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“FIRST IMPRESSIONS”
FOURTH SUNDAY OF LENT (A)
March 30, 2025
1 Samuel 16:
1b, 6-7, 10-13a; Psalm 23;
Ephesians 5: 8-14; John 9: 1-41
by Jude Siciliano, OP
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Dear Preachers:
“What are you doing for Lent?” How many times have you been asked that? What
about writing a note to a death row inmate? Each week we list three names
below.
The
second reading from Ephesians sets the tone and names the tension in both
today’s readings and our world: the conflict is between light and darkness –
good and evil. “You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live
as children of light....” It doesn’t take too much life experience to know that
the struggle is far from over, contrary to the euphoric opening tone of
Ephesians. But then, right after these opening words, Christians are advised not
to take part in the “fruitless works of darkness.” So, the seeming triumphalism
is tempered with a note of reality - the struggle is far from over. Christians,
“children of light,” still must be strong and vigilant to do what is “pleasing
to the Lord.”
Lest the worshiper get the impression that Ephesians is merely a voice of
encouragement, cheering us on from the sidelines, today’s gospel gives us a
vivid and dramatic miracle story. It is not only about the cure of the blind
man, but the deeper light-giving that happens as the man faces opponents and
naysayers to his experience. Let’s turn to this story, but before we do, I will
repeat a suggestion I have made before when the gospel selections are so long,
as they will also be in subsequent Sundays. I would not choose to proclaim the
shorter version that is given as an option. Why violate the story teller’s
intention? Why chop up a well-told story? If John thought a shorter story would
have accomplished his intention, he would have given one. If the reading seems
too long for people to pay attention to while standing, then invite them to be
seated.
One significant ray of light we receive from Jesus in the blind man’s story
comes from the opening lines. It was the common belief at that time that
sickness and misfortune were caused by one’s sin. People wanted to give God
credit for everything that happens to humans. But they went too far, attributing
to God both the good and the bad of their lives. The belief also attributed
birth defects to either parental sin or the baby’s sin while still in the womb!
When the disciples point out the man “blind from birth” they voice the
contemporary opinion, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was
born blind?”
We might chuckle at their naivety, but we still hear sickness or misfortune
being attributed to God and to our wrong doing. “God must be punishing me.” “I
must have done something terrible for God to be punishing me in this way?” When
we already feel the disorientation, confusion and the disrupted life that
suffering causes, how sad to be additionally burdened thinking that God is the
source of our pain. And, that it is a punishment for something we have done!
What isolation such a thinking can cause; believing that not even God is with us
and that those closest to us might hold the same belief and think less of us.
“She must have done something wrong otherwise why is God doing this to her?” “If
he really had faith, God would help him.”
Are we so far removed from the thinking that blames a person for the misfortune
they bear? In our “enlightened” world don’t people still think that poverty, and
its resulting maladies like sickness and short life span, are the fault of the
poor? (And aren’t those physically or sexually abused sometimes blamed for what
they “provoked” in others? “She wouldn’t have gotten raped if she hadn’t dressed
that way.”) As long as people think in this way, they won’t look deeper into the
economic, cultural or political reasons that keep poor people and whole nations
in a permanent underclass. Such attitudes about poverty’s sources will also
prevent people from doing something to change oppressive conditions for groups
of people in our own cities and for nations in other parts of the world. Jesus
casts light on such darkness and answers their question, “Neither he nor his
parents sinned.” The blame lies elsewhere; maybe even on the very people who are
blaming others for their dire conditions! God is not punishing the man for sin;
indeed, God wants to do something that will deliver the man from his blindness.
After enlightening his disciples, Jesus sets about changing the man’s condition.
So, he cures two forms of blindness. He enables both the man to see and his
disciples to get a different perspective.
Did you notice that when Jesus responds to the disciples’ question he shifts
from the “I” to the “we”? No accident, for he suggests we too must be involved
in activities that bring light to the world. The Christian’s unenlightened ways
of thinking are exposed by the light the “Rabbi” (the teacher) has cast and we
are expected to bring this light to similar situations. We are to stop finding
excuses for our lack of involvement in the needs of the world; we must stop
blaming the victims and set about making visible “the works of God,” by ending
the situations that cause and continue misery in people’s lives. Jesus’ cure
also extends to those of us who carry judgmental thoughts about the race,
gender, economic condition, or sexual orientation of others. We invite his
healing today, asking to see our neighbor in a true light. With Christ’s help we
will attest to the same healing the blind man experienced – “he opened my eyes.”
Jesus invites the blind man to wash in the Pool of Siloam. Why would John make
the aside that Siloam means Sent? He is reminding us in subtle ways that not
just Jesus, but all those whose eyes have been opened at the pool of baptism,
are sent to be bearers of light. But it is necessary to emphasize that we are
not sent on our own. Look at how the story unfolds. The man’s eyes are opened at
the pool. At first he only has a beginner’s notion of who Jesus is, “he is a
prophet.” Yet, this is enough to get him in trouble with the religious
authorities. He is expelled from their presence. This suggests he is
“excommunicated” from their religion. Since the religious leaders hold so much
authority in the community, this expulsion would put him even further apart than
his blindness did. He is really left alone. Jesus searches him out and confirms
the new thing that has happened to him and then evokes an act of faith from him.
