The Light of the Blind Man

I was alongside a friend born and raised in the desert.  He kept looking down at the ground as we walked along, so in my ignorance I said to him: Why do you always look down? You have to look up and see the world, not be ashamed and look down. He retorted immediately: And what can you see? Nothing, only blue sky, that’s it. If you knew and looked down you would see the tracks of all the people who have been at your camp while we were away. You could see the country.  In my superior fashion I had been blind and tried to force my own blinkered vision onto my mate. It was obvious that I would blunder along and learn nothing. I needed to learn from my friend.

Samuel came looking for God's chosen, whom he assumed would be strong, mature and wise. He almost chose the wrong one. Only when he stopped to listen to God did he discover the one whom God had chosen.  He found David, slight, immature and young. This was the one chosen to be the leader of his people.

The lesson here for us is clear. We are all people of faith, committed to following God and building the kingdom. But how central is God to our decision making process? Do we seek the truth or just the bits that agree with our present desires or situation?

The story of the man born blind provides us with some challenges. The first one is: Who is responsible for his blindness, him or his parents? This is the same craziness as blaming God for the tsunami in Japan or the flood in Warmun.  Jesus wants to make it clear that this is not our God. Unfortunately there is enough punishment, enough terror, enough pain in this world that comes directly from us, the people created by God and endowed with freewill. The God of love does not punish people. God does not stand idly by and watch us suffer; instead giving us hope and reason for existence. The second crazy claim is: How can a sinner produce signs like this? The God of Jesus Christ is not vengeful. God gives us scope to escape our negative blindness, to be able to overcome the obstacles that nature or other people place in our path. Our God shines through others, believers and unbelievers. The difference is that we believers know the reason for our hope, the reason for our lives. In this we are different to those who have no faith, whose lives are mapped by fatalism.

The man born blind, with the help of Jesus, was able not only to recover his sight but also to be a beacon for others to the light. Those who surrounded this man were in the dark, where they did not want the light of knowledge to illuminate the dark. The blind man’s life was subject to a burst of light and joy that went far beyond him. He was able to see the same things as the others but through a different lens: that of faith, joy and hope.  St Paul reminds the Ephesians: try to discover what the Lord wants of you, having nothing to do with the futile works of darkness.

We can stay blinkered or blind, being led by opinions or trying to make God’s word fit in with our own beliefs, just like the Pharisees, or we can follow the urging of St Paul and : Wake from your sleep, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine in you.

Homily 3rd April 2011 Lent 4 Year A OLQP