1. Good morning. Let’s pray. O Lord, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing to You O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
2. Opening Comments: Well it’s the fourth Sunday of Lent – how are we all doing I wonder? Have you been having a good Lent?
I’m being a little ironic with that questions as most of you might have guessed knowing me as many of you do.
It’s the Season of Lent – we have 40 days for self-examination. It’s not called a penitential season for nothing.
So what I’m actually asking us all is this:
“Have we been regularly confronted these last 26 days of Lent with our weaknesses, limitations, blind spots and character weaknesses?
God especially uses the 40 days season of Lent to shine His light into the dark places of our Lives and so today we’re going to allow God to shine some of His light into our dark places.
It’s not always a fun season but it’s often a very transitional season in our lives.
Today you may have noticed a few themes running through our readings – “Sight” and “Light and Darkness.” Sight needs light and light needs darkness in which to reveal itself.
In our First Reading the Lord calls upon His Prophet Samuel not to judge according appearances but rather according to the heart.
“Not as man sees does God see,
because man sees the appearance
but the LORD looks into the heart.
God looks into our hearts and therefore knows who we really are but our earthly eyes can only see “appearances” which clearly can deceive.
Samuel might have chosen Eliab to be King because of his elder son status and his lofty height, but God had chosen the youngest son David for this heart. “David was a man,” Scripture tells us, “after God’s own heart!”
In our Second Reading St. Paul writes,
“Take no part in the fruitless works of darkness;
rather expose them,” . . . and later on he writes,
“Therefore, it says:
‘Awake, O sleeper,
and arise from the dead,
and Christ will give you light.’”
In these verses we see an interplay of light and darkness and clearly God is calling upon us to expose the “fruitless works of darkness” and “to awaken and arise from the dead,” and when we do “Christ will give us light!”
And finally in our Gospel reading we see again the theme of light and darkness when Jesus heals the man blind from birth.
I think one of the key verses in this Gospel reading was Jesus’ response to His disciples when they asked him who had sinned to cause this blindness and Jesus answered,
“Neither he no his parents sinned;
it is so that the works of God might
be made visible through him.”
Interesting isn’t it that the blindness of a man would be used to reveal God’s light?!!!
I found it fascinating how absolutely resolute this healed man was under the harassing questioning of the religious establishment who were hell-bent on proving Jesus a Charlatan!
Don’t you love his closing statement, “One thing I do know is that I was blind and now I see,”
Ha! That was his trump card and he played it! Good for him!
I think that the first thing he saw when he was healed was the eyes of Jesus looking right into him.
He saw Jesus but more importantly he felt “SEEN” by Jesus.
Do you feel seen by God?
Or do you feel invisible to God?
This is a critical question for every one of us?
Do you and I feel SEEN by God?
One other insight came to me as I reflected upon this story.
Do you know what happens to ducks when they hatch? They “imprint” on their mother.
What this means is that for quite a while the poor mother can’t get away from her brewd. When she moves they move.
Animal behaviorists have proved this by having one of them be the person the hatchling see when they hatch and sure enough they imprint on that person and follow him or her all around.
I think this happened to this man. I think His soul was so taken by Jesus that He spiritually imprinted on Him and that’s-all-she wrote!
Is God the center of your world – like those hatchling ducks or is everything else in Creation? If the latter then you hav become the modern man – constantly distractible by the next absurdity of obscenity!
I suspect that you and I are going to see this man in heaven – eyes wide open and seeing it all and close – very close - to Jesus!!!
Now what can we make of all of this?
I don’t know if you have noticed that there has been an underlying message in some of my most recent homilies and that is the need of every human being to be seen by God and others and to see others – really see others with the eyes of love.
Give example of how I can “SEE” Randi and then just “see” her.
NOW I want to use the blind man in this story as A very good example of what should happen when Christ touches our lives and brings us into His light – enabling us to see Him and to TO BE SEEN BY HIM AND THEN TO SEE OTHERS – REALLY SEE THEM!
And I want to invite us to play the role of a blind man who just doesn’t really get all that has happened – unlike the blind man of our story.
In other words the blind man is the straight guy and we’re his foil.
