Blind Man Healed, Starts Job Hunt

Blind Man Healed, Starts Job Hunt (a brief Lectionary reflection by Steve Orr)

I have always been one of those people who wants to know what came next.  When I would arrive at the end of a story, book, or movie I would find myself trying to sort out what kinds of things would happen in the future.  Do the good guys stay the winners, or does the evil empire "strike back"?  Would it REALLY be "happily ever after"?  Things have changed.  Will the characters relate to one another the way they did earlier in the story?  In the case of fiction, you're going to need a sequel (or at least some fanfic) to find out those answers.  In the case of history,  unless we discover more records, we can't know.  Still, that doesn't keep me from wondering.

I did this last week when we read about Jesus healing the man who had been born blind and had been a beggar all his life.  I can't help but wonder if he, now no longer visually challenged, had to start a job hunt.  Begging was no longer going to work as a means of generating revenue.  Had he been living with his parents all that time?  Probably.  That might continue for a while, but he was probably going to eventually have to move.  On and on.  Change after change.  However it turned out, you can bet his life was no longer the same as it was.

Lazarus ratchets this up several notches.  How do you live your life after you return from four days of being dead?  Do you catch your loved ones staring at you?  Is there a will to contest?  Are you even a legal person anymore?  Of course there is the initial uproar and excitement, but what happens after that?  A week later?  A month?

Do you just resume your former life?   I think not.  And I think there is a lesson here for us, as well.  We may not be healed of our infirmities, may not be raised from the dead to walk back into town and reunite with our friends and families in this world.  But we can have a life-changing encounter with God.  Sure, you can TRY to return to your former life; but when you emerge from an encounter with God, you are not going to be the same.  You are really no longer the person you were.  You can't be.  

So maybe we all need to be asking that question.  What comes next?

READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Fifth Sunday in Lent (April 10, 2011)
Ezekiel 37:1-14
Psalm 130
Romans 8:6-11
John 11:1-45