John 9:1-11
The Rev. Dr. Robert S. Langworthy, preaching
March 15, 2026
Every human being is a mixture of the marvelous and the marred. Every human being reflects beautiful God-likeness from God’s loving creation of them, and ugly sinfulness from the poor exercise of the freedom of choice God granted. Thus, all of us are both glorious and damaged at the same time.
Millions have visited the Louvre in Paris and been captivated by the glorious and damaged statue of Venus de Milo. In brilliantly rendered marble, it exquisitely represents her beauty, and enthralls those who linger before it to take in the virtuosity on display. Some folks are disconcerted by the statue’s missing both its arms. (They were lost at some point – due to accidental damage, deliberate vandalism or natural catastrophe – and are nowhere to be found.) But, for most, the absence of the limbs doesn’t dampen the aesthetic pleasure of reveling in this masterpiece of art.
God made each of us a masterpiece of His art. But each of us has been damaged, and disabled, either by our own actions or those of others. Ultimately, whatever the immediate source of our injury or impairment, our marring is the result of the human Fall into sinfulness instigated by Adam and Eve, and precipitated by whatever evil, free will agents are represented by the snake who tempted them. At the Fall, the perfect world God created was broken, and that broken world eventually breaks each of us in some way.
In the last analysis, then, sinfulness is the first cause of all our damage and disability. But the world works in such complicated ways, with so many unknown forces having impact, that only fools – like the disciples – would seek to attribute a man’s blindness to his own sin or that of his parents. That’s why Jesus ignored their request to identify a culprit. Instead, in awareness that they must “work the works of Him who sent” them “while it is day”, Jesus jumped into action to make the broken whole and open eyes to God’s light.
John’s Gospel indicates it was Jesus who first noticed the blind man, brought him to the attention of the disciples, refused to get sidetracked by their irrelevant question, announced that at hand was a chance to put God’s glory on display, declared Himself once again to be “the light of the world”, and took the initiative to, with a tender touch, give sight to a blind man.
This miracle is one of only two in which Jesus used His saliva. The other was a healing of a deaf man. We might find the involvement of spit as strange, yucky and unhygienic; but in that day the saliva of certain people was thought to possess curative powers. Jesus was, I think, bolstering the blind man’s hope by employing what then was a common healing protocol, not because He believed in it, but because He knew the blind man did – and Jesus wanted to encourage in him the faith by which God works wonders. So Jesus made mud with his saliva, tenderly spread the paste over the man’s eyes, and right away told him to wash it off in the waters of a nearby open-air basin called Siloam. The man obeyed Jesus, and returned fully sighted and full of light. Having been cleansed at the pool whose name means “sent”, he became a witness sent by God to enlighten others about Jesus.
Jesus also reaches out to touch us today with His tender grace, that He might open our eyes and we might receive His light and then reflect it on to others.
The Apostle Paul once said followers of Jesus are to “shine like stars”. By “stars” Paul meant, not just suns like our sun, but also planets like Venus and Mars that don’t generate light but reflect it from a source outside of them. We who follow Jesus are be like those planets. We don’t generate the light we radiate, but only reflect on to others the light Jesus shines upon us.
Astronomers mark the degree to which a planet reflects light by what they call its albedo. For example, in our solar system Venus normally has the highest albedo at .65, meaning it reflects about two thirds of the light shining upon it. Our moon has an albedo of only .07; but appears brighter because it’s so very close.
Every follower of Jesus has a spiritual albedo, and is called to pursue 100% reflectivity. We pursue it in two ways. First, we get cleaned up like the blind man, lest we become like those planets whose atmospheric gases, dust storms or surface dull their powers of reflectivity. Second, we get out from behind things that create dark shadows and block light from reaching us, that we might position ourselves for unimpeded exposure to the full, glowing radiance of our spiritual Sun, Jesus the Son of God. Then we will have light to reflect on to others, Jesus’ own light of tender love.
In his book Hinge Moments, college president D. Michael Lindsay relates how his daughter Elizabeth, out of her shining love for Jesus, reflects His light on to her father and enables him to shine more brightly.
When she was four, Elizabeth was diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder of which there are only about 500 known cases in the world. It causes organ damage, cognitive disability and blindness. No cure has been found.
Lindsay describes parenting Elizabeth as a “heavy joy”, a blessing that brings both much difficulty and much happiness. It has taught her mother and father about being irradiated by Christ and thus transformed. Lindsay says Elizabeth does not care about making an impression or taking a step in self-advancement. She embodies an authentic Christian outlook, one with little concern for appearance or achievement. She delights in simple things – the taste of vanilla ice cream, the thrill of reaching heights on a swing, the enjoyment of music with a good beat – but, most of all, in pleasing her father, which occasions her clapping for herself with joy when he thanks her. She helps the whole family bear in mind that obeying the Lord is all that matters, and that obedience does not require high quality performance but just consistency in fulfilling the unique call God has given one.
Elizabeth fulfills her unique call; and, with her strong albedo, opens eyes and brightens lives. May we each fulfill our unique call and reflect Christ’s light on to others with tender hands and loving hearts!
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