1 / 6 Copyright © 2017, Education for Justice, a project of Center of Concern.

Fourth Sunday of Lent, March 26, 2017

READINGS: 1 Samuel 16:1, 6-7, 10-13; Psalm 23; Ephesians 5:8-14; John 9:1-41; or John 9:1, 6-9, 13-17, 34-38

“One could say that the whole of life lies in seeing. That is probably why the history of the living world can be reduced

to the elaboration of ever more perfect eyes….See or perish. This is the situation imposed on every element in the universe

by the mysterious gift of existence.” —Teilhard de Chardin

Today’s readings run the gamut of being blind and learning to see (or thinking you can see, while in fact, you are going blind); of having hard hearts or having holy hearts beating and open; of being working beggars or

being rigid, demanding, and overbearing overseers. The Gospel story of the healing of the man born blind is the story of how one is invited to become a disciple of Jesus and to follow him as he treads the maze of what is religious ritual and work, and how to see with the eyes of God. In the early Church, the sacrament of baptism was called the Sacrament of Illumination. The call to conversion was initiated by having our eyes washed out so that we could begin to see Jesus. It is said that our eyes are connected to our ears—we see and hear. We perceive when they are connected and we are aware that these senses are connected to our hearts. This reality is essential in understanding the layers of this Gospel and the symbols of the readings.

In the Scriptures, “to be blind” is to be hard-hearted, and “to see” is to have heart sight or to live with heart. The word is “scleroderma,” the term for a terrible disease that hardens all one’s organs, including the skin, so that one literally becomes entombed in one’s own body. One usually dies of a secondary cause because little is known about what causes the disease. Often in the psalms, we are exhorted to “harden not your hearts.” This phrase is then followed by what we do or refuse to do, resisting what God is seeking to reveal to us and is calling us to obey as God’s people in the world. In this story there are only two kinds of people: those born blind who hear the Word of God in Jesus and, in responding, start to see; and those who think they already have sight, but refuse to listen and see who Jesus is and, so, become more rigid and are steadfastly going blind. It is time for us to chose: are we believers in Jesus, growing and maturing in faith and ready to take the next step to becoming a disciple in a community that will hold us accountable in a closer and more demanding relationship to God and one another—more like Jesus in our actions and decisions?

2 / 6 Copyright © 2017, Education for Justice, a project of Center of Concern.

“As we journey toward

becoming the community

of beloved disciples,

we must learn to see others

as God sees them.

We must learn to see

evil and injustice and all its effects

and consequences as we begin

our work with Jesus—

repairing the world,

healing the broken,

filling up what is lacking,

and together working

as disciples of the Light.”

We begin with the beggars. It is a two-pronged story, with double meanings much like the words in these readings. Once upon a time, there was a beggar among many beggars, living on the streets, and approaching anyone who happened to pass by. These beggars would place themselves directly in the line of sight of the person they would ask for alms. They were bold and aggressive, insisting they be seen and dealt with, their hand outstretched and the voice firm, “Please, friend, if you would, give me something. I am in sore need.” If they were refused, they would say, “Don’t you realize, friend, that God has sent me to you to relieve you of some of your excess burden that is hindering you from drawing closer to him. This is hard work that I am entrusted to do.” Usually, that would startle the person into thinking. Often they would give something and go on their way, wondering and questioning themselves, thinking twice about who was this beggar. At times, it would only anger them more, and they would push the beggar aside and continue on their way, mumbling about laziness and the smell, and how bad the problem of these street people was getting—something should be done about it. At the same time, there was a man who was fer-vent in his devotion to God and who prayed often in the mosque, whenever the call to prayer rang out, at all the prescribed times, and whenever he could. He would even put his prayer rug out on the street corner or at a busy intersection in a corner and pray. When he finished the ritual prayers, his other prayer was always the same, “Why, O Holy One, do you not help all these people? Look upon all those in need, these beggars in the street, the ones sitting with their children up against the walls with their hands out. There are so many. Please in your goodness, help them. Answer my prayer.” The prayer never changed. It was an incessant battering of the gates of heaven. But finally, one day Allah, in his great wisdom, answered his prayer to his great shock! The answer came sung, as a mantra repeated over and over, “I have answered your prayer. I sent them to you! Do something! Do what I want to do for them!” This is the way the Gospel begins. Jesus is walking along and sees a beggar, a man blind since birth. But he’s the only one who sees him this way. Everyone else sees him as a sinner, cursed by God because of who he is, what he has done, or what someone he is bound to has done. Jesus reacts like God in the beggar story, “It was no sin, either of this man, or of his parents. Rather, it was to let God’s works show forth in him. We must do the deeds of him who sent me while it is day. The night comes on when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” This is a staggering expression of reality and of how God sees.

