Sleeper, Awake

I wonder if you are awake this morning? There are many times in the Bible where sleeping or waking is talked about. In the garden of Gethsemane the disciples famously can’t keep their eyes open while Jesus prays. There’s the time when Jesus was fast asleep on the boat while a storm raged, and the disciples shake him awake yelling that they’re going to die. Then at the transfiguration the disciples are ‘weighed down with sleep’ until they see Jesus transformed before their eyes, which is enough to startle anyone into wakefulness.

At the end of our reading from Ephesians today we hear the urging, “Sleeper, awake! Rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” Imagine if that was your alarm ringtone - “Sleeper, awake!” It would shake us all into action at the start of the day! But often when sleeping or waking is mentioned in the Bible it is because it wants to draw our attention to a spiritual aspect of what is happening. In Ephesians it is not talking literally to people who are just having an afternoon nap, instead it’s exhorting a spiritual awareness and readiness, asking us to open our eyes to the light that is already shining. I wonder if you’ve ever had a moment when you realised that there was something you hadn’t noticed or considered, when it had been right in front of you for ages? My husband Lewis is often baffled by my complete lack of a sense of direction. I can get lost ridiculously easily. I also sometimes don’t notice things right in front of my face. ‘Has that always been like that?’ is a phrase I find myself using pretty regularly, while Lewis shakes his head at my lack of awareness.

But when we consider ourselves in the bigger picture I think we can all find ourselves failing to notice, or failing to wake up sometimes. Because it is surprisingly easy to move through life half-awake. We fall into habits. We assume we understand things. We settle into patterns of thinking about ourselves, or about others, or about God. We think we see clearly, when perhaps we are simply seeing what we are used to, or seeing what we want to see rather than what is actually there. And that is exactly what’s going on in today’s gospel story. Assumptions are flying!

At the beginning of this interaction, when the disciples see the man who has been blind since birth, they immediately ask a classic question which we often still default to today: “Who sinned, that this happened to this person?” Because surely someone must be to blame. Surely there is a logical cause and effect, a reason to explain what they see. But Jesus invites them to wake up to a different explanation, that instead of assigning blame, they will see God at work through this man.

Pretty much everyone else in this story seems to be asleep to the power of God as well. Everyone who is used to seeing this man begging starts to disbelieve their eyes that it is the same man now healed, or they leap to the conclusion that Jesus must be sinful because he broke Sabbath laws to carry out the miracle. A wonderful restoration has happened before their eyes, but the only person who seems completely clear about the situation is the man who has spent his whole life being blind. And for him, his spiritual sight, his understanding of Jesus, blossoms over the course of the story. First he describes, “The man called Jesus.” Later he says, “He is a prophet.” Eventually he says, “Lord, I believe.”

So the blind man ends up seeing more clearly than anyone else. And the people who are convinced that they see perfectly well are the ones stumbling around in the dark. Here the sleepers are being shaken awake, the complacent are invited to be startled into new understanding, as God shows up in an unexpected way.

I wonder if this story makes you uncomfortable at all? Most of us instinctively assume we belong in the ‘awake’ group, that of course we are the people who see clearly. But I wonder what it might bring if we let go of that assumption for a moment. Are we bold enough, self-aware enough, to consider that there may be places in our lives where we have grown used to darkness without even noticing it. Could it be possible that we might not see everything clearly after all? Does our comfortable self-assignment to the enlightened, awake group need examination?

Paul’s call is an invitation to thoughtful observation: “Sleeper, awake! Rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” So how might we be alive in faith? How might we practise waking up?

For the man in John’s story his journey is gradual. He accepts a messy, surprising encounter of mud, a pool, and a command; and follows where Jesus leads. That is how grace tends to work, not as a neat list of bullet points to follow or a program we can design, but as a startling encounter we choose to follow. We also have an advantage, that we are already starting with a gift: an identity already shaped by God. Our Ephesians reading opens with the wonderful statement that, ‘Once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light.’ Not, ‘you could be light’, or, ‘you might be light if you work really hard’. But, ‘you are light’.

But even the disciples needed to practice waking up to Jesus, to practice waking up to God who walked alongside them on the dusty roads. So what might waking up look like for us, awake and full of light in Christ, as we head towards Easter once again? I wonder what it could mean for you?

It might mean setting aside a few minutes each day to notice: where am I anxious, where am I comfortable, what habit am I repeating without thought? It might mean confessing not only the big things but also the small inattentions, those tiny habits that keep the light from reaching the deep places in our souls. It might mean letting ourselves be disturbed by scripture or by another person, until, like today’s protagonist, we admit, “I was blind, now I see.” But most of all, to wake up means living as people whose deepest identity is defined by the light Christ offers. That light that dwells within us.

So, do you think you are awake? Sometimes we all miss what is in front of us. Sometimes we are all sleepers who need to let ourselves be gently shaken. I encourage you to try one small practice this week that will help you notice the light. Perhaps it’s a morning minute of silence, a conversation with someone you disagree with, an honest moment before God naming a circumstance where you don’t see well. And when Christ who is the light within us asks, “Do you believe?” may we, like the man born blind, answer truly: “Lord, I believe.”

Amen. ______

God of adventure and discovery, We thank you for the gift of scouting. We thank you for scouts who are learning and growing today, and for all who have been shaped by scouting through the years. Bless the young people who are discovering courage, service, and friendship. Guide them as they learn to care for one another and for the world you have made. Strengthen and encourage the scout leaders and volunteers who give their time to guide and support them. May the spirit of helpfulness, perseverance, and service that scouting teaches, inspire us all to live faithfully and generously; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Ephesians 5:8-14; John 9:1-41