IT IS MARCH!!! Spring is coming!! The days are getting longer and the temps are starting to rise. We are moving from a time of darkness to a time of light, both in nature and in our liturgy.

This weekend we have a particularly long Gospel, but a good Gospel. There are those who would say, “Why can’t we use the shorter form?” Why? So Mass is shorter? The Gospels are so rich in what they have for us, and this long form is no exception.

Jesus and his disciples take note of this blind man, we are told has been blind from birth. He has been in total ‘darkness’ all his life. The disciples want to know who is to blame, things like blindness were seen as a punishment from God, due to the sin of the person or of their parents. The disciples are focused on the ‘darkness’, the sin, where as Jesus is calling all of us to focus on the ‘light’. “I am the light of the world.” Do we focus on the darkness in our world or the light? What one do we talk about the most?

We see here one of the rare times that Jesus seams to need to do something so the healing takes place. Often times he just speaks or touches the person and they are healed. Yet, here we find him spitting on the ground, not something we would think of Jesus doing. Then taking and smearing the clay on the blind man’s eyes. Sending him to wash. When this man receives his sight, Jesus is not around. People are questioning him about how he can now see, still he has not yet seen Jesus. How often in our lives does Jesus come and touch us, but we are not able to see Him?

As he is asked again and again to tell how he received his sight, there are those who refuse to believe him. The authorities summoned his parents. This is one of the most powerful moments for me in this Gospel. Just think about it for a moment, they bring in his parents, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind?” This is the first time in his life that he has ever seen his parents. He would have been able to recognize their voices, but to look into his mothers face for the first time. Think about what he would have seen on their faces? I can picture a mother overjoyed at her blind son now being able to see. Yet, there would also be fear in that face. We are told his parent were afraid of being expelled from the synagogue. To witness this internal battle going on in the face of your parents, when you are seeing them for the first time.

After all of the repeated questioning of this man, he in a way taunts them. “This is what is so amazing, that you do not know where he is from, yet he opened my eyes.” They come right back at him. “You were born totally in sin, and are you trying to teach us?” They are threatened, he is trying to teach them and they are unwilling to learn. So after all he has gone through, he is thrown out!! Here is the beautiful thing!! AS much as they would like to try, they could not take away what Jesus had given him. They could not take away his sight! By this I mean two things. His physical sight, and his spiritual sight. They could not take away his faith in Christ.

It is only after all of this, that the man gets to see Jesus for the first time. And Jesus reminds him and us, that, “I came into this world for judgment, so that those who do not see might see, and those who do see might become blind.” This can be a judgment on us as well. Do we see with the eyes of faith, or are we still in the darkness? Can we move from darkness to the light of Christ?

Blessings,
Fr Backer