As a progressive Christian, I believe there are many names for God and many ways to a loving God; this article reflects one of those ways. Take from here what works for you. Celebrate life with joy and peace!
In school, I sat toward the front of the class. Not to be a teacher’s pet, but so I could see more clearly. I had my first professional eye exam my senior year in High School. I clearly remember putting on my first pair of glasses. It opened the world up to me in ways I never thought or knew possible. For the first time, I saw the world with clarity and detail. Things were no longer blurred together.
I had no idea what I was missing until I put on my first pair of glasses. Enhanced vision revealed a whole new world and a new way to navigate through life! The gift of enhanced vision was transformative!
To a certain extent, I identify with the blind man in our Gospel reading who said, after Jesus put saliva on his eyes, he could see people but they looked like walking trees. I get that. That’s what it’s like to be near-sighted. Everything is a blur, and you only see big fuzzy shapes (Christmas tree lights are awesome without glasses!) It took another blessing by Jesus to enhance this man’s vision to greater clarity.
Perhaps Mark included this story in his gospel, not just because it was a miracle worth noting, but much more because it was a metaphorical description of the human condition. Let me explain.
Throughout the week I have several opportunities to talk with people – and sometimes the conversation comes up about how crazy this world seems, with what we hear and see on the news, and things that make you just shake your head; and it boils down to them saying, “Pastor Dan, I don’t know, but something is not right; something is just not right with people.”
I agree – many times it does seem as if “something is not right.” We see and experience so much pain and suffering and brokenness and grief and conflict, that we too might say, “Something is just not right!” There’s a word that is often used to describe the “something that is not right,” and in many Christian circles it’s used quite often – and that word is sin.
However, a question that I and many progressive Christians ask is this: “Is sin the best term to describe that “something?” Or, would we understand the “something that is not right” and the solution better if we used multiple images for that “something?”
Think about it, the Bible itself uses multiple images and has multiple solutions to that “something,” but Christianity has mostly disregarded the other images, and as a result has been near-sighted when it comes to viewing the “something that is not right.”
The Bible uses many images for the “something that is not right,” like being in exile, or being in bondage, or becoming lost, or having a closed heart, or experiencing a deep hunger and thirst in the soul, and, in today’s reading, blindness – and these other “somethings” are not exactly the same as sin.
Using multiple images, I think, speaks more authentically to the diversity of experience that exists in our lives, rather than just attributing it to one word.
If I find myself in some kind of exile, the solution has to do with returning home to a life-giving center.
If I am in bondage and oppressed by an outside force, the solution has to do with being set free.
If I have become lost for any number of reasons, the solution is about being found or given a road map to better navigate.
If my heart has been closed because it has been wounded, the solution has to do with being embraced by a healing love that can open my heart.
And if sin, as willfully not loving is the issue, then yes, forgiveness can be an empowering experience that lifts the weight of my guilt and regret.
So, I simply ask, “Should we use sin as a blanket designator and root diagnosis of the “something that is not right?” Or could it be one designator among many biblical images of that “something?”
When I put on my first pair of glasses, the enhanced vision introduced me to a whole new world and a whole new way to navigate through life! The gift of enhanced vision was transformative!
Seeing with the enhanced vision of Jesus usually doesn’t come all at once, but takes a long time – even a life time.
May our eyes and heart be touched so we can see more clearly – and may the gift of enhanced vision be transformative.
