March 2, 2008
SEEING IS
BELIEVING?!
REALLY? FOR WHOM?!
The account from this week’s readings, taken from the Gospel of John
(9:1-41) is an ‘eye-opener’ for all of us. Here we encounter two kinds of
blindness. The first kind of blindness is in the man physically blind from
birth. Jesus first clarifies that his condition is not a
result of his sin or the sins of his parents. In those days any infirmity was viewed as a punishment
from God for past sin. Out of compassion
Jesus smeared the man’s eyes with His spittle mixed with clay and had the man
wash them in the Pool of Siloam. The result was that he received his physical
sight for the first time.
The curtain opens then on the onlookers, who were with the other kind of blindness, ‘refusal to see’! They refused to acknowledge that the man blind from birth received his sight from Jesus and went so far as to disbelieve that it was the same man even when his parents testified that he was! This kind of blindness is the direct effect of those prejudiced by race, color, gender or anger, pride and hardness of heart. They refuse to attribute any good to (cont.)
THOSE WHO LIVE IN DARKNESS, SHAME & PREJUDICES ARE
‘LIGHT SENSITIVE’!
Continued from front page …
Instead of rejoicing with the miracle of sight that the man received
from Jesus and giving God praise for His marvelous works, they instead embarked
on a ridiculous investigation to
determine whether the man was a look alike, this time refusing to accept the testimony of the man
himself. They threw him out rather than
have to confront their blindness, prejudices, pride, anger
or value system.
The blind man now meets and sees Jesus for the first time. He is filled
with joy and gratitude for what the Lord accomplished for him, was quick to
believe in Jesus as “Lord” and to worship Him in faith. He becomes a child of
the light and is sent then to bear witness to the light he received to the
world.
For those who were not physically blind, but who live in the dark
blindness of sin, shameful acts, secret evils and prejudices, Jesus offers
20-20 spiritual renewal and sight. However many who are spiritually blind
refuse to see. If they chose to be healed and ‘to see’ then it would demand
that they have a complete change of heart and
lifestyle. The proud, prejudiced, arrogant and close-minded not only
miss seeing Jesus as the Messiah and the Christ, they would also voluntarily
shut their eyes to seeing their sin, their need for healing and their need to
let go of the darkness that cripples them.
They are sensitive to the Light of Christ exposing their dark ways and
they choose instead to continue to live
in their shame and darkness.
But the life of the man born blind, who was open to God’s grace in his
life, would be radically changed. He
would no longer have to beg, no longer need a blind man’s stick and would be
able to enjoy and feast on all the visual extravaganza the world had to offer.
All of us have some areas of sin, darkness, prejudices or shame that we
should want to be rid off. Jesus calls
us to humbly approach him, seek forgiveness and mercy, receive the light of grace and then live a
radically transformed and new way of life.
We are called to have the scales removed from our eyes and to live as
children of the light. Paul in our
second reading, in his letter to the Ephesians (5:8-14), will underscore that the sign that we are
children of the light is that we produce every kind of goodness and
righteousness and truth and will take no part in the fruitless works of
darkness. If we have indeed been given
the gift of spiritual life, faith vision and light, then let us enjoy living in
the light and leading others to the healing Light of Christ.
Fr. Francis Nigli
