God is our light in the darkness; where are we willfully blind?

John 9: 1–41

As he passed by he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “Neither he nor his parents sinned; it is so that the works of God might be made visible through him. We have to do the works of the one who sent me while it is day. Night is coming when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva, and smeared the clay on his eyes, and said to him, “Go wash in the Pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went and washed, and came back able to see.

His neighbors and those who had seen him earlier as a beggar said, “Isn’t this the one who used to sit and beg?” Some said, “It is,” but others said, “No, he just looks like him.” He said, “I am.” So they said to him, “[So] how were your eyes opened?” He replied, “The man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and told me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went there and washed and was able to see.” And they said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I don’t know.”

They brought the one who was once blind to the Pharisees. Now Jesus had made clay and opened his eyes on a Sabbath. So then the Pharisees also asked him how he was able to see. He said to them, “He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and now I can see.” So some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, because he does not keep the sabbath.” [But] others said, “How can a sinful man do such signs?” And there was a division among them. So they said to the blind man again, “What do you have to say about him, since he opened your eyes?” He said, “He is a prophet.”

Now the Jews did not believe that he had been blind and gained his sight until they summoned the parents of the one who had gained his sight. They asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How does he now see? His parents answered and said, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. We do not know how he sees now, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him, he is of age; he can speak for himself.” His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone acknowledged him as the Messiah, he would be expelled from the synagogue. For this reason his parents said, “He is of age; question him.”

So a second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, “Give God the praise! We know that this man is a sinner.” He replied, “If he is a sinner, I do not know. One thing I do know is that I was blind and now I see.” So they said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” He answered them, “I told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples, too?” They ridiculed him and said, “You are that man’s disciple; we are disciples of Moses! We know that God spoke to Moses, but we do not know where this one is from.” The man answered and said to them, “This is what is so amazing, that you do not know where he is from, yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if one is devout and does his will, he listens to him. It is unheard of that anyone ever opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, he would not be able to do anything.” They answered and said to him, “You were born totally in sin, and are you trying to teach us?” Then they threw him out.

When Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, he found him and said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” He answered and said, “Who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” Jesus said to him, “You have seen him and the one speaking with you is he.” He said, “I do believe, Lord,” and he worshiped him. Then Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment, so that those who do not see might see, and those who do see might become blind.”

Some of the Pharisees who were with him heard this and said to him, “Surely we are not also blind, are we?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you are saying ‘We see’. And so your sin remains.”

Music Meditations

Open My Eyes, Lord—Jesse Manibusan
Amazing Grace—sung by Susan Boyle
Lead Kindly Light—Angelica Garza
Precious Lord, Take My Hand—NIU Chamber Choir

Opening Prayer

Lord, I know that I am often blind. I do not see others as you see them. Help me to see the beauty and the goodness in those around me, recognizing that you made them and love them as you do me. I also know that I am often caught up in the bitterness of failed expectations, or rejection or personal weakness. Help me to work though that bitterness and see my negative experiences as a change for you to work miracles of growth within me. Help me to remember who is in charge here…

Companions for the Journey

From “Sermons and reflections shared by Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Alexandria, VA”:

Katie was a classmate of mine in elementary school. We were in many of the same classes for kindergarten through 6th grade .I remember her younger brother well…he played trombone in the band, he had a whacky sense of humor, he played baseball…I remember her brother well…but I don’t remember much about Katie even though she was in my class for seven years. In fact, the only thing I really remember about Katie is that she was blind. I and others identified Katie by her disability. She was the “blind girl” at Dawes School. And sadly that’s all we knew. At least we knew her name…“The blind man” in today’s gospel didn’t even have that recognition. It seems that no one knows his name. No one really pays much attention to him. After his sight is restored by Jesus, his neighbors say, “Is that the man who used to sit and beg?” They really aren’t quite sure because no one knows him as a person – They identify him only by his blindness. Once he is no longer blind and begging, they don’t recognize him!

There are many stories of healing in the Bible. Jesus heals the blind, the deaf, the lame, those with chronic illness, those who are mentally ill, and others. These stories reveal to me a God of compassion, of strength, of miraculous power. But these healing stories are not comforting for everyone. In fact, these stories can be difficult for those who have disabilities. (And that’s a lot of people – nearly one in 5 in the United States according to the most recent census.) The healing stories of Jesus can be difficult because sometimes the impression is given that those with disabilities are not yet whole people – that they need to be fixed. The healing stories of Jesus can be difficult because sometimes the stories talk about healing as a result of the faith of the one who is healed, giving the impression that the person who still has a disability somehow does not have enough faith. The healing stories of Jesus can be difficult because sometimes a relationship is made between illness and sin, giving the impression that a person’s sinfulness causes the illness.

