The Pharisees said among themselves, “Look at this guy! He’s curing this blind man on the Sabbath!” (Jn 9:14) As Jesus passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “Neither he nor his parents sinned; it is so that the works of God might be made visible through him. We have to do the works of the one who sent me while it is day. Night is coming when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” When He had said this, He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva, and smeared the clay on his eyes, and said to him, “Go and wash in the Pool of Siloam” which means Sent. So he went and washed, and came back able to see. His neighbors and those who had seen him earlier begging said, “Isn’t this the one who used to sit and beg?” Some said, “It is, “but others said, “No, he just looks like him.” He said, “I am.” So they said to him, “How were your eyes opened?” He replied, “The man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and told me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went there and washed and was able to see.” And they said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I don’t know.”
Jn 9:8-21: Spiritual blindness
They brought the one who was once blind to the Pharisees. Now Jesus had made clay and opened his eyes on a Sabbath. So then the Pharisees also asked Him how he was able to see. He said to them, “He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and now I can see.” So some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, because he does not keep the Sabbath.” But others said, “How can a sinful man do such signs?” And there was a division among them. So they said to the blind man again, “What do you have to say about him, since he opened your eyes?” He said, “He is a prophet.” Now the Jews did not believe that he had been blind and gained his sight until they summoned the parents of the one who had gained his sight. They asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How does he now see?” His parents answered and said, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. We do not know how he sees now, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him, he is of age; he can speak for himself.” His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone acknowledged him as the Christ, he would be expelled from the synagogue. For this reason his parents said, “He is of age; question him.”
Jn 9:22-34: More spiritual blindness
So a second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, “Give God the praise! We know that this man is a sinner.” He replied, “If he is a sinner, I do not know. One thing I do know is that I was blind and now I see.” So they said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” Exasperated he exclaims, “For God’s sake, I’ve already told you! Can’t you people see! Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples, too?” they ridiculed him and said, “You are that man’s disciple; we are disciples of Moses! We know that God spoke to Moses, but we do not know where this one is from.” The man answered and said to them, “This is what is so amazing, that you do not know where he is from, yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if one is devout and does his will, he listens to him. It is unheard of that anyone ever opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, he would not be able to do anything.” “You illegitimate bastard, you!” the Pharisees shouted. “Are you trying to teach us?”And they threw him out of the synagogue. Jn 9: 35-39: Spiritual sight When Jesus heard that they had thrown the man out, He found him and said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” He answered and said, “Who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” Jesus said to him, “You have seen him. I who speak with you am he.”
[1] He said, “I do believe, Lord,” and he worshiped Him. Then Jesus said to him, “I have come into this world so that the blind should see, and that those who see should become blind.”(Jn 9:39)This 4th Sunday of Lent is midway through the penitential season of Lent. The old Latin Mass for this Sunday opened with Laetare, Ierusalem! (Rejoice, oh Jerusalem!) It’s a reference to Isaiah 66:10. So the 4th Sunday of Lent was called Laetare Sunday. There were good reasons to rejoice in the old days: we were halfway through a very strict penitential season of forty days, the snowdrifts were melting, and there was light at the end of the 40 day tunnel, where Easter and spring were waiting.
The gospels relate a number of occasions when Jesus healed blind people. After twice putting spittle on the eyes of a blind man from Bethsaida, the man’s sight is restored, and he sees everything clearly. (Mk 8:22-26) As Jesus is leaving Jericho He comes upon a blind man named Bartimaeus who begs Jesus to cure him. The Lord heals him, and he follows Jesus down the road. (Mk 10: 46-52) Early in His ministry in Galilee Jesus comes upon two blind men who beg to be cured. Jesus touches their eyes and they’re opened. (Mt 9:27-31) The classical story of Jesus curing a blind man is recounted on this 4th Sunday of Lent in Cycle A. And an important element of the story is that Jesus cures the blind man on a Sabbath, mind you! Seven times the gospel show Jesus performing a miracle on a Sabbath.
