March 22, John
JOHN 9:1-41
Today we all know how quickly and unpredictably tragedy can strike. The current pandemic has shown all of us that in a blink of an eye, our world can be radically changed, and our lives turned upside down. This story is also one of tragedies. First, we see the tragedy of a baby being born blind. One minute the new parents are excited at the birth of a son, then the next minute they realize that he is blind and will never see. That instead of a son that will care for them in their old age, they will have to care for him as best they can for the rest of his life. Then there is the tragedy of disbelief. His neighbors and the Pharisees question his prior blindness. They refuse to see the before and after of this man’s life, and to see Jesus for who He really is.
For many of us, tragedy causes us to wonder why God allows these things to happen at all. When bad things happen, we look for a logical explanation. We wonder, is it to punish us for our sins? You will notice that the disciples also wondered the same thing and asked Jesus this question when they met the blind man. “Who sinned in this case, this blind man or his parents?” In Jesus time, most people believed that all suffering was the result of a sin. Jesus, in His usual manner of challenging the status quo, immediately dispels this belief.
Importantly, Jesus gives the blind man and each of us freedom from the guilt of thinking that we might have caused the situation by our own sin. “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.” Here was a rabbi who taught that this man was no better or worse than anyone else. There was no specific sin that caused the blindness, just as there is no specific sin that has caused our present world condition.
When we look closely, we also realize that today’s Gospel story is a story of contrasts. Contrasts between the before and after. I don’t know about you, but I love to see programs on make overs, especially the makeover of homes. We see the before picture, usually of a drab, over crowed room. Then in the after picture, we see the same room in the house, but it now looks like it could be on a magazine cover.
In life all of us experience make overs, a before and after in many situations. For example, many people believed that a world- wide pandemic could never really happen, but today their belief has changed. We can be sure the blind man was certain that he would never see. He was born into a world that would never change for him, and then suddenly he is healed by Jesus and he is thrust into a completely different world that is radically different from the one he has known.
When questioned by the Pharisees, at first, he answers their questions with respect. Then he begins to poke fun at them, and by the end, he is preaching to them. The blind man did not have a full understanding of who Jesus was, but what he knew, he confessed. “I once was blind, but now I see.” He knew that the man who had healed him was more important than anything that had ever happened in his life before. He could not describe his conversion moment, but he knew the difference it made in his life. He knew that his before and after were radically different.
Like the blind man, we too need to tell our own unique story of how God opened our eyes. A story that, just like the blind mans, is not complete. A story that we do not fully understand ourselves. Yet, we know that our story is one of contrasts. It has a before and after. Many of us cannot remember or explain how we came to have faith in God, yet we know it happened. We know that once we believed, how we lived our life also changed.
The point to remember is that each one of us is unique and our story is worth telling. Like the man who was once blind, our story in not complete and it never will be on this earth. It is a story that is evolving. Regardless, like the blind man, Jesus has called us to tell our story to others. To share what our belief in God has done for us in our daily lives. Today, more than ever, people need to hear our story and know that God is with us in every situation. God does, in His own time, take what happens and turn it into good.
The light of the world is here in our midst. Let us come to Jesus in faith, and ask him to open our eyes so that we might recognize God’s mercy and great love for each of us. Let us bask in the warmth of the light knowing that God can and will heal us too, just as the blind man was healed. Through our faith, our hearts and souls will be healed, and we will have the peace that only God can give.
Amen