Reflection on the Gospel of the Fourth Sunday Of Lent |
John 9: 1-41 |
Jesus is the Light of the World. In today’s Gospel Jesus heals the blind man. It is an unusual healing. Jesus spits on the ground and applies the mud paste mixed with his saliva over the eyes of the blind man. The blind man then goes to wash off the application and then receives sight for the very first time. Why does Jesus perform the healing in such a way? Couldn’t he have just said the words of healing? Why did Jesus have to heal the blind man? Especially because the blind man did not ask Jesus for the healing.
What is even more amazing is that the blind man doesn’t even know who Jesus looks like or sounds like before this encounter. Yet he follows Jesus’ instruction to the last word. Perhaps Jesus seen his struggle and his sincerity.
The blind man was healed from his physical blindness only after washing in water. This washing represents a new identity that Jesus gives him through baptism. The old blind self is no more, he sees the world differently through Christ. He no longer lives in darkness. However, his joy isn’t good enough for the pharisees who are spiritually blind to the good works of God and are eager to condemn Jesus and the blind man as sinners. The blind man pays a price for believing in Jesus. He has to testify in court without support from his parents or friends. He is thrown out of the synagogue because of his testimony for Jesus.
Though the blind man could now see, he was condemned and abandoned by the world but Jesus doesn’t abandon him. Jesus goes to meet the healed blind man. The blind man is so grateful for what Jesus has done for him that he becomes his follower.
Are we blind like the pharisees groping in the darkness or have we recognized Jesus as the light walking along with him in the path of truth?
