Fourth Sunday of Lent
St Mary's Cathedral
1 Sam 16:1, 6-7, 10-13; Eph. 5:8-14; Jn 9:1-41
+ Cardinal George Pell, Archbishop of Sydney
10 Mar 2002
This is a beautiful incident in today's gospel, beautifully told by John the Evangelist.
It is a story which moves at many levels. There is an emphasis on the unpredictable nature of God's choice. It uses the symbolism of light in contrast with darkness. It is a story of stress and conflict; of the good getting better and of ill-will dragging Jesus' opponents deeper and deeper into hostility. It is a story of courage, perseverance and developing faith; of a dawning recognition of the importance of Jesus in one man's life. And at its centre is a great miracle, a demonstration of God's power in Jesus.
Jewish society 2000 years ago was very different from Australian society today. There were no hospitals worth the name; no homes for the blind; no schools. The streets of the city were narrow, piled with rubbish, thronged with people of every sort, especially the unemployed. The Jews suffered foreign rule by Romans, partly administered through King Herod, a puppet and tyrant. There was only a limited rule of law. There were no social security payments, so the blind man at the centre of the story was probably a beggar to supplement family support.
Jesus began by denying the common Jewish belief that misfortune struck those who were sinners, or the children or grandchildren of sinners. But while Jesus denied that thesis, he did not claim that the blind man was a saint or unusually deserving among the many with serious afflictions.
Jesus made a paste from mud and spittle, rubbed it on the eyes of the blind man, who was cured. And then the trouble started.
Our Lord was a controversial religious figure, regularly followed by friends and foes, the curious and the bored.
First of all Jesus' opponents queried whether the miracle man really had been blind, was really the one whom they had known. He replied that he was the man, explained what had happened, that he could see and did not know where Jesus was.
Then he was taken before the Pharisees. They were disputing among themselves over the incident. Some objected that the miracle was performed on the Sabbath; some suggested an evil power was behind the miracle and others denied this. What did the miracle man think? Jesus is a prophet, he replied.
The Pharisees next collared the miracle man's parents. They were frightened of being excommunicated from their community, so they prudently said, "Our son is old enough to speak for himself. Ask him."
Still unsatisfied, probably more and more frustrated, the Pharisees summoned the blind man again to tell him Jesus was a sinner. As someone who spent a lot of time on the streets, the blind man was well able to look after himself. He was honest, courageous, persistent and able to express himself.
"I've told you once. Are you deaf? Or perhaps you want to become his disciples too?" This provoked another outburst, marginally less offensive to Jesus: "We don't know where this man comes from."
By this stage the miracle man was on the front foot and drove them for four: "What an extraordinary reply. No person in history has worked a cure like this, and you don't know where he comes from. If this man wasn't from God, he could not have done anything."
By this time the Pharisees decided to cut their losses. They were not going to be lectured to by a sinner and sent him away.
Later he met Jesus who asked if he believed in the Son of man. "Who is he?" he asked "The man you are speaking to" was Jesus' response. Then came the finale, the beautiful act of faith: "Lord I believe".
Lent should be a time when we strive to deepen our faith, because it is possible to become spiritually blind.
In the Beatitudes we are told that the pure in heart will see God. St Augustine (+430 A.D.), the greatest theologian in the first Christian millennium, wrote: "Our entire task in this life consists in healing the eyes of our heart so that they may be able to see God".
We all know that eyes and ears are needed to hear and see effectively. To see God "the eye of the soul needs to be opened". Some cannot see God, and they are like people with cataracts or those who are colour-blind. The God-like sun still shines, but God is not seen there.
With old metal mirrors it was necessary to keep them polished in order to use them to see. Lent is a time for polishing our spiritual mirrors.
Theophilus of Antioch once said that "purity, holiness and righteousness" are necessary to see God. Spiritually we can become like a run down battery in a transistor radio, or like a dying tube on a TV, with very poor reception. A minimum of purity, holiness and righteousness are necessary to see God.
The man born blind came to see physically and spiritually. Because he was honest, courageous and persistent he started on that journey, unaware of its final destination, but he arrived at Jesus, the Son of Man and Son of God. So may we all.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
