Sermon, Lent 4A, John 9

Christianity and discipleship can be a messy business. They have the power to disturb us and divide us. They can hurt us and heal us. And they can agitate and calm us.

We are disturbed when we hear Jesus say, "Do not resist an evil doer -- turn the other cheek -- go a second mile -- and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you." It disturbs us when we hear Jesus say, "Love your enemies."

We are divided when some hear Jesus say, "No one comes to the Father except through me," and interpret that as an exclusionary statement condemning all non-Christians to hell; while others have a different, inclusive interpretation and point to Jesus saying, "I have other sheep you don't know about." We are divided when some of us see Jesus as the Divine Storm Trooper, while others of us see Jesus as stretching out his arms of love on the hard wood of the cross so that everyone might come within reach of his saving embrace.

We are hurt when we are excluded from the church because of our race, gender, sexual orientation, politics or age. We are healed when we recognize that our sins have been forgiven and we are made worthy to stand before Christ.

We are negatively agitated when Christianity and/or discipleship is presented as the magic solution to gaining wealth and prosperity, or when certain denominations look forward to the day they are proven right and gleefully anticipate heretics and apostates burning in hell. We are positively agitated when we hear the words of Matthew 25 and begin to feed the hungry, clothe the naked and shelter the homeless.

And we can be calmed when we hear Jesus say, "Take heart, your faith has made you well." Or when we hear the story of a baby in a manger; or when we hear the story of the resurrection and realize that life wins.

Christianity can be a messy business. But it's not just limited to our own theological arguments or interpretations; God gets messy with us. In the second story of creation, we are told that God created humans from the dust of the earth. Have you ever tried to make something from dirt or dust? It doesn't hang together very well. What you need is water.

With water you can form the dirt and make things. Water gives the dirt some substance. Water gives you mud. God played in the mud and created humanity.

It wasn't too long after that that we caused some problems. But even so, God stayed involved. Through his presence and prophets, God was willing to get involved in the messy business of humanity. And then, in the person of Jesus, he joined the party.

Jesus participated fully in humanity. He was willing to get messy. He healed on the Sabbath. He drove out vendors from the temple. He crossed cultural boundaries. He touched those who were unclean. He talked to women. And he played in the mud and made a blind man see; the results of which were that the man was driven out of the temple.

How like today this scene is. There are many, many churches who are so convinced of being right that they are blind to God working in the world. Because they are so convinced they are right, they restrict God to their man-made limitations and then toss out people who don't fit the mold.

We need to hold to certain traditions and understandings, certainly. But can we afford to hold onto those so tightly that when an opportunity comes to see in a new way we simply proclaim those new and/or different people heretics and sinners and drive then out of of the church? I don't think so. And if welcoming the outcast, feeding the hungry, helping the poor and allowing people to see the light gets me in trouble, so be it.

Christianity can be a messy business. We are at once disturbed, divided, delivered, hurt and healed. In short, we are human. We aren't perfect. We can cause problems. But if we are willing to get messy and play n the mud occasionally, then we'll be in good company.

Let's put our faith to work, stir things up and get our hands dirty.