Somewhere in my sermon archives, there should be a message based on John 9:1-41, the healing of the man born blind. But there isn’t. For whatever reason, whenever this passage came up in the lectionary cycle during my preaching years, I didn’t preach on it. Sometimes there was a guest preacher that Sunday. Sometimes I preached on Psalm 23, God With Us. I have sermons on Blind Bartimeus in Mark’s gospel. But nothing on the man born blind from John’s gospel. I guess you could call it a “blind spot” in my sermon planning.

So if you are looking for sermon help this week, I’m sorry to disappoint you. Here’s what I can offer: some questions to get you thinking. For example,

1. In John’s gospel, Jesus doesn’t perform miracles; he gives “signs.” Signs are guideposts for those who see them. Ponder the irony in this particular “sign.” Who gets to see God at work in this story, and who remains blind to God’s grace? (What’s wrong with this picture?)
2. Jesus often uses blindness or darkness as a metaphor for spiritual lack of understanding about the Kingdom of God. How do we miss what Jesus wants us to see as we follow him?
3. There’s a lot of repetition in this story. The no-longer-blind man (who never gets named) has to repeat himself several times, to different authorities. He even gets a little cheeky (“I’ve already told you! Do you want to become this man’s disciples, too?”) Look at the words and phrases that keep showing up. What important message do you see here?
4. If you don’t sing “Amazing Grace” this Sunday in worship, be sure to sing it to yourself as you ponder this text, which brings me to …
5. This would be a great way to introduce a congregation to the spiritual disciplines of Lectio Divina and Visio Divina, spiritual reading and spiritual pondering of visual art – such as painting, sculpture, or stained glass windows.

God be with you on your Lenten Journey!