Fourth Sunday of Lent
1 Sm 16:1b, 6-7,
10-13; Eph 5:8-14; Jn 9:1-41
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ
Jesus, the readings of the day focus on “Sight”. There is a beautiful saying “ do not judge
a book by its cover”.
The
Foundation:
1st
reading : it is said in the first reading “Not as man sees does God see, because man sees the appearance but the
LORD looks into the heart." Prophet Samuel was sent to Jesse, to appoint one of his
sons as the King of Israel after Saul disobeyed God. when Samuel saw the
eldest son, tall and handsome and thought he must be God’s choice to be king.
But he was not in God’s choice nor did other children expect the youngest son,
David who was shepherding the flock of his father.
● God does not choose nor judge by
outward appearances.
● God is not deceived by the external
image and manifestation of one’s health and wealth, name and fame.
This lays the foundation for the
Gospel in which Jesus says, the man was born blind for the manifestation of
God’s works.
Gospel:
In the Gospel Jesus restores sight
to a man born blind. This is not just a simple story of healing blindness but
it represents the lives of every follower of Christ. This is to bring light and
sight to the people in darkness and blindness. Next what happens to this man is
a perfect example of the life of every follower of Christ.
Pharisees, consider that what Jesus
has done on sabbath was against the law. To spread that Jesus is not from God
they pressurise first the man to give false narrative about himself, then they
pressurise his parents to state false narrative that their son is only
temporarily blind. Once again they put pressure on the man. Their sole
intention was to twist the facts to suit their position and spread false
narratives about Jesus.
This man was brave and firm, he was
not perplexed by their interrogation or intimidation. He was clear in his
position. He was born blind, now healed by Jesus, who is a prophet and from
God.
Pharisees brush him aside, refuse to
accept his blindness, also by his words of faith they get angry and start to
insult him and refuse to accept Jesus. These are the traits of people who are
blinded by their prejudices and false indoctrinations (teachings).
Today in our society too, a group of people have arisen who do not
accept the facts and truths of life, who do not want to know, who are
indoctrinated by false narratives. When they face facts, they get angry and
resort to insulting the other.
After he was expelled from synagogue
and community, he was found by Jesus again. This time his spiritual sight was opened, he was led to see Jesus,
the Messiah. He accepts, believes and becomes instantly the disciple of
Christ.
In the beginning the man was born blind, he could not see
● He was a beggar, referring he has
nothing
● He is an outsider, no one to accept
him
● He was without christ
But in the end he was accepted by
Jesus, able to see physically and spiritually, he became a disciple of Jesus,
he saw the light of Christ. A new life has begun for him.
But the Pharisees remained in their
blindness. They were blinded by their prejudices, sins, refusal to accept the
facts, refusal to listen, and above all by their pride. That’s why they could
not see Jesus, the saviour, the light of the world. They were Spiritually
blinded to the truths.
As in the first reading, God skipped
over all the brothers but saw a great character of goodness and caring, great
potential to be leader in David, the youngest son. So also in the Gospel, Jesus
passed over self righteous and so called religious Pharisees and saw blind
beggar to be a great disciple. His life was totally transformed. In the second reading dear brothers and
sisters, St. Paul reminds us today therefore that we were in darkness and
blindness. But now we are chosen by
God, found by Jesus to manifest his Divine will and works. Hence, he has
bestowed on the light and sight to see clearly. We became the children of
light. So in our lives we need to reflect that aspect of light and sight, need
to be people of integrity, good, right and true, and transparent, need not hide
from light because we are in light.
Today, let our prayer be along with
the beggar in the Gospel : Lord, that I may see.
And I will give them another heart and a
new spirit I will put within them. From their bodies I will remove the hearts
of stone, and give them hearts of flesh (Ezekiel 11:19)
in whose case the god of this age has
blinded the minds of the unbelievers, so that they may not see the light of the
gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.(2 Corinthians 4:4)
కామెంట్లు లేవు:
కామెంట్ను పోస్ట్ చేయండి