There is a delightful story I’d like to share today about a little blind girl who is helped to see in a new and fun way.

A professional magician, named Whit, was hired by a restaurant to perform magic for patrons as they ate their dinners. One evening Whit approached a family and began to share some card tricks.  Turning to their pre-teen girl, he asked her to pick a card.  The girl’s father quickly informed Whit that his daughter Wendy was blind.  “Well, if it’s all right with her,” said Whit, “ I’d like to do a special trick just for her!”  Wendy smiled and nodded in enthusiasm.  So Whit took a seat across the table from the girl and explained to her that he was going to hold up a playing card.  “It will either be a red card or a black card,” Whit said, “and she would use her magic powers to tell him what color it was.  You got it?” He asked Wendy.  She nodded her head enthusiastically.

So Whit held up the 4 of Clubs and said, “is this a red card of a black card?”  “Black!” she shouted.  Then Whit held up the 7 of hearts…is this a red card of black?  “Red!” the girl smiled.  Next came the 3 of diamonds.  “Red!” she declared.  Her family and the surrounding patrons were amazed.  How could she be so lucky as to guess the right color when she was blind?   So…capturing the moment, Whit decided to up the game a bit more.

“Now I am going to have you tell me both the color…its number value…and the suit of each card..whether it’s a heart, a space, a diamond or a club.”  He challenged.   He pulled out a card for all to see and after a few moments, the girl confidently announced, “It’s a 5 of hearts!”  Her family let out a gasp!  “How did she do that?”  They asked Whit.

“You will have to ask your daughter.”  He said.  But when they did, she giggled and said, “It’s Magic!”  

Whit shook hands with the family, handed them his professional card, and gave Wendyl a special hug before going on to another table.  Clearly he had created a magical moment for this family and especially this young girl.  The QUESTION is, of course, HOW DID HE DO IT?  Anybody want to guess?   (Pause)

Well…Whit was able to create this “miracle” by using a secret code UNDER THE TABLE as he sat across from the girl.  Using his foot, he tapped her foot once for Red and twice for Black.  He did this twice so that Wendy grasped the “code” he was creating for her.  As they moved on to the number and suit, He tapped when he said “hearts” and then tapped five times for the number.  The girl loved this adventure and played along. But even though it was a “trick,” the REAL MAGIC of this story is the effect it had on this young blind girl.  Not only did it give her a moment to SHINE and feel special in front of her family, but it also gave her a sense of confidence and joy to know that her blindness was only an inconvenience.  It boosted her faith that there are plenty of ways for her to see and learn and be fully alive even with her handicap.

A few weeks later, Whit received a package in the mail from Wendy.  It contained a deck of Braille playing cards and a letter.  In the letter she thanked Whit for making her feel so special and helping her “see” if only for a few moments.  She said she hadn’t told her family how the trick was done even though they asked her several times, and that she wanted Whit to have the Braille cards so he could come up with more tricks to help ALL kinds of people “see.”

As we continue through these Sundays of Lent in these transformative stories from John’s gospel, we revisit this long story about a man born blind whom Jesus heals.  It’s not a story of magic, but a REAL HEALING of blindness that sets off a hostile reaction by those who are determined to catch Jesus as a “trickster” and reveal him as a fake prophet.  A life is transformed from darkness into sight, yet everyone around him is convinced it must be a magic trick.  Do you notice how they won’t leave him alone and keep pushing against his testimony?  Even his parents are pressed and interrogated.  The Blind man…now able to see, has more integrity than anyone.  He doesn’t flinch and says it just as it is,  “I don’t know who this Jesus is and how he can do this amazing thing, but ONE THING I DO KNOW…I WAS BLIND, AND NOW I SEE.

In many ways, this is a story about SPIRITUAL BLINDNESS more than healing.  The Jewish leaders and Pharisees had become comfortable in their own authority and didn’t want to even imagine that God would intervene in their agenda.  Who is more spiritually blinded than the ego that has to be right…has to have the power to control any narrative… and resents anything and anyone that doesn’t fit their version of truth?  Spiritual blindness always pushes against the presence and agenda of God.  The Bible has a term for this…”the father of lies.”   Jesus goes so far as to call the religious leaders a brood of vipers. And Paul reminds us that we “grieve the Holy Spirit” when we close our spirit to the presence of the living Christ.  Spiritual blindness is why Jesus came.