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Anyone who lacks, who lives without, who is burdened with disease or blindness; who is born with visible defects; who has become sick, infected, or lost limbs for whatever reason; anyone reduced to living “rough”—those on the streets, in alley ways, scrounging food from dumpsters—the refugees and the victims of war, violence, and homelessness—is seen in his misery and his need. None of it is caused by sin. It is the effect of human structures, laws, institutions, economic systems, and other people’s practices of inequality in justice, greed, and selfishness.

Even more startlingly, they are grace! Their presence in our lives reveals to us what must be remedied and who is to be responded to—they are given as a gift to us to show forth the works of God. They are invitations to do the deeds of Jesus, who is the Light of the World, and to show ourselves to be his followers and disciples, the children of Light. They are not a “problem,” or a blight on society. The least among us do not “deserve” their place in society because of who or what they have done or not done. They are the ones most in need of light, compas-sion, and justice—the ones God sees first and holds with deepest respect. The work of Jesus is to give us God’s eyes, to break open our hearts so that others are welcomed in and appreciated in their weaknesses and needs, and to impel us to do justice for and with them immediately.

And so, Jesus moves immediately to help the blind man see, He begins to live as one among his disciples liv-ing to bring the presence of justice, dignity, human rights, equality to all, and as one who remembers that they have been “lifted up from the dunghill” to live as others live with food, clothing, shelter, health care, work and dignity, and ability to provide the basic necessities for themselves and their families. He hears the Word of God and obeys. He goes and washes out his eyes and is able to see. This is the Sacrament of Illumination that initiates us into the Body of Christ with water and the Spirit. This Spirit is the first gift to those who believe, now dwells and is seeded in him, teaching him, inspiring him, and giving him the other gifts. He begins to grow stronger in who Jesus is and what he has to do with his life, following the Light of the World.

This deepening of his faith in Jesus will be a lifetime of development and maturation—becoming more public in his witness to Jesus and standing with him before others who would deny him, resist him, seek to persecute him, disdain him, and finally, seek to kill him. As the story goes, the man born blind moves from not know-ing Jesus except as the one who “smeared mud on his eyes and told him to go and wash in the pool of Siloam, the one who has been sent” (John 9:6-7). He does not know where Jesus is when he is questioned before the Pharisees, rather accusingly, that Jesus is a prophet. Then, he must stand up and declare, again, what Jesus did for him after his parents shun him in fear. He is hauled in before the leaders again. This time, all the words are in a court of law. He is summoned and told to give testimony in their words, not his own or Jesus’.

He keeps saying, “I was blind and now I can see!” (John 9:25). He has long moved from talking about his physical condition to seeing with eyes that look at reality truthfully, as the Spirit is opening his eyes and moving his heart to stand with Jesus. He declares that Jesus is sent from God, is devout and obedient to God, and that God listens to him! He is now publicly bound to Jesus, a disciple of “that man.”

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The Pharisees, in turn, become scornful, mocking, and insulting, insisting that he is a sinner. He is of no worth, cursed by God, and knows nothing about religious practice and belief. They are steadfastly becoming more and more blind, lashing out at him, and venting their feelings about Jesus. Their hearts are hardening toward Jesus and him. They, then throw him bodily out of the synagogue (John 9:34).

As the once blind man professed belief in Jesus and aligned himself more and more with him, he lost his liveli-hood (begging), his parents and family, his place in the synagogue. He is now in jeopardy for his life. He has never laid eyes on Jesus! So Jesus seeks him out and asks him, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” He answers, “Yes,” but he doesn’t know who that might be. Jesus affirms him by saying, “I am speaking to you now” (John 9:35-38). The beggar bows to the ground and worships him. When we move from being a believer to being a disciple, we are drawn closer to Jesus and see him more clearly. The Spirit reveals to us Jesus: being beyond even the Light of the World, to being the Son of Man.

And Jesus declares why he has come into the world: “I came into this world to divide it, to make the sightless see and the seeing blind” (John 9:39). We must believe in Jesus, the Word of God. We must commit ourselves to being continually converted and to obeying the Spirit and the Word of the Scriptures, to becoming the Good News for others, to standing with all those in need, and to working for justice and the coming of the kingdom of God in the world. We are children of the Light! We are called to be light to every person by the side of the road, to respond to every situation of injustice, and to challenge the structures that break the human spirit and condemn people to a less than human existence.

