03212020 – John 4. 1-41 (Lent IV)
Just “a little bit of talk” about “SALIVA…” SPITTLE… Ew-Gross! (Like, totally…like completely!)
Just saying, hocking up a really good “hacker,” a “loogie” “mucus,” “phlegm…” you KNOW the stuff, I am talking about!
In Mark, chapter 7 Jesus used “a little bit of spittle” in the healing of a DEAF MUTE.
IT IS A MAJOR Marcan Story!
It is an awesome healing…that NOT ONLY talks about “THE AUTHORITY” and “THE POWER” of Jesus but also of “his HEALING ABILITIES…”
But it also speaks VOLUMES of his concern for “those” MARGINILIZED-by-society-as-a-whole.
Jesus actually DEVELOPS his own-unique- form of “SIGN LANGUAGE” to convey every step of the “healing process” to the man involved.
It is VERY cool, WAY cool! But SPITTLE is used. Apparently, spittle “was REQUIRED.” Maybe because of WHERE he WAS or WHO he was dealing WITH!
Just so you know, it was believed-that there was “healing power” IN THE spittle of a HOLY MAN.
It was A “commonly-enough-known-symbol for healing”…spittle and its healing POTENTIAL and POSSIBILITIES…
The problem WAS every Tom, Dick and Harry – Charlatan – used their spittle to attempt “miraculous healings.”
Magicians, faith healers, miracle workers, wonder workers – of all persuasions…“SPITTLE” was their go-to-THING.
By using spittle…by incorporating SPIT this LEFT JESUS OPEN to the charges of engaging in “MAGICAL PRACTICES.”
As being – “just another charlatan, just another has-been, just another wonder worker” – preying on the hearts and the minds of “good unsuspecting people.”
In MARK 8, Jesus will again use SPITTLE- this time in the case of a “blind man.”
Both Matthew and Luke were SHOCKED that Mark would include such “PRIMITIVE healing traditions” and directly link them to Jesus. SO, Matthew and Luke deliberately OMIT ANY such references.
BUT NOW, we find ourselves in John’s Gospel…the last to be written…the more SOPHISTICATED and THEOLOGICAL of all the gospels. And, “Lo and Behold” – John will continue to mention the “primitive and ARCHAIC USE” of spittle in healing.
Johns’ is a story of “building TENSIONS” – you can actually feel the tensions MOUNT.
Jesus and his entourage-just so “happen upon” a “BEGGAR”- BORN-BLIND. HOW they “KNOW that” – WE are NOT told.
Perhaps he was a WELL-KNOWN and a much expected sight…PANDERING from his childhood days through his adolescence into now, his adulthood years.
IN THEIR CURIOSITY, the disciples wanted to know – WHO had SINNED, this MAN or HIS PARENTS? Yeah, people had some “pretty strange ideas back then” – on the ORIGIN of sickness and illnesses.
That’s WHEN Jesus does IT… He DOES the unthinkable. He SPITS on the ground and mixes the dirt with his very own saliva. Ew, Ew and more Ew.
But, hang on… Then, he makes this “little mud pie” and spreads it on the man’s eyes—EW, to the max!
And then, he tells the guy to go and wash in the pool of Siloam on the Southside of the city. AND, miracle of miracles, his EYESIGHT IS RESTORED!
AND, as a result, full FURY is unleashed. We quickly learn, it was a Sabbath Day. (Another Sabbath Day healing incident!)
BAD JESUS…
NAUGHTY JESUS…
SHAME, Jesus.
Helping the “downtrodden” on the Sabbath day, “WHAT WAS HE THINKING?”
But that seems NOT TO BE THE real ISSUE. Instead the issue is WHO can SEE and WHO is “spiritually blind?”
A GAME OF 20 QUESTIONS ENSUES, of course it does, because the Pharisees the legalists, the keepers of the law, become involved.
Accusations are thrown around. FINGERS are POINTED. DIRTY LOOKS are given and EYES continually ROLL.
The man, his parents, his neighbors are all brought into the fray. Everybody gets questioned. People are THROWN OUT of the Temple.
The story/ the argument becomes repetitious, monotonous, silly, and outrageous (more eye-rolling.) People are divided. Guilt HAS TO BE assigned.
EVERYONE becomes frustrated including the Pharisees.
No wonder Jesus becomes an OVERNIGHT SENSATION!
People cannot STOP talking about him and the things that he does!
A simple healing… Plenty of good intentions…
Compassionate love and action…and lots of debate leading no- where…
The guy SEES. God IS glorified. Jesus continues ON…SO, in the end…the man HAS his SIGHT and the Pharisees are once again REVEALED to be the “spiritually blind individuals” that they truly are.
SO, WHERE ARE YOUR BLIND SPOTS?
C’mon now, you know you have some!
Amen.