Jesus was clear when he said the man’s blindness was a means to reveal God’s glory.  Perhaps that is why life has so many places where we are cracked or broken so that the light can get in?  The “trick” for helping one another SEE Jesus is not by producing proof, but by living IN THE LIGHT OF HIS LOVE IN SUCH A WAY AS IT CANNOT BE DENIED. I have another story for you:

On a dark and cold night in a big city, a police officer came across a homeless young man shivering under a bridge.  As the officer shook the man awake, the frightened young man looked up into the policeman’s eyes and simply said, “Sir, do you know where a poor, homeless beggar like me could find a warm place to sleep tonight? The policeman looked down upon this man who couldn’t have been more than 16 or 17, and was filled with compassion.  He drove him over to an inner city shelter called, “Mary’s Place”  and told him that when he knocked on the door and someone came he should simply say the phrase, “John 3:16”   

And so he did, and as soon as that phrase left his lips the person at the door smiled and welcomed him into the warm room.  As he was being handed a blanket, his stomach growled because he hadn’t eaten in days, and so he once again said the magic phrase, “John 3:16.”  The shelter attendant patted his shoulder and invited him to sit, bringing him some toast, scrambled eggs and hot chocolate.  When the meal was done, the young man lay down on a bed and slept for 12 hours straight, never hearing anyone come or go around him.  When he finally awoke, he found a note by his bedside telling him how to find the shower.  On the chair was a towel, some soap, clean clothes and a note with the phrase, “John 3:16.”  

After his shower, the young man felt new and alive for the first time in many months.  He went to find the person who let him in for this wonderful gift of rest and food and dignity so that he could thank them.  He was also curious and wanted to learn what this strange phrase, “John 3:16” was, for he had never heard it before.  After asking some of the other people at the shelter where he could get an answer to this puzzle, he was directed to a little chapel where the attendant who had opened the door for him in the middle of the night was setting up for services.  

“John 3:16: the homeless man said timidly, “I don’t understand what it means, but it sure made a poor man warm, fed, clothed and welcomed!”  Thank you sir/”  The attendant smiled and explained, “John 3:16” comes from the Bible.  It tells us that God loves each one of us so much that he gave us a way to find life and love forever, through Jesus Christ, his son.”  And then he invited the man to stay a bit longer for the service where he would learn more about Jesus.

Well, that young man stayed ... .and he SAW with new eyes, and an open heart, a love poured out with a mercy and acceptance he had never known before.  In that room, a humble group of ragmuffin, homeless sinners sang the hymn Amazing Grace.  “I once was lost, but now I’m found, was blind , but now I see.”  

AMAZING GRACE…LEADS TO AMAZING FAITH.  Faith is the mud of healing that opens our eyes to see life differently- perhaps even for the first time.  By faith we receive the power to trust the presence of Christ’s light EVEN when we feel blinded from seeing it.  The world clamors to undermine the “secret code” that gives believers PEACE WHICH PASSES ALL UNDERSTANDING because peace…real peace requires faith.  And we need the Holy spirit…and one another…to live by faith rather than ego.

Faith is our life-line; our song in the night; our voice of confident praise in the presence of this world’s doubt, fear, hostility and denial.  Was the Blind man healed?  YES, but more importantly, what he SAW was not THIS WORLD, but a new kind of life filled with a joy he had never known before meeting Jesus.  He was kicked out of the synagogue, but welcomed into the arms of people of the WAY of Christ.  His eyes were healed…but more importantly, his SPIRIT was given eternal SIGHT.

And so it goes…day by day…year by year….one life at a time.  Light shines in our darkness and beckons us to faith that hangs on….no matter what!  In some miraculous way, the Spirit of God in Christ comes to us in our spiritual blindness and spiritual poverty and loves us right where we are…whatever our circumstance.  Whatever our reluctance.  Whatever our fear. 

My prayer for all of us is that we do not let our faith be overcome by all the egos of darkness that try to grab our hope and invalidate our witness to our God of LOVE.  Hang on…my dear ones.  Here comes the Dawn…Easter is right around the corner.  Amen