Now I Can See
Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedDr. Bob Tuttle
was a great teacher at Asbury.
I had a fun seminar with him called
the History and Theology of the Church in Renewal.
In that class,
he said the Holy Spirit was like the wind
in weather patterns.
He said that the wind flows from high pressure zones
to low pressure.
Throughout history,
the periods of renewal in the church
happened
when many people created a low pressure zone
and the Holy Spirit
flowed in.
When I first moved to Boston in 2008
I started seeing blind people all the time.
At first I thought it was a coincidence.
I asked other people if they saw more blind people,
and they said no.
One day I was in South Station
and I felt something whack me in the leg.
I looked and it was a blind man with his cane.
I was seeing two to three blind people every day.
Over time,
I discovered the blind people
were an indication of my prayer assignment in Boston.
Today's readings
are about blindness and seeing.
Often when God speaks
we think God is saying one thing,
and God is saying something completely different.
In both of these lessons
blindness is a metaphor for pride,
and in this case the most dangerous kind:
religious pride.
Pride makes you blind,
and religious pride makes you double blind.
Pride makes you believe that you are better than other people.
Religious pride makes you believe
that you are better than other people,
and better than God.
Pride in all its forms creates a high pressure zone
that prevents the wind
of the Holy Spirit
to flow in.
In I Samuel 16
we have a very interesting moment.
Most of us know the story of Samuel as a boy,
and how the Lord spoke to him
and called him to be a prophet
and the last Judge of Israel.
After this, most people really forget about Samuel.
After the end of the Sons of Eli,
and the Ark of God is captured,
Samuel becomes a transitional figure
from the period of the judges,
and the worship in the tabernacle at Shiloh,
to the Davidic Kingdom and the worship revolution
initiated under the Tabernacle of David
that led to the Temple of Solomon.
Samuel was a complex character.
The people wanted a king
because Samuel's sons
were just as bad,
maybe even worse than,
the Sons of Eli.
Samuel may have been a great prophet,
but he was raised by the corrupt family of Eli,
and he must have continued some of the things
that he saw Eli do.
And it becomes clear
that Samuel was a mixed bag
in terms of judgement.
He was prophet
until he had to make a decision,
and then he trusted his own judgement.
Samuel did what we often see people do.
They listen to God for inspiration,
but they trust their human senses
when it comes to life.
This is why we need to train our human thoughts
and attitudes
in the school of the Cross.
We need to continually say to God,
"your thoughts are not my thoughts,
your ways are not my ways,
I am powerless to know the way to go,
I need you to guide me."
Samuel
anointed Saul,
who was tall and good looking.
I have learned that you know when a place is operating out of the world system
or the Kingdom of God system
by surveying the room.
When I used to go to the Union club in Boston,
everyone was, on average,
six feet tall or taller,
with a chiseled jaw,
and they were all named,
Chip,
Skip,
or Tim.
I’m not tall,
chiseled,
or a Chip.
Just lucky, I guess.
On the other hand,
I have found that when you go to a place
where God is moving by the Holy Spirit,
you find men and women who are all kinds:
heights,
colors,
nationalities,
and flavors.
And this is the point.
Samuel
measured people based on the wisdom of man,
and God honored the office of Samuel,
knowing Saul
was good looking but not very smart.
And of course,
Saul blew it several times.
At the beginning of I Samuel 16,
we find Samuel,
and he is pouting,
because the king he anointed is a disaster.
God honors the office,
even when a person fails.
And no matter how high your position
even situation is pass/fail.
If you are humble,
God will give you another chance.
And so,
Samuel is instructed to go and anoint another king.
The Bible is full of interesting details
that we skip,
because it doesn't fit our internal filtering system.
We think there are bad people in the Bible and good people.
Actually,
what we have are complicated people.
All people are complicated.
God uses broken, mixed up people
because that is all that's available.
The men of the village come to greet Samuel
because they are terrified,
and ask him if he comes in peace.
We don't know much about Samuel,
but we can guess,
that Samuel
used his sword as much as his tongue.
They were afraid of the prophet.
And Samuel tells them to relax.
And then he calls Jesse
and he calls Jesse's sons.
And Samuel sees the oldest,
tallest,
best looking,
and he is about to make him king
and God stops him.
“Do not look on his appearance,
or on his height or on his stature
because I have rejected him.
The Lord sees not as man sees
man looks on the outward appearance,
but the Lord looks on the heart.”
Many many people come to me
and they tell me heartbreaking stories
of how the church and the world
rejected them
and their prophetic gift,
their artistic gift,
their unique or unconventional personality,
because they did not look like the world’s value system.
The world rewards the tall strong,
beautiful,
successful person
who gets all the questions right on the test.
The world rewards the person
who learns the game young
and knows how to play.
The world does not reward wisdom
or the ability to learn.
The world rewards test scores.
Any jackass can pass a test,
once they learn the system.
This is why we are suffering in a world of credentialed
but unqualified people.
This is what is destroying the world today.
God doesn't look at you like a test score.
You do not have to get a perfect score.
That is the heart of a religious, poverty spirit.
God looks at your inward being
and the desire for him.
