“It is so that the works of God might be made visible through him.”

          Once again today, our Lord does what no one has done before. Last Sunday, the Samaritan woman encountered a man who told her everything she had ever done – could he be the Christ? Today, the Lord opens the eyes of a man blind from birth. While the Book of Tobit recounts the healing of a man blinded in an accident, the Lord does something today attributed to no prophet in the Old Testament, yet associated with the coming of the Messiah: opening the ears of the deaf, and the eyes of the blind.

          While the healing of this man’s sight is a great miracle, this isn’t the only thing happening to him. His blindness is a metaphor for spiritual blindness, and his newfound sight is a metaphor for faith. With his sight, Christ gives him the gift of faith, and that faith develops as the hostile response of the Pharisees move him to testify to the One who opened his eyes.

          The first time the man’s friends and neighbors approach him, he refers to the one who healed him as, “the man called Jesus.” He is hesitant. He seems the vaguest of acquaintances. He takes no responsibility for that “man called Jesus.”

          The friends and neighbors have brought him to the Pharisees, probably to verify what has happened and to ascertain its supernatural origin. But there is a division among the Pharisees. Some accuse “the man called Jesus” of breaking the Sabbath for performing the miracle. Others note that the miracle doesn’t seem to be the fruit of a sinful man.

          The Pharisees, failing to come to a conclusion, ask the man what he thinks of “the man called Jesus.” This could be a challenge, a trick, or even a trap. It might seem prudent to evade their question. But he responds, “He is a prophet.” From “the man called Jesus” to “a prophet.” As his testimony is challenged, he grows bolder!

          The situation gets worse for our formerly blind friend. His parents are brought in to testify. You would think that they would rush to the defense of the man who has cured their son’s blindness. But no! They throw them both under the bus! “He is of age; question him.” This man has been blind from birth. This could be the first time that he has ever seen them. And they are more concerned with saving their own skin.

          But our friend does not despair. Faced with this new challenge, he becomes bolder still! He responds to the Pharisees’ request for him to repeat the story with ironic conceit: “If he is a sinner, I do not know. … I told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples, too?” The Pharisees’ reply is harsh: “‘You were born totally in sin, and are you trying to teach us?’ Then they threw him out.”

          When Christ comes to find him, and he sees “the man called Jesus” for the first time, we could imagine him thinking that this fellow, while seeming to help him, has caused him enough trouble already. Weren’t things better when he was blind, but people left him alone and he wasn’t getting dragged in front of hostile tribunals?

          But that is not his response at all! “‘I do believe, Lord,’ and he worshiped him.” The challenge from the Pharisees and even from his own parents has become a powerful witness of faith. When presented with an opportunity to witness to “the man called Jesus,” it is easy to be scared and intimidated. It is easy to think that your faith is not strong enough to give an account to others of the One who has reached out and healed your spiritual blindness. But it is precisely in responding to this challenge that your faith grows, that you gain the courage to confess that “the one called Jesus” is the Son of God, the Savior of the world.

          “You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.” The calling of the Christian, whose eyes have been opened in Baptism, is not just to live in the light, but to be light! This Lent, we have seen a lot of fears that can keep us from the Lord. We’ve seen the fear of admitting being a sinner; the fear of Heaven (in the sense of missing out on something you think you’ll have to give up to be holy); the fear of being known. Last Sunday, we saw how the Lord’s gaze is different, how being known by Him is to be known by the one who wants to redeem those fears. Today, He not only sees you, but He reaches out.

          And we rejoice! We rejoice because we have been given the chance to testify, to witness to the One who has come in pursuit of those He has chosen from the foundation of the world and called to Himself through Baptism. We rejoice because sin has no power over those who have exposed the works of darkness, as St. Paul tells us: “Take no part in the fruitless works of darkness; rather expose them, … everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for everything that becomes visible is light.”

          The works of darkness becoming visible is surely another cause for fear. But when they have been brought to light, their power evaporates. In Confession, in honest sharing with a brother or sister in Christ, in heartfelt and open dialogue with the Lord in prayer, when you expose the works of darkness their appeal and their power are defeated.

          “You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.” What is the part of you that is still darkness, that has not yet become light? Ask the Lord today: “What do you want me to bring to the light? What is it that still has power over me because I’m afraid really to confront it? Where is my blind spot?”

          Lord, we want to be darkness no more! We want to live in the light, and to be light! Reach out now, and cast aside our fears to reach that place of darkness and blindness within us. Gave us the grace we need to bring it to the light.

The Rev. Royce V. Gregerson

Parish Church of Our Lady of Good Hope, Fort Wayne

IV Sunday of Lent – Laetare, A.D. MMXXVI