An email from Pastor Stirdivant:
A Man Born Blind
We have beautiful stories to read and reflect upon in our liturgy, and even though I’m not as technically savvy as the other talented pastors I know, I can explore with you God’s gifts for us all in the readings we were set to hear in the coming days, virus or no virus. Feel free to reply all or to me anything you would like to talk about, and if you are interested in having a live event (service/Bible study) together, if possible. My cell phone remains at the ready for you to call me anytime, as always has been my policy. I am not too busy! I will attempt to be in touch with as many of our Good Shepherd’s flock as I can, God helping me. So far, the next Divine Service scheduled is Maundy Thursday, April 9, in case you haven’t heard that announcement yet. We can continue to read God’s Word and pray, because social distancing cannot keep our Savior away from us at any time! He walked in our delicate, disease-prone flesh. He chose to die of sin, of Covid-19, of cancer, of botched surgery, of a car accident, of anything else we humans have died from. Jesus took those diseases and evils voluntarily and willingly, and His death conquered their fearful reign of terror over us. You, dear Christians, have also defeated this hideous enemy that has rocked our world these past few days. Jesus said, Take heart! I have overcome the world. That includes this very worldly pandemic.
This year, the season of Lent has walked us through the Gospel of John. There have been some long Gospel readings, but these stories are intended by the Holy Spirit to be our story, not just the story of Nicodemus, the woman at the well, or next Sunday, the man born blind. We need to place ourselves in the shoes of these people whom Jesus helped one-on-one, for that is what His mission of love is to do–save you for eternal life! One thing this state of emergency can do for us, is to clarify and cut through the noise of day-to-day life (which is quite different these days!) and find new insights that will further enlighten God’s blessed Word to us. Let’s look through the three readings:
Isaiah 42:14-21
Only One can lead the blind out of darkness into light, and that is the God who has created us. Can a blind person say together with Luther, “I believe that God has made me, … and given me my body and soul, eyes, ears and all my members… and still takes care of them”? Of course, we all can, even if we’re deaf, or our other members seem like God doesn’t take care of them anymore. But He does. in the resurrection our bodies will be fully restored. In the mean time, He sent Jesus to absorb all evil and impairment in His human flesh. He sends His holy Word to open our spiritual eyes to see His favor toward us. He opens our ears to hear His forgiveness and our mouths to declare His praise.
Ephesians 5:8-14
Awake, O sleepers! Rise from death, and Christ will shine on you. What a blessed Word that Paul repeated to those who would hear his epistle read out loud in church. But when you read it at home, it is still a powerful Word of light that God is shining also on you and your family, whether you’re together or separated for the time being. Let no one deceive you with empty words…. We will have numerous imposters trying to take advantage of our current condition. We are being warned not to share our personal information with anybody, especially suspected scammers. Let’s also resist the temptation to use this time at home to revel in darkness and self-centeredness. I can tell you from experience, because I am regularly going through everything from stir-craziness to outright dispiritedness. Let’s together say no to the darkness and fix our thoughts on things that are above, and severely limit our exposure to things below, including the non-stop news mania. That is a bad disease to avoid also.
John 9
The entire chapter is worth reading, as it follows up on the young man who was born blind, but then healed by the God in flesh Savior Jesus. Who is blind? Who are the seeing? The answers change midway through the story in a dramatic way. The judgmental law-worshippers condemn the man and his parents for committing a sin that led to the dreadful condition that met this man. Are we tempted to think someone or we ourselves brought calamity upon us? Are we mad at the negligence that didn’t contain this disease when there was a better chance? The more we focus on the law, the more we have to admit that because of our sins we don’t deserve to take the next breath of life in our lungs. Once we realize that, the healing Lord comes to us, helpless and condemned, and recovers our sight with forgiveness and eternal life. We will not perish! We see our Savior, and we know we’ll be okay, even if we’ll go through challenges, famines, pandemics, anything. What matters is that we’re with Jesus now, or He has come to stay with us, to be correct.
Amazing Grace is sometimes an overused hymn, but it does have the well-known line that refers to the miracle of healing for the man born blind. We all once were blind but now we see. Feel free to sing it!
The Epistle is quoted in another hymn we had planned for this Sunday: 697- Awake, O Sleeper, Rise from death and Christ will give you light. … Awake, arise, go forth in faith, and Christ shall give you life.
Feel free to respond to this email to me, to the group, to the Facebook page, wherever you’re reading this. If you want to forward it on to a friend or loved one, please do, as long as you don’t change my words. If you feel I misspoke somewhere, please contact me and we can talk about it. I may need to explain it better or retract any falsehood that missed my poor sinful nature’s attempt to maintain doctrinal integrity. So help me God, for I cannot do it on my own. Neither can you. We’ll receive God’s gifts for beggars together, because that is what we are.
With the Good Shepherd’s love for you all,
Pastor Mark B. Stirdivant
revhollowleg@gmail.com