[2] And this becomes a great bone of contention for the Pharisees who are sticklers for Sabbath observance: one may not do anything on the Sabbath – not even good!In that classical story the man’s neighbors are perplexed at his cure. They take him to their religious leaders (the Pharisees) who reject the idea that God would work a cure through a man who violates the Sabbath. Then they drag the man off to his parents and inquire about their son’s cure. The parents, fearing the religious leaders, tell them to go and ask the son who can speak for himself. The Pharisees then pull the son off to the side for further interrogation. The account is filled with exasperation. The cured man is exasperated; he exclaims to his spiritual leaders: “For God’s sake, can’t you people see!” The Pharisees also are exasperated; they bodily throw the poor man out of the synagogue, because he won’t say what they want him to say. The Lord Himself is exasperated; He ends the whole rambling account with an enigmatic: saying: “I have come into this world so that the blind should see, and that those who see should become blind.” (Jn 9:39) In its length and emphasis the story is more about the Pharisees (religious leaders who are spiritually blind) than about the blind man cured by Jesus. From beginning to end, it’s a story about spiritual blindness (about eyes determined not to see), and spiritual deafness (about ears determined not to hear). Spiritual blindness and deafness are lodged not in our eyes and ears but in our hearts, and they call for repentance. That’s what makes this story a very appropriate reading for Lent.
The Pharisees, spiritual leaders in the synagogue, don’t listen to the man’s neighbors, nor to the man’s parents, nor to the man himself, nor to their very own consciences. On the day of his inauguration Pope Benedict XVI, supreme spiritual leader in the Church, promised that he would listen to the Church. In fact, he chose `Benedict’ as his new papal name because St. Benedict, founder of the Benedictine Order, counseled his abbots (spiritual leaders of the abbey) to listen to and learn from the least monk in the community. Fr. Francis Gonsalves, a Jesuit in India, in an open letter to the new pope published in the NCR, rejoiced in the papal promise to listen to the Church – the People of God. He rejoiced because, he said, “ Many Indians who religiously listen to God’s voice in nature and in other faiths and in their neighbors complain that the Roman Catholic Church only speaks but never listens.
[3]”We, the People of God, listen to the Pope as he speaks on the great human issues which burden the Church – issues like birth-control, divorce and remarriage, sacramental confession, homosexuality, celibacy, the ordination of women, etc. The Pope’s teaching on these issues is, indeed, valuable and very useful for us. But Fr. Gonsalves also invites the Pope to listen to the Church (the People of God), as these issues are debated. It’s an absolutely winning combination when Church listens to the Pope and the Pope listens to the Church. Richard Gailardetz, a husband, a father and a theology professor at the University of St. Thomas in Houston expresses a similar view. He asks the Church to see her teachings “not as erroneous but as inevitably impoverished before the ineffable mystery of God.” He welcomes a Church which does not claim to have the last word about the great human issues which burden us, but rather the first word. That is a word, Gailardetz says, which launches the whole Church off into a “holy conversation.” That’s a conversation, which “resists the temptation to control or direct the conversation toward predetermined conclusions.” In a holy conversation everyone teaches and everyone listens.
Some years ago, the Rev. Sarah Sarchet Butter (an ordained Presbyterian minister) and I (an ordained Catholic priest) officiated together at the funeral of her mother-in-law, the wife of a friend. In a gothic cemetery chapel Rev. Sarah clothed in clerical garb read eloquently from the Book of Proverbs, Chapter 31, which sings the praises of a woman who is a good mother, wife, and manager of her household. At the final commendation Rev. Sarah invited the crowd in the cemetery to draw near to the casket which was being kissed by a setting sun on a day filled with the fine feel of fall. Eloquently again Rev. Sarah pulled everyone into a heartfelt final good-bye to her mother-in-law. It was obvious that Rev. Sarah liked what she was doing and that she did it very well. As I watched attentively, I found myself quietly exclaiming, “See how the Presbyterian Church has solved its crisis of shortage of ministers! See how it has decided to ordain women! See how it’s been blessed by its courageous decision!” See what a Church can do, when it views its teachings “not as erroneous but as inevitably impoverished before the ineffable mystery of God!” Such a Church has the power to courageously change its mind about ordaining women, and about many other important issues as well.
[1] Jesus said the same to the woman at the well:” I who speak with you am he.” (Jn 4:26)
[2] Mk 1:21-28; Mk 1:29-31; Mk 10:14; Lk 13:10-17; Lk 14:1-6. Jn 5:1-18; Jn 9:1-16.
[3] That modus operandi gave rise to an old uncomplimentary dictum: “Roma locuta, causa finita.” “When Rome (the Vatican) speaks, the discussion is finished.”
