Living in the Light of Christ

Living in the Light of Christ

April 3, 2011 Lent 4A

John 9 The Healing of the Man Born Blind

Ephesians 5:8-14　Children of Light

^{8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light ⁹(for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) ¹⁰and find out what pleases the Lord. ¹¹Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. ¹²For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. ¹³But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, ¹⁴for it is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said:

“Wake up, O sleeper,
rise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.”}

Jesus healed a man who had been born blind. At first the man did not know who Jesus was. Then he began to understand that Jesus was good man, then a prophet, and finally he believed that Jesus was the messiah. He said, “I was blind but now I see.” Not only were his eyes opened, but also his heart and mind, and he could see, he could understand who Jesus was.

　We do not know anything more about this man. Presumably he became a follower of Jesus. But what might have happened when he could no longer see Jesus? What might have happened when Jesus left the city of Jerusalem? He must be careful that he does not become blind again. He must not return to his old habits. He must not put back on his dark glasses or walk around with his eyes closed. Since birth he had been used to the darkness. As a new believer, he must learn to live in the light of God.

This is a warning for us, too. It was a warning for the church in Ephesus, also. Eph. 5:8, “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light.” The church members in Ephesus had been pagan idol worshipers, they had lived the pagan lifestyle of debauchery. Paul says that it is even shameful to talk about how they used to live. It was darkness. It was without the Holy Spirit. But now their eyes have been opened. They have seen the Light of God. That light revealed their sin, their “fruitless deeds of darkness” (11). But that light also revealed the Gospel of salvation and the work of the Holy Spirit. And so they could say with the formerly blind man, “I was blind but now I see.”

We must listen as Paul warns them not to return to their old Gentile, pagan ways. They must not close their eyes and fall asleep. Because that would be like being dead again. And so Paul writes,

“Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”

That is the power of the death and resurrection of Christ. That is the Gospel. In the Light of Christ they will live filled with the Holy Spirit. It will be a fruitful life of love and worship.

In this time of Lent, we are called to open our eyes and see Jesus. When we see Jesus on the cross, we see our forgiveness. When we see his suffering we see our peace. When we see his death, we see our death in him. When we see his resurrection we see our eternal life. Today we are called to make our confession of faith with the man who had been blind. We are called to live our lives in the light of Christ.

Amen.

Michael Nearhood, Pastor
Okinawa Lutheran Church

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