Fourth Sunday in Lent

Fourth Sunday in Lent
4/2/11
John 9
Bror Erickson
Delivered at St. Paul’s in Ogden Utah.


[9:1] As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. [2] And his disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" [3] Jesus answered, "It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. [4] We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. [5] As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world." [6] Having said these things, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man's eyes with the mud John 9:1-6 (ESV)


We must work the works of him who sent me while it is still day, night is coming when no one can work.
Jesus says this right be for he performs one of the works of him who sent him. He heals a blind man and gives him sight. He forgives his sins. He shows him and that world that it is Jesus who is Christ, the Messiah that He comes from God the Father, and does the works of God the Father, the works that have been given to him to do. The work of dying for the sins of the world, the work of rising again that not only would our sight be healed, but that we would be given eternal life.
We must work the works of him who sent me while it is still day, night is coming when no one can work. But the night has not yet come. Today is yet another day of grace, when the light of the world shines in the world just as surely as the sun comes up over the mountains to dawn on this new day.
But while there is day, there is much work to be done. Much work for the church to do, for each and ever congregation, each and every Christian mother and father, every Christian son and daughter, every Christian friend and coworker. We work the works of him who sent Christ. For it is the father who works through us. The father who so loved the world that he sent his only son to die that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Of course Paul asks in the tenth chapter of Romans But how are they to call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? [15] And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!" Romans 10:14-15 (ESV)
And of course this is the work of the church, to make his name known to the world and thereby heal the blind, to shine the light in the darkness, to let the world know there is an answer to the darkness within which they live. This is our work. This is the work we are privileged to join in. To make his name known.
Of course, we all go about this work differently. For even as we together make up the body of Christ, and each member of the body has different functions, so we all contribute to the work in different ways, and all of them important.
First and foremost though is to attend to your own needs. And part of this is calling a pastor, an under shepherd to preach the gospel and administer the sacraments on behalf of the congregation and otherwise care for the souls of the church. This is key to the life of the church, what you prepare to do today at the call meeting. It is absolutely crucial to the life of the congregation as you all know.
Christ instituted the pastoral office so that there would be his representatives in the church entrusted with his authority to forgive sins on his behalf. To preach his gospel, to administer his sacraments, to care for his sheep, to care for you.
It is not as if the pastor is the only one who has work to do in the church. Today there is so often a cult of personality that grows around pastors, and people see the pastor as being responsible for the success of the church, or its down full. But the church is only here to work the works of him who sent us. The church stands or falls on the gospel. If the gospel is preached or it isn’t. The Gospel is preached and the light makes itself known to the world. Or the gospel is not preached, and no matter how vibrant it may look from the outside, it is dead.
But it cannot be done by the pastor alone. This is a work in which we all share. To make sure the gospel is preached, that is why you gather today to call a new pastor, and pledge with that call to support him that he who preaches the gospel might make his living by the gospel. And with your attendance, to the gospel preached and the sacraments administered, you refresh your own souls, grow in your own faith, strengthen your own resolve and go our to your own vocations, and there you too do the work of the church, and the work of God, and the light shined in and through you, who have there sins forgiven in Jesus Christ. Because we must work the works of him who sent us while it is still day. And it is through us, who have been given sight, the darkness is lifted, blindness healed and others brought to see that Jesus Christ is Lord, apart from whom there is no forgiveness of sins.
Now the peace of God that surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.