Leaning Into Lent | Leaning Into New Sight (3-15-2026)

Dr. Woods Lisenby preaches on the subject, "Leaning Into New Sight."

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

I get thanks for this chance to be able to continue in our Linton season. I hope you've been following along with us. Um, you've been journeying through these lectionary texts together, you've been sitting in this season of leaning into Lent, leaning into our Christian practices and to the work that God has called us to do. And as we've talked about leaning into the unknown and leaning into the wilderness, this morning, I'd like to preach about leaning into new sight. Will you pray with me? Lord, thank you for your word. May it always be a lamp unto our feet and a light unto a bath. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts be acceptable in your sight. O Lord, our strength and our deemer. And all God's people said, Amen. Have you ever heard the phrase, if it was a snake, you would have bitten me? You know that phrase. You know what I'm talking about. It's what you say when what you're looking for was right under your nose the whole time. I I feel like that phrase describes a lot of moments in my life. I really like could be like the key phrase for my life. Because I'm I'm a person who's quite forgetful, occasionally oblivious. And my wife was at the earlier service and she like smiled, and I was like, okay, occasionally might be generous. I I have like I forget stuff, I lose stuff. I've got five air tags on various items that I own that are not actual Apple products because I love the feature, the find my feature on my Apple products. Even if I didn't like Apple, I'd probably still buy the products just for this feature because it is a lifesaver for me. So much so, I swear, true story. Two days ago, Friday, I lost one of my AirPods at Lowe's. So I have some broken sprinkler heads in my house and I needed to change them out. And I went to Lowe's to get some. And when I was walking around, I was listening to a podcast in my ear, you know, as some of us do while we're shopping. And then somebody came up to talk to me and asked me if I needed some help. So I took my airpod. I don't want to be rude. Take my airpod out. I thought I put it in my pocket. I go about, I get my stuff, I go home. I uh I didn't know that I had left my AirPod there at Lowe's. Um, but I got back home, I messed up my project even more because I broke, you know how you got to dig down to replace a sprinkler. I busted the PVC pipe, obviously, because that's what I'm really good at projects. So water spewing out of the ground, and I gotta go back to Lowe's. I park at Lowe's and uh I go to pull my AirPod out because I want to listen to, and I realized it's missing. And I was like, oh, I guess I left it in the house or somewhere in my truck. So I pull up finding my and the thing is inside the place where I just got back to this back at Lowe's. So I look like the weirdo though, walking on my phone like this around Lowe's, like, where's the airpod? Where's the airpod? Where's the airpod? And eventually I found it to thank God for finding my. But but this is just one of like a thousand stories I could tell you about how I just lose stuff. I miss stuff. I fail to see the things that are like right in front of me. Like that airpod fell on my like right in front of my feet where I was shopping. Can you relate? Have you ever been a person who's missed maybe you're maybe you haven't done this. I imagine y'all don't do this, right? You don't misplace things. Like uh have you ever had like the keys are right there on the counter and you've been looking all over for them, right? Or or or maybe uh uh you were oblivious to the fact that the gas tank had been on E for a while until you had to pull over to the side of the road and call your brother-in-law to bring you a gas can. Y'all, maybe y'all didn't do that one. Y'all can't relate to that one, but but I bet I think uh that all of us have a problematic tendency uh that we have all experienced from time to time. Moments where we fail to see the people that are right in front of us. Maybe you don't misplace things, but maybe there's times you've overlooked somebody near you or who's in need. Or even worse, uh, maybe uh you've been blind to something God was doing right in front of you that you just missed. That tendency is at the heart of the gospel lesson we just read this morning. When we pick up in John's gospel, we find Jesus and the disciples, they're walking along, they come a man come on a man who's been blind since birth. All right. And uh the disciples, they do what we all tend to do whenever we experience suffering. They tried to explain it. And so they asked Jesus, who sinned? Whose fault is it? Why is this man born blind? Is it his fault or his parents' fault? It's a fair question if you understand their context, but it might sound odd to us. But but in the Old Testament, it was widely held that uh the sins of a parent can be passed on to a children, to their child, if they haven't been atoned