<\/p>\n
So, how is it that you and I are blind?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We are still in the midst of Lent; a time for meditation and reflection on our lives; a time for purification and change, so that when the Resurrection occurs, and the Light of the World, the resurrected Christ, shines his pure light into our hearts, we will be ready- ready like Paul challenges the Ephesians to be ready:\u00a0 “You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.\u00a0 Live as children of the light.”\u00a0 And the chances are that each one of us, yes, each one of us, is still blind. \u00a0We cannot see as God sees, and we would do well to reflect on that, so that on Easter, we can live as light, fully comfortable and joyful.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
In today’s Gospel, the blind man goes through a miraculous transformation physically; he is cured of his physical blindness in a flash.\u00a0 But he also goes through a second transformation:\u00a0 He is cured of spiritual blindness.\u00a0 We can see that this second transformation is slower.\u00a0 Notice that, as the multiple dialogs in our Gospel unfold, the blind man begins with spiritual ignorance.\u00a0 First, we hear:\u00a0 “I don’t know what happened, all I know is that Jesus did this to me and now I can see”.\u00a0 He was probably so shocked, so taken by what happened to him physically, that the implications of it all hadn’t had a chance to settle in.\u00a0 But then, as the later dialogs develop between the blind man and the Pharisees and between the blind man and Jesus, we see that he has a different attitude.\u00a0 So, he describes Jesus as a prophet- an explicit recognition that something exceptional happened, because he had a chance to reflect on the miracle. Yes, indeed, something profound happened and that meant to him that there was something special about Jesus.\u00a0 But then, after he meets Jesus again and Jesus tells him that He is the Messiah, the blind man tells Jesus that He believes.\u00a0 Ah, yes, he believes that Jesus is more than a prophet, and goes so far as to worship Him.\u00a0 Indeed, this blind man went through a spiritual transformation.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Now there are some of you who might think:\u00a0 “Well, that is all very interesting, but it happened to this one man.\u00a0 Certainly, I cannot identify with that blind man personally;\u00a0 after all, I am here, already a believer, a real believer.\u00a0 It’s the people like the Pharisees and the others in today’s Gospel story who are blind, not me.”\u00a0 Well, consider this.\u00a0 Samuel was one of the greatest Prophets and Judges of the Old Testament.\u00a0 And yet Samuel was still blind, unable to see as God sees.\u00a0 The proof of that is today’s story of the choice of David.\u00a0 Samuel is ready to choose the handsome older son of Jesse because, he saw differently than God.\u00a0 But God says basically, “don’t judge by appearances”.\u00a0 Samuel, you see, was blinded by appearances.\u00a0 And yet, ironically, once David is brought from virtual exile, away, hidden from sight by his pastoral duties as the family shepherd; indeed, once David is brought into the light, our reading tells us that David is “a youth handsome to behold and making a splendid appearance”!\u00a0 Wow!\u00a0 Once Samuel’s eyes were truly opened, then he could really see.\u00a0 All of us who think that we can see need the same kind of transformation.\u00a0 And Lent is the perfect time for us to stop what we are doing, take time out from the brilliance of the world and all it has to distract us, and to step back in such a way, that the hidden wisdom of God can transform us- transform us so that we can see, see the way God sees.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
So, I ask again, how is it that you and I are blind?\u00a0 What is it that you are not seeing that is affecting your life, your relationship with God?\u00a0 Is it something that is in your background, something that’s been there all along but you just haven’t seen it- a person, a circumstance, an opportunity, a problem?\u00a0 Is it something that you are hiding, keeping locked up inside of you?\u00a0 Perhaps it is something even suppressed because you don’t want to come to grips with it; or perhaps something that needs attention right now, but you think you are too busy to deal with it?\u00a0 Then again, maybe you’ve been praying for something, and you don’t recognize that God has already answered your prayer because you are judging by your ability to see, and can’t see as God sees.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Our second reading ends with a great piece of advice.\u00a0 It is thought to be lifted from an ancient Baptismal hymn.\u00a0 It is something all of us Baptized Christians would do well to ponder as we try to see things in our life\u00a0 rhe way God sees them.\u00a0 The advice is this:\u00a0 “Awake, O sleeper and arise from the dead.\u00a0 And Christ will give you light”.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Fourth Sunday of Lent 1 Sam 16: 1b, 6-7, 10-13a; Eph 5: 8-14; John 9: 1-41 Dc. Larry Brockman So, how is it that you and I are blind?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We are still in the midst of Lent; a time for meditation and reflection on our lives; a time for purification and change, so that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4,6],"tags":[31],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=167"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}