Ptooey!
The sound of
someone spitting is the
pronunciation of the Greek word for that very same action [ἔπτυσεν / ptoo'-o / to spit] so it is the way the writer
of John’s Gospel describes what Jesus does when encountering a man who had
been blind [τυφλὸν / toof-los' / blind; mentally blind] from birth [γενετῆς / ghen-et-ay / birth,
from birth].
Ptooey!
Probably doesn’t fit
the image most of us have had of Jesus, right? But when his disciples assume
that this blindness was caused by somebody’s sin [ἥμαρτεν /
ham-ar-tan'-o / to be without a share in; to miss the mark], that is exactly his reaction.
Ptooey!
Jesus spits.
Spits in the dirt. Maybe it comes across as a bit vulgar to our delicate
sensibilities but it’s an important part of the sensuality of this
story. This text is so earthy, so sensory that we can almost hear the
sound ptooey!, feel the
slimy clay mud [πηλὸν / pay-los' / potters clay; mud;
wet clay] used
to anoint [ἐπέχρισεν / ep-ee-khree'- / to spread on,
anoint] this
man’s eyes, feel the warm breath of Jesus as he pulls the man in close to speak
words of healing, taste the sweat pouring from our own brows as our beliefs
about sin and righteousness are called to task. It’s a sensory experience
extraordinaire.
⋈
“Here’s mud in yer
eye!” is an old saying originating probably in early 20th century America
when farmers clinked glasses just before plow-time, wishing each other a good
season since a plentiful crop would follow lots of rain and the mud it
created. Or maybe as Frank Kelly Rich’s “On the Cuff & Under the
Table: The Origin and History of Drinking Words and Phrases”—yes, it’s a real
book—reads:
This toast may have been popular with the soldiers slogging through the muddy trenches of WWI, but it did not originate with them, as many believe. It was being bandied about in U.S. saloons as early as 1890 and was popular with the English fox hunting and race horse crowd before then. Most likely it’s a back-handed toast among jockeys, meaning “Here’s to you losing the race.” If you’ve ever been to a race track after a good rain, you’ll note that the leading horses throw up a lot a mud and the trailing jockeys tend to get splattered from head to toe. The phrase was all the more pertinent before the introduction of goggles to the sport.
“Here’s mud in yer
eye!” says Jesus to the unsuspecting man who had been blind from birth, an
encounter set in six scenes.
Scene 1.
As he walked along, [Jesus] saw a
man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this
man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “Neither this man
nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed
in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night
is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the
light of the world.” When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made
mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man’s eyes, saying to him, “Go,
wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and
came back able to see. (John 9:1-7)
Jesus spits in the
dirt, mixes up some mud, places it on the man’s eyes … and the man is incredibly
blessed because he can now see … and he lives happily ever after. Is that how
the story goes? Restored sight equals God’s
blessing? Healing equals full welcome into the “in”
crowd? That might be how we want to read the story but that’s not
quite how it all went down.
Jesus spits in the
dirt, mixes up some mud, places it on the man’s eyes … and the man’s
life is turned upside down, inside out, flipped and twisted, and made much more
difficult than it ever had been before. That’s how the story actually
reads.
Jesus is there for
Scene 1—the spit and mud—and then while the man is off washing in the Pool,
Jesus disappears and doesn’t return until the very last scene. In the meantime
while Jesus is gone, here is the man’s “blessing.”
Scene 2.
The neighbors and those who had
seen him before as a beggar began to ask, “Is this not the man who used to sit
and beg?” Some were saying, “It is he.” Others were saying, “No, but it is
someone like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.” But they kept asking
him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” He answered, “The man called Jesus
made mud, spread it on my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ Then I
went and washed and received my sight.” They said to him, “Where is he?”
He said, “I do not know.” (John 9:8-12)
The healed man tries
to go home again but he can’t. So radical is the change in him that his
reappearance in his old neighborhood generates no joy, no celebration, no
welcome home, only questions and doubts. His neighbors don’t even
recognize him now when before this he was well-known in the neighborhood.
“That’s the guy who
sits and begs, the guy who can’t see, poor guy.”
“Let’s give him some
food leftover from dinner last night.”
“Let’s give him a
coin or two.”
And the mostly
unspoken feelings: “Let’s do whatever we can to assuage the guilt we have
inside us. Let’s engage him enough to say that we did and so we can suppress
the ‘It could have been me’ thoughts that run through our minds.”
He has been treated
his whole life as most people with disabilities. Pitied, ignored, shunned,
rejected. And now that suddenly the community has to “see” him, he has to
insist that he is the same man, a plea which gains mixed responses.
He was no longer the guy who stumbled his way through the streets, the guy who touched
the walls as his hesitantly walked to his begging place, the dependent, poor,
dirty beggar—these were the identity markers that defined his place in the
community. Now he walks upright, assured of place and direction, and now he has
a potential for being independent. What he discovers, though, is that he has no
place anymore.
“Who are you? And
who is this person who told you you could be whole? Where is he?”