for. And so that's the logic that they are bringing to the table. Somebody, if something bad has happened, somebody must have done something for it to have happened. But Jesus, he doesn't just correct their answer, he rejects their entire framework. Uh, he doesn't say, actually, it was the parent or actually it was this guy. He says, Neither this man nor his parents sinned. He refuses to play the blame game altogether. He's not interested in assigning uh a blame for the man's condition. What he's interested in is what God is gonna do next. And that distinction matters more than we might think. Because we have all been on the other end, the receiving end of that kind of theology that says, Oh, something bad happened to you. You must have done something to deserve it, right? Somebody gets sick in your family, and another person says, Oh, well, they must not have been praying hard enough. Or uh a family goes through financial ruin, and and folks quietly assume, well, they must have brought it on themselves. Jesus looks at all of that and says, You're asking the wrong kind of questions. Stop looking for somebody to blame and start looking for what God is gonna do. And so, what does Jesus do? Well, he bends down and he spits on the ground. And not just once. Uh, he keeps spitting until he makes enough mud to cover this guy's eyes. And I know I've talked about this passage before, so you might remember how I feel about it. Uh, it is disgusting. To me, this is like the grossest passage in all the Bible. I mean, maybe second only to whenever uh Ehud stabbed the fat man in the belly and got his hand stuck in there with a knife. Only second to that is just Jesus hawking loogies in the sand. Because I mean, just think about it, right? Uh uh uh somebody's like, it was God's spit, so it's holy spit, so it's fine. Like, no, I'm a Trinitarian, which means I believe that Jesus was 100% human. That's human spit. And and this is the you know, it's a very dry, deserty kind of area, arid. So, so I mean, it's not just like a and you got a whole, you got you gotta have enough mud to cover the guy's eyes with. So that's that's a bunch of saliva leaving Jesus' mouth and going to the sand. And then he has the audacity to take this gooey, nasty mixture and put it on the blind man's face, which is double rude because he couldn't even see it coming. Jesus tells him, now go wash in the pool salah. To me, this is one of the most interesting parts of the story. Now, the blind man is not automatically healed of his blindness just because he has an interaction with Jesus. Isn't that what we normally think happens, right? We like to compress this story and our own story. We think if we meet with Jesus, if we give our life to Jesus, then everything's gonna be perfect. No more problems. I met Jesus. But that's not what happens here, right? Uh the man had to move before he could see. He had to take steps in the dark. He had to trust whatever Jesus was sending him to do and believe that it was worth the walk. I mean, I I think that's a good word for us during Lent because I think uh there are so many times we are waiting for clarity before we are willing to move forward. We want to see the full picture before we take that first step. We got to understand why, before we're willing to trust what. But Jesus is saying to this man, and perhaps to all of us this morning, that sometimes healing is on the other side of obedience. Not salvation. You don't have to be obedient to be saved, but to experience the path that Jesus has for us, the wholeness that God wants for us. Sometimes you have to walk before you can see. The text goes on to talk about how the people couldn't believe this happened. They didn't believe the man, they didn't believe what was happening. And so they asked the man, hey, what happened to you? And he's like, I don't know. I was blabbed out. You know, there was this guy named Jesus. And so they were questioning him, and the Pharisees, they don't understand. The bystanders don't understand, uh, the Pharisees, but it's crazy to me that the Pharisees are the people that have been looking for God their whole lives, right? They are trained to understand what God is doing and how God is speaking, and they're looking for God in the world, and they miss this entirely. They can't see it. Instead of marveling that a man who is blind can now see, they're furious that it happened on the Sabbath, right? People aren't supposed to do anything on the Sabbath. You can't work on the Sabbath, you can't clean on the Sabbath. Apparently, you can't make spit mud on the Sabbath. But because it violated uh what they thought was right, they called Jesus a sinner. Jesus, they called Jesus a sinner. And the miracle is standing right in front of them, and they can't see it because their own certainty has blinded them to the truth. Now, there's so many different ways we can take this text, and I love preaching about this text, and I'll probably preach on it again at some point. Um, but usually I like to think of us on like the as like a bystander