LENT IV 2020

• 1 Samuel 16:1-13  • 
• Psalm 23  • 
• Ephesians 5:8-14  • 
• John 9:1-41

Vasily Surikov -- Christ Healing the Man Born Blind

The Gospel for this Sunday is unusually long. It starts out as a miracle story and then turns into a perplexing parable. A man who is literally blind is given sight for the first time in his life. The Pharisees are highly suspicious of Jesus. So they look for ways to discredit this miraculous deed, while at the same time dispelling any idea that he might be the Messiah. First, they doubt if the man really was blind. Then, they try to get him to admit that Jesus is religiously at fault; healing on the Sabbath is a sin. By implication, the miracle cure is no reason to praise him. To this line of reasoning, the man makes a memorable response "I do not know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know, though I was blind, now I see."

---

When the Pharisees finally engage with Jesus himself, it seems that the whole episode is not primarily a healing miracle at all, but what we might call a ‘parable in action’. The miracle reveals something about spiritual sight and spiritual blindness. Puzzlingly, Jesus says that those who are blind will be able to see, and that those who can see will prove blind. How are we to understand this? An important clue comes right at the start of the passage. The blind man is not blind because he is a sinner. Though it looks like a curse, his blindness is in reality a very special attribute, since through it Jesus will reveal the works of God. The content of that revelation is that Jesus is the one true light. That is to say, it is by close attention to the works and words of Jesus, not by scrupulous attention to religious regulations, that we can discern God’s will for us. By refusing to acknowledge this, the sighted Pharisees show themselves to be purblind, unwilling to see. By acknowledging it, the blind man, paradoxically, shows himself to have a degree of spiritual insight that the physically sighted lack.

Salvador Dali -- Angel of Light

​Spiritual sightedness, no less than physical sightedness, concerns reality -- the truth about ourselves, the lives we lead, and the world we live in. Like ordinary eyesight, it requires light by which to see. Yet sinfulness flees from the light, because it prefers that the truth should remain hidden. The short passage from the Epistle to the Ephesians reflects this dichotomy, and turns it into a choice with which we are confronted. “Christ will shine on you” verse 14 declares. For those who want the truth, these words represent a liberating promise. For those engaged in “works of darkness”, however, these very same words constitute a threat. The choice is clear, and real. We can continue to act according to our own lights, and inevitably stumble around in darkness. Or we can avail ourselves of the light of Christ, and gladly embrace the truth that it reveals, however painful or uncomfortable that might be for us.

---