Fourth Sunday of Lent Year A
Christ the Light of the World
1st Rdg 1Sam 16: 1-13, Psm 23, 2nd Rdg Eph. 5: 8-14, Gospel John 9: 1-49
Once again I invite you to start with Sr. Miriam Heildbands interpretation and purpose of the three pillars of Lent:
I. Prayer; healing our relationship with God
II. Fasting; healing our relationship with self
III. Almsgiving; healing our relationship with others
The terms healing and relationship are central to the purposes of the three pillars of Lent. I would hence like us to reflect on the two terms: healing and relationships in the light of the readings of today.
Aristotle defined a human being as a social being with an inherent drive to relate. Relationship is threefold: Vertical; with a supreme being, God. Horizontal; with others and internal; with self. These three dimensions of relationship compliment each other and none can be complete without the other. However our relationships depend on how we see reality: how we see God(our image of God), how we see ourselves(our image of self) and how we see others(our image of others). Therefore how we see, perceive, and understand reality is very important. This is the reason today’s readings focus on sight and perception.
Story of Terrence the blind Man
In 2018 when I reported to the place of my first appointment as a priest, I was amazed at one blind man who formed part of the choir that sung during the welcome Mass. With both eyes blind, he played the harp very well. After the celebrations in the evening as people returned to their homes to rest, he couldn’t go back to his home 11kms away from the parish. He was hence hosted for the night in a nearby family. When he was taken to his room and lights turned on, Terrance the blind Man said “thank you for this beautiful room and the bed”. Everybody wondered how he was able to see that the room was beautiful. Only Terrance new. I think he didn’t need to physically see in order to appreciate beauty and the hospitality of his host.
The Sixth Sign; The Healing of the Man Born Blind.
The gospel according to John refers to the miracles Jesus performed as signs. A sign is usually intended to communicate a hidden reality or as a guide/pointer towards something not immediately recognizable. John records seven of Jesus’ miracles. In the spirit of the Judeo-Christian tradition, the seven signs are complete, enough to help us see, understand and believe in Jesus as son of God and Messiah. Therefore, seeing is believing.
Jesus moving with his disciples, encountered a man born blind. To the disciples still stuck with the image of a vengeful God, think that the man is born blind as a punishment for his or his parents’ sin. Jesus however sees the blindness not as a problem but an opportunity to reveal himself and the glory of God. Blindness from birth also refers to the primordial blindness of not having encountered God or never having had an opportunity to encounter Jesus or to believe in Jesus. With no mention of the man’s request for healing, Jesus’ sees deep within him the desire not for money but for healing, makes mud using his spittle and dust, anoints the man’s eyes and sends him to wash at the pool of Siloam. The man does as Jesus told him without any questions and he is healed. His healing opens a new reality for him. He is no longer the blind man people ignored by the roadside but he is now the centre of a controversy that gradually leads him to faith in Jesus as the son of God. The neighbours couldn’t believe that he was truly healed and hence took him to the Pharisees who likewise rather than seeing the sign chose to see (focus) on the law to continue in their rejection of Jesus and the parents instead of celebrating the good news of sight to their son due to fear, disowned the truth. However for the man whose eyes were opened, his relationship with Jesus transformed from Jesus being just another man, to a prophet and to the Lord(Messiah).
Invitation to see as God Sees
The Lord said, “do not look at his appearance…for the Lord sees not as man sees, man looks at the outward appearance but the Lord looks on the heart.”
The question is why do we have different perceptions of the same reality? Our background, environment, relations, culture etc influence our perception of reality and hence how we relate to reality. Much as there are many good things we learn from these factors that determine who we are, they are not perfect in themselves. We also therefore learn negative elements that determine how we may perceive and relate with God, self and others. This is the reason we need the light of Christ to guide us. We need new glasses. The new glasses may not change the reality but rather change how we perceive reality i.e, how we see God; from a harsh and vengeful police officer to a loving father; from a distorted image of self and others to the Image and likeness of God that is in each and every person. This is the healing of sight we need in order to transform our relationships.
This Lenten season we need to adopt the way of Jesus who often lovingly looked deeper into the heart to see the needs of others and responded with empathy, sympathy and compassion. This transformation will only happen if we allow Christ to challenge our belief systems and social structures that blind us such as tribalism, racism, religious intolerance, secularism, materialism, individualism and consumerism that compel us to manipulate God, and others for our selfish gains. Like the moon that receives light from the sun, stores it and radiates it to the universe. Let us receive light from God, allow it to enlighten/ illumine us such that we can illumine others.
Mark O. MHM
