Choosing Blindness

July 08, 2010

Ezekiel 2:2-5 2 Corinthians 12:2-10 Mark 6:1-13

Scripture reading: Ezekiel 2:2-5

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He said to me, Son of man, stand up on your feet and I will speak to you. 2 As he spoke, the Spirit came into me and raised me to my feet, and I heard him speaking to me.
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He said: Son of man, I am sending you to the Israelites, to a rebellious nation that has rebelled against me; they and their ancestors have been in revolt against me to this very day. 4 The people to whom I am sending you are obstinate and stubborn. Say to them, This is what the Sovereign LORD says. 5 And whether they listen or fail to listen for they are a rebellious people they will know that a prophet has been among them. --------------------------------There is joke that has circulated for years about a man who was digging in his garden. As he digs, his shovel hits something buried in the earth. After he pulls it out of the ground and brushes off the dirt he discovers that it is an ancient looking brass lamp just like we all read about in the story of Aladdin. Laughing to himself but thinking of the possibilities, he rubs the lamp and, to his astonishment, there is a cloud of smoke and a clap of thunder. Standing before him is a genie. "As a reward for freeing me, I shall grant you three wishes," says the genie, "But understand, whatever you wish for, your most hated enemy shall be given twice over." The man's most hated enemy happened to be his next door neighbor, Jones. "Let's see. My first wish is..." He looks at his worn out, beaten up, excuse for a house and says, "... to live in a ten story luxury mansion." The genie claps his hands and suddenly his tiny shack is transformed into the most beautiful house he has ever laid eyes on. He hears a cry of astonishment from next door and looks over to see Jones standing in the doorway of his new twenty story mansion. "Now I want fifty of the most beautiful women imaginable." said the man. There is a puff of smoke and his wish was granted. He was annoyed, however, to see Jones grinning and waving, surrounded by his own harem of 100 women, all twice as attractive." What is your final wish, Master?" asked the genie" Thinking about how much he hates his neighbor and how Jones gets two of everything that the genie gives him, the man cries, Poke out my eye! We laugh because of the ridiculousness of the story. You really have to hate someone to blind yourself in order to hurt them worse than you. What isnt funny is that sometimes the followers of God choose blindness instead of truth. In our scripture reading this morning we heard from the prophet Ezekiel and there we discovered that the people of Israel were continually rebelling against God. They knew the truth and yet were so stubborn that they refused to listen to God even when they knew that what they were doing was wrong. In Mark 6:1-13, we discover that sometimes our arrogance and prejudice blinds us, not only to the truth, but to the power of God himself.
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Jesus left there and went to his hometown, accompanied by his disciples. 2 When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed. 1

Where did this man get these things? they asked. Whats this wisdom that has been given him? What are these remarkable miracles he is performing? 3 Isnt this the carpenter? Isnt this Marys son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Arent his sisters here with us? And they took offense at him.
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Jesus said to them, A prophet is not without honor except in his own town, among his relatives and in his own home. 5 He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. 6 He was amazed at their lack of faith. Then Jesus went around teaching from village to village. 7 Calling the Twelve to him, he began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over impure spirits.
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These were his instructions: Take nothing for the journey except a staffno bread, no bag, no money in your belts. 9 Wear sandals but not an extra shirt. 10 Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that town. 11 And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, leave that place and shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.
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They went out and preached that people should repent. 13 They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them. I want to be sure that you heard what Mark is telling us, Jesus is teaching and preaching and performing miracles all over Israel but when he returns to his hometown all that he gets is grief. No one listens to what he has to say, all they want to do is criticize because he has a humble profession and because everyone knows his mother and his brothers and sisters. Everywhere that Jesus travelled, crowds would flock to hear what he had to say. Thousands were inspired by Jesus teaching, but in Nazareth the people are offended instead of inspired. Why? Because in their arrogance they choose to believe that they know Jesus better than everyone else. Their prejudice tells them that a carpenter cannot be a great teacher and that a man who comes from a humble family cannot have anything to say that is worth hearing. Their attitude and their preconceptions blind them to who Jesus is and to what he is doing. Instead of drawing crowds and performing miracles, Mark tell us that Jesus could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. And Mark goes on to say that Jesus was amazed at their lack of faith. The most amazing human being ever to live on the face of the earth, God in human flesh, visits their town and, while others hear messages that transform lives, witness as the blind see, the deaf hear, watch as the lepers are purified and see the dead rise from the grave, all that the people of Nazareth see is a hometown boy with delusions of grandeur and the healing of a handful of sick people. The people of Nazareth had eyes that were completely functional but, very much like the man in the joke at the beginning of my message, they chose blindness. As we hear these stories, I wonder how often we choose to be blind because of our arrogance and prejudice. How often is God prepared to do great things through us, through his people and through his church but we see nothing because we do not believe that he will? How often is God prepared to heal the sick but does not because we believe more in the abilities of highly educated and intelligent doctors and the power of modern medicine than we do in the awesome power of an infinite God? How often do we believe that prosperity must grow out of our wealth and so we miss out on the blessings that come from God alone? How often do we think that stewardship means that the church is asking us to give more money instead of simply looking for, and praying for, Gods blessing? Often we hear stories about amazing miracles from missionaries and from others who have travelled abroad but only occasionally do we hear of, and even less often witness, miracles among our own people. Does God ignore us because the people in Africa, or Cuba, or in other places are more valuable than we are? Surely not. But it may well be that we witness Gods amazing power less often in our culture because we have 2

