FOURTH SUNDAY OF LENT YEAR A
First Reading: 1 Samuel 16:1b, 6-7, 10-13
Second Reading: Ephesians 5:8-14
Gospel: John 9:1-41
Today is Laetare Sunday. Laetare comes from the first word of the Latin introit for the mass and means “rejoice.” Joy is essentially a Christian characteristic and in the season of Lent, the Church reminds us that we should be joyful always. Joy is the first fruit of love. And so the Church reminds us that joy is perfectly compatible with mortification and pain. It is sadness and not penance which is opposed to happiness and joy. Participating actively in this season of lent which reaches its climax in the passion and death of Christ, we come to experience the joy of the cross and realize that approaching the cross also means that the feast of our salvation is coming ever closer.
The ability to rejoice amidst sorrowful circumstances is only possible for the person of faith, the one who has the light of God and therefore can see things from the perspective of God. The first reading narrates the anointing of David as king. The prophet Samuel judges wrongly because he sees as man, he looks at appearances but God looks at the heart. It shows how even the best of us is blind without the help of the light of Christ. We receive the light of Christ at baptism. That’s why in ancient times baptism was also called “illumination,” and being baptized meant “to be illuminated.”
In the second reading, St. Paul reminds us that having received the light of Christ, we must live as children of light – avoiding the works of darkness and embracing the works of light. Darkness stands for ugliness, misery, sin, death and above all for the devil himself who is the source of all these. Light stands for beauty, joy, holiness, life and above all, God himself.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus gives sight to a man born blind. The story reaches its climax when the man makes an act of faith in Christ and worships him. In a sense, we are all born blind and the story of the healing of the blind man is the story of our journey of faith. The first thing we notice in this story is that it was not the blind man who asked Jesus to heal him as in the case of the healing of blind Bartimaeus or other healings. His healing is the initiative of Christ and is out of mercy. The same is true for us. We did not choose him; he chose us out of his merciful love. Each time someone comes to faith in Christ, it is always Christ who takes the first step and pours out his grace.
Secondly, the blind man recognizes that he cannot help himself. The grace of God already at work in him leads him to put his trust in Jesus and obeyed when Jesus asked him to go and wash in the Pool of Siloam. But his gift of sight is just the beginning. He progresses from darkness to light. At first, he regards Jesus as a man, then as a prophet, and at the end confesses faith in Jesus as the Lord and worshipped him. Whereas the religious leaders, despite their learnings, progressed towards more and more darkness because of their refusal to believe even in the face of a miracle performed in their presence. Their refusal to believe rendered them blind.
The dead sea scroll tells us that the first man came into being when God’s saliva mixed with the mud. By mixing his saliva with mud to give sight to the blind man, Jesus is imitating the creative action of God and revealing himself as the Son of God. It also shows how God communicates his grace through common elements like water in baptism and bread and wine in the Eucharist. This is something we cannot see with our physical eyes but with the eyes of faith.
How often do we like the Pharisees, refuse to see and remain obstinate in the face of truth? How often are we reluctant even to acknowledge the presence, love and mercy of God in our everyday life? How often do we judge others based on appearances and hearsay? How often do we refuse to see the good in others and recognize that they are also children of God but are quick to see the wrong? Like the Pharisees, we often pride ourselves as the reservoir of knowledge and epitome of virtue and fail to see our weaknesses and sins. This arrogance is the source of the worst kind of blindness. And that is the blindness Jesus wants to heal in us.
We need not be ashamed to own our blindness. The Gospel today challenges us to acknowledge our blindness and respond to the invitation of Christ to be touched by him and to wash in the Pool of Siloam. Jesus awaits us at the confessional where he touches our eyes with his holy hands. Jesus said, “I am the Light of the world.” “The true light that enlightens every man was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world knew him not” John 1: 9-10). Elsewhere, he said, “whoever follows me will not walk in the darkness but will have the light of life” (John 8: 12). That is why St Paul insists that as members of a community that has received the light of Christ, we must live in a manner that those who have not seen the light of Christ may come to see it through us and come to faith.
Happy Sunday
Fr Chidi Onwuka m.ss.cc.