Today is the Fourth Sunday of Lent. I want to once again reflect on the Gospel for Year A, from John 9. It is the story of a man blind from birth who received his sight from Jesus. The man goes before the Pharisees and they question him about Jesus. When he proclaims that the healing is from God, the Pharisees become indignant and throw the man out.
After this episode, Jesus finds the man and asks him if he believes in the Son of Man. The man says, “Who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” Jesus answers, “You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he.” Jesus then says, “I came into the world for judgement, so that those who do not see might see, and those who do see might become blind.”
It’s an interesting juxtaposition, this notion of blindness and sight. On the one hand, being “blind” is bad; it means that we cannot see God or God’s hand at work. On the other hand, being “blind” is good; the blind must trust that someone or something is going to lead them safely around. On the one hand “seeing” is good; our eyes are open to God’s glory. On the other hand, “seeing” is bad; because we can see, we think we know all, we close ourselves off to learning new things. Let us pray that we can have both blindness and sight at their proper times.
Father, help us to see when we need to see, and to be blind when we need to be blind. Amen.
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