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Gospel: John 9: 1-41
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?”
Jesus answered,
“Neither he nor his parents sinned;
it is so that the works of God might be made visible through him.
We have to do the works of the one who sent me while it is day.
Night is coming when no one can work.
While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
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—.
So he went and washed, and came back able to see.
His neighbors and those who had seen him earlier as a beggar said,
“Isn’t this the one who used to sit and beg?”
Some said, “It is, “
but others said, “No, he just looks like him.”
He said, “I am.”
So they said to him, “How were your eyes opened?”
He replied,
“The man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes
and told me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’
So I went there and washed and was able to see.”
And they said to him, “Where is he?”
He said, “I don’t know.”
They brought the one who was once blind to the Pharisees.
Now Jesus had made clay and opened his eyes on a sabbath.
So then the Pharisees also asked him how he was able to see.
He said to them,
“He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and now I can see.”
So some of the Pharisees said,
“This man is not from God,
because he does not keep the sabbath.”
But others said,
“How can a sinful man do such signs?”
And there was a division among them.
So they said to the blind man again,
“What do you have to say about him,
since he opened your eyes?”
He said, “He is a prophet.”
Now the Jews did not believe
that he had been blind and gained his sight
until they summoned the parents of the one who had gained his sight.
They asked them,
“Is this your son, who you say was born blind?
How does he now see?”
His parents answered and said,
“We know that this is our son and that he was born blind.
We do not know how he sees now,
nor do we know who opened his eyes.
Ask him, he is of age;
he can speak for himself.”
His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews,
for the Jews had already agreed
that if anyone acknowledged him as the Christ,
he would be expelled from the synagogue.
For this reason his parents said,
“He is of age; question him.”
So a 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.”
He replied,
“If he is a sinner, I do not know.
One thing I do know is that I was blind and now I see.”
So they said to him,
“What did he do to you?
How did he open your eyes?”
He answered them,
“I told you already and you did not listen.
Why do you want to hear it again?
Do you want to become his disciples, too?”
They ridiculed him and said,
“You are that man’s disciple;
we are disciples of Moses!
We know that God spoke to Moses,
but we do not know where this one is from.”
The man answered and said to them,
“This is what is so amazing,
that you do not know where he is from, yet he opened my eyes.
We know that God does not listen to sinners,
but if one is devout and does his will, he listens to him.
It is unheard of that anyone ever opened the eyes of a person born blind.
If this man were not from God,
he would not be able to do anything.”
They answered and said to him,
“You were born totally in sin,
and are you trying to teach us?”
Then they threw him out.
When Jesus heard that they had thrown him out,
he found him and said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”
He answered and said,
“Who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?”
Jesus said to him,
“You have seen him,
the one speaking with you is he.”
He said,
“I do believe, Lord,” and he worshiped him.
Then Jesus said,
“I came into this world for judgment,
so that those who do not see might see,
and those who do see might become blind.”
Some of the Pharisees who were with him heard this
and said to him, “Surely we are not also blind, are we?”
Jesus said to them,
“If you were blind, you would have no sin;
but now you are saying, ‘We see,’ so your sin remains.
The Gospel of the Lord.
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This week, I heard about a company executive who was making his way through Newark Penn Station. Suddenly, he noticed a man encamped in a corner near the escalator tracks.
All of the classic signs were there: poor grooming, a vacant stare, trash bags filled with possessions, a bit of a smell.
Looking down, the executive noticed something oddly familiar about the man.
As he told his wife later, “He looked like me. He even had on the same linen dress shirt, the same color blue with French cuffs. How could this be? Those shirts are special-ordered!”
His wife knew the answer.
She confessed that, earlier in the week, she inadvertently dropped off her husband’s dry-cleaning bag in the Goodwill bin, confusing it with his donated “leftovers.”
That homeless man in Newark Penn Station was literally wearing her husband’s shirt.
***
Suddenly, this executive saw the man in a different light. He was no longer an anonymous being defined by his homelessness; he was a brother, in a sense, wearing his own skin.
***
In today’s Gospel, people define a man by his “blindness.” Even the Gospel withholds his name. He’s simply referred to as, “the man born blind.”
To be blind in Jesus’ time was considered divine punishment, a sin.
“Rabbi,” the disciples ask, “who sinned, this man or his parents?”
“Neither he nor his parents sinned,” Jesus says, “it is so that the works of God might be made visible through him.”
Suddenly, Jesus kneels down, spits on the ground, makes clay with the dirt and saliva, and smears it onto the man’s eyes. After washing in water, he’s able to see.
***
Instead of celebrating, everyone – even his parents – struggle to see him as anything more than, a “man born blind.”
The Gospel tells us, he’s brought before the scribes and Pharisees, seemingly to be put on trial. “How are you able to see? Who did this to you? What can you say about him? Where is he?”
Then they call upon this once blind man’s parents, who also throw their own son under the bus because they’re afraid of upsetting the authorities. “Ask him; he is of age. He can speak for himself!… Question him!” they say.
It’s a stunning scene.
This poor man is left to testify alone. The authorities, his community, even his own family abandon him. The only one who stands by him is Jesus.
***
How many of our children feel like the man born blind? They’re new to the faith, they’re innocent… and people question them.
They go to school and their science teacher tells them that God isn’t real because the world began with a bang.
Or someone they love gets sick. They watch them struggle with their health and they wonder, why? How can God do this?
Or maybe it’s something as simple as passing by a homeless man in Newark Penn station without recognizing Christ within him.
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Are we doing enough to instill faith in our youth? Is 35 hours of instruction in seven days over the summer – or even 35 hours over seven months enough?
Do we know enough about our own faith to answer their questions? Is God asking us to dive deeper as a community responsible for handing on the faith to the next generation?
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In the Gospel of Matthew, the final words of Jesus are, “Go, make disciples of all nations.”
The word “disciple” comes from the Latin “discipulus,” meaning learner. Disciples are those who are actively learning about their faith through prayer, study, and charity.
It’s a journey that begins at baptism, but ends – not at Confirmation – but when we are called home to the Lord.
This is why we exist as a parish – to love the LORD with, “all our mind, all of our heart, all of our body, and all of our soul… and our neighbor as ourself.” To “make disciples” of every parishioner while inviting others to, “Come and see.”
As Saint Peter tells us, “Sanctify Christ as LORD in your hearts. Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for hope.”
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Image credits: (1) Baptism: The First Step in Family Discipleship, Anglican Compass (2) Sight and Blindness during a Pandemic, Francis X. Clooney, SJ, Harvard University (3) Catholic News Agency