"Seeing" - Mark 8:22 - 26

A Sermon by Alex W. Evans, Pastor

Second Presbyterian Church, Richmond, VA

Mark 8:22-26 – “SEEING”

June 21, 2020

            We find ourselves in the midst of momentous issues that call forth the very best from us – as citizens of this nation, as human beings, as followers of Jesus. 

            I want to begin today with a direct quote. Listen: 

            I hope that every American, regardless of where he lives, will stop and examine his conscience about this and other related incidents. This Nation was founded by (people) of many nations and backgrounds. It was founded on the principle that all are created equal, and that the rights of every person are diminished when the rights of one person are threatened. . . .   We face, therefore, a moral crisis as a country and as a people. It cannot be met by repressive police action. It cannot be left to increased demonstrations in the streets. It cannot be quieted by token moves or talk. It is time to act in the Congress, in your State and local legislative body and, above all, in all of our daily lives.  

            That quote comes from President John F. Kennedy, in a televised speech to the nation, in response to the racial injustice and unrest at the University of Alabama in June 1963. Exactly 57 years ago this month . . . . . . . and very little seems to have changed!  The words are still unbelievably pertinent. 

            We need to examine our conscience. We face a moral crisis as a country and as a people. It cannot be met by repressive police action. It cannot be left to demonstrations in the street. It is time to act.

            Our Bible text today comes from Mark 8:22-26 – a story about Jesus:

            22They came to Bethsaida. Some people brought a blind man to Jesus and begged him to touch him. 23Jesus took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village; and when he had put saliva on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, “Can you see anything?” 24And the man looked up and said, “I can see people, but they look like trees, walking.” 25Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he looked intently and his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. 26Then Jesus sent him away to his home, saying, “Do not even go into the village.”

            This is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. 

            For once, Jesus’ attempt to heal someone seems not to be immediately successful. It takes a second touch. Maybe that is why Matthew and Luke leave this story out of their gospels. Why would it take Jesus two touches to heal?

            Yet the two-stage movement – the two-step healing of the blind man - is the very point of the story, because as we know, there is blindness, and then there is blindness. There is not seeing – physical blindness – when eyes do not work, when light and images and objects cannot be seen. And then there is figurative blindness – when we can see, but we do NOT see fully. Blindness is also when we see, but do not grasp what is happening, or do not see the importance, the reality, the danger, . . . the pain, . . . the injustice. 

            Jesus always had a special concern for the blind. When he first appears on the scene, he says (Luke 4) he has come “to bring good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind.” 

            Well, this passage is about SEEING – recovery of sight to the blind. It is a miracle story. Jesus uses saliva – a common home remedy – and Jesus asks the man if he can see. The blind man affirms that he can see – partially. “I can see people, but they look like trees, walking.” Then Jesus touched him a second time. The text says: “He saw everything clearly.” 

            We have been blind for so long.

            57 years ago, Kennedy said – we need “to examine our conscience.” Today, we face a moral crisis as a country and as a people. It cannot be met by repressive police action. It cannot be left to demonstrations in the street. It is time to act.

            We have been blind for so long. 

            We – you and I, I am pretty sure - have known about racial disparity and racial injustice. We have known that our culture has stacked the odds against black people – fewer educational opportunities, fewer economic possibilities. We have known that so many children – mostly African American children – are not getting the education they deserve. We have known about extensive legislation across the decades – legislation that left blacks far behind whites. 

            We have known about systemic racism baked into our American culture, for centuries, creating barriers for black people. And we are learning more!

            We have known that if you grew up in Richmond’s Windsor Farms, your life expectancy would be significantly longer than someone who grew up in Creighton Court – not five miles away. We have known that African American children, especially boys, had to have “the talk” – which is about how to act if the police stop you – so you do not get shot, or beat up, or unfairly charged, or worse.

            We have known about Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, and others, and more recently Ahmaud Arbery, Brionna Taylor, George Floyd and Rayshard Brooks. 

            Jesus asks if we can see. “We can see people – but they look like trees, walking.” We can see the news. We can see the history of racism. We can see the inequalities. We can see the injustices. But are we seeing clearly?

            In one of his Strength to Love sermons, which many of us are reading, King says “blindness is often the trouble; enlightenment is the real need.” (see “Love in Action,” p. 36) King says that Saul was not an evil intentioned man when he persecuted Christians. He thought he was right – as a devoted Jew. He was devoid of enlightenment. The church people who thought so passionately about God that they had to resist science, whether Copernicus, or Darwin, or even modern vaccines, were not mischievous people but mis-informed people – lacking enlightenment. 

