Lent 3
Bishop Ray Sutton

In my office is one of those little puzzle-like signs. Maybe you’ve seen one like it. It consists of several vertical and horizontal lines glued onto a piece wood; they go this way and that. When you first look at it, the pieces of wood seem not to make any sense. But if you keep examining the mosaic of sticks, you’ll see the Name, Jesus, spelled out. A few years ago in a previous parish, a dear layman gave it to me. I’ll never forget his comment. He told me, “Father, this little sign reminds me how hard it is to see Jesus at times. It’s not that He isn’t there. It’s just that sometimes we mistake the good for the bad. What we think is bad is really good. It’s Christ at work. All we need to do is look.” The point is that we must not be blind to Jesus.

Our Gospel lesson for this Sunday reminds me of the puzzle on my desk. In our story from St. Luke 11:14-26, a kind of spiritual blindness pervades the account. It’s the most insidious blindness of all. I call it the darker side of blindness. It’s not the kind of blindness that you’d expect. Most of the time we associate spiritual blindness with not being able to discern evil when we see it. Something is bad and we just don’t recognize it. After all, Satan is a master charlatan. He’s a trickster. He makes people think something is right, even good, when it’s not. The blind can’t truly perceive the evil.

Today, the story of the Gospel talks about another kind, the darker side of blindness. Jesus casts out a demon from a person who could not speak. The person was healed by Jesus. Whether a man or a woman we’re not told. All we are given is that the individual began to talk. Amazingly, the nearby observers don’t question whether the miracle actually occurred. Instead, they conclude that good was bad. Jesus is accused of using Satan to cast out Satan, which is the same as calling Him the Devil. Blindness abounds.

Christ further describes His miraculous deliverance from the power of Satan as like sweeping a house clean. If the house does not remain clean, then the evil spirit collects seven others “more evil than itself, and they go in and live there; and the last state is worse than the first” (11:26). His point is that the darker evil, blindness if you will, is to identify good as bad.
Christ’s analogy of the darker blindness fits with the Gospel of Luke as a whole. Accusing Christ of being Satan is a turning point. The once good are becoming more and more blind to the point that they have become the wicked. Eventually, they will crucify Jesus as we head toward Good Friday. The once good turn bad. The same thing is happening today. Spiritual leaders, even those in high places, mislead. They call bad, good. And yes, in our Gospel lesson we’re reminded that blindness can take the bizarre darker form of calling what is good, bad, of declaring Jesus, Satan.

We too must be careful. This other dark side of blindness can start in the most innocuous ways. It can begin by simply not recognizing the good that God is doing in our lives or through others. Allow me to close with a little parable:

A minister passing through his church in the middle of the day, decided to pause by the altar, and see who had come to pray.  Just then the back door opened, a man came down the aisle,
 
The minister frowned as he saw the man hadn't shaved in a while.  His shirt was kind of shabby and his coat was worn and frayed, the man knelt, he bowed his head, then rose and walked away.
 
He decided to stop the man and ask him, "What are you doing here?"  The old man said he worked down the road.  Lunch was half an hour.  Lunchtime was his prayer time, for finding strength and power.
 
"I stay only moments, see, because the factory is so far away; as I kneel here talking to the Lord, This is kind of what I say:
 
"I JUST CAME AGAIN TO TELL YOU, LORD, HOW HAPPY I'VE BEEN, SINCE WE FOUND EACH OTHER'S FRIENDSHIP AND YOU TOOK AWAY MY SIN.  DON'T KNOW MUCH OF HOW TO PRAY, BUT I THINK ABOUT YOU EVERYDAY.  SO, JESUS, THIS IS JIM CHECKING IN TODAY."
 
The minister, feeling foolish, told Jim that was fine.  He told the man he was welcome to come and pray just anytime.  Time to go, Jim smiled, said "Thanks."  He hurried to the door.
 
The minister knelt at the altar, his heart melted, warmed with love, and met with Jesus, there as the tears flowed, he too began to pray,
 
"I JUST CAME AGAIN TO TELL YOU, LORD, HOW HAPPY I'VE BEEN, SINCE WE FOUND EACH OTHER'S FRIENDSHIP AND YOU TOOK AWAY MY SIN.  I HAVE NOT SEEN YOU AS I SHOULD, SO, JESUS, THIS IS ME CHECKING IN TODAY."
 
Past noon one day, the minister noticed that old Jim hadn't come.  As more days passed without Jim, he began to worry.  At the factory, he asked about him, learning he was ill.
 
The hospital staff was worried, but he'd given them a thrill.  The week that Jim was with them brought changes in the ward.  His smiles, a joy contagious.  Changed people were his reward.
 
The head nurse couldn't understand why Jim was so glad, when no flowers, calls or cards came, not a visitor he had.  The minister stayed by his bed, he voiced the nurse's concern:
 
No friends came to show they cared.  He had nowhere to turn.
 
Looking surprised, old Jim spoke up and with a winsome smile; "the nurse is wrong, she couldn't know, that in here all the while everyday at noon He's here, a dear friend of mine, you see, He sits right down, takes my hand, Leans over and says to me:
 
"I JUST CAME AGAIN TO TELL YOU, JIM, HOW HAPPY I HAVE BEEN, SINCE WE FOUND THIS FRIENDSHIP, AND I TOOK AWAY YOUR SIN.  ALWAYS LOVE TO HEAR YOU PRAY, I THINK ABOUT YOU EACH DAY, AND SO JIM, THIS IS JESUS CHECKING IN TODAY."
May we see Jesus, in His people, in His goodness, and in His miracles that He does in ours and others’ lives. May we not call bad good, moreover, dare we not speak of good, His good, as bad. Amen.