Jesus is nowhere to
be found.
Scene 3.
They brought to the Pharisees the
man who had formerly been blind. Now it was a sabbath day when Jesus made the
mud and opened his eyes. Then the Pharisees also began to ask him how he
had received his sight. He said to them, “He put mud on my eyes. Then I washed,
and now I see.” Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for
he does not observe the sabbath.” But others said, “How can a man who is a
sinner perform such signs?” And they were divided. So they said again to
the blind man, “What do you say about him? It was your eyes he opened.” He
said, “He is a prophet.” (John 9:13-17)
The healed man is
hauled before religious leaders who have their own identity markers in the
community. They are interested in all reported miracles, especially if
performed by unauthorized individuals and most especially if done in violation
of some law. They protect the law, the law protects their role.
Such is the case
here. The healing occurred on the sabbath so if this man is truly healed, it
was done by someone with the power of God, but if the healing took place on the
sabbath, then it was done by someone opposing God’s law and these well-placed
authorities could not possibly allow someone to question their interpretation
of God’s law. Protect the law at all costs.
“Are you sure you
can see? Were you really blind? Who did it? Further investigation is needed.”
Like many of us
wanting to defend the status quo, these religious leaders already knew what
they wanted to hear—they wanted to hear that this healer healed on the Sabbath
and that by doing so he broke the law. And that’s exactly where their
investigation leads—surprise!
In the meantime,
this man is dragged through the mud and his self, his integrity, his parents,
his very existence are questioned and debated and disparaged in front of his
neighbors and his synagogue.
Jesus is nowhere to
be found.
Scene 4.
The [religious leaders] did not
believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they called the
parents of the man who had received his sight and asked them, “Is this
your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” His
parents answered, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born
blind; but we do not know how it is that now he sees, nor do we know who
opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.” His
parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews; for the Jews had
already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus to be the Messiah would be put
out of the synagogue. Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him. He
will speak for himself.” (John 9:18-21)
Again, like so many
of us with disabilities, the man is not believed so the parents of the healed
man are grilled by the religious leaders.
“Yes, he is our
son.”
“Yes, he was born
blind.”
“No, we do not know
what happened.”
“No, we do not know
who did it.”
“Of course we know
it’s our son and that he was born blind, but we don’t know how this change has
happened.”
Whatever joy they
may have had in discovering that their son was now a sighted person was wiped
out by fear of themselves being shunned from the community.
“Ask him; he is of
age. He will speak for himself.”
They were on the
verge of being expelled from the synagogue and being socially disgraced because
of their connection to this ungodly, sabbath-violating, law-breaking act. But
these parents didn’t ask for this. This “blessing” was too much for them to
handle.
“Give us our son
back. We liked our life just the way it was, thank you very much. This other
way is way too difficult.”
Jesus is nowhere to
be found.
Scene 5.
So for the second time they called
the man who had been blind, and they said to him, “Give glory to God! We know
that this man is a sinner.” He answered, “I do not know whether he is a
sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” They
said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” He answered
them, “I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to
hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?” Then they
reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of
Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do
not know where he comes from.” The man answered, “Here is an astonishing
thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. We
know that God does not listen to sinners, but he does listen to one who
worships him and obeys his will. Never since the world began has it been
heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were
not from God, he could do nothing.” They answered him, “You were born
entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us?” And they drove him
out. (John 9:22-34)
The religious
authorities, faced with irrefutable evidence that a healing happened know that
they must now denounce the healer as a sinner. But the healed man argued back.
How cheeky of him!
“I do not know
whether [Jesus] is a sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now
I see. ... Maybe you want to be his follower?”
This is not the
pre-determined answers the authorities want to hear, not the expected
conclusion of the investigation, not the statement that was supposed to be
released to the public. That report was supposed to say, “Obviously it was
Jesus who sinned and therefore this man he healed cannot be believed and is no
longer to be a part of who we are.” The official report was supposed
to exonerate the officials, not raise more questions and stymie their plans for
higher office.
So here is this
guy. A few days before he was ejected from the synagogue his life
was as it always had been. And then God “blessed” him with:
- his old friends don’t recognize him
- his neighbors disregard him
- his parents are threatened
- his parents reject him
- he is no longer welcome at his old place of worship
So that's a blessing?!
Jesus is nowhere to be found.
Scene 6.
Jesus heard that they had driven
[the man] out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of
Man?” He answered, “And who is he, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in
him.” Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and the one speaking with you
is he.” He said, “Lord, I believe.” And he worshiped him. Jesus said, “I
came into this world for judgment so that those who do not see may see, and
those who do see may become blind.” Some of the Pharisees near him heard
this and said to him, “Surely we are not blind, are we?” Jesus said to
them, “If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, ‘We
see,’ your sin remains.” (John 9:35-41)
Jesus returns. Whew!
To this point,
remember, the man has not seen Jesus. When they were last together, the man was
blind and after he returned from the Pool at Siloam Jesus was gone. “Guess
what,” says Jesus, “I came into this world for judgment so that those who do
not see may see, and those who do see may become blind.” The man is now seen by
the world around him and the world rejects him.
