IV SUNDAY OF LENT
CHRIST, LIGHT OF THE WORLD
By our Pastor, Fr. Carmelo Jiménez
On this fourth Sunday of Lent what stands out in the readings is the mercy of God for his people. Joy, manifested in the light and worth for that which had no worth.
“‘Are these all the sons you have?’ Jesse replied, ‘There is still the youngest, who is tending the sheep.’” (1 Sm 16:11a) The first reading tells us the story of the anointing of David. It’s the story that shows us the breakdown of Saul’s monarchy and the rise of David to the throne from the most humble of beginnings. God chooses David because he is the smallest, the one who had the least interest in all of this, who in his heart knew there was no hope of being king since he was the youngest, the last. The sacred author makes it clear that what is important to God is not the sacred monarchy, but that the king be good and just with the defenseless. And so, it reminds of us of the simple and humble beginnings of the shepherd…who became king. And we should never forget that.
As is well known, almost all of the gospel passages that we hear during the season of Lent in cycle A are very dense in content. Today the Church presents a passage from Saint John, which is rich in meaning but is also controversial. Through sign and dialogue and controversy with the Jews, Jesus is presented as a revelation of God that is destroying many things and concepts that they had about God, about life, about illness, about sin and about death. “As Jesus passed by he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’” (Jn 9:1-2) Saint John in his story has the blind man presented to the Pharisees who are the ones who decided about religious matters. The man born blind, in the Jewish mentality is unacceptable; he was somehow at fault, either something personal or something he inherited through his parents or ancestors. The symbols that make up this account are: clay from the earth, saliva, the Sabbath, sending him to the Pool of Siloam…All of this is to show us that Jesus dominates the situation, in God’s name, to give light, to give life and to show us he is the light of the world.
“Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples, too?” (Jn. 9:27b) Jesus chooses a process that should teach how to receive and live the light of faith, and that will necessarily bring us to confront the mystery of the darkness of those that do not accept him. The blind man who eventually comes to see, at first doesn’t know who Jesus is and little by little he discovers what Jesus has given him, and that the Pharisees want to snatch it away from him. He becomes the center of the controversy: this poor man that had come into the world blind has to choose between a religion of life, light and happiness or a religion of death which the Pharisees propose and they are even more hurt that the man had been freed on the Sabbath. He can choose to come out into the light of life.
“When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva, and smeared the clay on his eyes, and said to him, ‘Go wash in the Pool of Siloam’ —which means Sent—.” (Jn 9:6-7) The command to go and wash in the Pool of Siloam is nothing more than to submerge himself in the life of the one who was sent. Let us remember the one who was sent is Jesus himself. And so we can say that the man is not cured or saved by the saliva and clay, but rather through washing himself, submerging himself in the mystery of the life of the Lord. The neighbors, the family, the ones who knew him in his blindness and poverty are surprised by what happened. Something wonderful has happened, because what comes from God can only be understood through faith. None of those people could understand, because new and different eyes are needed to see what has happened. For them there is only one answer: Jesus: “Surely we are not also blind, are we?” (Jn 9:40b)
In the man born blind are found all men submerged in the shadows until Christ brings the knowledge that sheds light: blindness in the experience of the false security of the Jews and of the world. Let us ask God to grant us the freedom of spirit to be able to see, with eyes of faith, and proclaim with joy that Jesus Christ is our God and Savior, the Light of the world.