This Week in Worship
Fourth Sunday of Lent
Mar 30, 2025: In the Wilderness of Misunderstanding
John 9: 1-41

Rev. Dr. Leslie Taylor, preaching

This chapter can be divided into three sections: introduction to the healing (1-5), description of the healing (6-7), and reaction to the healing (8-41). Like in John 4, several characters are present: the man born with blindness, Jesus, the disciples, the Pharisees, and the parents of the man born with blindness. Bea, India, Lyla, and Siena will offer a creative reading of the text; you won't want to miss it!

While this passage is about a miraculous healing, it is also not about that healing at all. Confusion about the man born with blindness, how he was healed, and what power Jesus wields is central to this narrative, to the point where even reading it can be disorienting.

What is clear is that Jesus is disrupting the order that the community knows so well. Jesus' final words to the religious leaders, "I came into this world for judgment so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind," echoes the "first shall be last and the last shall be first" sentiment so common in Jesus' teachings.

Interestingly, only a man who is blind can see what the religious authorities do not. The chapter starts with a man born blind, assumed to be a sinner, and ends with some of the Pharisees who are declared sinners because they pretend to "see," which shows their unbelief.

As the chapter progresses "blindness" moves from a physical to a spiritual level. By the end, the man born with blindness not only sees in a physical way but also believes and receives spiritual light.

As the wilderness is known for disruption, metaphor, transformation, and even confusion, it is almost as if with the mud Jesus uses to heal, he brings the wilderness to the community, giving them a taste of what his kindom will truly be.

See vou Sunday!

The way we worship is the way we live.

Worship is the work of the people, bringing together our fullest selves in a communal act of love and gratitude.  Each voice is important; each person is valued as the Spirit draws out our authentic gifts and talents, shared in the ever-widening circle of God’s people.  We hope you’ll join us this week as we gather to worship the God of extravagant welcome.