time he called my name by the side of the road.
            He spit.
And then he put mud on my eyes.
        Then Jesus just disappeared and let me explain it all.
            Which I guess - - I didn’t do such a good job of.
            Because they threw me out.
        I just reported what happened.
        I just told the truth.
        I was healed.
            And they threw me out.
    And after that - - Jesus came to me a SECOND time.
        He had heard that they cast me out - - and he came to me and found me.
            I had been healed.
            I had been cast out.
                But only after THAT was the moment of TRUTH.
            What did it all MEAN?
    He asked me: do you believe?       [ pause ]
        And the thing is…I do.          [ pause ]
    We were both rejected.
        Jesus and me.
    Jesus sought out sinners.
        And Jesus sought out blind people
            And Jesus sought out the rejected.
                And Jesus sought out me.
        And Jesus sought us out -  - NOT just to commiserate.
        But to offer forgiveness.
        And redemption.
        And new life.
    I wouldn’t go back to being blind.
        Any more than I would seek out sin.
    But now that I can see…it’s not over.
    Now that I can see…the question is what will I do with it?
        What will I make of my sight?
        What will I choose to look at?
    I’m told that Jesus is still upsetting things.
He actually called some people blind.
People who could see with their eyes - - but who he called blind.
What’s that about?
Well…they didn’t like it.
        I guess I can understand that…
        I don’t want to be back to being blind.
            I WAS blind.
            But now I see.       
                And it was spit.