So that’s the deal?
God’s blessings may very well bring judgment. God’s blessings may very well
cause your life to be turned upside down. God’s blessings might just cause you
to be ousted from those institutions which the world around you values. God’s
blessings might just bring persecution and ridicule on you.
But guess what?
God’s blessings are God’s blessings. If the world rejects them, guess who is in
the wrong?
⋈
From the very
beginning of Scene 1, Jesus makes it clear that this man’s blindness has
nothing to do with sin—not his nor his parents’ sin. Period. Jesus then says
that the man is there so that “the works of God might be revealed.”
Does that mean that
the man was born blind so that Jesus could come along, spit in the dirt, heal
him, and in that we can experience God’s power? That makes for a pretty
capricious god, doesn’t it? A god that would cause blindness just to prove that
that god has the power to heal does not reflect the loving God of our faith.
Our insistence on
long-held stereotypes about disabilities and their relationship to sin or bad
decisions or evil living, unconscious or latent as those beliefs might be in our
modern minds, still bring us to simplistic interpretations like this. A more
enlightened reading is that God has created each one of us—not just the man in
this story but all of us, in fact—so that God’s works can be revealed in and
through our lives.
Remember, Jesus has
no qualms about this man’s blindness. Jesus was walking through John’s Gospel,
minding his own—and God’s—business when he came across this unnamed
man. His disciples assumed that because the man did not have his
visual sense intact he or his parents must be sinners. “Ptooey!,” says Jesus to
his once-again-confused disciples, “one’s disability has nothing to do with
sin.”
There’s no pity in
this encounter. Jesus’ response is not, “Oh, poor little blind man. Let me take
away your affliction. Let me make you whole again.” Just as in all stories of
people with disabilities in scripture, Jesus doesn’t even notice the man’s
disability, his blindness—he simply sees the man—and note that the man doesn’t
ask to have his blindness taken away—he’s fine with it. The encounter is quite
simply about us experiencing God’s revealed awesomeness. If it takes bringing a
man’s visual sense back to life, then that’s what Jesus is willing to do to get
that message across.
This story is not
about the man’s physical blindness. It’s not about his or his parents’ sin.
It’s not about what Jesus could or couldn’t do. It’s not about determining
where healing comes from. It’s not about categorization or segregation or
exclusion of people based on ability. It’s not about Jesus making a point about
all of us and our single-vision view of the world around us.
Or is it? Maybe it’s
about all of those things. But primarily it is about what happens when we
listen to God’s message and are truly blessed by God. It changes us.
⋈
Cesar Chavez, who
led among California migrant farm workers a non-violent movement built on a
foundation of humility, speaking truth to power, and making sure the voice of
the poor was heard, famously said “If the poor aren’t included, nothing will
ever change.”
That’s what this
Gospel lesson is about. In fact, that’s what the entirety of the Jesus message
is about. “If the poor aren’t included …” Or fill in whoever is
marginalized and you have the message … if the children aren’t included … if
the women aren’t included … if the men .., if the elderly … if the people who
look different than me.
And as to this
encounter between Jesus and the man born blind and the doubters … if those who
can’t walk … those who can’t speak … if those who can’t see aren’t included …
nothing will ever change. That’s what Jesus does here. Inclusion of everyone in
this story—the disciples, the man born blind, his parents, the neighbors, the
Pharisees, you and me. If we’re paying attention, change happens and
we just might learn or unlearn some things:
- Our sins have no bearing on our abilities and our potentialities—we inherently know this but we need to keep reminding ourselves
- Each of us sins when we distance ourselves from each other and from God, when we push ourselves away and refuse to touch and be touched
- God works in and around all of us and God’s works are revealed in each and every life that has ever been created
- Some of us are born blind and see clearly while others are born with vision but simply choose to not see
- At times we treat each other so badly that some of us have to beg for food or money or shelter or health care or even simple compassion
- Our parents don’t know everything about us; children know very little about their parents
- At times we get so hung up on the rules that we have created that we fail to see the glory that God has created
- It’s okay—healing, even—to play in the mud
And if real change
happens, once oppression ends you cannot return to bondage. If true change
happens then the man-who-had-been-blind now restored to wholeness would never
be excluded again. It doesn’t really matter—and it didn’t really matter to Jesus—if
the man could physically see using his eyes or if that form of vision stayed
with him after Jesus went on his way. What mattered was that Jesus has taken
this man and has restored him to the community. A painful process when the
community doesn’t want to admit it is wrong and has to change. But it happens.
This man is restored, healed, reconciled, into a community that, we pray, has
learned to change.
And obviously the
mud in your eye—in our eyes—didn’t resolve the marginalization of those whom we
reject. But with the Jesus message as clear as mud in the eye, we
continue to share that message as we live out God’s will in this world.
Ptooey! Here’s mud in yer eye!
© Copyright 2019
James F. McIntire
All rights reserved.
