CHANCES FOR CHANGE AND HEALING!

Sunday, April 03, 2011

Fourth Sunday of Lent

By Lorenz S. Centino, Jr.

John 9: 1 - 41

1          As he passed by, he saw a man blind from his birth.

2          And his disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"

3          Jesus answered, "It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be made manifest in him.

4          We must work the works of him who sent me, while it is day; night comes, when no one can work.

5          As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world."

6          As he said this, he spat on the ground and made clay of the spittle and anointed the man's eyes with the clay,

7          saying to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Silo'am" (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing.

8          The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar, said, "Is not this the man who used to sit and beg?"

9          Some said, "It is he"; others said, "No, but he is like him." He said, "I am the man."

10        They said to him, "Then how were your eyes opened?"

11        He answered, "The man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, `Go to Silo'am and wash'; so I went and washed and received my sight."

12        They said to him, "Where is he?" He said, "I do not know."

13        They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind.

14        Now it was a sabbath day when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes.

15        The Pharisees again asked him how he had received his sight. And he said to them, "He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and I see."

16        Some of the Pharisees said, "This man is not from God, for he does not keep the sabbath." But others said, "How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?" There was a division among them.

17        So they again said to the blind man, "What do you say about him, since he has opened your eyes?" He said, "He is a prophet."

18        The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight, until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight,

19        and asked them, "Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?"

20        His parents answered, "We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind;

21        but how he now sees we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age, he will speak for himself."

22        His parents said this because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if any one should confess him to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue.

23        Therefore his parents said, "He is of age, ask him."

24        So for the second time they called the man who had been blind, and said to him, "Give God the praise; we know that this man is a sinner."

25        He answered, "Whether he is a sinner, I do not know; one thing I know, that though I was blind, now I see."

26        They said to him, "What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?"

27        He answered them, "I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you too want to become his disciples?"

28        And they reviled him, saying, "You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses.

29        We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from."

30        The man answered, "Why, this is a marvel! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes.

31        We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if any one is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him.

32        Never since the world began has it been heard that any one opened the eyes of a man born blind.

33        If this man were not from God, he could do nothing."

34        They answered him, "You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?" And they cast him out.

35        Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, "Do you believe in the Son of man?"

36        He answered, "And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?"

37        Jesus said to him, "You have seen him, and it is he who speaks to you."

38        He said, "Lord, I believe"; and he worshiped him.

39        Jesus said, "For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind."

40        Some of the Pharisees near him heard this, and they said to him, "Are we also blind?"

41        Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, `We see,' your guilt remains.

PERSONAL REFLECTIONS:

A BLESSED FOURTH SUNDAY OF LENT TO ALL!!!

STRICT and BLIND OBEDIENCE to the LAW to its LETTER often STIFLES and KILLS the SPIRIT of the law. Once the LETTER takes PRECEDENCE in carrying out the demand or mandate of the law, one can easily be BLINDED in seeing and upholding the MEANING and PURPOSE of the law. The letters of the law provide us with what to DO and what to AVOID, but the MEANING and PURPOSE of the law can allow us the “BREAKING” of the law due to certain CIRCUMSTANCES that will fulfill its MEANING and PURPOSE than its letters.

Just like the Pharisees in the Gospel today who were BLINDED to see the whole MEANING of what Jesus have done to the BLIND MAN during the Sabbath day. The Pharisees, being the strict observers of the law, were very familiar with the Sabbath as a day of REST. Therefore, Jesus to them is a law-breaker, a sinner. By being so strictly concerned with the letter of the law, the Pharisees did not see the VALUE of the HEALING that happened to a man born blind.

As the man born blind was healed, the Pharisees became BLIND to see and marvel a BLESSING happening before them. The Pharisees failed to see the HAND of GOD working in the HEALING of the blind man. Their blindness was caused by their CLOSE-MINDEDNESS in seeing the meaning and purpose of their laws. This close-mindedness explains the HYPOCRISY of the Pharisees that made them to be JUDGMENTAL and UNFORGIVING. They take pride in claiming to be righteous and holy for being able to follow their laws to the letter, but they fail to recognize what is GOOD in what others are doing. They fail to understand the GOOD WORKS of Jesus. To them, anyone who disobeys and fails to comply with the demands of the letters of the law will be CONDEMN and be considered a sinner. But Jesus unmasked their hypocrisy by revealing how rotten they are from the inside. They simply follow the law for people’s admiration of their obedience and faithfulness, rather than out of sincere interest of promoting people’s dignity and well-being. Their laws were made to promote and uphold FULLNESS of LIFE. They were made to BUILD rather than to DESTROY. The laws are meant to SAVE than to KILL. But the Pharisees are more concerned with the blindness of the man as a CURSE of SIN from his parents. The Pharisees failed to realize their OWN BLINDNESS and only see the blindness of the man. For this, the Pharisees failed to see the GLORY of GOD’S WORK in the healing of the blind man. And so Jesus had said, "It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be made manifest in him. We must work the works of him who sent me, while it is day; night comes, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world."

This Lenten season is a good time for us to examine our own BLINDNESS that makes us unable to see the many BLESSINGS that are happening around us because we are so burdened in counting the misfortunes and the failures in us and in others. Let us make this season of Lent a CHANCE for HEALING, a CHANCE for CHANGES. A text message I receive from a student of mine, while I’m reflecting and encoding my thought about the Gospel today in my computer, expresses well this invitation to grab all the CHANCES for CHANGE and HEALING:

“Make a CHANGE while you still have d CHANCE…

Coz der will come a time dat der will be a lot of room for CHANGES…

But no more room for CHANCES.”