Strange people in strange places

What if it IS True? Blog

Discovering, wrestling with, and trying like crazy to live Gospel virtue.

03/30/30

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, ADo 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.

Lot's of great stuff in this entertaining passage. Love the man born blind. He's sarcastic. He's unafraid. And best of all he's totally transformed in a matter of forty one verses. Which is a significant amount, mind you, but there is a dramatic change in this guy that even those who see him daily recognize. Or I should say, don't. He's so different that they literally think he's someone that only slightly resembles that blind beggar that they've seen every day for years. We see these miraculous healings in other passages, but this is the only one I'm aware of that the healed person is unrecognizable. It's almost like Jesus himself being mistaken for someone else after the resurrection. There's something glorified in this man.

So what's the virtue here? Well, to be transformed and glorified we have to be docile to the will of God. But I see something perhaps more subtle, but certainly crucial to evangelization and that's bold witness. If we were to couch that in standard cardinal virtue terminology it would be fortitude. We have to have the courage to stand up and bear the witness to what God has done in our life. If not, we're like the parents of the blind man, afraid of being cast out. After all, that's what happens to the blind man. He's cast out, but cast into the light of seeing things for what they are. So why are we afraid?

We're always supposed to have a reason for our hope to share with others according the the first letter of St. Peter. So why don't we? Often we sit silently when we could speak. A priest friend of mine shared recently how he felt prompted by the Holy Spirit to talk to a guy at that gym. In the sauna, no less. Weird, right? Well, it turns out that they were of the same college fraternity at different schools, so they were already brothers. And, it also turns out the guy was looking for a church home. So the prompting turned out to be an appointment. An appointment of eye opening. An opportunity for the sauna guy to be healed. Pretty cool.

While we may not always be prompted to reach out to strange people in strange places, I do believe that if we looked for and listened to those times when we can share the hope we have in our hearts we may look more like the man born blind, and by that I mean unrecognizable. Some may even say, “no that's not my co-worker, it just looks like him”. Whatever it takes. I'm wrangling this notion in my heart right now. Fortunately, I don't frequent saunas, so that's one less thing to worry about.

Good luck and God Bless,

Leo Brown