We need to debunk all of those false beliefs.
A disability does not need to be fixed to make a person whole.
A disability is not the result of a lack of faith.
A disability is not a punishment from God for sin.

And that is why John chapter 9 is claimed as such an important text for those within the disability community. When the disciples try to link sin with disability, Jesus won’t allow it – He clearly says that it is not the man’s sin or the sin of his parents which made him blind. There is also no association between faith and healing in this story. There is no act of faith on the man’s part. He does not ask for healing, He does not touch Jesus’ cloak like the woman who is hemorrhaging. He does not ask to be carried into healing pool like the paralyzed man at Bethesda. This man receives healing entirely through grace.

No faith necessary.

Furthermore, unlike how those with disabilities are sometimes treated in life as well as in the Bible, this story is helpful because the man who is blind is shown to be an individual – an intelligent individual with a winsome personality. He is thoughtful. He speaks for himself. He’s funny! I love this line … He’s asked what happened and responds “Why do you want me to tell the story to you again?” Can’t you see the grin on his face? “Do you also want to become his disciples?”.

But what I think is perhaps the most remarkable thing about this healing story, Aside from the fact that it shows the man as an individual, that it disabuses the notion of disability as a punishment for sin, that it doesn’t equate healing with faith… The most remarkable thing about this healing story is that Jesus teaches that it isn’t the man who has been blind since birth who needs healing…it isn’t he who is lacking in real sight. It is the others who need healing.

Those who are blind to God’s work in the world are the ones who need new vision.

Lent is often focused on changing something in our lives
We’ve talked about changes in circumstances,
We’ve talked about a change in heart,
We’ve talked about a change in habits…
Today we’re talking about a change in sight.

And we’re not talking about a change in sight for those who already wear glasses, We’re talking about corrective lenses for those of us who think we already have 20/20 vision. In her book For the Benefit of those who See, a wonderful collection of stories about her work with those who are visually impaired in Tibet, Rosemary Mahoney says that seeing is not a function of the eyes alone. “It is a function of the mind at least as much as the eyes,” she says. “We only see what we look at.”

So let’s think again about what it means to have 20/20 vision.
20/20 vision looks at the world and can see God’s hand in and through it all.
20/20 vision notices that the sacred is present outside of church or synagogue and in everyday life.
20/20 vision sees the blind man begging at the side of the road and stops to chat and find out his name.
20/20 vision observes tragedy around the world – a mudslide in Washington, a plane crash somewhere over the ocean, and does not blame the victims.
20/20 vision pays attention to inequalities due to race or socioeconomic class or gender and does not dismiss them.
20/20 vision looks, notices, sees, observes, pays attention to the world around them… and ironically, perhaps, the blind man has done this better than anyone else.

May our eyes be opened to see.

Weekly Memorization

Taken from the gospel for today’s session…

One thing I do know is that I was blind and now I see

Living the Good News

What action can you take in the next week as a response to today’s reading and discussion?

Keep a private journal of your prayer/actions responses this week. Feel free to use the personal reflection questions or the meditations which follow:

Reflection Questions

What is the difference between physical sight and vision?
John is not telling us that one man was born blind and Jesus cured him, but that we humans are “blind from birth” and we all need healing.
What are my limitations, blind spots, or false notions of God?
What leads us to spiritual blindness? (self-absorption, righteousness, unwillingness to change and grow, for example?)
When have I preferred shadows, darkness and illusion in my life?
What have been the enlightening moments in my life?
Do we see, really see, the needs around us, or are we willfully blind?
How do we deal with those who are willfully blind?
Can we?
Why are we born the way we are?
Do we believe our bad luck is the result of God’s punishment, or that our good luck is the result of God’s pleasure?
What kind of courage do we need in this day and age to witness to Jesus?
How has your perception of Jesus changed in the course of your own spiritual journey?
Recall some beliefs which were once a part of your life, but which you no longer consider to be true.
Have difficult times in your life affected your faith?
In what way?
If Jesus were to ask me “What is it that you want me to do for you, what would you answer?
What have been my “blind spots”?
Where has God’s grace figured in my enlightenment?
How has this enlightenment affected my behavior?
In short, we must do more than “believe”. We must act on our beliefs. What will my action be this week? Where will my light shine this week?
Has anyone ever tried to make me conform to beliefs that were popular and accepted as correct, but which contradicted my own?
Have I ever been in a position of power or authority where I tried to coerce others into voicing my opinions or beliefs?
Have I ever been intimidated by a person who had power to harm me in some way?
Is there anything in my life right now that keeps me from seeing what God wants me to see?
Has there even been someone in my life who shed light on my actions, my goals, my relationships? How did I respond?
Have I ever made judgments about someone based on how they looked or acted, or based on commonly held beliefs about such a person?
Has anyone ever judged me in this way?

