Years ago, when my sister first got contact lenses, she kept insisting to me how wonderful it was to be able to see all the time-that her eyes were always in focus, that there was so much more detail for contact lens wearers. I was skeptical, thinking that people got contact lenses, not so much to "see" as to "look"-as in "looking good." My sister was persistent, encouraging me to find out how good it was to be able to see. Finally, I took my sister at her word and decided to try contacts. My eye doctor put the lenses in my eyes, and as he held a mirror up to my face, my eyes slammed shut in pain. I could squint through my eyes enough to know that I, for one, had not gotten contacts in order to "look good." I drove home with my eyes pinched shut in pain counting the minutes until the two hours were up and I could take them out. I could not imagine what had possessed me to do this-if it was vanity, it was certainly misguided. But suddenly, for about ten seconds, the pain stopped enough that I could open my eyes. Lo and behold, everything was in focus. The details of the world around me were incredible. It was the difference between a professional photographer's work and the snapshots I got back from the drugstore developer. Now I get it, I thought.

People who have had cataract surgery tell me they have similar experiences. A world that had been blurred and vague immediately becomes details and everything takes on clarity. This doesn't happen to a person who is born blind. There have been recent cases of congenital blindness reversed by operations, giving people the sight they never had. Doctors tell us that, for some people, the sudden transition is not only incomprehensible, it's too much. One twelve-year-old had this operation and kept his eyes shut for a whole year, before he had the courage to open his eyes and try to learn how to sort out the confusing stimuli that met him when he received sight. For him, it was a case of terrifying and gradually-learned perception.

The man who washed the mud off his eyes in the pool of Siloam immediately understands what he is perceiving. What is progressive for him is the revelation of Jesus. He has four conversations with people about what happened to him-it almost sounds like he is negotiating with the religious leaders to get them to recognize the miracle. He starts out not sure of anything except that he was still himself, with the minor exception that he was no longer blind--now he could see. By the end of the fourth episode of being harangued about the miracle, he knows the miracle worker is from God. After he is thrown out of the religious community, Jesus finds the man-remember, the blind man has never "seen" Jesus-and Jesus invites him to believe in him. At the formerly blind man's statement of faith, Jesus says, "I came into the world for judgment." The light of the world has come for judgment.
What sort of "judgment"? When we read Ephesians today, we learned that we have also become "light" in Jesus. Which knocks my socks off, actually. Not only is that humbling-as in, now I am like Jesus-but it is sobering-as in, now I've got to act like it. Isn't that just like God? God never seems to do something just for the sake of amusement. God makes us light, the salvation we receive through Jesus Christ, makes requirements of us. And that is the judgment.
"Try to find out what is pleasing to the Lord."

And that's about it, kiddoes. I hear so much grace in this sentence. God does have expectations for us. As people of faith, there are things we should do, there are standards we should meet, ways we should live. But these are not secret things. We are, after all, people of the light. We can already see! We may have gradually growing perceptions of what is expected of us, but we are in the light-we are the light-and as long as we stay oriented to the light, we will grow. Kind of like plants. Paul exhorts Christians to "try to find out" what is pleasing to the Lord. He doesn't say, "be pleasing to the Lord or you'll get zapped." We already are pleasing to the Lord. What Paul is encouraging is reciprocity. Living as if we are like the One by whose name we are called. Acting, in other words, like Christians.
So, how do we find out how? How do we "try to find out what is pleasing to the Lord"? It's pretty simple, really. By hanging around with other Christians and imitating them, getting pointers from them (that's called "the church"). By listening to the how-to portions of sermons. By reading some of the many how-to books in our really excellent church library. By reading the Mission Yearbook. By reading the Bible and praying. It's simple. You already know how. It's just a matter of "doing." It's up to you.

Remember the oil this morning that the children experienced? The ancient, liturgical meaning of oil is that of sealing a covenant, sealing a friendship. You have been sealed in your baptisms, claimed by God, children of the covenant. You are light. Try to find out what is pleasing to God.