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It is tempting to read the story of the One Born Blind in today’s gospel as a statement that God helps those who believe. But today’s reflection challenges us to see this relationship differently. We do not acknowledge God’s presence to be rewarded, but instead, our recognition of the Love in our lives opens us to new possibilities and thus offers God more avenues for Divine action.

Seeing and Believing

A reflection by Ann Penick

Today’s readings from 1 Samuel and John’s Gospel are excellent examples of how God can work in the most surprising and unexpected ways.

In the first Reading, Saul, the king and military leader of the Jews, has been unfaithful to his mission and disobedient to God. The prophet Samuel hears from God that Saul is to be replaced and it will be Samuel who anoints the new king.

God directs Samuel to Jesse, a man from Bethlehem who has eight sons. They were all gathered at a victory/thanksgiving sacrifice. Eliab is presented first to Samuel, who judges from his appearance that Eliab is worthy of being king and wants to anoint him; however, God does not see as humans see. Jesse presents seven sons in all, but none are chosen. Samuel asks Jesse if he has any more sons. Jesse replies that the youngest, David, was out in the fields tending the sheep. David is the one God has chosen and prompts Samuel to anoint him. David of Bethlehem became king of Israel. God chose him even though all visible evidence suggested he was not the royal type!

In John’s gospel, Jesus declared himself the “Light of the World,” and in the passage today Jesus heals the man born blind. For John, believing is seeing and believing takes place in the light. Chapter 9, where this story takes place, pretty well summarizes the whole of John’s gospel. Jesus and his disciples encounter a man who is blind. The disciples question whether the blindness was caused by the man’s sins or caused by the sins of his parents. The question reflects the thinking that any physical deformity or disability is a result of sin. But Jesus boldly proclaims that it is not sin that caused this blindness, but rather, this blindness is meant to bring about the “works of God.” Jesus spits on the ground and makes a clay eye-patch for the man, then he sends the clay-bound sight-seeker to the pool of Siloam to clean his eyes. Through the man’s trust, he came back, “able to see!”

Then it all begins—the arguments and gnashing of teeth among neighbors, the religious authorities, and even the man’s parents. The man is taken before the Pharisees at the temple and eventually gets thrown out. Upon being expelled, Jesus appears and brings the final act of enlightenment.

We can imagine how overwhelmed and confused the newly sighted man must have felt. When the Pharisees declare that Jesus cannot be from God because he healed on the Sabbath, the man simply responds, “He is a prophet”. The man’s parents must have felt intimidated, too, as they replied to the Pharisees’ questions/accusations that their son could speak for himself. Again, the newly sighted man is brought back and bullied. The Pharisees heap verbal abuse on him and expel him from the Temple. Jesus again encounters this man, who now professes his faith and recognizes Jesus as Messiah.

Notice how the man first describes Jesus as the Messiah, but faced with the Pharisees declares Jesus to be a prophet. Finally, the man publicly recognizes Jesus as the Messiah. The passage ends with Jesus stating that the man born blind has achieved true insight while the Pharisees, born with sight, are the ones who are truly blind.

The central question of this text is “Do we see Jesus as the Messiah?” Like the Pharisees of ancient days, we might be blinded by the physical world. We see so much which causes us to doubt and be blinded to the goodness of God. The Pharisees were blinded by clinging to their religious traditions. They didn’t want to see anything different and wouldn’t accept any signs that challenged their worldview. For John, sin is not doubting, but refusing to trust in Jesus as the One sent to reveal God’s goodness.

Miracles are exciting to hear about. They are “feel-good” stories. But believing is not always a ”feel-good” experience. When walking in the shadows of life, hurt and pain can disorient us. Bumping into doorposts of disappointment, tripping over the unexplainable, walking down the path of poor choices, all can make seeing God difficult. Belief is receiving what life brings and seeking the presence of Jesus in the midst of it. Believing is a way of seeing, but we can also be blinded by what we believe we already know.

These readings challenge us to see differently. Sometimes God acts through the dramatic and amazing. But most of the time, God works in small ways, through the vulnerable and the overlooked. This gives us hope: just because we do not see a solution to a challenge does not mean that God is not working to solve it. We are challenged to see that God is good, merciful, and really cares about us. During this Lenten Season, can we open the shadowy places of our hearts to the light of Christ and witness to the truth of God’s love in our lives? Can we allow Christ’s light to shine more deeply within us, and more brightly from us? When we shine Christ’s light, our lives witness to the truth, and everyone has a chance to see more clearly.