Homily for 4th Sunday of Lent

Homily for the
4th Sunday of Lent

March 19, 2023
John 9: 1-41
Christian Brothers, Iona University, N.R.
St. Francis Xavier, Bronx
Assumption, Bronx

“As Jesus passed by, he saw a man blind from birth” (John 9: 1).

(Gioacchino Assereto)

Blindness and sight, darkness and light—themes running thru John’s 9th chapter—and how one responds to Christ.

We responded to Christ years ago:  “Brothers and sisters, you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord” (Eph 5:8).  Christ enlightened us at Baptism, and we’ve reaffirmed that light at every Easter, as catechumens around the world are preparing to do at the Easter Vigil on April 8, and as we acclaim the light of Christ in the paschal candle and respond anew with our own baptismal promises.

The blind man whom Jesus heals receives full physical sight instantly.  His insight, his grasp of who Jesus is, comes gradually.  We follow his spiritual progress as he identifies Jesus 1st simply as “the man called Jesus” (9:11), then as “a prophet” (9:17), as an agent of God (9:33), finally as “the Son of Man” who is to be worshiped (9:35-38).

The man born blind comes to see who Jesus is and chooses to follow him even at the cost of status within the community of Israel:  the Jewish leaders “ridiculed him and said, ‘You are that man’s disciple. . . .  You were born totally in sin,” and “they threw him out” (9:28,34).

Jesus contrasts this with the willful blindness of Israel’s leaders:  “I came into the world for judgment, so that those who do not see might see, and those who do see might become blind” (9:39).

Everyone, then, is compelled to form a judgment about Jesus, to decide for him and against him.  That personal judgment will have the consequence of eventual divine judgment of salvation or condemnation, of final light or darkness.  Everyone must ask himself or herself, “Who is this Jesus?” and “What are the consequences of my recognition?”

If Jesus is only a good teacher, a wise man, a prophet even, I may take him or leave him as I might accept or not someone like Martin Luther King, the Dalai Lama, or Mother Teresa.  But if I see Jesus as the Son of Man, the one sent “that the works of God might be made visible” (9:3), the one who is “the light of the world” (9:5), the one who drives away the darkness of sin and the power of Satan, then I must listen to him, follow him, worship him, and “live as a child of light” and “produce every kind of goodness and righteousness and truth” (Eph 5:8-9).

Brothers and sisters, take in Jesus’ teaching in the Scriptures and in the Church, and continue to do your best to put his teaching into practice.  And Christ will save you from the darkness in which you were born and lead you to eternal light.