A New Way of Seeing

Sermon by Aaron James Lauer
Presented at Gustavus Adolphus College, St. Peter, MN
Lent 2009

Matthew 9:27-31

²⁷As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, crying loudly, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!” ²⁸When he entered the house, the blind men came to him; and Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They said to him, “Yes, Lord.” ²⁹Then he touched their eyes and said, “According to your faith let it be done to you.” ³⁰And their eyes were opened. Then Jesus sternly ordered them, “See that no one knows of this.” ³¹But they went away and spread the news about him throughout that district.

Is Jesus being serious in this passage?  I mean, really serious? He has just healed two men of the blindness that has afflicted them no doubt all of their lives, and he gives them an order that is impossible for the men to keep.

By this point in the gospel of Matthew, we are rather familiar with the miraculous power of Jesus, and we’re only to chapter nine.   We have already seen his ability to calm storms, cleanse lepers, and raise children from the dead.  No doubt it was this miraculous power that led these two men with blindness to seek Jesus out for healing?

We should not be surprised by the healing work of Jesus in the story.  What should bring alarm instead is the request Jesus makes of these two men: to stay silent.

In the passage the two men cry out for mercy from Jesus and follow him into the house.  While there, Jesus touches their eyes telling them, “According to your faith let it be done to you.”

And it is done to them.  The men’s eyes are opened and they see their healer’s face.  And then Jesus makes his ridiculous request.  “See that no one knows of this.”  This is not a simple request. It is an order, a “stern order” according to the author, a pronouncement by the very one who has the power to heal them and did.  And with that, the men leave.

And do exactly what I assume any person would do, they disobey the order and speak of the miracle.

This is why I can’t believe that Jesus is being serious.  How is he to expect that two men blind of sight and outcasts in their community because of it would keep silent about the most miraculous thing that had ever happened in their lives?  Blindness in first century Palestine almost always meant living in a world of isolation and oppression.  Not only did the blind face poverty because of the inability to produce an income but also religious isolation because of the connection between sickness and sin in the world of ancient Judaism. In this healing, Jesus does more than just give the men physical sight, he brings them out of the oppression they faced being blind men in their community and into a new relationship with those around them.  And what is Jesus’ request of them?  Not to scream and shout, not to bring the news to their families, not to stand in the market square and profess to the people the healing power of the Lord and Savior.  It is silence.  That is his order.  And it is an order that cannot be met.

Though many New Testament scholars argue this story is about the message that true discipleship is following the teachings of Christ, I cannot help but see another aspect of discipleship in this passage.  I believe that more than anything this story is about witness.  It is a story about what these men witnessed in their encounter with Jesus and how this act changed their lives.   You see, this act of healing was not great simply because of its greatness.  It was great because of its life changing power.  The men didn’t simply observe a great act they were transformed by it.  They were able to literally “see” the world in a whole new way. And they knew they had to share this with those around them.

In this season of lent, I think we are presented with an amazing opportunity when it comes to the life changing events that we experience.  Lent is of course a time of reflection and meditation, of looking inward so that we can soon act outward.  It is our time to contemplate what Christine Smith, calls “radicalizing moments.”  These are events in our lives that completely alter the way we view the world and our place in it.  Just like the men in the story who were blessed with a new way of seeing, we are often witness to events in our lives that change how we encounter it.

For me, nowhere have there been more radicalizing moments than in my work with lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender peoples of faith.  The lives of these faithful children of God, with their stories of struggle, marginalization, redemption and hope, are a constant witness to the promise of the gospels that all our diversity is part of the reconciliation of Christ.  That our whole lives are a creation of God and to be celebrated in a community of inclusion and acceptance.

The radical love and acceptance of my queer/straight alliance when I came out in college to rejection by my family, the testimony of faith and authenticity of my trans friends that changed my view of sex and gender forever, the daily actions of those working for LGBT equality around the world even in the face of violence and hate that threatens to take their very lives.  These are the stories that give me hope; that inspire me to love.  These are the moments of radicalization that have completely transformed how I live my life and encounter the lives of others.

And like the men with blindness in the story, I cannot keep silent.  I must speak of what I have seen and heard in my life.  I must tell the world what I know to be true about the lives of LGBT people.  Of how they stand in the midst of oppression and hopelessness, when the world tells them they are not equal nor worthy, that they are sick and sinful in the eyes of God, and demonstrate the miraculous power of the human spirit and the life changing love of Jesus.

So why does Jesus ask for silence?  Is it true that he wanted the men to keep quiet about this life changing occasion?  Perhaps he did, that’s what many scholars say.  But if I could add my own interpretation, I think this request is not simply for silence, but for contemplation.  Jesus is asking them to dwell on this miracle that has just happened, this radicalizing moment in their lives.  He must have known that they would speak of the miracle eventually, but before they did any speaking, he wanted them to reflect.  Reflect on the awe-inspiring act that had just occurred.  Allow for the truth of this moment to sink in so that when they spoke of the story, they would do so with authenticity and forethought.  So that they would not simply scream their news from the market square, but know that the news they are about to share has power, radical power, and that it has the potential to change the lives of others, just like it did for the two men.

So as we sit in contemplation for this Lenten season, may we also understand the power of these radicalizing moments in our lives.  Knowing full well that when we speak of them we may very well change the lives of those who hear, because we are fully aware of how these moments changed our own.