Labels

1 Samuel 16:1-13; Ephesians 5:8-14; John 9:1-41

I noticed, as I read these stories, how often the people in the stories label each other.

·       Samuel is known here as one who grieves over Saul and as God’s appointed prophet.

·       Jesse the Bethlehemite is known to be the father of eight sons, one of whom seems too young to be important.

·       David is referred to as the Lord’s Annointed. Before that he is the youngest son, the keeper of the sheep; He is described as ruddy, having beautiful eyes, and handsome. I always chuckle at this description, since it immediately follows the statement that God doesn’t look on one’s appearance!

·       The followers of Jesus are called disciples of Jesus by the Jewish leaders, and children of light by the author of Ephesians.

·       The Judeans is a code name: it refers to the Jewish leaders who rejected Jesus and his followers. The leaders call themselves disciple of Moses. And they declare that they most definitely are not blind.

·       Jesus is called both prophet and sinner. He refers to himself as the one speaking to the man, and as Son-of-Man.

·       The man the story is about is described variously as a man blind from birth; the man who had formerly been blind; a beggar; a son; a sinner; someone like him; the blind man. By the end of the story, we can label him a believer.

It’s so easy to label people, to define people by their looks or shape or color or age or profession or ability or whatever. Labels affect how people are treated.

In the First Reading, even though the people in town knew and Jesse knew that Samuel was there to anoint someone, no one thought to send for David. He was too young, he was the insignificant shepherd. Certainly, God wouldn’t anoint him!

In the Gospel, the man who was once blind is only once called “the man who was healed” in all the mentions of him. It’s hard for us to change our labels for others. It’s somewhat natural. We have an image of someone, and if they change, we don’t recognize them. When someone we haven’t seen for a while gains or loses weight, changes hair color, or wears different clothing, we may not know them at first.

So we don’t rely on a label, let’s give the man a name.  I want to talk about him in a way that doesn’t refer to his former condition. Let’s call him Charlie. Charlie has grown up dependent on others as he navigated the world. It seems he has all other abilities; he can walk and talk, engage in complex conversations, explain his history, and grow frustrated when people don’t believe that he has been healed.

It always amazes me that when he is healed, he not only can see, he knows what and who he is seeing. So, he now knows what his parents look like, he knows who the Jewish leaders are, he knows who the disciples and Jesus are.

What he doesn’t know is who healed him and why. Jesus wants to make sure Charlie has all the information he needs to understand how and why he was healed. Jesus introduces himself as the Son-of-Man. Charlie believes Jesus, and falls to his knees to worship him.

As usual, we don’t hear the “rest of the story”, and we don’t know what happened with Charlie after his healing. No longer a blind beggar, he could find a way of earning some income. Some employer would put him to work, in construction, in farming, in fishing, or some such. Maybe one of the disciples knew someone. Certainly, he would be happy to no longer known as the blind man, or the man who had been born blind. Maybe he could insist they call him by his name instead of by his label.

… In response to this Gospel text, I want to make a comment before we get to the “so what” part of the sermon. The NRSV says, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him.” This is a true translation of the Greek, but it surprised me. It’s hard for us to rationalize today that Charlie might have been born blind so that twenty or thirty years later, Jesus could heal him. I prefer the Common English Bible translation, which reads, “But because of his blindness, you will see God work a miracle for him.”

This is more aligned with how I believe God works. Something happens, and God uses it for good purposes; in this case, to show God’s power through Jesus. The same will be true when we get to the story of the raising of Lazarus. Jesus uses Lazarus’ death to demonstrate God’s power.

… The so what of this story is the comment voiced by the Jewish leaders. “We are not blind, are we?” So often, we claim to know, to understand, what God wants. But let’s be careful. Even if we think we are acting according to Jesus and the Prophets, we can still get caught in our own not-knowing of the truth, or at least the whole truth.

We still label each other, defining their worth by what they look like or how they behave. We tell the beggar on the street corner to get a real job. We sigh when we hear about electronic scam artists, wishing they would put their significant skills to some honest work. We listen with dismay and change the station or channel when some music plays that is not of our own generation, and we call it “noise”.

We assume that actions taken in protest are unpatriotic, instead of prophetic. Lately we assume all immigrants are undocumented, can’t speak English, and don’t have any skills. We label people from the other political party, or both parties, as out for the money and power, and not caring about the people in the lower classes. We label poor people as uneducated and unskilled.

I think it’s impossible to stop labeling people, including ourselves. But we can change how we think of all people if we add one more label. “Beloved child of God.”

David, youngest son of Jesse, shepherd boy, future king, and beloved child of God.

Jewish leaders, doing the best they knew how to lead their people in faith by enforcing the rules, and beloved children of God.

Charlie, formerly a blind man, formerly a beggar, a sinner, accused of lying, healed and sighted, and beloved child of God.

Jesus, accused of being a sinner – or not, healer, Son-of-Man, and beloved child of God.

The people who beg on the corner, living out the result of bad choices or bad fortune, and beloved child of God.

Protesters gathered in demonstrations, tired of being ignored and mistreated, and beloved child of God.

And you – whatever your own labels are, and beloved children of God. Amen