Homily for the 4th Week of Lent; Year A Readings; 1 SM 16:1B, 6-7, 10-13A, EPH 5:8-14, JN 9:1-41

There are many people here who had that subject in school or that project at work that just completely baffled them. They would learn as much as they could and still have little to no comprehension of anything more than the basic level. For a lot of folks that subject in school tends to be math. For me it was English, luckily I had a cousin who was an English teacher, and I managed to pass. Of course, now I lean on Karen to make sure my punctuation is correct on things I write.

 

Math for me was always easy. It may have been that way because when I was not even a teen yet, my dad would quiz my brother and me at the kitchen table on math problems. We learned to do them in our head and fairly quickly as well. While I may not be as quick anymore, there was a time when I could come up with some basic multiplication answers faster than classmates could enter it into the calculator and get the answer.

 

I am not sure that I ever completely comprehended the punctuation requirements of the English language, probably because there was always someone who would correct my papers before turning them in. The light bulb never went off in my head that allows me to understand where the need for a comma, semicolon or some other punctuation mark may be required.

 

Of course, all of this comes from the idea that at some point there will be an eye opening moment where we will understand the subject or project we need to be completing. That moment leads us to see clearly what was unclear earlier. Once this veil comes off our vision for the subject, we are allowed to see the solutions quicker and more accurately. It makes it easy for us.

 

The light bulb goes on at different times for different people. The apostles come to one of these eye-opening moments when Jesus tells them that the man born blind was not punished for the sins of his parents, or his sin. He was born blind to open the eyes of those around him. Since this was not always being seen, especially by those in authority in the church Jesus cured his blindness. We find the only thing the man initially relates it to is the curing of his physical ailment. After his parents go in and tell the Pharisees to ask him how he regained his sight, you hear a different tone.

 

Somewhere between the first inquiry and the second inquiry of the man himself, he has not only a physical awakening but a spiritual one as well. He now understands that there is something more to be found in following this Jesus fellow than just physical healing.

 

How many of us are looking for that spiritual healing in our life? We cannot look at someone and know that they are there to help us along our spiritual journey. How many sons did Jesse have to show Samuel before he was told by the Lord to anoint David? He went through all of Jesse’s sons and still needed David to be brought in from the field before he found the new King to anoint. We are called to be children of the light, but if we blind ourselves to what goes on around us and only follow the ones whose appearances are appealing to us, we will miss out on our personal aha moment.

 

When we overlook those we disagree with or those who are not like us in appearance, social or income stature, gender, or age we miss out on opportunities to see God in the everyday. Just because someone is different than us in any of these or other categories, it does not mean we should ignore them.

 

Jesus tells the man he heals to go and wash in the Pool of Siloam, which means sent. He also sends all of us to be like him. This means reaching out to those we disagree with as Jesus did with the Pharisees over his time of preaching. Some of them listened and had their eyes open, and some kept their eyes closed. I am sure it is the same within the church. Some people are here as a matter of habit, or obligation with little to no intent of learning anything new. Some are here listening, but unless they hear something that appeals to their world view, they will tune out. There is also a group that comes in with open minds and hearts looking to take advantage of the Word of God. People can move between these three groups week to week based on where they are in their lives. Let us remember though the man born blind had not only his physical ailment cured; he also grew immensely spiritually. He listened to God and had his aha moment.

 

We cannot have an eye opening moment if our mind is turned off to what God is trying to do within us during this Lent. We need to remain open as the blind man was, not close minded as the Pharisees were. If we are close-minded as the Pharisees were we cannot be the children of the light we are called to be by St. Paul.

 

When we become close minded, we see people in categories and pick and choose which groups are acceptable to us. Some of these categories may not be deemed worthy of justice, compassion or mercy because they are different in some way to us.

 

When we open our hearts and minds to hear God’s voice, we can begin to see all of God’s children as we are supposed to do. As people of God, who are worthy of our respect, compassion, and mercy.

 

Can we keep our hearts and minds open all the time? We need to be able to find out what may be keeping us from accomplishing this. Maybe this is what God wants you to work on this Lent. Remember being open to God’s will and mercy does not mean only being that way only when we agree with what we see or hear. Being this open means being open to all God’s people regardless if we agree with them or not.

 

Do we want to have our eyes opened so we can see or are we going to continue to be blind? We need to keep our minds and hearts open to hear God in order for us to have the eye-opening moment we all want in our life. The quest