watching this whole thing from the outside, or maybe sometimes you like to imagine yourself as like the blind man who has been uh not knowing where to go, and then Jesus comes. But I think as much as we like to fancy ourselves as heroes when we read stories, or as much as we like to think of ourselves as supporting characters, I think we probably spend a lot more time in the Pharisees' shoes than we'd like to admit. We all carry around with us frameworks about how the world is supposed to work based on our opinions and our biases, right? We've got ideas about what kind of people deserve what kind of outcomes, and we've got opinions about what's appropriate and what's not appropriate, about who belongs and who doesn't. And those frameworks uh they can blind us to the very thing that God is doing right in front of us. Maybe um there's a child in your family who uh has the grage and the talent to go into a lucrative career making a whole lot of money. But instead, uh they feel called to teach elementary school or to go work for a nonprofit. And instead of seeing somebody's calling and celebrating it, we hurl insults at them like the Pharisees and say, you are wasting your potential. But maybe it's the way we uh look at somebody who's been through addiction and who's come through recovery and who has genuinely turned their life around and is on the straight and narrow, but we can't stop seeing them for the person they used to be, right? We've already decided who they are, and any new information isn't going to change our opinions. We've already fit it into our mind about what we think. Maybe there's something closer to home, right? Maybe you have it locked in about what you think your life should look like, about what your church should look like, or what your retirement should look like. And now uh something new has happened, and you're looking for someone to blame. And maybe there is somebody to blame for parts of it, but maybe God is calling you to think about what is next, even without being able to see where you're going. Life doesn't always look like we expected. Uh this story echoes many of the other texts we read this week, right? If you've been following along with the devotional podcast or the episodes we've been posting about the scriptures during Lent, um you heard about Samuel who went and he heard uh God's go and call him to anoint a new king because Saul had all messed up, right? And he goes and he sees Jesse's sons, and he's like, Oh, there's a strapping young lad. He's gotta be the one. And God's like, nope, not that one. He was a seer. Samuel was described as a prophet who can see. But not even he recognized David. Even whenever he was the youngest one who came up, he he was like, This one? Really? He has eyes, but he was blind to what God was doing. Paul is saying the same things to the Ephesians. He's saying, You used to be in darkness, but Christ has given you light. He wants the early church to open their eyes to see what God is doing. And in this lesson we read this morning, I could talk about it for days. I don't have days, so come back with us tonight at 5 30. We're gonna go even deeper. But the last thing I want to hone in on is what happens when we intentionally keep our eyes closed or when we choose to let God open them. Because if you look back at the Pharisees who refused to have their eyes opened, did you notice their reaction? Did you notice that they didn't walk away? They went after the man who had been healed. They hurled insults at him. I mean, just think about how low that is, right? This man had already spent his entire life on the margin of society, on the outside, because of his condition. He had been uh begging, he'd been invisible to most people, and when he was finally given something good, their response was to put him back in his place. They needed to remind him of who he was, or at least of how they saw him. And that sounds pretty harsh. But I think sometimes we do the same thing, even when we don't realize it, right? Time and time again, uh, instead of rejoicing when someone is raised up who is given a place that didn't feel like they belonged, instead of rejoicing or celebrating, we end up rejecting them outright or intentionally removing ourselves from them. There's a lot of examples where we can talk about how we we love to welcome people. We love the idea of openness and fairness and opportunity. But when someone uh we don't think belongs chooses to sit down at the table, there's something in us that resists. Uh I think of uh how many communities in our part of the country responded when schools were integrated. My grandfather was the assistant district superintendent of schools in uh Dothan, Alabama during integration. He used to tell these stories all the time. Where the law said the doors were opened, but plenty of people made sure that those open doors did not feel welcoming. And even when we're not talking about something that big, that heavy, that that important or that magnitude, I think that instinct shows up too in smaller ways in our lives.

