Sunday Breakfast with the Word. 4th Sunday of Lent Year A
1 Samuel 16:1, 6-7, 10-13, Ephesians 5:8-14, John 9:1-41
INTRODUCTION
Today is the 4th Sunday of lent. known as laetare Sunday. In the midst of the Lenten season and passion, the liturgy of today is telling us to rejoice. WHY?
In the midst of the crisis ravaging the world, the liturgy of today is telling us to be happy. How can we be happy in the midst of suffering, deaths, fears, etc that have clogged the world? It looks impossible. We need our Healing through Jesus.
The readings of today, especially the gospel gives us a consolatory note that we still have a saviour who is ever ready to heal and save the world. The world needs healing, we need healing, we need salvation.
The world has been blindfolded with some scientific assertions, human ideologies and beliefs and some personal idiosyncrasies. Only Jesus can save us again from this blindness.
Our healing process comes through Jesus and only if we can give Him the permission to touch us like the blind man did. If we cannot like the Pharisees who have bluntly refused to accept Him because of their religious blindness and idiosyncrasy.
God works in mysterious ways. He does not save you because of your position or status. In God, everyone has the opportunity to experience His grace and healing. Our Healing is through Jesus. Healing from God can come when you least expected. This principle is what played even in the first reading. Let us take the lessons gradually.
1. God looks at the heart, not appearances.
In the first reading, God sent Samuel to Bethlehem to anoint a new king from the sons of Jesse because He had rejected Saul. When Samuel saw Jesse’s first son, Eliab, he thought he must be the chosen one because of his strong appearance. But God told Samuel not to judge by appearance because God looks at the heart, not outward looks. Jesse presented seven of his sons to Samuel.
When Samuel saw Eliab, he thought he must be the chosen king but God corrected Samuel and said that human beings look at the outside, while God looks at the heart.
This makes us to understand God’s standard. God works mysterious ways. Many times people judge others by their looks, status, or success, but God values humility, sincerity, and love.
So do not judge yourself or others by outward appearance. What matters most to God is the condition of the heart.
2. God often chooses the unexpected person.
David was the youngest son and was not even invited when Samuel came. He was outside taking care of sheep. Yet he was the one God chose to become king. God always choose the person people do not expect.
Therefore, never think you are too small or unimportant for God to use. God often raises the least expected person for great purposes. It could be that person that will save your family from abject poverty is that boy or girl, you are maltreating today. Nobody knows tomorrow.
Many people may looked down on you presently because you do not have, or because you are struggling. The worst mistake you can do is to lose faith or hope in yourself.
3. When God chooses you, His Spirit empowers you.
In the first reading, you can as well see that after Samuel anointed David, the Spirit of the Lord came upon him. David was still a shepherd boy, but from that moment God began preparing him for leadership. God’s calling always comes with God’s help.
This means that If God gives you a mission, He will also give you the strength and grace to fulfill it. Just make yourself available. God can still use you.
Jesus is Full of Compassion.
One beautiful thing the gospel of today reveals to us is the compassionate heart of Jesus towards the suffering and to those in need. Can we discover that the Man that Jesus healed never asked for the healing in the first place.
What happened was simply that Jesus set his sight on Him. “As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth” . The fact that Jesus sees this blind man is in itself remarkable.
Secondly the apostles drew his attention to the man, instead of allowing the man to pass, Jesus decided to deliver him. This is Jesus for you. The first step to his healing is that Jesus sees him.
Let us make ourselves available to Him. He is so merciful and loving than we think. Because of what you are passing through, you now see God as very far from you. The real truth is that you are very far from God and have lost faith totally.
This is the reason we go to church sometimes not because we truly believe it is God we are going to meet but we attend church most times for the sake of fulfilling a responsibility, which is very wrong. We need a true and intimate communion with Jesus Christ.
Secondly, Today, people prefer to pass by beggars without seeing them, so many of us who are in good positions to help, prefer to overlook and even intimidate those around them with their resources and even glory when the needy continues to beg and plead help from them. Others use the problem of someone around them to take advantage of them.
Let us look up to Jesus. Jesus saves and heals without asking, but we wait to be asked and still overlook. Jesus heals without asking for anything in return, but we will help expecting something in return either in cash or in kind.
Let us live like the master, if we are truly what we said we are; beloved children of God. The world needs Jesus. We must live with compassion like Jesus.
No Condition is Beyond Him.
In the condition we encountered a man born blind. This is a man born blind that many thought there was no hope of restoration again. It baffled the Jews and the Pharisees that they consistently were trying to know whether the man born blind was by birth truly. But the Presence of Jesus does not only assure hope but it is hope itself.
There is no condition beyond Him. We may be blind physically through the problems we are now, through the crisis ravaging the world right now, in which we may have concluded that nothing is to be done.
We may have been blind spiritually, maybe there is a particular sin we continually find it hard to conquer, what we need is the presence of Jesus.
Difficulties, sicknesses, sin, etc all bow in His presence. Unless you have concluded that your own Jesus is inferior to them. Dear reader, we need Jesus, the world needs Jesus.
