{"id":537,"date":"2014-03-30T22:34:40","date_gmt":"2014-03-31T03:34:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/?p=537"},"modified":"2014-05-04T22:37:58","modified_gmt":"2014-05-05T03:37:58","slug":"537","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/?p=537","title":{"rendered":"Awakening from Sleep"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fourth Sunday of Lent<\/span><\/h2>\n

1 Sam 16: 1b, 6-7, 10-13a; Eph 5: 8-14; John 9: 1-41<\/span><\/h2>\n

Dc. Larry Brockman<\/span><\/h2>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There are all kinds of ways for a person to \u201csee\u201d.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>And todays readings talk about many of them.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

First, Samuel had his vision about what to look for in a King.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>He was looking for the tall, powerful, self-confident commanding type; the kind you think about when you imagine a King.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>But God was looking for a man after His own heart.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>So, the two did not \u201csee\u201d eye to eye on what the best attributes of a King were.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Their perspectives were different.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Indeed, we see differently according to what we are looking for.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Perspective can blind us to discovering the truth and God\u2019s will.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Then there is Paul\u2019s description of the deeds of men.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Basically, Paul points out that we see the same thing differently when it is bright and illuminated than we do when it is shrouded in darkness and shadows.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>What is hidden from others to see may be terribly flawed when viewed in brightness and light.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Indeed, one can hide the truth from people using darkness and obscurity; but that doesn\u2019t change the truth.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>So, we can be deceived by what we don\u2019t see in the full picture of things; or worse yet, attracted to the dark side of something that is bad for us. <\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

And then there is the blind man in the Gospel.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>He cannot see with his eyes; and so he has learned to \u201csee\u201d with his other senses. <\/span>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Jesus gives him his physical sight; but his ability to \u201csee\u201d with his other senses has served him well because he recognized God in Jesus. <\/span>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>This great faith in God served him well in standing up to the Pharisees and in moving forward.in life.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>This man, even though he gained his physical sight and could then function in his world, followed after Jesus and sought the kingdom of God. <\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Lastly, there were the Pharisees.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>They saw only the letter of the law; not its spirit.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>They deceived themselves into thinking that they were complying with the law by following the mechanics of the law.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>They became quite good at that- literal compliance.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Anyone who came along and challenged their sense of contentment was attacked.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>They were so consumed with the detail tat they couldn\u2019t see the forest from the trees.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

And so, there are all kinds of blindness:<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>blindness of perspective; blindness to deceit and evil; physical blindness; and blindness of the heart.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>All of us are human and flawed; and all of us possess one or more of these kinds of blindness to some degree.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Consider how these kinds of blindness effect our relations with God.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>We can foster our own perspective, not God\u2019s; we sometimes overlook evil when there is a perceived good in it for ourselves; we can\u2019t see things at all when we are preoccupied with ourselves; quite often we don\u2019t want to open our hearts, especially to change; and we can hang on to details when the essence is right there before us.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>In other words, we can\u2019t see our sinfulness for what it is.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

So, what is the solution?<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Well, we are in the middle of Lent.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Lent is a time of the year when we should pause from the humdrum of everyday life and open our eyes and hearts to God.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>We need to \u201csee\u201d things as they really are about ourselves, where we are going in life, and how our relationship with God is going.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

We still have a couple of weeks to do this reflecting.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Perhaps the best way to open our eyes is to go somewhere where it is quiet and listen to God and what he has to say.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Like the blind man, our physical limitations are not holding us back from our ultimate goal.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Rather, it is our inability to see ourselves as we really are.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>It is our sinfulness.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>We need to seek out how to illuminate the truth.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In some respects, it is like we are asleep. <\/span>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>How fitting are St. Paul\u2019s words today:<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cAwake O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/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 \u00a0 There are all kinds of ways for a person to \u201csee\u201d.\u00a0 And todays readings talk about many of them.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 First, Samuel had his vision about what to look for in a King.\u00a0 He was looking […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[284],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537"}],"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=537"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":539,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537\/revisions\/539"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}