unknown 14:17

Right?

SPEAKER_00 14:18

I'm reminded of simple things like how when people started showing up to church and to church in shorts, those looks they got, right? By the way, you are welcome here in shorts. If you're in shorts this morning, thank you for being here. Wear them every week. Unless it's like 20 degrees outside. Then you're just one of those crazy people who's like trying to prove that I'm so tough. I wear shorts all year long. But but I just remember these seasons where somebody would come into worship that didn't look like they belonged. And instead of feeling like they had a place to sit, people kind of scooted away from them. And maybe you can think of other examples that we haven't overcome yet. Because there are often times where we like the idea of being welcoming right up until it requires something of us. Right up until it changes the the room that we feel comfortable in. And what I love most about this story is it doesn't end when the Pharisees are hurling their insults. If you keep reading, he comes back, the man who's blind comes back, and they they ask him again what happened, and he finally says, Look, I already told you, and you didn't listen to me. What why do you want to hear it again? And then listen to this. I don't know if it's wit, I don't know if it's genuine, but it's a great line. He says, What? Do you want to become his disciples too? And for that, they throw him out. They get they completely remove him. But when Jesus hears this, he does something remarkable. Jesus hears how he's been treated, and he didn't wait for the blind man, the previously blind man, to come to him. He goes and he finds him. And he says, Do you believe in the Son of Man? And the guy says, Who is he? Tell me so that might believe. And he says, You've seen him. In fact, you're speaking to him. And the man responds immediately, and he says, Lord, I believe. And then he worships. That's it right there. That's the whole thing. That's the response that matters. When this man finally sees, not just physically but spiritually, when he sees and he understands who Jesus is, the only thing he could do is worship. He doesn't just say thanks and move on. He doesn't uh uh forget about how his life used to be. Worship is the only response that meets the weight of that moment. It's uh a testament that worship is the only thing we can do when we finally see what God is doing. When God opens our eyes, when the fog is lifted, the response isn't to like nod politely and go about our day and then just go back to the way things used to be. It's to worship to be in communion with God is the only thing we can do when we're able to see what God is doing for us. Uh Jesus in this story, he does this incredible thing, he does this miracle. But did you notice what he used to do it? Sure you did. It's gross, right? It's sand and it's saliva. But but have you thought about the fact that that's like the it's gross, but it's also the most uh ordinary things. Like the most common things. Dirt is everywhere, they're just walking all over it. Saliva is the most unglamorous thing that you could use in something like this. There's no expensive oil, there's no like holy water. He used what was right there, he used something ordinary to do something extraordinary, and that is a witness for us about how God works. God continues to use ordinary things to do unbelievable work. God continues to use us, you, yes, even you. You might think I'm just like one of like eight billion people on this planet, I'm not that important. God uses each of us, no matter what we think of ourselves, no matter how ordinary we think we are, to do God's work in this world. That's how it goes to be the church. The kind word you say to somebody at the grocery store who hasn't heard anything nice in weeks. Uh, the phone call you make to somebody who's been isolated, the way you show up for your neighbor without being asked, you might not think it matters very much, but God can use it to change their lives. God can use those things to transform this world. That's what evangelism really is. That's what the good news sharing really is. It's not like standing on the corner with a bullhorn megaphone telling people to go to hell if they go to the rock and roll concert. No. It's showing God's love, grace, kindness in the most ordinary and everyday ways. And the thing I'm gonna leave you with is this before you can do that, before you can help other people open their eyes, you have to open yours. You have to be willing to let God lead you out of darkness to take steps even when things don't seem clear. I'm reminded uh of an old hymn writer named John Newton. Maybe you've heard of him, maybe not. I'll tell you just a brief bit about his story. Newton was the captain of a slave ship in England. He used to commit the most heinous of crimes imaginable. He took people from their home, he chained them and sold them to other humans. Uh event something happened to John Newton, though. At some point his eyes were open, and he was so overcome with guilt and convicted of his sin that he left his job and he turned his life over to Christ, and he ended up dedicating all of his remaining years to serve the Lord and became a priest in the Anglican church. He served as a priest until he died, and he became the mentor of a man named William Wilberforce. Uh, Wilberforce was one of the leaders and the architects of the abolitionist movement in England. This once slaver mentored the man who helped lead to the abolition of slavery. And during his years of service, he wrote a lot. He wrote, uh, he wrote sermons, he wrote letters, and he even wrote hymns. And in one of the lines of his hymns, he said this I once was blind, but now I see. That's right. The man who used to be blind to the plight of others, blind to his own cruelty, ended up writing one of, if not the most uh memorable and well-known hymns in the history of Christianity. He understood what the man with the mud on his eyes was talking about when he said, Uh, I don't know everything, but one thing I do know is I used to be blind, but now I can see. His experience with Jesus Christ said uh to him that there is this amazing grace. And how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. He understood who he was, who he had been, and what God had done for him. He knew he was lost, but in Christ he was found, that he was blind, and now he can see. Friends, I don't know where you are today. I don't know what's going on in each of your lives. I don't know if you were that blind man sitting by that pool, waiting for God to show you a new way, praying for a miracle, for God to put spit mud on your eyes and to give you a specific direction. But I believe that God's grace can open your eyes. I believe God can heal you in your ways you cannot imagine. And sometimes it takes taking that first step to discover where God is sending you. Maybe you're like a bystander in the crowd, you're just hanging out, watching all this, and then going about your day. There are so many things that distract us from what's right in front of us, right? We let so many things take away our attention from what matters the most. And we quickly move on rather than celebrating when we see God doing something. And the worst is maybe you're the Pharisee. Maybe you you recognize what's happening, that something good might be happening for somebody else, but it feels like a threat. So you resist it, you push back rather than join in. Wherever you are, I know this. God can open your eyes. God can give you sight you didn't even know you were missing. And when God does that, there's only one response. It's the same one that the blind man had. To say, I pray, did you ever say, Lord, I believe? And then worship. Friends, I believe that God can change this world and that you can know that even when there are dangers, toils, and snares, that grace will bring you safe wherever you are, and grace can lead you home. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.