We are not blind surely?

thought-for-sundayFrom the desk of Fr. Ignatius Waters, cp

Sunday, 26th March 2017

  

 

 

   

Today, in gospel, we have the story of the man born blind. This reminds me of a young man I met some time back, who was born, not blind, but drunk! Blind drunk you could say! His mother had drunk a bottle of gin and he, the baby, was out cold for at least the first two days of his life! Not a great start in life, was it? But that young man impressed me no end with his insights into life, his own family, his mother, himself. He had greatest understanding and compassion for his mother.

I love this story of the man born blind. It could have happened yesterday, it’s so real. Who sinned, they asked Jesus, he or his mother and father? People in those times believed that when bad things happened to people it must have been because someone sinned. But Jesus said, “No – it’s not like that at all!” And when he is healed, the poor lad had little time to enjoy his new sight since they were all torturing him with questions. “Who cured you? How did it happen? Are you the one that was blind or do you just look like him?  Is this all a scam?” They bring him to the experts, the religious experts, the Pharisees. They should know. He tells them about Jesus and how he had healed him. And they say, “No, it’s impossible! If he healed you on the Sabbath, he was working and it’s a sin to work on the Sabbath! So he’s a sinner! So he couldn’t have healed you!” Then they quiz the parents, “Is he really your son, the one you say was born blind?” They are nervous and don’t want to get involved, so they say, “Ask him, he’s old enough. He can talk for himself!” And he sure can! He argues simply and brilliantly, “If the man were not from God, he couldn’t have done this. And he did do it. I can see! So he is from God!”

They are disgusted with all this. “Are you trying to teach us? And you a sinner! From birth! We’re not blind surely?” And here’s the nub of the whole thing – the nub of the whole story. This man who was born blind has come to see in two new ways – with ordinary bodily sight (which is not ordinary!) and with spiritual insight. He recognizes Jesus is from God and he comes to faith in him. The Pharisees, the so called religious experts, who just can’t think they could be wrong, are the ones who are really blind. And of course they can’t see it!

It’s the thing I dread more than anything – to be blind and not know it! And I’m sure I still am blind in many ways! Sometimes, when battered by life, we come to see things about ourselves that we never saw before, and even though it’s a moment of grace, it can be very upsetting. How much more do I still not see? After all the years? We can be brilliant, of course, in recognizing blindness in others but equally brilliant at denying and burying what we don’t want to see in ourselves. But it’s buried alive and so is affecting us and others. That lad who was born drunk was so honest about himself, and what he had learned from his own and his mother’s mistakes. He was so understanding of her and recognized her good heart and efforts despite all kinds of human weakness.

               We can learn so much from people like that! Happy Mother’s Day!