Meditations

A Meditation in the Franciscan Style/Action:

Adapted from an article by John Yates in “Preaching Today”:

‘As he passed by he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “Neither he nor his parents sinned; it is so that the works of God might be made visible through him.’

Commentary:

The disciples couldn’t bear to let this opportunity slip away. They were just like you and I would have been. All their lives they had wondered about this age-old problem of pain. If God is a good God, and all powerful, why on earth would God allow a person to be struck down with such a problem? It was easy enough to understand if this person had been some despicable person. He would deserve to be punished. But this poor fellow was totally blind from the very beginning. When he came out of the womb, he couldn’t see. He had lived in total darkness. And so the disciples raised this question to their teacher. How did Jesus respond? Jesus could have explained that, although God is perfectly good and all-powerful, this world in which we live, which he made, has been corrupted by man’s sin. It’s a fallen, bent, crooked, broken place in which there are many selfish and harmful people, and in which there are millions of types of dangerous bacteria and viruses. All these forces are at work to make this a dangerous environment in which all people, evil or wonderful, are equally at risk, and no one is safe from danger. He himself, God’s own Son, was soon to be murdered. “All of us look to heaven as the only perfect environment.” Jesus could have said that. Or he could have explained that, yes, there are some situations in which the sin of the parent brings pain or grief or sickness on a child. We certainly see this in the case of children of alcoholics, or in instances where children suffer blindness or worse because of a parent infected with a venereal disease. Jesus could have gone into that. He could have explained that all suffering is not alike. He could have said, “Well, there are no pat answers. Here are several different things for you to think about.” He could have said, “Suffering has a place in God’s plan—in the lives of certain people and certain situations.”

Jesus missed an opportunity. He could have preached an unbelievably good sermon that would have gone down in history as the most penetrating analysis of the problem of pain ever given. He was the Son of God. He knew the answers to this problem. So much of our own inner pain and philosophical bewilderment could have been once and for all settled if Jesus had just preached that sermon that his disciples had begged him to preach.

Why did my father die as a young man? Why did this young mother and child die so cruelly in an automobile accident? Why that avalanche? Why that earthquake? Why that little boy without any arms? Why Auschwitz? Why Afghanistan? Why AIDS?

He could have explained all of that, but he didn’t. He didn’t. And as a result, we still have only an imperfect, incomplete understanding of the answers to the problem of pain. Often, we still find ourselves perplexed and grief-stricken in the midst of tragedies that befall all people everywhere. What did Jesus do in this situation? He said: The only thing I’m going to tell you right now is that this situation is an opportunity. It’s an opportunity for God to be glorified. It’s an opportunity to show what God can do. This is an important point: When you face tragedy, whether it’s sickness or natural disaster or whatever, you might be able to discern reasons why this is happening, and you may be able to lay the blame on someone or something. You may even be able somehow to see the hand of God in it. You may not, and it may seem God is not answering you when you pray. Why?

It just may be the only answer you will get is this: “This has happened; don’t dwell on why. Rather, it has happened, and having happened, we now have an opportunity to see God at work.” That really is a much better answer. What a shame that Jesus didn’t give us an answer to our questions about the problem of pain. All he said was: Here’s an opportunity to see what God can do.

Sickness and suffering are opportunities for us to show the love and compassion of God. I thought about that this week, and here’s what I thought: Sickness and people who are suffering around us provide us with an opportunity to show the love and compassion of God by caring for them and praying for them and working for their healing. It may be that God is calling you to medicine. It may be that God is calling you to work for the relief of suffering in areas stricken by famine. Perhaps God would have you become a part of our sick- and hospital-visitation ministry. It may be that God is calling you to a ministry of healing and relief for the sick and suffering. Affliction, sorrow, pain, loss, disappointment—they give us opportunity to demonstrate the love of God to people who are suffering. Many people, like this blind man in John 9, are too overcome by their suffering to be open to giving their lives to Christ. But when they are loved and cared for, when they sense the compassion of Christ through our deeds of mercy, they may, like this blind man, eventually come to Christ and find spiritual healing as well as physical healing.