Secondly, We have to know that Light and darkness are symbols of good and evil in this Gospel of John. The first chapter of the Gospel of John has told us that the Word is “the light of men” (John 1:4) and that “the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5). It referred to the Word as “the true light that enlightens everyone” (john 1:9).
sponsored
Jesus told Nicodemus, “This is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and but men loved the darkness rather than light; for their works were evil” (John 3:19). He told the woman caught in adultery, “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12). Now Jesus says the same thing to this blind man.
As the light of the world, Jesus has come to enlighten people about God. This blind man presents an opportunity for Jesus to demonstrate his light-bearing mission. He will bring physical light to a blind man, just as he will bring spiritual light to the world.
No one goes to the light and remains untouched, no one goes to Jesus and remains the same. The world needs Jesus.
Whatever Happens May Still Be For His Glory.
In the gospel today, the disciples asked Jesus if the blindness is as a result of the sins of his parents or the sin of the blind man itself. Their question assumes that suffering is caused by sin.
Exodus 20:5 says, “I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and on the fourth generation of those who hate me”. A thought that is repeated in Exodus 34:7; Numbers 14:18; and Deuteronomy 5:9.
Therefore, the blind man and his parents are surely accustomed to hearing that blindness is the result of sin. They may probably assume that the man’s blindness is somehow their fault. But Jesus has a response to this. He says “Neither did this man sin, nor his parents; but, that the works of God might be revealed in him”
With this, Jesus denies that the man’s suffering is caused by sin. Instead, his situation provides an opportunity for Jesus to heal the man, thereby revealing God’s works.
It is useful to remember that God’s works can be revealed through adversity. How can we know the power and glory of God if not that something great happened in the midst of adversity?
How can you give testimony, if not that good thing came in the midst of a challenging journey?
Whatever happens to us or happening to the world may be for a reason best known to God. Whether good or bad we give God all glory.
The Healing Process.
When you follow the discourse, you will see that after Jesus said “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.’ He proceeded to heal Him.
The blind must have heard Jesus talking about himself. He listened attentively and Jesus spat on the ground, made a paste with the spittle, put this over the eyes of the blind man, and said to him, ‘Go and wash in the Pool of Siloam. So he went off and washed and came back able to see.
Here, the healing process goes like this:
listening to Jesus
faith in His word and
action in obedience to the command, then healing and seeing.
The blind man heard Jesus, gave him full opportunity and permission to touch him, obeyed what he said, and then acted in obedience.
When we do the same, there will be total transformation. Jesus reiterates this in John 10:27-28 that those who know him are his sheep, they are those hear his voice and follow him. After the miracle the blind man saw Jesus and worshiped him.
Later in the gospel Jesus explains to Him who He is. He then came to full knowledge of Jesus. If we are truly committed in knowing Jesus, we have to follow the healing process.
Conclusion
1.Our problem is that we have continually become like the Pharisees who totally shut their ears and hearts towards the Messiah. They continually fight and attack Jesus. The world has continually shut their hearts and minds towards God and continually refused to give him permission in our lives.
We have wounded His heart so much by the sins we commit. We are like the Pharisees who saw a good thing but refused to accept that good thing. What God needs from us is a heart that is totally committed to Him.
In the first reading when Samuel was in the house of Jesse to anoint David, they brought Eliab to Him, Samuel thought that he must be the man God has chosen, But God told him that his attention towards man is always at the heart. The heart that longs for Him, the heart that wants to be in perfect relationship with Him, is what God needs. We need Jesus, you need Jesus, the world needs Jesus.
2. Do you know that difficult situations can reveal the work of God. In the gospel, the disciples thought the man was blind because someone sinned. Jesus corrected them. Jesus reveals that the blindness was not a punishment but an opportunity for God’s power to be shown.
We have to know that sometimes suffering becomes the place where God reveals His glory. Your struggles are not always punishment; sometimes they are opportunities for God to work miracles in your life.
5. If we truly want to enjoy the sweetness that comes from sincere relationship with God, we need to remain connected with Jesus. Jesus is the light who removes spiritual blindness.
In the gospel, Jesus said, “I am the light of the world.” The man received physical sight, but the deeper message is that Jesus also gives spiritual sight, that is the ability to understand truth and recognize God. Let us stay close to Jesus because He is the one who helps us see life clearly and walk in truth.
6. A true encounter with Jesus gives courage. The healed man was questioned many times by the Pharisees. Even when they insulted him, he boldly defended the truth about Jesus. His encounter with Christ gave him courage.
When you truly experience Jesus, you will not be afraid to stand for the truth. When you face any challenge, you will not be afraid because inside you, you know that God is with you.
7. The greatest miracle is believing in Jesus and connecting with Him. No encounter with Him is in vain. No prayer that you say is wasted.
At the end, Jesus revealed Himself to the healed man. The man responded, “Lord, I believe,” and worshipped Him. The physical healing was important, but the greater miracle was faith and encounter.
The most important gift Jesus gives is faith that leads us to worship Him and follow Him. We need to trust in everything that he does. Do not lose your faith, when it seems all hopes is lost.
HAPPY SUNDAY AND GOD BLESS YOU
sponsored
