Lent 1977 irrevocably changed my life forever. I watched the TV miniseries “Jesus of Nazareth”. In this one scene, the Roman soldiers came through a Jewish town killing and stealing. A man throws himself down onto the dirty street, crying out to God, “How long, O Lord, must we wait for you to help us? God has abandoned us!” As this distraught man keeps yelling out “How long”, the camera zooms in on the face of the young Jesus, God’s answer to his prayers, standing only a few feet away. For four years I was pleading for God to answer my life’s question, “Do I return to the seminary and become a priest or should I stay in the world?” When I saw this scene, I realized the answer was there all along, right in front of me. Fear of losing the false joys of the world blinded me to God’s chosen path for my life. I told God my life is good out here in the world. I was making great money advancing in a good job that I liked…selling radio and TV components. I was being groomed to take over as office manager for a factory that hired only young women. A bachelor’s heaven on earth. I didn’t want God to mess up my life. I was comfortable right where I was at. But once I said “Yes” to God’s will, I could clearly see the true treasure of my heart’s desire. God opened me to a new world where He gave me blessings I could never have dreamed of. Serving you as Pastor is one of many blessings. It’s ironic that God spoke to me through an old black and white TV with parts made by the company I worked for.

The miniseries about Jesus showed the healing of the man born blind that gave me a new spiritual understanding. The blind man sits all day begging. He yells out, “I was born blind. Help the poor blind man. May the Lord give you happiness! Please help the poor blind man.” The blind man has a fairly secure life. He doesn’t suffer due to loss of sight because he never had sight. He lives off the kindness of others. He doesn’t have to work. Everything is given to him. Life is simple and easy. Why would he want to change that?

Some of the bystanders pick up the blind man and drag him over to Jesus. The man loudly protests, “leave me alone!” One bystander remarks, “He does too well as a blind person. If he could see, no one would give anything.” Even a disciple says to Jesus, “Master, the man was born blind. Why change that?” Jesus replies, “The man lives in darkness. He deserves to see the light.”

Jesus then puts the mud paste made from His spit on the man’s eyes. In Jewish belief, the spit of a firstborn son was believed to have healing power. The man continues to loudly protest, “Don’t touch my eyes. You are hurting me!” Jesus commands him to wash his eyes in the Siloam pool. The people take him to the pool. The blind man, now healed, yells out, “I can see. I can see all of you. I’m not blind anymore!” The crowd is dumbfounded. They take him to Jesus who reveals to the man his eyes are now looking at the Messiah. He worships Jesus. Jesus calls him from his old life of begging to a new life of believing. Then the Pharisees enter the scene where they angrily accuse the man of being a fraud and Jesus a sinner.

The healing of the man born blind has given me a new spiritual understanding of my journey to God. God always calls you out of your old comfort zone. God continually challenges you to grow in love and mercy. Make no room for complacency in your soul.

Complacency is spiritual poison that makes you blind. What is complacency and how does it hurt you? It is defined as “a feeling of being satisfied with yourself so that you do not think any change is necessary.” It hurts you by deceiving you into thinking that you see but you really don’t. It is a smug self-satisfaction that I have all the answers to everything. I am in control. No need to change that. The evil fruit of complacency is Pride. The Pharisees are the perfect example. They knew the “law” and anyone who acted outside the law was a sinner. The Pharisees considered Jesus a sinner because He healed blind eyes on the Sabbath and He mixed His spit into the dirt smeared on the blind man’s eyes. The Sabbath law prohibited “kneading” which is mixing. They boxed themselves so much into law they couldn’t see God’s Love in action that we call “Grace”.

I think there is a bit of Pharisee in all of us. There are four ways to tell if you are acting like a Pharisee with smug complacency.

1) You look down on and judge others who you do not consider as pious and holy as you are.

2) You criticize others who do not think and act like you do.

3) I’m right and you’re wrong. Don’t tell me what to do.

4) I’m really good at worshipping God on the outside but not being “Christ-like” on the inside.

God saved His harshest condemnations for hypocrites. God defines hypocrisy in Luke 6:46 “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?” Don’t become a “Christian Non-Christian”.

Start your day with Psalm 25:4-5 “Show me your ways, LORD, teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.” Happy Lent… Fr. Mike