Scripture Reflection: John 9: 1-41— 4th Sunday of Lent – March 22,2020
GOSPEL REFLECTION: John 9: 1-41— 4 th Sunday of Lent – March 22,2020
Question: In today’s Gospel, how does Jesus look at the man born blind?
Kindness, generosity, love and all good things support and prove the existence of
evil because they have more tricks up their sleeves than evil does. Sometimes it
may seem that evil overpowers love because love does not saturate/soak the
land. Love is like the light that makes one see things without being seen.
Goodness does not dazzle us. It is somehow invisible and must be seen with a
look that is itself good and clear. (see second reading from Ephesians: 5.8-14)
“Live as children of light – for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and
right and true.”.
The wrong question: The disciples and the Pharisees are not blind. They may
be hostile, but the way they look upon the man who was born blind, focusing on
his sin, shows their own blindness. They think the man somehow deserves this
misfortune for something bad he or his parents must have done. And so, they are
ready to condemn him. This is the evil that is blinding! It obscures the larger
picture as if this evil dominated everything. When the disciples ask him if the man
was born blind because he sinned or because his parents sinned, Jesus says
that is not the question.
The only question is that God, who is good, will draw good from every evil.
When faced with evil, Jesus looks to his Father, the eternal source of creation.
With saliva and mud, he continues to "re-create", he restores creation to its
original beauty. Jesus sees that the tax collector’s heart is open to God, his eyes
are already open.
What does this mean for us? How can we look at evil in the world, the evil of
our hearts, yes, even the coronavirus in this time of trial we face now? Perhaps it
is necessary to accept seeing it without looking at it too much, refusing to believe
that its destructive force will have the last word. What blocks our light? Do we
recognize our resistance to goodness? We need to fix our gaze on Christ and let
ourselves be inspired by His Spirit to actions that will restore our faith in
humanity, in the ways in which we care for and share with one another. We are
people of the light, of hope!