Fourth Sunday of Lent - Year A Scrutinies
One of the most meaningful parts of my ministry is spending time in conversation with people. On an average I talk to at least five to ten people each week. The conversations revolve around the enormous amounts of PAIN that people carry. And I can identify with every person because I have my own pain. Take for example, talking with a person to whom the doctor has given a limited time to live; think about a family where both the adults are unemployed; think about the person who discovers that the spouse had been secretly unfaithful for months and sometimes years; think about the pain of a family on the verge of breaking up; think about the pain of being misunderstood; think about the pain of emotional, physical and sexual abuse; the pain of addiction and the pain it causes to families; and then there is the pain of sin, guilt and loss of faith. These are all real-life situations that I encounter on a daily basis and I am sure you do too.
Let me put all of this in the context of today’s scripture readings. First, we must not lose sight of the intention of John in today’s scripture. John’s entire gospel revolves around “coming to believe in Jesus.” Thus, last Sunday we heard about the Samaritan woman who by the end of the story came to believe in Jesus as the Messiah. Next Sunday we will hear about Martha and Mary who even before the raising of Lazarus will confess Jesus as the Resurrection and Life. Similarly toward the end of today’s gospel reading when Jesus says to the blind man that he is indeed the Son of Man, the blind man confesses, “I do believe Lord.” And then he worshipped Jesus. Like in the other stories, there is a huge difference in the faith of the blind man from the beginning of the story and the end of the story. At the beginning of the story he was blind but now he sees. At the beginning of the story he did not know Jesus but by the end he worships him. At the beginning of story he was just another sinner considered blind for either his or his ancestor’s sin. By the end of the story he is liberated and saved by his faith. This is true of the Samaritan woman, and Mary and Martha. In fact, this is true of the entire gospel of John
Notice one more important fact – all these stories are stories of PAIN. The Samaritan woman with five previous marriages; Martha and Mary with the death of their brother Lazarus; the man born blind and thus living the life of a beggar- these are all pain-filled stories. But at the end there is resolution both to the PAIN and to their life of faith.
I would like to offer three things to reflect on this week based on the story of the blind man.
Jesus goes to the blind man. Twice in today’s gospel Jesus meets the blind man face to face. Did you notice that both these encounters happen because Jesus went after the blind man? This healing is one instance where the blind man was neither brought to Jesus nor did he ask to be healed. John tells us that Jesus was passing by when he saw the blind man. It was Jesus initiative to put clay on his eyes and heal him. The second encounter happened after the blind man was thrown out of the synagogue. It was Jesus who sought the healed man and asked him if he believed in the Son of Man. I understand two things from this – that God is constantly in search of us. When the man and woman hid themselves in the garden, when the Israelites were in slavery in Egypt, when the world needed a Savior, God came to us. Sometimes we want to hide from God for lack of courage or because of our guilt, or simply the lack of faith. But even when we cannot believe or lack courage or faith, God searches for us, finds us, and offers us salvation. Salvation history is a witness to this. Please know this, that there is not person in the entire history of the world who is beyond the saving love of God. And that includes you and me.
Jesus gets his hands dirty. The fact that Jesus has to make clay with his saliva and then apply it to the blind man’s eyes is very telling. It tells me that Jesus is not afraid to get his hands dirty. Jesus does not hesitate to touch where it hurts most. Jesus is not afraid to touch human pain. This was not the first instance where he gets his hands dirty. There was the leper who nobody would touch and Jesus reached out to him. There was the adulterous woman who they wanted to stone to death. Jesus wrote something on the dirt and found a way to liberate her. He allowed the woman with the legions to wash his feet with her tears. Jesus was not afraid to touch human pain. Finally on the cross Jesus touched the depth of human pain. That touch of Jesus is the beginning of healing and salvation. Are there areas of your life that you’d rather not think about because it is too painful? I myself have been in pain these days. And I found nothing more meaningful and healing then to allow Christ to touch my pain. To bring Christ into the very midst of our pain – that is the beginning of healing and perhaps salvation itself.
What does God look like? How is it that the enlightened Pharisees could not get themselves to believe in Jesus but a previously blind beggar did? They had both witnessed the same event – the healing of blindness. By the end of the story the healed man worships Jesus but the Pharisees,h as Jesus says in the end to them, remain in their sin. What did God look like to these two sets of people? What does God look like to us? Sometimes, it is just humble bread and simple wine? Today, let us not complicate God and God saving work. Let us allow God to be God in the way God chooses to be. God is simple, God is humble, God comes after us, God gets his hands dirty, God touches our pain and God dies, God rises from the dead and God continues to live among us in the Eucharist. Today, Jesus asks us the same question that he asked the blind man – “Do you believe….” At this Eucharist you and I are invited to give an answer.
-Fr. Satish Joseph