When I Fail to See, the World goes Blind

Well, I mentioned that I was going to talk a little bit about Field of Dreams. In my mind, the best baseball movie ever made with Kevin Cosner, James Earl Jones, a lot of great people in that story. It's a fictional story. It's not based on fact. A story about a man who had his eyes opened. And others who, while they thought they could see, were really blind to what was going on. story begins with the the Costner character. He's young and he's married, has a small child, a little little girl, and he's working a small farm by himself out in Iowa, trying to make ends meet on this little patch of land that he has, planting corn and working the land. As the film develops,

Ray, Kevin Costner's character, hears a voice. If you didn't see the film, you probably know the quote. If you build it, he will come. Everybody quotes it wrong. They usually say, "If you build it, they will come." That's not what the voice really said. The voice really said, "If you build it, he will come." The he in that instance was Kevin Cosner's father who had been a a ball player from whom he was estranged. He hears this voice. He listens to this voice. He believes this voice.

And so one day he decides he's going to act upon what he is hearing through a series of different events. He he comes to one day go out on his tractor and he plows under his cornfield and he turns this cornfield into a baseball diamond. It's gorgeous. He builds a small grand stand. He puts up lights. All this because if you build it, he will come. He builds it because he believes. He believes the voice. He trusts that he's being led in some kind of very special, faithful, miraculous direction.

And so based upon what he believes, he takes action and he creates this wonderful ball field in the middle of a cornfield in Iowa. Along the way, he picks up another character, James Earl Jones, and he picks up another old kind of washed up ball player. But the key is that Kevin Costner's behavior is a witness to what he believes, to what he hears, and what he has seen. This changed vision changes his heart and changes his action and becomes kind of a witness to the whole world around him. Eventually, the little girl, Kevin's daughter, comes up one day and says, "Daddy, there's a man standing out in our yard." And Kevin Cosner goes out, and sure enough, there's the first of the ball players. Little by little, ball players appear on his field and he and his daughter, they can sit there and they can sit in the grandstand and they can watch the ball game going on because they believe their eyes were open. They could see. No one else could see that, but they could see that.

That's not unlike the Bible story that we just read, this long story from the ninth chapter of John. A man born blind couldn't see. Didn't know the world around him. Maybe could perceive it through his other senses of touch and smell and but he but he couldn't see until one day Jesus came along. And miraculously through the ministrations of Jesus, this man suddenly could see. This man who had mud on his face was sent off to wash in the pool of Silo. Maybe the foreshadowing of a baptism.

A man born blind couldn't see. Who sinned here? The Pharisees want to know. Was it this guy who sinned and that's why he's blind? May maybe it was his parents. I bet his parents were the real sinners. And this blindness was visited upon him as kind of a a punishment for everyone. But Jesus sends him off to be washed, to be baptized, to be cleansed. Go to the pool of Siloam, the place where all the ritual washings took place. Go there. Wash the mud off your face. Wash the sins away. Wash the blindness away.

And he returns. And he can see. The rest of the world who thought they could see, who thought they knew what was going on, suddenly seemed blind. How can this be? It doesn't make sense. I know what I think I'm seeing, but I can't believe it. Don't believe what you see. Believe what I tell you. There it is. This blind man now washed, now cleansed, can now see. The power of the story comes from those who ultimately believe in Jesus, who act and behave that way.

Today is a crazy day here at at Gloria Day. We're doing so many different things going on today. I I got a little brief meeting of some of the property folks after church. There's a little advocacy gathering going on after church. After church, we're doing the take it on Sunday thing. A lot of you have signed up for some uh orientation to how you might be a leader in the life of this worshshiping congregation as an assisting minister or an instrumentalist or hosting fellowship. And in your bulletin today is a time and talent sheet. That pink paper hat is asking you, is there some way that you can use your time, your abilities, your talents to support the ministry and the work of this church? And folks, the reason we do this take it on Sunday, the reason we do this time and talent stuff is not because we're that needy. This isn't about helping out. Although it is about helping out, but more importantly, this is an issue of stewardship. your participation. You're filling out that time and talent form. You're sticking around after church to learn how to prepare the altar for worship or or what whatever task you hope to take on is your way of saying I am going to act. I am going to engage because Jesus has touched and changed my life. I do this because I believe and when I do it, I am teaching my children and my grandchildren something about what a transformed life looks like. I am witnessing to the world around us what a transformed life of a disciple of Jesus looks like. There's cars parked here. There cars parked over at the recreation fields and our cars that are parked here. You who are joining us in this room on this day are a witness. When we fill out the time and talent sheet, we're saying, "I'm going to act on the faith that is within me." The people all around us know that every Sunday the followers of Jesus are here in this community all the time. Every Sunday Jesus is here. That's the witness. And that's what stewardship ultimately is about. It's about acting on what we see and on what we hear.

Taking it on. The world sees a transformed follower of Jesus. The Jesus that we worship, the Jesus that has changed our life is the Jesus who has stepped into our world. When we believe that Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were there at the very time of creation. In the beginning was the word. The word was God. The word was with God. Nothing in this world was created without God. But there came a moment in time when because of the void and the vacuum and the mess of the world that Jesus needed to step into that void, to step in to that chaos and set it right once again. There came that moment when Jesus needed to step into the life of that blind man and bring sight to one who was living in darkness and his life would never be the same again. In the field of dreams, there's a character in there called Midnight Graham. He was a minor league ball player, right fielder. I believe he was eventually called up to the majors. He played one game in his entire career, but he never got to bat. Game was over before his at bat came around. He always wanted to just face down a major league pitcher just just once. And in the field of dreams, he ends up out there on the field and he he gets his opportunity to, as he said, wink at the p pitcher just before he throws the ball. But also in the course of that uh event, the young girl, the young daughter falls from the bleachers choking on a hot dog. Midnight Graham had a very short career as a baseball player. Went on to become a physician. But as he saw the girl choking on the sideline, he stepped off the field.

In stepping off the field, he couldn't go back. He made a tremendous sacrifice by stepping off the field and going and tending to the girl. He stepped out of that wonderful field of dreams, back into the void, into the chaos, into the confusion of that young girl and saved her life. It's exactly what Jesus does. Comes down from heaven and steps into our world. The word became flesh, lived among us, engaged with people who were blind, engaged with people who were sinners, engaged with you and me, so that we could be baptized as surely as that blind man was, and our sins can be stripped away because God came, stepped off the field into our life, and our life would be changed, saved, and changed forever. The world can't see that. Couldn't see it in the field of dreams either. Those who didn't believe couldn't see the players. But we have or we wouldn't be here this morning. our engagement through our time and talent through sharing our our our finances as well. All of that says to the world I see and I will step into the places where I am needed. And so we do take it on Sunday. We do time and talent. We do an advocacy meeting because we're stepping into the void, the place of need, and we bring with us sight. We see things the world cannot see, and we act upon those things. They have transformed our life. They have made us different. They have called us to be faithful. And when we step forward as stewards, we are stewards of God's grace, stewards of God's love. after the little girl has been saved.

The brother-in-law, the banker who says, "We ought to sell this place and cut our losses while we can turns to Kevin Cosner and another great quote from that movie, he turns to him and says, "Don't sell this field." That is what we long for. That our witness, our stewardship is not just about cleaning windows or serving as an usher. But when we do those things, it is a witness to the power of God's love. The God who steps off the field and into our life. It is a witness to the world that the people of God and God himself are here and present and God's grace will move among us to change and save lives. So don't sell this field. Don't walk away from the opportunities, but use your eyes of faith to see the love and the power of God at work in our world. Amen.