Fourth Sunday of Lent

Link to Mass Readings: http://www.usccb.org/nab/040311.shtml

“If he is a sinner, I do not know. One thing I do know is that I was blind and now I see.”

What do we see? Throughout the readings today is the whether or not we can see, and what is visible. In the Gospel, a man born blind is cured; in the first reading, it is not the man who most looks like a king who is chosen. We are reminded today that God sees with eyes that are better than our own, and if we want to see the truth we have to stop trusting ourselves, and trust God instead.

In the first reading, Samuel has to anoint the next king of Israel from among Jesse’s sons. His first thought is for Eliab, who looked the part. But God rejects him, and has Samuel anoint David instead, who we are told is handsome, and makes a splendid appearance. The difference between the two, though both look great, is that man sees the appearance, but God looks into the heart. Eliab was not fit to rule, though he looked like he should. But David, this was the one whose heart God judged fit for His kingdom.

Who do we judge as righteous because of what we see, or judge as sinful? The first reading reminds us not to judge people for ourselves, but to leave that up to God. We are so quick to judge people as saints, or sluts, greedy or selfless. We cannot see the hearts of people, so we should not be too quick to judge in either goodness or evil.

How then, shall we know who is a child of God? In the Gospel, the Pharisees know the law of Moses, and condemn Jesus as a sinner because He broke the law in their eyes. But they are blind, even though they say “they see,” because they don’t notice the Son of God right before their eyes, they are so concerned with judging Him. But the blind man, he knows that God does not listen to sinners. He doesn’t know Jesus from Adam, but knows that Jesus came, and “that I was blind and now I see.”

Paul tells us that we should live as children of light, for “light produces every kind of goodness and righteousness and truth,” but that the works of darkness are fruitless. Like the blind man, Jesus comes to us in our unbelief and darkness. But He brings us into the light, wakes us from the dead, and though we did not know Him before we can now say “I was blind and now I see.” And because we can say that, we know where Jesus comes from. We know He is from God, is God, because of the light He brings into our lives that multiplies itself in goodness, and righteousness, and truth.

Test everything by the light. Expose everything to the light of day. Let no secrets be whispered behind another’s back, or temptations struggled with alone in the dark. We know that we can see not because of our own efforts, but because Christ healed us. We should therefore bring everything into the light, for everything that becomes visible is light. Our sins can be transformed into strengths if we share them with each other in the light of faith.

Lent is the time! We have been healed, from darkness to light, and this season we remind ourselves keep darkness away from us. Because as we prepare ourselves, Jesus is making His way towards Jerusalem, towards the cross. Today Jesus tells His disciples “We have to do the works of the one who sent me while it is day. Night is coming when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” The death of Jesus is coming, coming, and for three days the night will reign. But soon, after comes the Resurrection, and light of Christ will remain in the world until the end because we will keep in there for Him.