At first the man called Jesus a prophet; by the time this part of his journey is
completed he has made an act of faith in Jesus, “I do believe, Lord.” And John
adds that he “worshiped” Jesus. He has gone from being blind, to having physical
sight, and then to an even deeper sight, for he sees who Jesus is.
The story also reflects John’s community’s experience. As Jews, they first
thought their following Jesus could happen within Judaism. One way those new
Christians continued to practice their Jewish faith was to be “discrete”; they
kept a low profile when among others. Perhaps their faith resembled the first
stage of faith expressed by the blind man, they believed Jesus was a prophet.
But that is an inadequate expression and more is required. (Jesus is not just
one very good person among many who have lived. That’s not what we believe.)
Eventually, their confession of faith in Christ got them in trouble with their
Jewish families and friends. Like the blind man, they too were expelled. Imagine
how difficult following Jesus had become for them. It all started simply enough,
but they could not imagine how far from their origins and former lives their new
sight would take them.
Just as the man’s initial sight was not the end of his coming to the light, so
it is with us. Our darkness is replaced in baptism by the vision of Jesus as
Lord; with the blind man, we too worship him. But whether we were baptized as
infants or later in our lives, the washing in the pool was just the first step.
We can agree and exclaim with Ephesians that we were “once in darkness but now
are light in the Lord.” The task, as Ephesians suggests, is to live as “children
of light.” Easier said than done. Left on our own, we know this is not possible,
but we were not left on our own after we left the baptismal pool. Jesus has come
out to find us and accompany us on our way. We look to his light to be children
of the light. We know we need that light because, like the blind man, we are
daily challenged by an unbelieving world. At the Easter Vigil we will be invited
to turn to the baptismal pool and sign ourselves with the water. This is not a
re-baptism. It is a renewed commitment to the One who is the Light and who
guides us in a world that requires us to daily distinguish light from darkness.
Click here for a link to this Sunday’s readings:
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/033025-YearA.cfm
QUOTABLE
“The
only reason for Jesus to mix clay with the spittle and smear it on the eyes of
the blind man was to remind you that he who restored the man to health by
anointing his eyes with clay is the very one who fashioned the first man out of
clay, and that this clay that is our flesh can receive the eternal life through
the sacrament of baptism.
You, too, should come to Siloam, that is, to him who was sent by the Father.
Come and be baptized, it is time; come quickly, and you too will be able to say,
‘I was blind, and not I see.’”
—Ambrose of Milan, (fourth century), quoted in A LENT SOURCEBOOK:
THE FORTY DAYS , BOOK TWO (Chicago: Liturgy Training Publications), page 66.
FAITH BOOK
Mini-reflections on the Sunday
scripture readings designed for persons on the run. “Faith Book” is also
brief enough to be posted in the Sunday parish bulletins people take home.
From today’s Gospel reading:
Jesus...smeared the clay on the blind man’s eyes
and said to him,
“Go wash in the Pool of Siloam” – which means Sent.
So he went and washed,
and came back able to see.
Reflection:
We who
have been washed in the baptismal pool have received sight. Now we must be ready
to give our own accounting of what has happened to us – just as the blind man
did. We must be prepared to put into plain and personal language who Jesus is
for us and what difference our faith in him makes in our lives.
So, we ask ourselves:
Was
there a moment in our lives when we had an experience of Jesus giving us a new
gift of sight?
What difference has that new insight or experience made in our lives?
POSTCARDS TO
DEATH ROW INMATES
"The
death penalty is one of the great moral issues facing our country, yet most
people rarely think about it and very few of us take the time to delve deeply
enough into this issue to be able to make an informed decision about it."
– Sister Helen Prejean
Inmates
on death row are the most forgotten people in the prison system. Each week I am
posting in this space several inmates’ names and locations. I invite you to
write a postcard to one or more of them to let them know that: we have not
forgotten them; are praying for them and their families; or, whatever personal
encouragement you might like to give them. If the inmate responds, you might
consider becoming pen pals.
-
Shan Carter #0486636 (On death row since 3/19/20010)
-
Lyle May #0580028 (3/18/1999)
-
Jason W. Hurst #0509565 (3/17/2004)
----Central Prison, P.O. 247, Phoenix, MD 21131
Please note: Central Prison is in Raleigh, NC., but for security purposes, mail
to inmates is processed through a clearing house at the above address in
Maryland.
For
more information on the Catholic position on the death penalty go to the
Catholic Mobilizing Network:
http://catholicsmobilizing.org/resources/cacp/
On this
page you can sign “The National Catholic Pledge to End the Death Penalty.” Also,
check the interfaith page for People of Faith Against the Death Penalty:
http://www.pfadp.org/
DONATIONS
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jboll@opsouth.org.
If you would like to support this ministry, please
send tax deductible contributions to fr. Jude Siciliano, O.P.
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FIRST IMPRESSIONS Archive
(The latest are always listed first.)
• Lent-5th Sunday (A) •
• Lent-4th Sunday (A) •
• Lent-3rd Sunday (A) •
• Lent-3rd Sunday (C) •
• Lent-2nd Sunday •
• Lent-1st Sunday •
• Ash Wednesday •
• 8th SUNDAY •
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