4 Lent Year A

Walking down the street with the disciples, Jesus saw a blind man. Maybe they were in the marketplace, or the village square, probably a place where lots of people walked by and through. Probably a place where the poor, the crippled, the blind, go to beg.

Rather than giving thanks for the miracle of sight, the first thing out of the mouth of the disciple who asked is, Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? And Jesus’ answer is that this man’s blindness is not due to his parents’ sin or his own sin. In fact, to Jesus, this is not about sin at all, many people of Jesus’ time thought that a physical ailment was do to you sinning or inheriting your parents’ sin. Jesus says, it’s not about sin at all; it’s about sight and seeing.

Jesus heals a blind man. Here is a man who has just had his sight restored, truly a miracle, and all the disciples can talk about is whether this man is the man who used to sit and beg. They really can’t quite place him, even after he says who he is, even after all the years they’ve walked by him in the marketplace. They want to take him to his parents’ house so that his parents can identify him, and then his parents don’t seem to be overjoyed at the miracle either, it seems they don’t want much to do with their son. Eventually the conversation turns to whom the man is who healed the blind man, and the blind man says, “Here is an astonishing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes.” It is an astonishing thing that they don’t know who Jesus is; and, that Jesus healed this man who they all know was blind, but they still don’t believe him.

I think this is a story about seeing and not seeing, it is about who is really blind. Jesus saw a man blind from birth. The disciples looked right through the blind man, they had seen him sitting in the same place for years, but had never seen him. When Jesus healed the blind man, the blind man saw Jesus for who he really is, the One who is from God. The Pharisees could neither see the blind man, nor could they see that the one who healed the blind man is the One who is from God. The blind man is the one who sees, the disciples and the Pharisees are the ones who are blind.

What is it we are blinded by? What is it that is right in front of us that we don’t see? All of us are born blind in one way or another. Some of us have blindness of body: a crippling disease, cancer, diabetes, or bad bones. Some of us have blindness of heart, and that is a terrible blindness. The blind of heart can’t love another beyond a superficial level and usually can’t even love themselves. The blind of heart often live lives corroded with addictions to material things, possessions, and work, to cover up the empty hole. And worst of all is blindness of the soul, which wraps all the rest of life in gloomy darkness.

There was just a report on the morning news show that people won’t take their vacation time even when they have it. If they do take vacation, they bring their cell phones and won’t turn them off, they check their email while they are away. Are we blind to the people in our lives, do we ever say to ourselves, “I just can’t see my way through this.”

Or maybe we are blind to our own self-indulgence, when the messages we constantly get are messages of acquisition and consumption. When competition for our dollars spurs networks to charge millions of dollars for seconds of advertising time, advertising that forms us into people who believe that our lives aim is to acquire more, to have bigger, better, newer. That the reason for being is all about you.

Or maybe we are blind to our own pessimism. This culture of fear we live in has a tendency to take our hope away. Sometimes it is difficult to see who we really are, people who are chosen and marked by God, delight of God’s life. Perhaps we are blind to the pain of a neighbor’s sorrow, or the loneliness of a child, or the needs of a spouse. Perhaps we are blind to the other who is different, whose life seems so foreign to our own, that we just don’t understand. Sometimes we are so wrapped up in making a living, pursuing the good life, or running from our fears that we just don’t see.

What kind of blindness lives inside you?

Jesus notices our blindness. Jesus sees. Jesus invites us to see. Jesus invites us to see with our very blind eyes, with our wounds and brokenness. Jesus uses our weaknesses as grace. Today we sing “amazing grace.” We sing of our blindness that Jesus heals.

On our Lenten journey we are called to be healed of our own blindness, and we prepare for celebrating the life, death and resurrection of Jesus in the Eucharist, and we celebrate how through Jesus we come to see others, all creation, and ourselves as wonderful gifts. This is the Good News that shines brightly through our blindness. Jesus has offered us a new view of life, death and resurrection. We have been called and chosen, but not because of distinctions, achievements, family lineage, or personal attractiveness, not because God sees us as any more beautiful or deserving as anyone else. God’s love is blind to such plastic categories.

We have been called and chosen despite our tendency to blindness. We have been called and chosen even though we trip over those we cannot see. We have been called and chosen despite looking directly at someone, and not seeing who they are, their pain and suffering, or their joy. But, in this new view of life, we recognize that life, death and resurrection means that we must look at people in the eye, and that we take a new look at ourselves. It takes time to see clearly, and we must be patient in our recovery.

When we see with the healed eyes that Jesus gives us, we will recognize that each and every one of us is a wonderful creation of God. When we look into the eyes of our neighbor, we may see a person who is hurting and lonely just like us; and we may see a person who is blessed and joyful, just like us. When we look into the eyes of the one who we think is wrong, we may recognize a person who has come to their convictions through prayer and bible study, just like like us. When we look into the eyes of the one we hate, we will recognize someone who God loves, just like us.

And when someone looks into your eyes, do they recognize who you truly are, a new creation, a person healed and transformed through love by God? Can they see your life, can they see your struggle, can they see your sadness, can they see your joy, can they see your integrity, do they recognize you, washed in the waters of baptism, clean and pure, a reflection of the creator God.

Do they see one whose life, right now, attests to Jesus, the light of the world? Do they see that you love Jesus? When someone looks into your eyes, do they recognize the fruits of your new life, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

In what ways, during the rest of this Lent, can you open your eyes to Jesus?

Lord God, heal our vision, so that we may see you more clearly, right here, right now.

The Lord is full of compassion and mercy: Come let us adore him. Amen.