The principle of the dignity of work and the rights of workers is foundational to human life. It impacts not only the individual worker, but also their families of origin and their children. This is the principle:

“The economy must serve people, not the other way around. Work is more than a way to make a living; it is a form of continuing participation in God’s creation. If the dignity of work is to be protected, then the basic rights of workers must be respected—the right to productive work, to decent and fair wages, to the organization and joining of unions, to private property, and to economic initiative” (United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Seven Themes of Catholic Social Teaching, http://bit.ly/2j50iHB).

Work, access to employment, and the rights for all to secure their livelihood impact so many areas of basic hu-man justice and survival. In the 1960s, Vice President Hubert Humphrey wrote, “There is no such thing as an acceptable level of unemployment, because hunger is not acceptable, poverty is not acceptable, poor health is not acceptable, and a ruined life is not acceptable” (http://bit.ly/2jiy3lT).

The story ends with Jesus confronting those who are blind; hard-hearted; and rigid in their views of other human beings—blaming them, and forcing them to remain in positions that are degrading, miserable, and despairing. They are refusing to live in the Light of Truth, to see others as necessary to their own human wellbeing, being, growth, and quality of life.

As we journey toward becoming the Community of Beloved Disciples, we must learn to see others as God sees them. We must learn to see evil and injustice and all its effects and consequences as we begin our work with Jesus—repairing the world, healing the broken, filling up what is lacking, and, together, working as disciples of the Light.

5 / 6 Copyright © 2016, Education for Justice, a project of Center of Concern.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS: TO STRETCH YOUR HEART AND SOUL

l How good is your eyesight? 20/20? Are you near-sighted, far-sighted, color-blind? Many of us know we need glasses. But how well developed is your God-sight? The stories beggar, the man born blind are invitations to see as God sees, workers willing to do the hard work of relieving you of excess that keeps you from drawing nearer to God. Think about people you saw in passing today. What can they reveal to you about yourself, about life, about who our God is?

l Do you suffer from “scleroderma” of the spirit? What religious practices and beliefs do you rigidly adhere to, even when they hurt other people and contradict the teachings of Jesus about how we are to treat one another? In other words, who do you see and write off, ignore, demean, and label “sinners”? Make a list for yourself and another for our Church: branded sinners, and also those not treated with

acceptance, dignity, respect, and welcome.

l How is your heart? Are you aware of any teachings and practices of Jesus that you resist strongly and ignore? Do you basically have no intention of ever obeying his words in regard to the treatment of others? Are you aware that it is these hard sayings of Jesus—and our obedience to them—that must be incorporated into our lives if we are to move from simply being a believer in Jesus to being one of

his active disciples, learning to know him in deeper and more powerful ways?

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PRAYER

Use Psalm 23. Pray it as though you are the Good Shepherd and this is your way of doing the work that God has entrusted to you in this world as children of light.

“The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.” (Repeat) Each time, ask the Spirit to “put you in motion” and to teach you how to shepherd those most in need where you live, worship and work.

FAITH IN ACTION: SHIFTING INTO NEW PRACTICES

l Wangari Maathai, a Kenyan environmentalist and political activist, stated, “I’m very conscious of the fact that you can’t do it alone. It’s teamwork. When you do it alone, you run the risk that, when you are no longer there, nobody else will do it.” Who are the others that you work with, as children of the Light, do-ing the work of justice and restructuring practices so that others have access to their basic human rights: food, housing, work, health care, education, etc.? Dare to align yourself with a group of people—at least a half-dozen people—who work together on any specific issue.

l The issue of a just, living wage for all is core to many changes regarding work and human dignity—the ability to live, not just survive, day to day. It is closely tied to and impacts hunger, gangs, violence, shelter, health care, protection and security of children, abuse, education, and other long term benefits for those who live in poverty. It’s a push for $15 an hour minimum Michelle Chen, contributing writer for The Nation, declared that, “Minimum wage would stop 1.2 million households [in the United States] from going hungry. Fourteen per cent of households are classified as ‘food insecure.”’ Examine the status of the work for a living wage in your place of employment and neighborhood. What differences would that make in the quality

of living where you work and live? Work with others to implement an increased minimum wage for all.

l Who do you consider a sinner in the world and in the Church today, your personal milieu? Dom Helder Camara said, “The way we treat sinners is the level and depth of our faith and practice.” Meet together with a small group from your church and talk about who these people are and how the Church treats them: Is it non-accusatory, welcoming, appreciative of their work, lives, and gifts to the community, as friends, with more than tolerance? Does the Church see them as contributing light to the world along with you? Then select a group sorely in need of being treated the way Jesus treats others in the Gospel (and not the way his

disciples do). Together, work on what you can do to include them more in your community.