When tragedy comes, we always want to focus on the why. Jesus said it happens for a purpose, and that purpose is that the power and love and greatness of God might be seen more deeply through this. You may have a tragedy in your life one day. Will you see it as disaster, a terrible defeat, or will you see it as an opportunity—as awful and as painful as it might be—an opportunity for God to do new things? Will you look backward, or will you look forward?

A Meditation in the Dominican Style/Asking Questions:

Read the section from John again on the man born blind, and pay special attention to the reactions of the Pharisees. Pharisees have not been well regarded by Christianity as a whole, but the fact is, they were very religious people. God really was the center of their lives, and they saw that the best way to do God’s will was to be very attentive to the laws of Judaism. These were rather strict laws which imposed a considerable burden on those who chose to follow them, and the piety of those who followed the laws was very real. These were, in the main, good people. In fact, when we look at the American Catholic of the 1950’s—rigidly and almost obsessively following “rules” such as abstaining from meat on Fridays, fasting each day of Lent, attending First Friday Masses, Stations of the Cross on Lenten Fridays, being very diligent about frequent confessions and the proper attire for Church—we can see a great resemblance between us and the Pharisees of Jesus’ time. The problem occurs when we think we know God better than anybody else does and proceed to judge others by our own religious standards. Spiritual arrogance is the problem for a lot of us, whether we realize it or not. Have I been confidently smug about my relationship with God because I appear to be a good person? I reflect on a time when I have I been judgmental of someone who made a decision which I thought was a bad or wrong one. Have I ever made a judgment about someone only to discover that I didn’t have the story straight? Did I share my judgment with others and injure this person’s reputation? I reflect on Jesus saying: since you say ‘we see’ your guilt remains. I end my meditation with a prayer for true humility which allows me to see the good in others and to realize that all my spiritual gifts come only from God.

A Meditation in the Ignatian Style/Imagination:

Read this passage again from John 9:1-41. Imagine that you are the blind man. What, exactly, is your life like? Where do you live? What do you do every day? How do other people treat you? What do you think when you hear that Jesus is in the area? Why do you do what Jesus says? How do you feel to have your sight restored? Does it make you nervous when you are questioned by the Pharisees? How does your perception of who Jesus is gradually change? Do you believe him only because of the fact that he healed you? What is your life going to be like from now on? Would it change anything about your perception of Jesus if your blindness recurred? Returning to the present day and your 21st century life, reflect on where you need healing, where Jesus has enlightened you, and what your mission is to be in this life going forward. Make a realistic plan.

Poetic Reflection:

Read the following poem from Mary Oliver, reflecting on whether you have ever been blind to God’s grace:

“The Vast Ocean Begins Just Outside Our Church: The Eucharist”

Something has happened
To the bread
And the wine.

They have been blessed.
What now?
The body leans forward

To receive the gift
From the priest’s hand,
Then the chalice.

They are something else now
From what they were
Before this began.

I want
To see Jesus,
Maybe in the clouds

Or on the shore,
Just walking,
Beautiful man

And clearly
Someone else
Besides.

On the hard days
I ask myself
If I ever will.

Also there are times
My body whispers to me
That I have.

Recall a time when God walked with you through the darkness of your own life.

Closing Prayer

Adapted from a homily by Father William Bausch in 60 More Seasonal Homilies

A Prayer for seeing…

Some of us are blind to our own faults
LORD, WE WANT TO SEE
Some us always focus on the weakness of others
LORD, WE WANT TO SEE
Some never acknowledge life’s blessings
LORD, WE WANT TO SEE
Some are blinded by unbridled desires for pleasure, money, and self-promotion, and fail to notice the needs of others, or the presence of the poor
LORD, WE WANT TO SEE
Some have eyes darkened by prejudice and hatred
LORD, WE WANT TO SEE
Some re blinded by ambition, and step all over others’ feelings
LORD, WE WANT TO SEE
Some are blinded by pride which makes them think they are the center of the universe
LORD, WE WANT TO SEE
Some wallow in their own self-pity and are turned in on their own sins and never notice God’s mercy
LORD, WE WANT TO SEE
Some don’t have their prayers answered and need to sense something deeper happening in the crosses they bear.
LORD, WE WANT TO SEE

Lord, we want to see as you see, to see others as you see them, to see ourselves as beloved, to see what is truly important. Lord help us to see your love and your light. Amen.

Weekly Reflections

Fourth Sunday in Lent, March 19, 2023