FOURTH SUNDAY IN LENT
14 MARCH 2021
At
the beginning of his Gospel, Saint John reveals that Jesus is the light sent
into the world to dispel its darkness.
Today, Jesus displays that truth to those gathered in Jerusalem to
celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles.
During this harvest festival, faithful Jews would build tents in their
fields to commemorate the journey of their ancestors from slavery to freedom in
the desert, where they lived in tents. On this feast, the priests would bring
water from the Pool of Siloam and pour it over the altar in the temple brightly
lit with hundreds of candles and torches.
Jesus
chooses to work a miracle (or “sign”). He
passes by a man born blind from birth with his disciples. Instead of debating about the origins of his
blindness, Jesus points out that his blindness will become an opportunity for
him to manifest God’s work. Jesus takes
the initiative, because the man does not ask to be healed. By forming clay from the earthly materials of
spit, water, and mud to smear on the man’s eyes, he manifests the truth of the
Incarnation. Jesus, the Son of God has a
human body formed by the clay used by his Father to fashion our first parent. He tells the man to go to the Pool of
Siloam. The man obeys and comes back
able to see.
This sign
is visible to everyone. Like the other six
miracles in the Gospel of John, this sign has the power to give authority to
the person of Jesus. It can bring people
to faith in Jesus. It can teach the
truth about the Incarnate Word of God and his power to bring light in the midst
of darkness. But the effectiveness of the
miracle depends on the openness of people to accept it.
We see the
variety of responses in what happens next.
His neighbors ask a question. Is this the same man who lived among them
or someone who looks like him? The man
insists that he is the same person. He
cannot answer their questions about how he was healed. But he knows that Jesus did it. Then the Pharisees, the religious leaders,
get involved. Some of them accept the
sign. Others insist that Jesus is a
sinner, because he healed the man on the Sabbath. The light of the world is already bringing
about a judgment. So they drag in his
parents. Afraid of being expelled from
the synagogue, they refuse to get involved.
Finally, the religious leaders drag in the anonymous man to grill him. In contrast to the fearfulness of his
parents, he has the courage to speak the truth.
Once he has been expelled, he comes to see Jesus as the Incarnate Son of
God, the true light sent to dispel the darkness of the world.
During this
past year, our Elect have been faithful to the Tuesday evening RCIA sessions
and have followed the path to faith of the man born blind. Their eyes have been opened to the truth
about Jesus Christ. They acknowledge him
as the Light of the world. They have
turned away from other “lights” that have not saved them from darkness. They look forward to the Sacraments of
Initiation at the Easter Vigil, when they will be freed from sin and receive
the Light of Christ. At the 10:00 Mass
today, we will pray the second scrutiny over them and ask the Lord to continue
to open their eyes to the presence of the Light of the world in their midst.
Saint Paul
reminds the rest of us that we have been enlightened when we were
baptized. We have not always lived our
baptismal promises. We have easily
slipped back into darkness with our bad choices and sins. Like Jesse, we have too often judged other
people by outward appearances, instead of seeing them as God sees them. As we pray for the Elect, we can allow the
Lord to shine more brightly through us by receiving the Sacrament of
Reconciliation. We can bring our deeds
of darkness into the light of the Lord’s mercy and judgment. We will be much more ready to renew our
baptismal commitments at Easter.
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