grown so dependent upon our culture for modern miracles. We believe more in science than we do in God. Please understand that I have a degree in engineering, I am a scientist. I love the things that computers can do and the wonders that our doctors are able to do with modern medicines and all the technological advances that science has made possible. I dont think that there is a problem with appreciating what science and technology can do but at the same time, we need to keep our minds open to faith. Doctors cant do everything. Technology and science dont have the answers to all of our problems. Our scripture today reminds us also that God often will choose not to be at work in a place where his people choose to believe that he cant. In 2 Corinthians 12:2-10, Paul writes these words
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I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not knowGod knows. 3 And I know that this manwhether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows 4 was caught up to paradise and heard inexpressible things, things that no one is permitted to tell. 5 I will boast about a man like that, but I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses. 6 Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say, 7 or because of these surpassingly great revelations. Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christs power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christs sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Paul says that he had every reason to think that God considered him to be special. Paul had been called by God, blessed by God and had been witness to things that few, if any, other human beings had been able to witness. And yet, Paul tells us, God allowed one thing to continually torment him. Paul never tells us what his thorn in the flesh really is. Some have suggested that it was a limp, or a birthmark, or even a stutter or a speech impediment of some kind, but whatever it was, it kept Paul humble. Every day this thing, whatever it was, reminded Paul that God was bigger than he was, that God could do what God chose to do, that Paul, as good as he was and as blessed as he was, was still weak and needed to rely upon the grace and strength of Jesus Christ. Paul was able to do amazing things. His preaching built churches across Asia and his writings have inspired generations of Christians to this day and yet, Paul gave all the credit to God. Paul recognized that Gods strength was able to work through his weakness. In these scriptures there are at least two warnings for the people of God. First, we must be careful that we do not rely so strongly on money, science, or human ingenuity that we lose faith and forget that God is able. Second, we must remember that whenever we dont get our way, or whenever things dont go just exactly the way that we thought they should, God is still in control. Were spoiled. When we dont get what we want, were tempted to think that God has forgotten us. In fact, God may well have chosen not to give us what we wanted, just as he chose not to take away Pauls thorn in the flesh, simply so that we would be reminded that God is bigger than we are, that God can do what God chooses to do, so that we will rely upon the grace and strength of Jesus Christ and so that we will remember humility. May we hold on to humility and faith so that we never choose blindness.

You have been reading a message presented at Trinity United Methodist Church on the date noted at the top of the first page. Rev. John Partridge is the pastor at Trinity of Perry heights in Massillon, Ohio . Duplication of this message is a part of our Media ministry, if you have received a blessing in this way, we would love to hear from you. Letters and donations in support of the Media ministry or any of our other projects may be sent to Trinity United Methodist Church, 3757 Lincoln Way E., Massillon, Ohio 44646. These messages are available to any interested persons regardless of membership. You may subscribe to these messages, in print or electronic formats, by writing to the address noted, or by contacting us at subscribe@trinityperryheights.org. If you have questions, you can ask them in our discussion forum on Facebook (search for Pastor John Online). These messages can also be found online at http://www.scribd.com/Pastor John Partridge. All Scripture references are from the New International Version unless otherwise noted.