LORD, I BELIEVE

IV SUNDAY OF LENT - John 9:1-41

In the year A of the liturgical cycle, the last three Sundays of Lent present three themes profoundly linked to the catechumens who prepare themselves to be baptised: Jesus is the fountain of the living water; he is the light that overcomes our darkness, and in him we find resurrection and life. Each theme is centred on a person and the journey of faith of that person: the Samaritan woman, the blind man and Martha of Bethany.

This Sunday, we are invited to look at the blind man’s journey from darkness to light and from unbelief to belief. As in the case of the Samaritan woman, Jesus takes the initiative; he was the one who saw the blind man and decided to heal him. At first sight, the encounter seems to have happened by chance, but all encounters with Jesus are purposeful. Jesus wanted to reveal himself as the light of the world. In this case, the physical handicap was a sign of a much deeper handicap that affects the soul. In order to be healed and become whole, one must recognise one's blindness and be ready to accept the gift of light. The fortuitous encounter led to a gift so great that it changed the blind man’s life forever. He allowed his heart to be touched, and that led him to a journey of faith that ended in an act of worship. 

Once healed of his blindness, the man was able to recognise and be thankful for the great gift received. He did not know Jesus, but he was going to be questioned and confronted because of Jesus. And those who hated Jesus turned against him, being ready to punish him, even though he had done nothing wrong. The unbelievers who rejected Jesus rejected him as well, refusing to accept his truthful statements. This rejection led him to a deeper understanding of the true Jesus. Immediately after his healing, he answered those who asked him about the healer: “The man called Jesus” did this to me. When asked his opinion about Jesus, he said, "He is a prophet.” Afraid of being expelled from the synagogue, his parents avoided any kind of involvement. Subjected to further questioning, the man unmasked those who confronted him, denying that Jesus could be a sinner and affirming him to come from God: if “this man were not from God, he couldn’t do a thing.” Seeing his determination to give witness to Jesus Christ, they expelled him from the synagogue. This expulsion led Jesus to make a full revelation to the healed man. 

“Jesus heard they had driven him away, and when he found him, he said to him, ‘Do you believe in the Son of Man?’ ‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘tell me who he is so that I may believe in him.’ Jesus said, ‘You are looking at him; he is speaking to you.’ The man said, ‘Lord, I believe’, and worshipped him.”