"Who's to Blame?"
1 Sam. 16:1-13; Ps. 23; Eph. 5:8-14; John 9:1-41
Dr. George R. Sinclair
Pastor
March 2, 2008
One summer day on our way to no where in particular my sister and I found a pack of Winston cigarettes lying in the street, not a crumbled up, discarded pack, but 20 of RJ Reynolds’s finest.
Bowman Gray Jr., a future president of RJ Reynolds, introduced Winston in 1954. Winston sponsored Walter Cronkite’s evening news and Gary Moore’s variety show. Winston was the “Cigarette that tasted good—like a cigarette should.”
English teachers weren’t the only ones who went up in smoke over that ad. Americans lit up by the millions, making Winston by 1966 the number one brand in the nation and the Bowman Grays wealthy men. In fact Bowman Gray’s father was so rich he bought a Baptist school of medicine now famous for its cancer treatment and moved it from Wake Forest to where else but Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Little did my sister and I know that the smartly packaged burly tobacco we found was contributing to health science. We were just wickedly happy to have happened upon the brand smoked not only by Fred and Wilma Flintstone but also our father.
Of course we knew better. Cigarette smoking was a sophisticated adult activity and alternately what serious looking hoodlums did behind the high school gym. Naturally we wanted to be like both—smart and dangerous—so we hid ourselves away in the basement of the house next door, which, still under construction smelled very much of red mud and new concrete.
Though I was younger by four years my sister made me light up first. “Here, you do it,” she said handing me the matches she snuck from home. We smoked till our eyes watered and throats burned, which is the typical reaction of human flesh to burning tobacco, but no matter we were smart and dangerous.
After burning through several Winstons and now seriously smart and dangerous, we blearily if somewhat guiltily marched home whereupon arriving our mother, be she ever so sweet and sensitive, not only inquired of our most recent whereabouts but also “that better not be cigarette smoke I smell!”
“She made me do it, Mama.”
“He found them. It was his idea.”
“Mama, don’t be mad. And don’t tell Daddy. It was her fault. She gave me the matches.”
When two children get caught smoking somebody’s going to pay. Somebody’s at fault. Somebody’s to blame.
Speaking of blame, some of you remember the days when report cards came with Conduct grades—with checks and X’s. That’s where my father always looked first. He called it Deportment and persisted in calling it Deportment through Elementary School though Conduct was clearly marked on the manila folder I took home every eight weeks.
You remember those little check’s and X’s—“Uses time wisely, Works well with others, Follows directions”—I’m still no good at that last one. Frankly, I didn’t care for deportment. Even so, those checks and x’s taught responsibility. And responsibility is a good thing. Deportment helps. I’m sure it made life easier for my classmates and at least two teachers I can think of.
People need to learn to conduct themselves wisely. They need to work well with others and follow directions. There’s nothing wrong with that. Responsibility is a good thing. Accountability is a good thing. People need to be accountable. People need to be responsible. In fact, without responsibility, without accountability the self disappears. We make it a point of law that diminished or compromised responsibility removes agency. In some instances that happens temporarily in others permanently.
For different reasons we limit the agency of children. Last time I checked there weren’t too many nine year olds licensed to drive. We don’t let 12 year olds marry. In Alabama, you have to be 19 to purchase RJ Reynolds products and 21 to buy beer. There are checks and X’s in life. And violations bring consequences.
“Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents?”
The question was a question about blame. “Who sinned—the blind man or his parents? Which box do we check?” Like us, the disciples inhabited a moral universe of cause and effect. The man wasn’t born blind without good reason. Somebody had to be blamed.
We’re not as far removed from that moral universe as we’d like to think. No, we don’t think people are born blind because of sin, but consider—So and so has lung cancer. Smoker? So and so has liver disease. Drinker? So and so has high blood pressure. Didn’t exercise? So and so is getting divorced. Who cheated? So and so was in a car wreck. Was he drunk?
It’s easy enough to do—assign blame—after all we are responsible. We are accountable. Behavior is not without consequence. Behaviors are not benign. We know that. Actions create consequence. “So, teacher, [tell us] who sinned, this man or his parents?”
The answer was not unimportant. However, the answer Jesus gives indicates it was the wrong question: “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed.”
“No one sinned. No one’s to blame. It’s an opportunity for the work of God, an opportunity for light.”
Now, it makes that you wonder what Jesus was up to? Was Jesus tossing the law of consequence, the moral logic of cause and effect? It’s not like Jesus doesn’t believe in sin. In fact, he’s got plenty to say about sin. He tells the Pharisees that he came into the world “for judgment.” They immediately worry that they might be on the wrong side of judgment: “Surely we are not blind are we?”
Jesus believed in sin, which is to say he believed in accountability but he shows little patience with moral police only interested in assigning blame. Jesus is way more interested in bringing light. And when light comes we sure enough see sin but more importantly, we find forgiveness. Jesus would rather forgive sin than assign blame, which is why he refuses to answer the disciples’ question and instead heals the blind man. Jesus doesn’t assign blame he brings light.
I am fascinated by the way Jesus brings light—not so much the spit and mud and the washing, all interesting stuff—but the fact that the blind man doesn’t know much about Jesus either before or after he is healed. The blind man is no poster child for Sunday school. When Jesus tells the blind man to go and wash, he goes and washes. And just like that he sees. The change is so profound that neighbors no longer recognize him. Those who do want to know what happened ask, “How did he get this way? What made him better?”
“I don’t know, this guy comes up to me and he puts mud on my face and tells me to wash and now I see.”
“Well, where is he now?”
“I don’t know.”
The Pharisees are also curious. They also inquire about the miracle. And the blind man’s not much help, “He put mud on my eyes, I washed and now I see.”
“That’s impossible!”
“I know, I know, but I was blind and now I see.”
“Who is this Jesus?’
“He’s a prophet.”
That’s as much as the blind man knows--which is not much, which leads me to believe that Jesus is busy bringing light even where there is not much Bible or theology or Sunday school. All of those things are good, but they’re more like icing on the cake. Jesus works in a dark world bringing light. And that happens when folks fumbling along in darkness stumble upon light like when their spouse tells them when they’ve royally screwed up, “I forgive you.” Or when instead of getting what they deserve a teenager gets a second chance. Jesus is way more interested in bringing light than assigning blame. And wherever forgiveness shows up light enters our dark world.
But be warned, there are those who resist the light. There are those who prefer darkness. They’d rather see folks blamed than forgiven. Blame is a very powerful weapon. Blame keeps us beholding. Blame is a powerful tool not only for offenders but also the offended.
Blame keeps everyone stuck. Offenders remain offenders while the offended remain offended. Everyone’s happy and no one’s happy. We’re just stuck—stuck with blame.
“Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents?”
In a world of check’s and X’s that’s a perfectly fair question. But in the world of Jesus it’s the wrong question. So instead of asking, “Who’s to blame?” Jesus asks, “Where can we find light?”
When things go badly as inevitably they do blame may temporarily make you feel better but it will never make you whole. Blame does not heal. Blame only keeps us stuck. Healing comes when letting go of blame we step into the light.
The right question is not, “Who’s to blame?” The question is, “Where can I find Light?” The bigger question is not who’s wrong and who’s right, but how can we find light?
Jesus works to bring light. Go and wash. And you will find sight. Amen.