Fourth Sunday of Lent (A) [Jn 9:1-41]
19.03.2023
Jesus
is the Healer of Spiritual Blindness
- Theme in brief:
Healing
our spiritual blindness
- Focus Statement:
Physical blindness is not caused by
sin, but spiritual blindness is; due to which we are not able to see our sins
and who Jesus is.
- Explanation of
the text
Today’s gospel passage is about the healing of the man who was born blind, and the non-healing of the Jewish religious leaders who continued to remain in their blindness. Of course, here Jesus speaks about the incurable spiritual blindness of the Pharisees. He is the light of the world (9:5). As light he has come into the darkness of this world. Only by admitting one’s own spiritual blindness one can approach the light of God that shines in the person of Jesus. This text dramatically explains how the light of Jesus gives spiritual sight to the man born blind, and blindness to those refuse to accept that light by thinking that they know or see everything. It proclaims Christ as the light that dispels darkness of sin and reveals the Father’s love.
The story of the born blind man begins with a question asked by Jesus’ disciples about who is responsible for his illness (9:2). It proceeds to assert that physical blindness is caused neither by one’s personal sins nor one’s parents' (9:3), and ends with the conclusion that spiritual blindness is surely caused by one’s sins (9:41). In other words, sin is the spiritual blindness that needs to be healed much more than physical blindness. Jesus corrects a commonly held wrong belief of people of his time, also found in the OT (Ex 20:5), that sickness is caused by one’s own sins or the sins of one’s parents/ancestors. Though the OT teaches that sickness and other sufferings have come into human life due to the sin of our first parents, in the light of Jesus’ teachings we need to understand that they are not the result of one’s personal sins, but the consequence of the sin of humanity as a whole. Otherwise, what we get is a punishing and revengeful God. From what Jesus says we understand that sickness or any human suffering is an occasion to “reveal God’s works” (9:3) – his mercy, love and glory. By giving sight to the blind man, Jesus does reveal God’s works of mercy and salvation to an afflicted or suffering person.
The procedure with which Jesus healed the blind man is also filled with symbolic meanings. First he applies a paste of mud prepared out of his saliva and asks him to go and wash in the pool of Siloam (9:6). The former symbolizes baptismal anointing (done in the early Church and continued till today) and the latter baptismal washing with water. The very fact that Jesus asked him to wash in the pool of Siloam (9:7) instead of healing him on the spot, indicates two things: (1) he is presented here as a faithful disciple who obeys what the Master commands; (2) the name of the pool ‘Siloam’ (which means Sent, 9:7), symbolizes an inner washing -- of sins by the water of baptism by which a disciple becomes ‘one who is sent’ or a missionary.
Jesus opens not only the blind man’s physical eyes, but also his eyes of faith to recognize his real identity stage by stage, deeper and deeper. At first, the blind man knows him only as a man called Jesus (9:11), then as a prophet (9:17), later on as a man from God (9:33), and finally as the heavenly and divine person, Son of Man (9:35). His faith culminates in an act of worship of Jesus as the Lord by making the shortest and simplest confession of faith: “Lord, I believe” (9:38). He becomes a model for us for making a progress from ignorance of Jesus to confession of faith in him and boldly bearing witness to him, whereas his neighbours continue to remain in ignorance (9: 8-12); his parents fail to confess Jesus publicly out of fear of excommunication (9:23); and the Pharisees obstinately refuse to accept or admit the truth in spite of seeing it with their eyes (9:24, 40). Thus, this text highlights the movement of a would-be disciple from unbelief to belief, ignorance to knowledge of Christ, blindness to the light of faith, and superficial faith to the depth of faith-surrender.
The healing of the blind man is only a sign of the spiritual light which Jesus has come to give to those who are spiritually blind. This story begins with a man born blind presumably due to his or his parents’ sins (9:2) and ends with some of the Pharisees, presumably righteous ones, pronounced sinners by Jesus because they pretend to “see” (9:39-41). At the end, the blind man not only receives physical sight but also spiritual light. Thus, the story ends with the paradox and a double meaning common in John’s gospel – those who are blind see and those who think they can see are blind (9:39).
