Fourth Sunday of Lent (A)
Open Our Eyes, Lord
One of the most irritating things in life, in ourselves as well as in others, is when we and people seem blind to what is evident: Why don’t they see? Why didn’t I see this? We are Christians, people with faith, and in baptism Christ has given us eyes of faith. Yet too often we are blind to God, to people, to the things we should see about ourselves. We ask our Lord in this Eucharist to touch and open our eyes to the deeper and beautiful realities of our faith.
Reading 1: 1 Sm 16:1b, 6-7, 10-13a
Reading 2: Ephesians 5:8-16
Wake up from your sleep,
Climb out of your coffins;
Christ will show you the light!
So watch your step. Use your head. Make the most of every chance you get. These are desperate times!
Gospel: Jn 9:1-41
Walking down the street, Jesus saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked, “Rabbi, who sinned: this man or his parents, causing him to be born blind?” Jesus said, “You’re asking the wrong question. You’re looking for someone to blame. There is no such cause-effect here. Look instead for what God can do. We need to be energetically at work for the One who sent me here, working while the sun shines. When night falls, the workday is over. For as long as I am in the world, there is plenty of light. I am the world’s Light.” He said this and then spit in the dust, made a clay paste with the saliva, rubbed the paste on the blind man’s eyes, and said, “Go, wash at the Pool of Siloam” (Siloam means “Sent”). The man went and washed—and saw. Soon the town was buzzing. His relatives and those who year after year had seen him as a blind man begging were saying, “Why, isn’t this the man we knew, who sat here and begged?” Others said, “It’s him all right!”But others objected, “It’s not the same man at all. It just looks like him.”He said, “It’s me, the very one.” They said, “How did your eyes get opened?” “A man named Jesus made a paste and rubbed it on my eyes and told me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ I did what he said. When I washed, I saw.” “So where is he?”“I don’t know.” They marched the man to the Pharisees. This day when Jesus made the paste and healed his blindness was the Sabbath. The Pharisees grilled him again on how he had come to see. He said, “He put a clay paste on my eyes, and I washed, and now I see.” Some of the Pharisees said, “Obviously, this man can’t be from God. He doesn’t keep the Sabbath.” Others countered, “How can a bad man do miraculous, God-revealing things like this?” There was a split in their ranks. They came back at the blind man, “You’re the expert. He opened your eyes. What do you say about him?” He said, “He is a prophet.” The Jews didn’t believe it, didn’t believe the man was blind to begin with. So they called the parents of the man now bright-eyed with sight. They asked them, “Is this your son, the one you say was born blind? So how is it that he now sees?”His parents said, “We know he is our son, and we know he was born blind. But we don’t know how he came to see—haven’t a clue about who opened his eyes. Why don’t you ask him? He’s a grown man and can speak for himself.” (His parents were talking like this because they were intimidated by the Jewish leaders, who had already decided that anyone who took a stand that this was the Messiah would be kicked out of the meeting place. That’s why his parents said, “Ask him. He’s a grown man.”) They called the man back a second time—the man who had been blind—and told him, “Give credit to God. We know this man is an impostor.” He replied, “I know nothing about that one way or the other. But I know one thing for sure: I was blind . . . I now see.” They said, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” “I’ve told you over and over and you haven’t listened. Why do you want to hear it again? Are you so eager to become his disciples?” With that they jumped all over him. “You might be a disciple of that man, but we’re disciples of Moses. We know for sure that God spoke to Moses, but we have no idea where this man even comes from.” The man replied, “This is amazing! You claim to know nothing about him, but the fact is, he opened my eyes! It’s well known that God isn’t at the beck and call of sinners, but listens carefully to anyone who lives in reverence and does his will. That someone opened the eyes of a man born blind has never been heard of—ever. If this man didn’t come from God, he wouldn’t be able to do anything.” They said, “You’re nothing but dirt! How dare you take that tone with us!” Then they threw him out in the street. Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and went and found him. He asked him, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” The man said, “Point him out to me, sir, so that I can believe in him.” Jesus said, “You’re looking right at him. Don’t you recognize my voice?” “Master, I believe,” the man said, and worshiped him. Jesus then said, “I came into the world to bring everything into the clear light of day, making all the distinctions clear, so that those who have never seen will see, and those who have made a great pretense of seeing will be exposed as blind.” Some Pharisees overheard him and said, “Does that mean you’re calling us blind?” Jesus said, “If you were really blind, you would be blameless, but since you claim to see everything so well, you’re accountable for every fault and failure.”
Father of light,
you close the eyes of those who think they see
because they rely only on their own insights;
you let your Son open the eyes
of those eager for your light.
Let Jesus, the light of the world,
heal us and give us faith and understanding.
Let Jesus restore our sight
that we may see the way
that leads to you and to people,
and at the end of our road
we may see you, our God for ever.
Reflection:
19 March 2023
John 9: 1-41
Radiate the light of Christ
The theme of the liturgy on the fourth Sunday of Lent is light. The Gospel tells the story of the man born blind who is given sight by Jesus. This miraculous sign confirms Jesus’ affirmation that “I am the light of the world” (v. 5), the light that illuminates our darkness.
From the early days of the Church, the story of the man born blind is proposed for reflection during Lent. The healing story is narrated in the context of the Feast of Tabernacles, one of the most important feasts of the Jews that lasted seven days. It was characterized by an explosion of joy and liturgies of light and water.
On the last day, the most solemn day of the feast , Jesus stood at the esplanade of the temple and cried out: “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink” (Jn 7:37).
In the healing story, how Jesus is addressed by different groups of people must be noted: for the authorities—for those who claim to have sight — Jesus is just ‘that man.’ They have eyes, but they don’t want to see who he is.
The blind man journeys a path of faith that corresponds to that of every disciple. In the beginning, Jesus is for him a simple “man” (11). He gradually takes a route that leads him to discover the identity of the one who opened his eyes and to confess his faith in Him. He considers Him a prophet (17); then recognizes Him as one who comes from God (33); Finally, he welcomes Him as the Messiah and prostrate himself before Him (36-38).
The last title is the most important. It is that title with which Christians proclaimed their faith. Before coming to be immersed in the water of the baptism, during the solemn ceremony of the Easter Vigil, each catechumen declares in front of the whole community: ‘I believe that Jesus is the Lord.’
The healed man, who now sees both with the eyes of the body and of the soul, is the image of every baptised person, who immersed in Grace has been pulled out of the darkness and placed in the light of faith. But it is not enough to receive light, it is necessary to become light.
Pope Francis explains this passages and says: “The seed of new life placed in us in Baptism is like a spark of a fire, which purifies us first, burning the evil that we have in our hearts, and allows us to shine and illuminate with the light of Jesus.”