Blessed are you eyes for they see – Mailyn Zehr – July 10

Full of ideas, discussions, words, opinions expressed and stories shared – both public stories from the podium at the Assembly and private stories from new and renewed friends and acquaintances.  I’m also full of the joy of worship at Assembly as well as full of the tensions and laments expressed over some of the decisions made.

And I’m tired because as you can imagine, processing these things with less than optimal sleep pushes even a fairly strong person to a certain kind of limit.

Even so there are things that I want to and need to share with you this morning.  There were things that unfolded at Assembly that readily link to our summer theme that asks us to say aloud, “I have seen the wind.”  I have seen the Holy Spirit at work.

This morning I will share with you what I saw.

But first, I begin in an unexpected and seemingly unconnected place with the words of Scripture that the lectionary text in the Gospel of Matthew skipped.  Our lectionary Gospel reading is the parable of the sower in Matthew 13:1-9 and 18 and following. The verses that were skipped are as follows.  Please listen carefully – starting at 13:9

9.  Let anyone with ears, listen.”

10 Then the disciples came and asked him, ‘Why do you speak to them in parables?’ ¹¹He answered, ‘To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. ¹²For to those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. ¹³The reason I speak to them in parables is that “seeing they do not perceive, and hearing they do not listen, nor do they understand.” ¹⁴With them indeed is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah that says:

“You will indeed listen, but never understand,
   

and you will indeed look, but never perceive.

¹⁵ For this people’s heart has grown dull,
   

and their ears are hard of hearing,
     

and they have shut their eyes;
     

so that they might not look with their eyes,
   

and listen with their ears,

and understand with their heart 

and turn—
   and I would heal them.”

¹⁶But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. ¹⁷Truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.

And after these words, Jesus goes on to explain the meaning of the parable of the sower – the seed of the sower is the Word that is sown in many different contexts with varying results. 

But how can that be when sometimes we disagree? Are some of us given different secrets than others?

We don’t want to be in the category of those who look with our eyes and do not see or listen with our ears and do not hear. 

How do we understand those verses in the middle? 

Are those harsh words about “lack of understanding and insight” a window into the first community who received these words?  Is Matthew’s message a biting indictment against those who are outside of Matthew’s small and persecuted community? Is Matthew rather than Jesus, calling them, “dull of heart, hard of hearing and blind?”  Or was Jesus referring to those in the crowds who chose not to become his disciples. These are possibilities, of course, but we read this text also as a Word from God to us today and it spoke volumes to me after this week at Assembly – not because I want to figure out who is in which category on the issues that were on the floor before the gathered delegates but what we do with a text like this when persons on various sides of an issue have strong feelings that they are right and the other “side” is therefore the ones with dull hearts, deaf ears and blind eyes. 

To whom is given the secrets of the kingdom of God?

The answer I believe is found right in the heart of the text in the quote from Isaiah. “and turn – and I would heal them.”  The verse makes it sound like seeing with your eyes, hearing with your ears and understanding with your heart are prerequisite to turning so that God can heal, but what if we just turn toward God, make ourselves available for that healing.  I suggest that the antidote to deaf ears, blind eyes and dull hearts is to turn to God at all times where at all times healing is available.  And the opportunity to turn to God is available to persons on all sides of any debate. The invitation to turn to God for healing is the beginning of a reframing of our categories.

This week as our Bible studies focused on the last two chapters of the Revelation to John we were reminded of the grand vision of the new city and the healing of the nations that will be available there. We were encouraged to remember that in this vision of God’s future the gates of the city are not shut by day and there is no night.  We were reminded that in the new city of God all who are thirsty are invited to come.  The leaves on the tree of life are available for the healing of the nations and there we will bask in the light of God’s presence. But we also believe that this fu
ture breaks into our present reality wherever we see and experience the Reign of God. 

And what I would like to do now is invite us to see things that we don’t normally see outside of familiar categories. Things like the wind.  It seemed to me as if there were two parallel realities unfolding at the Assembly this week.  There was the one reality that was contained in the structures and documents and resolutions. On the positive side, these things provide safe places to talk with each other about difficult things.  These structures are familiar.  We know which way we would like things to unfold and if they don’t unfold the way we want them to or envisioned they should we might experience deep and significant disappointment. But sometimes these structures and documents and resolutions and motions, the familiar mechanisms of the way the Broader church lumbers along, makes it difficult to see if anything new is unfolding.  

In the old familiar patterns, we approved biennial assemblies instead of annual ones for financial reasons.  Ben Borne, the young man who brought the motion from the Harmony group (Mennonites for LGBTQ inclusion) referred his motion to the care of the General Board instead of bringing it to the floor for a vote.  And the assembled body almost unanimously approved Being The Faithful Church Discernment document #3 which commits itself to a several year process of discernment on matters of human sexuality.  If you were aligned with all of these decisions you might have said that the business of the Assembly was successful.  If you were not aligned with these decisions you may have felt deeply disappointed with the church.

But now I want to invite you to refocus your eyes for a moment on another reality. This second reality is harder to see because like the wind it weaves its way among us sometimes almost imperceptibly. This other reality came to my attention at the end of the Assembly through the words of a friend.  This friend said to me, “God isn’t necessarily working through resolutions and motions. God is working through people.  And God will keep sending us people until God’s work is accomplished among us.”  This word from a friend gave me the eyes to see.  The seed of God’s word took root and sprouted and I began to see.  Let me tell you what I saw. 

I saw and began to get to know a young man named Ben Borne, who came with a word for the Mennonite Church Canada National Assembly of 2011 in Waterloo.  Ben was the young man who brought the Harmony (Mennonites for LGBTQ inclusion) motion to the Assembly.  I referred to the main points of this motion in my report earlier in our service today. As I listened to and interacted with this young man in a small group, as I sat beside him briefly for one of the services of worship and as I listened to him address the assembled body, I saw and began to get to know a young man of faith, who struggles on behalf of himself and others who are marginalized and hurting in the church.  And I saw leaders and many delegates in the church talk with him, listen to him, embrace him and even ask him if he could extend grace and patience and understanding to the body of Christ gathered in Waterloo this week. From all that I could see, Ben has significant relationships in the church. At this assembly he was an included and respected member of the body – all the things for which he longed in the motion.  And in one especially poignant and important unplanned moment Ben was given pastoral leadership in the church. Willard Metzger, the new General Secretary of Mennonite Church Canada asked Ben to pray for us.  If Willard had prayed for Ben and the church, all that had gone before might have been seen as patronizing, but Ben was asked to pray for us, and with Spirit-infused courage and insight and compassion and grace beyond his young years, Ben prayed for all of us.  In this reality the Spirit guided the church gathered to grant Ben all that his motion sought.

¹⁶But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. ¹⁷Truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it. 

The Spirit of God also seemed evident in much of our open mike conversation with each other where people respectfully shared insight, wisdom, concern, joy and encouragement with each other.  I heard one participant say that as a framework for gathering we should move towards more of this and more story-sharing and less reporting for it is in the stories of our lives as persons trying to live faithfully as followers of Jesus in the midst of all kinds of challenging circumstances that we can truly be the church in Canada.

And most importantly let us continually turn to God for healing.

When we turn to God and allow God’s healing wind and Spirit to caress us, our eyes will be able to see the persons, hear the stories and take part in the healing interactions that God sends our way.