March 26, 2017 Text: John 9:1-41
Dear Friends in Christ,
U2 is an Irish rock band that was formed in 1976. Their lead singer is Paul Hewson, better known to the world as Bono. Bono is known for his humanitarian work throughout the world. Asked what drives him, what makes him tick, Bono answered, “It’s a mind-blowing concept that the God who created the universe might be looking for company, a real relationship with people, but the thing that keeps me on my knees is the difference between grace and karma.”
We are with Jesus this morning as he heals a blind man. What is the reason for the healing?
“KARMA? I’LL TAKE GRACE!”
Now, it’s no small thing to take on karma. John Lennon sang about instant karma. Radiohead warned of the karma police. But what is it? It’s the idea that what goes around comes around. Did you catch the video some time ago with a man in a pickup truck who tailgates a woman, and then passes her, while triumphantly displaying his middle finger? And just after that, his trucks spins out, and he crashes into a ditch. That is karma and people love it. He got what was coming to him.
On the other side is the pay-it-forward campaign. You know where you buy someone’s Egg Mcmuffin in the car behind you or pay for someone’s parking at a sporting event, something that actually happened to Toni and I when we were dating. It is suppose to be good karma. It sets the universe in motion in your favor.
As the prophet Bono puts it, “You see, at the center of all religions is the idea of karma. You know, what you put out comes back to you; an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth; in physical laws every action is met by an equal and opposite one.”
So it happened that Jesus was walking along, and came across a man born blind. And the disciples asked the karma question, “Who sinned? This man or his parents?” (v. 2) And we are comfortable with this question because it helps us make sense of the world. A man has cancer? Well, yeah, he smoked for over forty years. Kidney problems? Drank too much. Heart attack? Not enough diet or exercise. Car accident? Drove too fast or were texting. And I would never do that, we are pleased to say.
So, why was the man born blind? Was it because of his sin? Or perhaps the sin of his parents? I know what I would say to the karma question and it wouldn’t be the karma answer. I would say that one sin infects us all. Yes, certain sins have specific consequences, built into the way the world functions, but death is going to happen to each and every one of us, no matter how well we live, no matter how righteous and good we think we might be. We’ve all sinned and all creation suffers. The world is broken.
Give an answer like that and you can get an A in your dogmatics class at the seminary. But Jesus doesn’t just offer that simple answer, instead, he says, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.” (v. 3)
Talk about mind-blowing. Sin, in all its negativity, has actually set in motion a chain of events that ends, not with disaster, but with mysterious blessing. Is that possible? And do we really want to gloat? To take pleasure in someone getting his comeuppance? “If karma was finally going to be my judge,” Bono said, “then I’d be in deep doodoo.”
Paul Hewson Bono then added, “I’m holding out for grace; I’m holding out that Jesus took my sins onto the cross, because I know who I am, and I hope I don’t have to depend on my own religiosity.”
It was never God’s plan that man fall into sin. It was never God’s intention that there would be illness and death, or that men would be born blind. And yet, in the mystery of his grace, in the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world, our Lord took a fallen situation and not only restored it, but made it better than it ever was. By the mystery of the incarnation and the glory of the cross, we have come to see God as we never could before: face-to-face, in full and sacrificial love. A paradise better than Eden awaits us.
We have experienced a love that has been tested, a love that has been challenged, a love that goes beyond a mutually beneficial relationship. And having been forgiven much, what can we do but fall to our knees?
Yes, God loves the angels. But the angels are good. And it’s easy to love those who love you in return. Even the pagans do this. But we have received a greater love. We have been shown a more beautiful grace. He has taken us creatures and turned us into children. And no, the world still hasn’t found what it’s looking for. The world in its worldliness is blind; the world looks at the font, and they don’t think it’s worth a bucket of spit. But we, whose eyes have been opened, see a crystal fountain, a river of life flowing from the throne of God, and the Lamb who has been slain.
Bono’s right. It is a miracle that the God of the universe is seeking out the company of folks like us. But that’s what he’s done. What happened to the man born blind? We know he became an outcast and even his parents distanced themselves from him. But our Lord sought him out. Our Lord took friendship and mercy and turned it into full communion.
So, yeah, karma sounds cool. But on this one, I’m with Bono. I’d rather have grace. We’ll never be rock stars, but we can join together with him in another band and sing together the song of the Lamb, the song of love unknown.
Amen.