And God speaks to Samuel
and says that the one to anoint is not there.
David was out with the sheep,
and Jesse
his father,
doesn't even think
that although the prophet has arrived
with a heifer to have a barbecue,
it was worth calling him.
And so God says to Samuel,
ask Jesse if there is another son.
"Yes, but we didn't call him."
As David said,
"Though my father and mother forsake me,
the Lord shall always be at my side."
And David comes,
and again,
an important detail,
Samuel anoints him in front of his brothers.
The Lord lifts up the lowly,
and appoints him with the princes,
with the princes of his people.
The one nobody thought to call
who was shorter than the rest,
out singing to his sheep,
is one God picked.
Many of us struggle to become what we are.
David knew from the beginning he was king,
and struggled to be recognized.
Fast forward a thousand years,
and the Son of David is confronted
with a group of his brothers,
and they do not believe
that a man born blind could see,
because they have become experts on the outward appearance.
That world believed that blindness was caused by sin in the family,
and the Pharisees looked down on him.
This man was born in sin,
he is not an expert in the law,
and he was healed on the Sabbath.
Three strikes.
And Jesus looks at the experts,
the tall and good looking in the religious system,
and says,
because you think you see
your sin remains.
Because you think you see
your sin remains.
You search the scriptures
thinking that in them you will have life,
but the one of whom the scripture speaks is here,
and you refuse to receive him.
What you see
offends you.
And so you have missed the day of your visitation.
We always need to correct our point of view
and get a Kingdom perspective.
One of the unintended consequences of this media fast
has been the numbers of people who suddenly are confronted
with they lies they believe about themselves.
Not only do others judge you
by the world's standard,
you judge yourself that way.
Pride is not just exalting yourself above others,
pride is exalting yourself above what God says about you.
You are in Christ,
you were bought with a price,
your body is not your own,
because your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.
You are are a holy creature,
a new creation,
something set apart for God's glory.
You are redeemed from sin
and predestined to take on the form of Jesus.
You are set apart
and a member of a holy nation.
You are a living stone,
and you are the house that God is building.
You are the bride of Christ
the spouse of the Holy Spirit.
You are anointed,
you are forgiven,
you are loved,
and you are approved.
There is always enough for you
at the Father's table.
God is pleased with you,
delights in you,
and believes in you.
This is who you are.
Religious pride
says “I am a sinner
that needs to do something more to complete
the work of the cross of Christ.”
Pride says
that my significance
and my legacy
is determined by what I do
and did for God.
Pride says that if I repent of the just the right sin,
and do what I can to have unity with others,
then God will have to bring revival.
As I have said many times,
you don’t have to do something else to make Jesus happy.
Jesus is already happy.
Jesus is the happiest person in the universe.
Revival is already here.
The Presence of Jesus is already here.
The Holy Spirit is already here.
You just need to humble yourself,
submit to what God is saying,
and get a Kingdom Perspective.
And when you stop looking through what you think you know,
and stop believing you know more than other people,
and humbly admit you are not the center of the universe,
God will show you the truth.
And the truth,
like what happened to David,
will open a door,
and the Holy Spirit
will rush in to fill this low pressure zone.
You don't need to repent,
just humble yourself.
It's very simple.
It’s easy to do a lot of religious activity.
Humbly admitting you are powerless
is very hard.
But this is the way
to get healed from blindness.
Today is the fourth Sunday of Lent.
Traditionally,
this was the day when those who had been asked to leave the church
because of sin,
were received back in.
It was a time of rejoicing,
because those who were blind
are now able to see.
You don’t want to be spiritually blind.
Our community continues a tradition I inherited
from my former Parish.
Today we are going to end with the Rite of Forgiveness.
We are headed into the last two weeks of Lent,
and the Passover of the Lord.
Priest:
Brothers and sisters, forgive me, a sinner,
all the sins I have committed this day and all the days of my life,
in thought, word, and deed,
both outwardly in my body, and inwardly in my soul.
Response:
May God forgive you and have mercy on you,
Bless, reverend father, and
forgive us sinners
the sins we have committed this day
and all the days of our lives,
in thought, word, and deed,
both outwardly in our bodies, and inwardly in our souls.
Priest:
Almighty God have mercy on you, forgive you all your sins through our Lord Jesus Christ, strengthen you in all goodness, and by the power of the Holy Spirit keep you in eternal life. Amen.
Brothers and sisters,
forgive me for all the ways I have not fulfilled my call to lead and shepherd,
for any hurts or disappointments I may have caused,
and any way I may not have been a living example of our Lord
in my teaching, my leadership, or my life.
Response:
May God forgive you and have mercy on you,
and we forgive and release you from any of our expectations or hurts.
Bless, reverend father, and forgive us
for any ways we have not prayed for you,
spoken ill of you, or judged you,
and any ways we have not supported you in the mission of the gospel
and failed in our calling as members of the body of Christ.
I forgive and release you. May the Lord Almighty, + Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
forgive us our sins, and give us the grace and consolation of his Holy Spirit to hereafter
lead a sober, godly, and righteous life. Amen.
Member discussion