Fourth Sunday of Lent

Lectionary: 31

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.”

There are several books in the Old and New Testaments, plus long sections within the books, where God does not appear. Ruth, Judith, and Esther tell of the heroines' prayers, courage, and deeds without God's obvious intervention. If he appears in Tobit, he's like the philanthropist in the old TV show, The Millionaire; we only sense his presence in the shuffling of petitions around his heavenly desk. God often appears in the first twenty-six chapters of Genesis, but never appears in the last twenty-four, the story of the Patriarch Joseph. 
These stories are important for they tell us much about the life of faith. Joseph, Ruth, Esther and the others show us how faithful individuals act. Nor are their stories implausible tales like the Greek legends of Hercules. The political/economic situations and the challenges our heroes face are quite familiar.
Today's gospel is like those Old Testament stories. Jesus appears but it's a cameo appearance. The story is about a young, blind man and his ordeal after Jesus gives him sight.
He was born blind. We start with that. "Was it his fault or that of his parents?" the disciples wonder. The Lord replies that it doesn't matter; he is blind so that God's mercy might be revealed to him and through him. Placing blame for Original Sin and then wondering who should do something about it and why they haven't already: these are fool's games. The fact is we are born blind because our world is in darkness until the Light comes. The question is whether we'll be willing to see the light when it comes. 
Then Jesus heals the man, who had not even asked for healing! The initiative is God's! We must be reminded often that the Lord owes us nothing and gives us everything, including existence. We have neither earned nor deserved God's grace, but we do well if we acknowledge it. 
Washing his face and eyes of the mud, the man can see and his neighbors immediately notice it. They are so familiar with a blind man -- he has been his disability -- they're not sure he is the same man. Like Scrooge, some people are so habitually unpleasant we can't recognize them when they turn over a new leaf. Fortunately, this intelligent, formerly-blind man has not forgotten his personal history. His "gospel story" will begin in the darkness and foolishness of blindness and move to the clarity and wisdom of enlightenment. He announces the Good News by insisting, "I am!" 
So they must ask how did he come to see. He can answer:

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.”

But he cannot answer the question, "Where is he?" He has never seen Jesus; he doesn't know what he looks like. 
But before that revelation comes the young man is dealing with opposition. First he meets the Pharisees who suspect his veracity. Refusing to believe that God might intervene in human history, they investigate and try to debunk the story. And then, perhaps the unkindest cut of all, the young man's parents disavow him. Frightened of the Pharisees' suspicion, they "distance" themselves from him.  
The ninth chapter of the Gospel according to John concerns the opposition and persecution Christians face as they come to Jesus. Religious historians can argue about how the Jewish and Christian religions separated, but the Gospel of John indicates the hostility came from the Jewish establishment. Christians experienced an extraordinary blessing in their meeting with Jesus and their imbibing in the Holy Spirit; they were deeply saddened and disappointed by their excommunication from the synagogue. 
Finally, the Lord returns to the drama. He asks the young man a baptismal question, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?” He replies with the entire Church as we will declare on Easter Sunday, "I do believe." 
With that the Christian's confusion and alarm are dispelled and he beholds the Glory of God, "and he worshipped him." 

Two thousand years later, Christians are not troubled by Jewish opposition. We should maintain no quarrel with that beautiful religion or its people. We are opposed, however, by the secular establishment which resolutely ignores the Sovereignty of God and the history of grace. 
Today's gospel is about vision, and the Christian sees clearly both the presence of evil and the opportunity of grace. We recognize the violence of poverty and the unnatural growth of wealth. We are made in God's image, but our institutions routinely sort us into the privileged few and the disenfranchised majority. Even acknowledging the injustice meets fierce opposition. 
There was never a time when the Christian did not need courage. Like the young man in today's gospel, we must speak the truth to power and face the consequences, which will include the Face of Jesus.