Clear as Mud

Rebecca Sheridan
Sunday, March 15, 2026
John 9:1-41

    One of the best acolytes I ever knew was a man in his thirties who had Down Syndrome.  Like many young people, he was trained to serve as an acolyte in middle school and loved it so much he got on the regular schedule to lead worship as an acolyte ever since.  The church we were in at the time had the acolyte carry the cross for a processional at the beginning of worship, similar to how we do so on certain festival days here.  If you don’t already know, the cross always goes first in a processional for worship.  One Sunday, for whatever reason, the processional cross was misplaced.  We couldn’t find it, and it was time to start worship.  The acolyte was not phased – he had a perfect solution.  He formed his arms in the shape of the cross, and still processed first, carrying the cross with his own body.  He was an inspiring person of faith, who served the church well in his best way, with the gifts God had given him.
    Our gospel for this morning is sometimes referred to as the “healing of the man born blind.”  However, John never uses the word “healing” here.  We know many people in our lives who live with a chronic illness – physical or mental, or a disability – and this might be something we can see or we may be unaware of, an invisible struggle.  That person could be you!  Many of us have come to terms with the fact that we will never be “healed” as in cured from whatever disability or health issue we have.  It is a part of who we are.  I have known people born legally blind who are proud of their difference from seeing people.  We may not know WHY there is autism or Down syndrome or why people are hard of hearing or blind, but our faith helps us to live with our differences, no matter what they may be, as a part of who we are. In addition, our faith helps us to recognize all people regardless of ability as people gifted, graced, and loved by God.
Taking a second look at this gospel passage challenges those of us who are more able-bodied to listen and learn from what Jesus is actually doing here.  The primary point Jesus is trying to make goes beyond giving a blind man sight.  The point of Christ’s healing ministry is not to make someone be just like everyone else.  Instead, healing is about the restoration and transformation that Jesus wants to give not only to this blind man, but to those who are trying to judge everyone else around them as sinners instead of looking at themselves.  The blind man is the one who recognizes who Jesus truly is, despite not being able to see, and serves as an evangelist for Christ, inviting others to follow Jesus, too.  Regardless of our abilities or disabilities, our faith tells us, we are all sinners.  But we are more than just sinners, and we are more than our differences, too.  
For his whole life, this man has been called a sinner because of his blindness.  Jesus directly confronts this horrible theology that says a disability is punishment for sin.  Instead, he says that this man “was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him.”  This man’s entire life is transformed by Jesus’ touch.  Yes, Jesus gives him physical sight, but there’s so much more.  He no longer has to beg.  He no longer has people calling him “sinner,” and he no longer thinks of himself in that way.  This man is so much more than “blind” or “sinner.”  Instead, Jesus helps him see himself as a wholly restored and redeemed child of God, saved by God’s grace in Jesus Christ.  Then, Jesus uses this man to invite others to become Jesus’ disciples, too.
Jesus says at the end of our reading, “If you were blind, you would not have sin.  But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.’”  And this is the true healing that Jesus desires for us and for all people – this spiritual insight that he is the light of the world, the Son of Man, the Messiah, and the transformation that Christ gives to live beyond the label of “sinner.”  You do not need to be able to physically see to have faith, Jesus points out; in fact, the abilities we have, the power and status we have in society like the Pharisees here might be barriers to letting Jesus change us and lead us.  Because when you already have it all, then who needs God?  Jesus calls the blind man and us to let go of thinking we know better than God, and instead, let God’s works be revealed in us – to use the particular gifts, talents, and abilities God has given us for God’s glory instead of puffing ourselves up with self-righteousness.  Jesus wants us to see the giftedness in one another, also.
    Is the point I am making right now as clear as mud?  Well, Jesus’ point seems to be as clear as mud to the Pharisees here.  They are fixated on answering this difficult question about why people are born blind – who sinned, this man or his parents?  Jesus, too, must be a sinner, because he gives this man sight on the Sabbath day.  How can Jesus, a sinner who breaks the commandment of keeping the Sabbath, give someone sight?  And why bother with a man who is clearly a sinner because he was born blind, anyway?  We may never have the answer to these questions, and they’re not very helpful.  Instead, Jesus uses mud mixed with his spit to “cleanse” this man and restore his sight.  Eeew.  It’s a powerful metaphor, though. All throughout this story, the ones who are “right” and “clean” and “holy” turn out to be the ones who don’t get who Jesus is or what he is trying to do.  It’s the blind man who has the spiritual insight that those who see lack.  It’s the “sinner” who is saved.  And it’s the mud that makes this man clean and makes Jesus’ work clear.  Jesus brings us back to our purpose no matter how we were created and empowers us to live forgiven and freed by our sins.  Jesus has found us and changed us for the better, so that we can go and invite others to become his disciples, too.  Like that acolyte, we can carry the cross with us, wherever we go – Jesus lives in us!  Amen.