Twenty- six days into this Lenten season should have shown us some of our blind spots or some of those spots which we would prefer to keep camouflaged by nice and appropriate appearances – but were they to be exposed we would be revealed for the “not so nice person” that we pretend to be.
So let’s put ourselves into the skin of a blind man.
Along comes Jesus and heals us – we can see! We’ve never seen before! It’s wonderful! It’s magnificent! It’s overwhelming!
But along come temptations to deny what has just happened. The world can’t believe what has happened to us – we must be crazy or one of those religious fanatics, or perhaps a crazy charismatic!
This is in effect what happened to the good healed man. The religious establishment could not let this happen. They had to discount Jesus and therefore they had to pressure the blind man to deny what had happened!
Now we know that we were once blind but now we can see but we also know that life is going to be very hard if we advertise this fact so we don’t! We don’t and slowly but surely while our eyes can see - the seeing of our hearts becomes less and less focused – indeed very poorly focused until one day – we no longer see God and all of His mighty works – we don’t even look for them anymore - but rather, all we can see is the sad sad story of humanity. The world has become monochromatic – one colored – grey and dismal - and terribly unfocused.
We have become modern day cynics – skeptical of everything or nihilists - those believe in nothing! They have bought into the modern way of understanding that is characterized by the saying, “Noting means anything.”
But the once blind man of the Gospel – what of him?
Yes, I think he was probably kicked out of the Temple – never to return.
I’m sure he was spurned even by his family and friends and probably cut off from the good people of his community but . . . .
I also think that he probably became one of the Christian leaders in Ephesus and probably came to know St. Paul and the other Apostles.
I’m also pretty sure that he participated in many many other miraculous healings before he went home to be with the Lord!
And I suspect that when he died perhaps as a very old man the eulogy at his funeral went on and on and on as one person after another came forward to tell how he had changed their lives!
Which one of these people do you see yourself as?
You see I think there are some of us in this sanctuary today who have become like the second blind man who has allowed their fear or anger or bitterness or pride or arrogance or whatever to take their sight away – the sight of their hearts – that sight which sees God all about them and also sees God in others. They have entered the momo – chromatic – the one colored world of the cynic!
So many of us “became Christians” and stayed right where we were – for a while and then we slouched towards Gomorrah! We bought into the lie of modernity!
I must confess that there are parts of me captive in this bleak shadowland!
Oh I might try a little bit but:
· “It hurts, people aren’t nice to me!
· I can’t do the things I want to do!
· I love this. I love that!
· I’d have to give it all up for Him!
· I like my position but were I to really act like a Christian I would lose it all very quickly.
Think, if you’re willing, o f a time just recently when you turned you back on something that you know you should have done but didn’t. The Lord, was calling you to do something right but the cost was too much for you.
Can you think of such an instance?
Let me give you some examples to perhaps help: It doesn’t have to be a world shattering things – it’s the little denials that add up and up and up over time. Think of a time recently when you said something unkind to someone – perhaps in a fit of justified anger – you felt justified anyway, but you never went back to them and restored relationship with them. You see when you do this you treat the other person like thing – you don’t SEE them! They’re no longer persons – made in the image of God. You no longer really SEE them. They have become invisible – objectified to you.
· “I,” “I,” “I,”
· I want!
· I need!
· I must have!
· I deserve!
· I can’t!
· I won’t!
· It’s her fault!
· I’m their fault!
· I’m just human!
· He’s asking too much from me!
And the once blind man says:
“One thing I do know is that I was blind and now I see,”
Is your faith in God that simple?
I was blind by now I see! You have drawn me into the light! I will follow you further into the light – Come Lord Jesus – I want to follow you into the light with all of my heart.
I know that:
Psa. 23:1 You are my shepherd!
I don’t need a thing.
2 You have bedded me down in lush meadows,
you find me quiet pools to drink from.
3 True to your word,
you let me catch my breath
and send me in the right direction.
Psa. 23:4 Even when the way goes through
Death Valley,
I’m not afraid
when you walk at my side.
Your trusty shepherd’s crook
makes me feel secure.
Psa. 23:5 You serve me a six-course dinner
right in front of my enemies.
You revive my drooping head;
my cup brims with blessing.
Psa. 23:6 Your beauty and love chase after me
every day of my life.
I’m back home in the house of GOD
for the rest of my life.
Let’s pray . . .