- Application to
life
Today’s’ gospel brings to light the inner journey of a blind man who is lost in darkness from birth and is condemned to beg with no hope for the future. The day he encounters Jesus and obediently follows his directions, his life changes and he becomes an ardent disciple.
The introductory part of today’s gospel that deals with the question whether sickness is the punishment for our or our ancestors’ sins, is relevant even today. This view is held not only by many people of other faiths, but also by some popular preachers in the Church. Though we find such a view in the OT, Jesus purifies that understanding by revealing to us the image of not a punishing/revengeful God, but a boundlessly loving and compassionate Father. Far from being a punishment for our personal sins, our sickness or any other sufferings provide an opportunity or occasion for repentance for our sins and bearing witness to Christ’s own suffering. If we accept them with a deeper faith, he gives us supernatural strength to bear them. For Christian disciples, it is impossible to negate the glory of God shining through a person who has accepted his/her illness with serenity and has joined it to Christ’s own suffering. In this Season of Lent, we need to re-discover the meaning of human suffering in the light of Christ’s suffering. That is why, instead of asking who/what is the cause of our suffering, it is proper to ask what could be God’s purpose in allowing me or so-and-so to suffer so much.
Let us go to the main message of this story: Spiritually, all of are born blind. At baptism we are cured from our spiritual blindness for the first time. Through the water of baptism, God opens our eyes of faith, washes our sins and gives us the light of faith to ‘see’ Christ. Lent is a time to admit that we have repeatedly become blind towards our sins and to see God’s presence in our life, especially in our adversities. This is the opportune time to renew our baptismal commitment, a time to admit that we aree spiritually blind. We have to examine ourselves and see how seriously we are preparing ourselves to renew our baptismal grace and wash our inner selves once again with the baptismal water at Easter Vigil. At Easter we want to ‘see’ the Risen Christ in faith and acclaim, “Lord, I do believe” (9:38).
Let us follow the model of the blind man in today’s gospel and examine ourselves on the following issues: (1) How obedient disciples are we in following Christ; (2) how faithful are we to the mission for which we are sent by baptism (remember the meaning of ‘Siloam’); and (3) how boldly do we bear witness to Christ and his values like the blind man who was willing to face excommunication from the synagogue for the sake of his faith. Like him, can we make a bold confession of faith: "One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see” (9:25).
What is spiritual blindness? Spiritual Blindness is a common biblical metaphor for the inability
of a person to understand or grasp a spiritual truth or its true meaning. Physically
blind people cannot see visible things like colours, whereas the spiritually
blind cannot see invisible spiritual realities such as God’s grace, love, peace
and forgiveness. We notice a great sense of humility and openness in the blind man who
admits his need for getting both physical sight and spiritual insight into the person of
Jesus. On the other and the Pharisees insist that they
see everything clearly without any light from God to see who Jesus is and also
how weak in spirit they are. Can we recognize a Pharisee in us?
We can become spiritually blind in many other ways such as: (1) by judging people merely on their external appearance without knowing their internal motives; (2) by not seeing our own sins, weaknesses, limitations and failures and justifying our misbehaviour, instead of accepting it; (3) by always pointing out at others’ wrongdoings and closing our eyes on our own; (4) by claiming to have committed no murder, but ‘killing’ (deeply hurting) people with our heart-piercing words and abusive language or harsh judgements; (5) by saying we have never committed adultery, but continuing to nurse lustful attachments towards so-called special “friends”; (6) by allowing money, power and position to blind us; (7) by our inability to see the hand of God behind our sorrows and hardships, or to see any good behind our sufferings; (8) by our inability to see the needs, difficulties and suffering of others; (9) by refusing to see the disastrous effects of racism, casteism, communalism, groupism, terrorism and many other ‘isms’; and (10) by not seeing the root cause of wars, crimes, corruption and many other ills and social evils of our world. Is it not sin or selfishness of human heart, which perpetrates these evils or masterminds them? Do we see how we directly or indirectly contribute to some of these and other life-negating forces in the world? Ultimately, our blindness is the blindness of faith, because of which we are not able to see the love of God (even in adverse situations) or our need of him, and are not able to respond to it.
