March 19, 2023
4th Sunday of Lent A
At our Tuesday Soup and Scripture, Dixie Andrews, our catechumen and “elect,†who is preparing for her Baptism, Confirmation, and Holy Communion during the Easter Vigil, was presented the Apostles Creed. It is a step in the process of the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults. It was not given to her as a text to read, to study and to memorized like we did years ago with the Baltimore Catechism. We circled Dixie, creating a small community, and then professed our Catholic faith out load so she could hear and profess the Apostles Creed along with us. It was a special moment of both confessing and sharing faith! Can we imagine a person being drawn to Jesus in the Catholic Church without receiving faith formation, warm welcome and support of the community?
In our Gospel according to St. John, as Jesus is passing by, he sees a man born blind. He spits on the ground making clay with his saliva and smears the clay over the eyes of the blind man and directs him “Go wash in the Pool of Siloam.†The Pool of Siloam was first constructed by King Hezekiah (2 Kings 20:20) as part of the city of Jerusalem’s water system. At the time of Jesus, steps up from the pool led to the Temple. It was called the “Pilgrim’s Road.†After the blind man washes his eyes in the Pool of Siloam, “he comes back able to see.†Before the healing, he survived by begging. Now, he must acclimate to a new reality. He receives little support.
His neighbors debate and disagree whether he truly is the man they knew who was blind. He assures them, “I am†the blind man. He identifies Jesus as the person who healed him. The neighbors take him to the Pharisees, righteous lay leaders, for examination. They ask him how he is able to see. He answers, “He put clay on my eyes, and I washed and now I can see.†Pharisees rigorously keep the Sabbath by not doing any work. They question how Jesus, this supposed man of God, could work, that is, make a paste of clay and heal on the Sabbath. Next, the pharisees summon and question the parents of the blind man. They refuse to get involved. The pharisees end their interrogation of the blind man by accusing him and Jesus of being sinners. They throw the blind man out from the temple precinct – the holy place of worship.
But when Jesus hears that the blind man has been thrown out, Jesus seeks him out and asks him, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?†Once Jesus reveals himself as the Son of Man, the former blind man worships him.
Do you detect the contrast in the Gospel? The man blind from birth, once healed by Jesus, can see physically and spiritually but others around him who are able to see physically remain blind to the deeper meaning and mystery of the person and mission of Jesus. On this 4th Sunday in Lent, like the blind man able to see, and with Dixie, we are asked to make a choice for Christ and to welcome Jesus as the Light of the World. It is a choice we make personally and as a community. St. Paul, in his Letter to the Ephesians, urges us to “live as children of light.â€
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3rd Sunday of Lent
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5th Sunday of Lent A
