(El Greco)
"The one speaking with you is he."
Sunday Word: http://usccb.org/bible/readings/033014.cfm
1 Sam 16: 1b, 6-7, 10 – 13a
Eph 5: 8-14
Jn 9: 1-41
Why
do good things happen to bad people? Why
do bad things happen to good people? Therein lays a very common Christian
conundrum. We are puzzled by what we often experience and see happen to
others. Why should the good suffer and
the bad seem to enjoy rewards they seemingly don’t deserve?
I
was recently asked this question by a parishioner and maybe you’ve asked it
yourself as well. I know I have. Is there a satisfying answer? Not really.
The Old Testament Book of Job is the classic story which tries to come
to some answer but in the end innocent Job’s misfortune is simply something he
must embrace and remain faithful to God who may not clearly answer our
confusion but we know remains faithful to us. We are us and God is God. He has his ways but it isn’t just blind fate.
In
the time of Jesus the answer to misfortune, particularly physical illness or
great suffering was that we deserved it.
Both the good and the bad find themselves suffering from leprosy, blindness,
deafness, great poverty because of some great sin they or their parents must
have committed. Suffering is God’s
punishment for sin committed.
As
a result, the clean and healthy remained a safe distance from the “sinners”
lest they too fall into misfortune.
Ritual purity and dietary laws were rampant in the time of Jesus so it
is no surprise that his disciples in the Gospel this Sunday would ask the
question upon finding a man blind from birth:”‘Rabbi, who sinned? This man or his parents that he was born
blind?’”
Jesus’
answer to their confusion sets the tone of the Gospel at this point in Lent:
“Neither he nor his parents sinned; it is so that the works of God might be
made visible through him . . .” With that simple statement Jesus presented a
view of God that was indeed revolutionary in ancient times. God’s concern is not with the sin committed
but with the suffering he sees. Therefore,
suffering and misfortune must have some other purpose or meaning rather than
punishment for sin. God is moved when he sees suffering whether upon the
innocent or the guilty. Scholars describe that Jesus was moved from his “bowels”
in the face of suffering - deep in his person with compassion.
The
sinfulness of the man is not a question but his blindness becomes, as Jesus
states, an opportunity so that the, “works of God might be made visible through
him.” In other words, God will be
glorified through this event.
The
Gospel then continues a balance between the search for truth and those who act
out of prejudice or false assumptions. What was meant to be a compassionate
healing has now turned into a trial and debate on the meaning of both suffering
and sin.
The
neighbors of the man and the Pharisees step in to ask: “How were your eyes
open?” Then his parents are brought in, then Jesus himself is falsely accused
of being “not from God” because he healed on the Sabbath
But
all are acting out of ignorance and misunderstanding. All are blind to the truth
and live in the darkness of prejudice and ignorance. For John, the theme of darkness and light is
popular as we move from ignorance to knowledge; from no faith to the light of
faith itself; Faith in the truth of who Jesus is. But who sees that? Not the self-righteous Pharisees but the blind
man alone who can now see.
For
the early Christians and for us today who are possibly more blinded by the disruptions
of modern culture with countless distractions of media, technology, the
emphasis on science and endless information over the internet, radio and
television, this Gospel story is an important one as we move towards the Easter
renewal of our baptism confession of faith along with our Elect.
How
did we first come to know the faith? Through
the waters of baptism and the families in which we were raised. The blind man washes in the pool of Siloam
and then can see. So too, the grace of
Baptism takes away the blindness of sin and plants the seed of faith in us but
where are we still blind?
We
experience persecution and misunderstanding today as did the early Christians
who at one point were expelled from the Jewish community and from Synagogue
worship. So too, the man in the story is
thrown out from the synagogue and essentially expelled from his faith
community. What does he do? Jesus searches him out and reveals the truth
of who he is.
A
beautiful conversation between Jesus and the man then begins as Our Lord
states: “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”
The
no longer blind man responds: “Who is he, sir that I may believe in him?” His desire is to see with the eyes of faith.
Jesus
then reveals himself: “. . . the one speaking with you is he.”
And
the man responds as we must all do: “I do believe, Lord, and he worshiped him.”
God
has revealed or uncovered himself in Jesus.
He has come to visit us or as a source sates: “God’s irruption” in
history. He searches for every person not
with condemnation and punishment but with mercy and forgiveness.
We
can be distracted, blinded, and simply prejudiced by our own sin and the lure
of temptation around us. But, God desires
that we be whole and to see him as Lord of our life and to turn away from what
causes us to not see – whatever causes our blindness. But his "amazing grace" and mercy heals that darkness.
As
St. Paul so beautifully puts in the second reading from Ephesians: “You were once
darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.
Live as children of light, for light produces every kind of goodness and
righteousness and truth.”
By
the mystery of the Incarnation
he has
led the human race that walked in darkness
into the
radiance of the faith
and has
brought those born in slavery to ancient sin
through the waters of regeneration
to make
them your adopted children.
(Preface for Fourth
Sunday of Lent)
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