What are the
causes of spiritual blindness? From today’s gospel, we can point out
three causes: (1) ignorance;
(2) doubt and negativity;
and (3) hardheartedness.
First of all, if we do not
open our minds to know and learn the truth we will never know it. We
get spiritual sight when we are open to the truth. See the type of question the disciples asked:
“Who sinned?” They were very sure that somebody had sinned, either he or his
parents, for him to be born blind. There is a sharp contrast between the
blind man who admits his ignorance, and the Pharisees who are sure of their
knowledge. Like them
sometimes we too are very sure of worldly knowledge such as computer science,
information technology, and sensational stories about the private life of our
neighbours/ friends/ enemies, but are ignorant of the Scriptures, of God’s ways
and of mysteries of our own life. Secondly, like the
Pharisee who doubted
everything, we too approach divine intervention in our or somebody else’s life
purely on human reasoning. The Pharisees first doubted about the identity of
the healed man, secondly about the divine powers of Jesus to restore sight
because they considered him a sinner. Is it not true that our own attitudes,
speech and behaviour that border on so much of cynicism, sarcasm, pessimism and
negativity block God’s grace – even that grace which flows down throw the good
example and guidance of others? .
Thirdly, like the Pharisees those
who are not open to God or become hardhearted are incurable. We can become
hardhearted in several ways such as refusal to admit our sins or worst still
justifying them, holding on to our past grudges and refusing to forgive
people…. The worst sin of modern times is to lose the sense
of sin and to say that there is no such thing as sin even after
committing worst of crimes. In other places of the gospel, Jesus calls this
kind of hardheartedness an unforgivable blasphemy against the Holy
Spirit (e.g. Mk 3:28-29), since such persons never yield to the promptings of
the Holy Spirit to admit their sinfulness and need for God’s grace till the end
of their lives. It is impossible to save those who
refuse to admit that they are ‘blind’ (that is, sinners) till the end of their
life, and are in need of God’s grace and redemption. Like the Pharisees, they
will remain in sin (9:41). Only those who remain open to the truth about
themselves and see how sin truly blinds them can receive the light of faith.
This story highlights our need to have our own spiritual blindness healed, especially in this Lenten Season, by turning to Christ, the light of the world. We need to plead Jesus to open our eyes to the truth about our need for admitting our sins, for repentance, for forgiveness and salvation. It is up to us to decide or make a choice: either to see the truth and get rid of our spiritual blindness, or like the Pharisees to harden our hearts and stubbornly refuse to accept the truth. The more we progress in faith the more we see our inadequacy and need to be open to God’s light.
- Response to God's Word
Do we habitually point out others’ faults and justify our own wrongdoings and other evils of the world under various pretexts? What are we doing to get healed from ay of the spiritual blindness mentioned above? To what extent ignorance of truth, negativity and hardheartedness cause spiritual blindness in us? How are we making progress in our faith and growing in spiritual knowledge and deeper insight during this Lent? Like the blind man, let us admit our helplessness to get rid of our spiritual blindness and the darkness of sin on our own, and put our trust in Jesus who alone can anoint us with the power of his Spirit.
- A prayer
Lord, reveal to me your purpose in allowing me and those dear to me sometimes to suffer so much. Reveal to me my present spiritual blindness and give me the humility to admit it. Open the eyes of my faith, and give me the light to ‘see’ you in all situations. Wash me with your cleansing water and deepen my faith. Grant that I may be your obedient and faithful disciple by fulfilling my baptismal mission of bearing a bold testimony to you. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment