Protecting the Self
Thank you for traveling through Lent with us. What I want to talk about this week is how each of us has a tendency to try to protect ourselves—our ego. Any often the way we do that actually hurts us so, whether it’s operating via a formula or trying to control situations, or being subborn and sticking to our own way. These are all different way we try to protect our ego, protect ourselves, we often end up losing ourselves.
Lent is about repentance, and repentance leads us to renewal. Thematically, as we move through the season of Lent and repent of the different things that shape our lives, it opens us up to experience the renewal of the resurrection that we celebrate at Easter.
Today I want to look at the way we wrestle with protecting ourselves and how, in doing so, we may actually lose ourselves. We see this in the story from John 9, where Jesus heals a man who was born blind. As the story begins, Jesus encounters this blind man and the disciples ask, “Was it this man who sinned, or his parents, that caused his blindness?” Jesus responds, “Neither. He is blind so that the work of God might be revealed in his life.” Then Jesus declares that he is the light of the world and says it is time for him to get to work.
Jesus spits on the ground, makes a mud paste, places it on the man’s eyes, and tells him to go wash it off in the pool. After he does, the man can see. Everyone in the community is shocked and amazed because this is someone they know has always been blind, yet now he can see.
The Pharisees, however, are frustrated with Jesus and feel threatened by him. Because of that, everyone in the community knows that aligning themselves with Jesus could be risky. So the community members go to the Pharisees and say, “Listen, we had nothing to do with this. Jesus healed this man. He couldn’t see before, but now he can. But he did it on the Sabbath.” That raises questions, and the Pharisees begin their investigation.
They go to the man’s parents and ask them about what happened. The parents respond by saying, “Listen, we don’t know anything about this. Our son is old enough to speak for himself. Ask him.” They want to keep their distance from the situation.
So the Pharisees return to the man who had been blind and ask him what happened. He says, “Yes, it happened.” They begin questioning whether Jesus is from God, and the man responds, “All I know is that I couldn’t see before, but now I can. This seems like a really good thing. Good things don’t come from sin—they come from God.” At that point the Pharisees become upset, drive him out of the synagogue, and banish him.
When Jesus hears what has happened, he goes back to the man and engages him. The man asks Jesus, “Are you the Son of Man?” Jesus tells him that he is, and the man responds in faith and follows him. The Pharisees overhear this exchange and return to Jesus, insisting that they are not the ones who are blind. Jesus responds, “Actually, you are. If you had been blind, you would be without sin. But because you claim you see, your sin remains.”
What we see in this story is how the Pharisees and the parents try to protect their ego through some of the same patterns we often fall into. The Pharisees operate by a rigid formula that they expect everyone to follow. Through their power they try to control the situation, and in the end, instead of being open to what God is doing, they cling blindly to their own way.
Both the parents and the Pharisees try to protect themselves, but in doing so they lose themselves. Meanwhile, the man who was blind actually experiences life. Because he is open, he experiences transformation. This is the invitation for us as well—to repent and acknowledge that we also fall into these patterns so that we might experience renewal.
The first pattern is what we might call formula living. If you think about it, all of us have formulas for different things—how to succeed in our careers, how to live longer, how to make money, and so on. We often live as if life works like A plus B equals C. But we all know that formulas don’t always work. They can be helpful guidelines, and certainly our actions and inactions have consequences, but life is not simply a formula.
Instead of protecting ourselves through rigid formulas, God invites us into something different. When Jesus says that the man was blind so that God’s work could be displayed in his life, it reminds us that God has taken this world—good yet broken—and is constantly at work restoring it. That restoration happens in our lives today, but it is also a promise of what is to come. This invitation to restoration is an invitation into a relational life rather than a formulaic life. As we commit ourselves to that relationship with God and pursue renewal and goodness, we begin to experience the life we truly desire.
So the question for you is: In what ways might you be overly committed to a formula? Where is that showing up in your life, and what might it look like to loosen your grip on it?
The second pattern is control. Control is always a counterfeit for love. We try to control others because we think it will give us what we need, but in doing so we often destroy the very thing we want—an experience of love.
It’s a bit like turkey bacon. Turkey bacon isn’t very good, and it doesn’t really taste like bacon. It’s a counterfeit—you don’t actually get what you’re craving. The same thing happens with control. When we try to control our kids, our spouse or partner, or people at work, we squeeze the life out of the relationship and still don’t get what we’re looking for.
Instead, we are invited to live like the man who was healed—by faith. Living by faith means trusting that ultimate reality has been revealed in the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. It means trusting in God’s goodness, trusting that life will be restored, and trusting that even in the midst of death, new life can emerge. As we pursue restoration, we pursue love, and in doing so we experience what we are actually looking for instead of the empty substitute of control.
So ask yourself: Where are you trying to control things? Is it your kids? Your spouse or partner? Something at work? When we try to control these things, we rarely get what we want, because what we are really seeking is love, connection with God, and connection with others—and those things cannot be produced through control.
Finally, the story shows us how the Pharisees become blindly committed to their own way. They are so convinced they are right that they fail to see God at work right in front of them.
For us, blindly committing to our own way often shows up as stubbornness. It’s a way of protecting our ego because we are afraid to admit that we might be wrong. So where in your life do you find yourself feeling frustrated, doing the same thing over and over again while hoping for different results? That frustration might reveal where you are clinging to your own way instead of being open to what God might be doing—something different, something mysterious, something unexpected.
Whatever it is for you, my hope is that this week you will repent of the tendency to protect yourself through formulas, through controlling others, or through stubbornly clinging to your own way. Instead, pursue renewal by seeking restoration, living by faith, and remaining open to what God might be doing.
I hope you have a great week, and I can’t wait to see you next Sunday. Take care.