            King even goes on the say that slavery was not perpetuated by human badness, but by human blindness. People formulated elaborate theories, elaborate laws, elaborate justification to justify oppression and slavery, giving moral sanction. It was all rooted in blindness: blindness to justice, blindness to racial equality, blindness to God’s plans for liberty and peace for all. 

            Jesus asks if we can see clearly. 

            Are we SEEING, and then finally, finding ourselves enlightened?

            Or are we not really seeing, with clarity, with conviction, as God’s people? 

            We have seen the presentations by John Moeser about the racist history of Richmond, learned about red-lining, heard about the interstate cut right through the prosperous African American community, Jackson Ward. We have seen how poverty has settled in certain districts because of discrimination, and unfair laws. We have learned about the legal system, and more police brutality that targets unfairly people of color. We have learned about mass incarceration as the new Jim Crow. 

            You all know what I am talking about, right? 

            We also have the monuments in our city. We see the monuments to Confederate soldiers and leaders, seen their beauty, even maybe said they are noble, they represent heritage, not hate. 

            We see. . . . .But remember, Jesus asks “Can you see anything?”

            Yet, maybe – in these days - we are finally SEEING. 

            We are SEEING – once again - the moral crisis that is upon us. We are SEEING the long effects of oppressive and restrictive policies and practices that take a huge toll on people of color. We are SEEING – finally - the racial injustices that have been so pervasive in our society. We are SEEING – what Martin Luther King wrote about from a Birmingham jail: “We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. . . .  We must come to see, . . .  that "justice too long delayed is justice denied."

            What we are SEEING in these days is the passionate plea for justice, for equal treatment, for no more police brutality. What we are SEEING – and it is shameful that is taking so long – is the disproportionate effect of COVID-19 on people of color. What we are SEEING is the desperate cry that we be “one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all” – not just those with a certain skin color.

            Jesus said “blessed are the pure in heart,” but we kept making and passing laws – systemically racist laws - that left a certain segment of our people behind. 

            Jesus said “blessed are the meek,” but we kept our boot on the throat of a whole segment of our people, or lately, kneeled on the neck. 

            Jesus said “blessed are the merciful,” but we kept building prisons and locking up so many more blacks and browns. 

            Jesus taught, “if someone strikes you on the cheek, turn to him the other,” but we turned on the fire hoses, or let loose the rubber bullets, released the tear gas. . . or chased the people out of the way for a photo op with a Bible. 

            Bryan Stevenson, of the Equal Justice Initiative, often says that the southerners, the Confederates, lost the war, but they won the narrative. The narrative has been that the southern cause – slavery and more – was noble. He also says that the southerners won the aesthetic – that losers get to think and act like winners – so their loser leaders deserve elaborate, noble statues. 

            Martin Luther King, from the Birmingham jail, said this: We will win our freedom because the sacred heritage of our nation and the eternal will of God are embodied in our echoing demands. 

            I think we know in our hearts that this is right. The sacred heritage of this nation and the eternal will of God are embodied in these echoing demands for racial justice, for equal treatment under the law, for liberty and peace for all.

            We are finally – SEEING. 

            Our faith affirms equality and justice for all. Our faith affirms liberation and possibility for all. Jesus came to give sight to the blind – that is us – and set the oppressed free – that is 400 years of shameful history that has kept so many disadvantaged, held down, captive, imprisoned, burdened. 

            SEEING - we then have to work for change that benefits all God’s children. For centuries, African Americans have been relegated to so much less than human – 3/5 of person was an actual determination. So many laws, and limitations, through the decades. All of this has to make God so sad, so discouraged, so angry. We have to make every effort to dismantle racism, which is so much a part of each of us – baked into us. We have been complicit in this journey of oppression. We have been part of a culture that treats people vastly unequally. We have to confess our sinfulness – in what we have not seen, and strive to see more clearly! We have a long way to go. Jesus comes to give sight. Are we SEEING? Are we SEEING as God sees? Jesus restores sight to the blind so we will move toward justice, joy, peace, hope for all God’s children. Let’s keep working on that! 

Prayer of Commitment – Holy God, fill us with your presence and your Spirit. Give us conviction and commitment and courage to see, and then seeing, show us the way to justice and life following Jesus. Amen

Alex W. Evans, Pastor, Second Presbyterian Church, Richmond, VA preached this sermon in the sanctuary during morning worship on Sunday, June 21, 2020. This is a rough manuscript.