Fourth Sunday of Lent (Year A)
If a person placed in a dark room where no light enters, that person loses his sight all together. If he stays in the darkness too long, he will become blind. How true for each of us on our spiritual journey! If we stay in the darkness of sin, we will become blind to our sinfulness and no longer have eyes of faith to see where we walk. We will be blind because we did not grow or develop our spiritual eyesight.
Blindness means we lose the experience of color, dimension, and figure. As in the movie Mask, the blind girl could not see the physical deformity of the young boy which made him look hideous. She, because of her blindness, read his heart and saw his kindness and compassion. She saw with her heart, not with her eyes and so was deeply attracted to the boy. Sadly, the rest of the world shunned the young man for his facial deformity because they saw with their eyes, not their hearts.
Today many see only with their eyes, not their hearts. Many focus on the physical and material, not the spiritual and supernatural. Human sight easily blinds our spiritual sight for we see only what we want to see and not see what God may want us to see. God, as we know, looks into our hearts. He reads our intentions. He knows our longings and wants to change our hearts, giving us a faith so our eyes see others through the heart of God.
St. Paul contrasts sin and darkness with goodness and light. In his letter to the Ephesians, he states, “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light, for light produces every kind of goodness and righteousness and truth” (Eph 5: 8 – 9). Light clarifies and purifies. Only in the Light of Christ are we able to see our sinfulness and remove the darkness that causes spiritual blindness.
Blind we sin. It distorts our minds. It makes us see bitter as sweet, evil as good. Yet, Isaiah warns, “Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and shrewd in their own sight” (Is 5:20–21). If we are spiritually blind, we will deform and distort our faith because instead of having the eyes of faith, we have a darkened faith based upon our human perception not the Divine Light of the truth.
Faith sees the truth from God’s perspective. It experiences Jesus not only as the Light of the World, but also the Truth Who came into the world. He is the real presence enlightening our faith with his truth. Jesus proclaims this truth when he declares, “I have come as light into the world, that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness” (Jn 12:46). Whoever believes in Christ has the light of life dwelling within their heart.
The Blind Man, touched by the hand of faith, came to believe Jesus as the Messiah, the Light of the World. Converted, he teaches the Scribes instructing them of their own theology: ”Never since the world began has it been heard that any one opened the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing” (Jn 9:30–33).
Teaching the Pharisees, he exposes their hypocrisy. Hypocrisy distorts our faith. It blinds us to the truth. It creates duplicity. St. John Paul II warns us about this spiritual blindness. In his Sunday homily in 1984 concerning the blind man. He states:
Is not the faith of each one of us exposed to our very weakness -- and also to incredulity, distrust, doubts, to pressure of opinions and, at times, to intimidation, discrimination and persecution?
John Paul II Homily 4/1/84
The Pharisees were in fact the false prophets. They wanted to kill Jesus for his teachings and healings. They, as Isaiah warned, call Jesus the Prince of Demons.
The Pharisees misconstrued Jesus and his mission. They saw Him as a blasphemer Who needed to be removed. They, in fact, were the sinners, and their blindness caused them to sin against their own faith. Even the blind man saw their hypocrisy, challenging them as why they did not believe. Jesus too confronted their blindness when they heard them speak: "Surely we are not also blind, are we?" Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you are saying, 'We see,' so your sin remains” (Jn 9: 40 – 41).
If the Light of Christ does not enlighten so we can see, we too will act hypocritically and deny Christ as the light of the World. We, as hypocrites, accuse God of evil. When we blame and accuse God of the evil in our world, we too become pharisaical. Blinded by our own pride, sadly Jesus cannot heal us, nor enlightened us. We remain in the darkness of our own doubt.
Christ the Light of Life exposes the hidden secrets of our lives. Instead of wallowing in the darkness of our shame, we expose any sinfulness to the light of Christ. He who is the Light of the World, exposes our sinfulness even our weakness toward sin, not to berate us, but to reveal to us Who He is. He is the light shining in the darkness revealing what we lack: the eyes of faith (II Cor 5:7). With faith, Jesus cleanses our bodies, minds, hearts, and souls from the deeds of darkness. No longer hypocritical, we see Christ as He truly is: A Man of God!
Christ opens our eyes of faith, if we seek and search with a humble and docile heart. Enlightened by faith, Jesus will ask us as He asked the blind man “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” (Jn 9: 35), Jesus cured the blind man and opened his eyes, because born blind, the man had not seen the hypocrisy of faith. His heart, not hardened by the duplicity of others, saw the goodness of the Lord. We too will see the goodness of God when we remove the pride and arrogance that blinds us to the Light of Christ. In this divine illumination, we will answer Jesus, “I do believe, help my unbelief” (Mk 9:24).
The light of Christ penetrates the shadows of life so we can no longer hide in the darkness of sin and distort the message of Christ. Christ “came into this world for judgment, so that those who do not see might see” (Jn 9: 39). We see through his Spirit and Life. Spirit is the Holy Spirit Who teaches us the truth (John 14:26). Without the Spirit, our minds, completely natural, cannot grasp the supernatural truths taught by Christ. Only through the Spirit, God’s gift of knowledge and understanding, do we know and understand the power of faith. Through faith, we bond with God.
Faith is the divine illumination of our minds to behold not the appearances, but the reality of Jesus Who reveals the truths of our faith. God is real and revealed in Jesus Christ, the God become Man. In faith, no longer do I judge by appearances, lofty stature, physical presence because I now see as God sees. I, with “the LORD look into the heart” (I Sam 16: 7) of others. I look into the heart of Jesus, through the light of his love for me.
Faith knows Jesus Christ. He is the object and subject of our faith. We discern carefully the truths revealed through his preaching, but just as important we discern the movement of His Spirit working in our minds and wills leading us to the fullness of God’s truth. God calls each of us just as He called David. Each in our own way receives a call from God to a life of faith in Christ. The Light of Christ exposes the false and forged faiths that phony prophets try to promote. The Light of Christ empowers us to be true witness to the Light of Christ.
Faith discerns the authentic truth of Christ as revealed in the Scriptures and handed down to us through Tradition. Faith journeys with Jesus, Who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. This journey walks side by side with the Master Who teaches and instructs us. He points out the ways of unrighteousness only to show the way of righteousness. The way of righteousness recognizes the relationship to which Jesus invites us. We covenant ourselves in this friendship not because of moral duty, but because of responsibility to our relationship. Love is responsible, not because of duty, but because of reverence for our beloved.
We, as with the Blind Man, want to know Him as the Son of Man. Knowing Jesus as God and Man, our hearts change. Open to his presence, He transforms our hearts. No longer do we see appearances, but we penetrate the mysteries contained within them. Christ our Light dwells within our hearts and minds enlightening them to see through the natural into the supernatural. We penetrate the material and see the mystical realities revealed through the light of faith.
Jesus curing the blind man manifested the power and presence of God. In this miracle, we too see the power and presence of God at work within each one of us. We too are chosen, chosen to display God working through us to heal us of our blindness, to heal us of our sinfulness. To transform our sight from merely seeing the natural to penetrating the supernatural. To manifest God’s power and presence to restore what was lost: Eyes that behold the majesty of our God.