Join us today as we celebrate Holy Communion for the fourth Sunday of Lent, 3/27/22. To follow along at home, click here and print the Holy Communion Program. Text of today’s homily below.
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Homily for the Fourth Sunday of Lent -- Sunday 3/27/22
Readings: 1 Sm 16:1b, 6-7, 10-13a, Ps 23: 1-3a, 3b-4, 5, 6, Eph 5:8-14, Jn 9:1-41
John 9 : 1-41 American Standard Version
9 And as he passed by, he saw a man blind from his birth. 2 And his disciples asked him, saying, Rabbi, who sinned, this man, or his parents, that he should be born blind? 3 Jesus answered, Neither did this man sin, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. 4 We must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. 5 When I am in the world, I am the light of the world. 6 When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, [a]and anointed his eyes with the clay, 7 and said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam (which is by interpretation, Sent). He went away therefore, and washed, and came seeing. 8 The neighbors therefore, and they that saw him aforetime, that he was a beggar, said, Is not this he that sat and begged? 9 Others said, It is he: others said, No, but he is like him. He said, I am he. 10 They said therefore unto him, How then were thine eyes opened? 11 He answered, The man that is called Jesus made clay, and anointed mine eyes, and said unto me, Go to Siloam, and wash: so I went away and washed, and I received sight. 12 And they said unto him, Where is he? He saith, I know not.
13 They bring to the Pharisees him that aforetime was blind. 14 Now it was the sabbath on the day when Jesus made the clay, and opened his eyes. 15 Again therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he received his sight. And he said unto them, He put clay upon mine eyes, and I washed, and I see. 16 Some therefore of the Pharisees said, This man is not from God, because he keepeth not the sabbath. But others said, How can a man that is a sinner do such signs? And there was a division among them. 17 They say therefore unto the blind man again, What sayest thou of him, in that he opened thine eyes? And he said, He is a prophet. 18 The Jews therefore did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind, and had received his sight, until they called the parents of him that had received his sight, 19 and asked them, saying, Is this your son, who ye say was born blind? how then doth he now see? 20 His parents answered and said, We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind: 21 but how he now seeth, we know not; or who opened his eyes, we know not: ask him; he is of age; he shall speak for himself. 22 These things said his parents, because they feared the Jews: for the Jews had agreed already, that if any man should confess him to be Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue. 23 Therefore said his parents, He is of age; ask him. 24 So they called a second time the man that was blind, and said unto him, Give glory to God: we know that this man is a sinner. 25 He therefore answered, Whether he is a sinner, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see. 26 They said therefore unto him, What did he to thee? how opened he thine eyes? 27 He answered them, I told you even now, and ye did not hear; wherefore would ye hear it again? would ye also become his disciples? 28 And they reviled him, and said, Thou art his disciple; but we are disciples of Moses. 29 We know that God hath spoken unto Moses: but as for this man, we know not whence he is. 30 The man answered and said unto them, Why, herein is the marvel, that ye know not whence he is, and yet he opened mine eyes. 31 We know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of God, and do his will, him he heareth. 32 Since the world began it was never heard that any one opened the eyes of a man born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing. 34 They answered and said unto him, Thou wast altogether born in sins, and dost thou teach us? And they cast him out.
35 Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and finding him, he said, Dost thou believe on [b]the Son of God? 36 He answered and said, And who is he, Lord, that I may believe on him? 37 Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen him, and he it is that speaketh with thee. 38 And he said, Lord, I believe. And he [c]worshipped him. 39 And Jesus said, For judgment came I into this world, that they that see not may see; and that they that see may become blind. 40 Those of the Pharisees who were with him heard these things, and said unto him, Are we also blind? 41 Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye would have no sin: but now ye say, We see: your sin remaineth.
Friends, we are all born blind. As babies the world is a riddle. We don’t what things are, so we stick them in our mouths. We can’t feed ourselves, sleep the whole night through, or control our bodily functions. Our parents and educators teach us. At work we learn from bosses and mentors. We learn how to pay bills, follow laws, protect ourselves from bullies, thieves, and con artists. We graduate from the school of hard knocks. We thicken our skins. We become blind to the innocent love and wonder of childhood.
Humanity itself was born blind. We had to learn how to make fire, how to make clothes and shelter, how to grow crops, how to form social groups and governments. Eventually we learned how to see microscopic bacteria and into the heart of the atom. But every riddle we unlock reveals another. In many ways we are still as blind as we ever were.
The blind man in today’s Gospel is nameless because he is all of us. He is a stand-in for each of us and for humanity itself. Like us, he isn’t blind by any fault of his own, or even because of his parent’s faults. Like us, he takes his blindness for granted. It’s part of life. He doesn’t even ask to be healed. Often, we don’t either.
But God pursues us. That’s the story of the Bible, isn’t it? God breaking into the human narrative trying to get us to open our eyes and see? And so, Jesus spat on the ground and made clay, which he put on the blind man’s eyes. This is the story in Genesis 2. It says, “no plant of the field was yet on the earth” for “God had not caused it to rain” because “there was no a man to till the ground.” God sends rain upon the earth at the same time he makes man in his own image. And what are we, brothers and sisters, but a mix of dirt and water?
By spitting on the earth to make a bit of healing clay, Jesus offers us a perfect symbol. He is remaking man and remaking the world! God, who sent his rains on the earth when he made it, and when he washed it clean in the time of Noah, has now sent his Son who is the living water. The flood waters which receded in the time of Noah have returned as the healing waters of baptism. This is why, after placing clay on the blind man’s eyes, Jesus sends him to bathe in the pool of Siloam, which means “sent.” If the blind man is going to remake himself, he must baptize himself in the waters of the Son sent by God.
Jesus says, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.” What a strange, peculiar riddle this is! The answer is that Jesus came into the world to teach us to use a new form of judgement – a new way of seeing! We, as individuals and as a species, think we can see. Like the Pharisees, we think we have all the answers. Jesus wants us to remake ourselves in his image and see the world in a new way. He wants us to become blind to the ways of the world – to the allure of power, pride, money, consumerism, lust, intoxication, gluttony, and all of that. He wants you to see with eyes of empathy, humility, patience, self-restraint – and most importantly – with the eyes of love.
Baptize yourselves in the living water of the one God sent to you. Become blind to the ways of the world, step into the light, and see!