4th Sunday of Lent - Fr. Leo
In two different ways the blind man comes to see in today’s gospel. Both are significant. First he comes to see with his eyes. Blind from birth, he now sees the world in which he lives. Secondly, he comes to see Jesus as the Christ, he becomes a believer.
The relatedness of coming to see in these to ways, tells us that God’s presence makes a difference in our human everyday lives. Salvation isn’t about being delivered from the world, or from our humanity. Salvation is our humanity fully alive in the Christ who lived, who died and rose for us. It is sharing in the relatedness of the Son with the Father in the Holy Spirit.
The “coming to see” of the blind man isn’t a reward for good behavior. It was so that God’s goodness could be revealed through his transformation. The blind man allows Christ to anoint his eyes. The change was made by God. From this we learn that God is always willing to bring us to a fuller life. The only catch, is that it is a fuller life in God’s love, not something we determine.
The Pharisees struggle with their will verses God’s. Because this wonderful and miraculous event didn’t take place the way they thought it should, they demonize Jesus and ridicule the man blessed by God. Sadly, not even his parents can stand up to the social pressure of societies religious and cultural blindness.
Living in Christ is a growing in the light. God’s truth removes our blindness in many ways as we let go of our ways and come to think, feel and act among each other in God’s ways. God is our way, our truth and our life, and this becomes a reality when we live out our own death to sin, and resurrection into God.. Let us pray, that we may be able to admit our blindness like the man in today’s gospel, that we may come to see as he saw, Christ as the light of all life.