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Fourth Sunday of Lent - March 2, 2008 - Rev. Gary Strubel

As Lent is a traditional time to prepare initiates for Baptism, a part of that preparation is to understand society's negative reaction to the faith. On the one hand, we should expect a level of persecution and ridicule from society at large. Yet, we're encouraged not to take offense, for God judges us rightly in Christ and not with the flawed mechanisms of society. Indeed, God warned Samuel of this when descerning who to annoint as the next king of Israel, and St. Paul warns us not to respond in like kind, "take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them." Indeed, we're to share the experience of grace as one of release, contentment and mercy.

This morning's gospel reading is essentially an allegory for the experience of the early church, where the baptised were often expelled from local religious communities for their faith. The newly baptised would openly share their faith with others and then be brought before the religous authorities to explain themselves. Some would recant out of fear of being outcast. Others would defend their beliefs and risk being then tossed out of the community for being heretics.

In our allegory, Baptism is expressed by the healing of the blind man. Blindness was believed to be an expression of sinfullness, as the disciples point out. But in Christ's healing touch and in the clensing waters, the man is given sight. Sight represents his release from oppresion, clarity to see the grace of God and mercy through the forgivness of sin.

This new expression of grace was then put forth against the flawed, conventional wisdom of the day. The religious leaders first try to discredit the evidence by suggesting that the man wasn't blind in the first place. When that didn't work, they turned to the old tactic of discrediting the witness. Because the man was clearly a sinner, his testimony was invalid. He was therefore expelled from the community. But then Jesus reaches out to reassure the man that his experience of grace is true.

In contemporary times, we may find ourselves ridiculed for our beliefs. The numerous mysteries of the Church, even the very existence of God himself, are called into question. Like the religious officials of old, society will attack the evidence by suggesting that scriptural accounts are flawed. And when that doesn't work, they will then turn to discredit the witnesses (that's us folks) as superstitious, gullable or simple.

Yet, Christians can easily fall into the same trap. The sheer number of denominations and faith traditions show that we're not that far from the religious officials who originally tossed us out. Doctrinal differences abound. Heretics were expelled. Whole churches excommunicated themselves. Today, families can disown relatives over religion and best friends may never speak to each other again. This is not the grace we are called to exhibit.

At our Baptism, we're called to admit that the mechanisms we use to judge the world and each other are ultimately flawed. We're asked to renounce the evil powers of this world which corrupt and destroy the creatures of God and all sinful desires that draw us from the love of God. We commit to turn to Jesus Christ and accept him as our Savior and to put our whole trust in his grace and love. Our faith is an armour meant to shield us, not a sword to which to inflict harm.