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In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
“Jesus said, ‘I
came into this world for judgement so that those who do not see may see, and
those who do see may become blind.’”
When the
Pharisees overhear this, they ask Jesus the question: “Surely we are not blind,
are we?”; simultaneously posing the question and suggesting the answer. But if
they assume the answer, why ask at all?
One possibility
is because there are no good answers. The Pharisees are wary of Jesus, and this
guarded perspective makes his statement come across as rather ominous. Either they
are currently blind (a designation whose negative stigmas pervade today’s
reading), or they do see and this reversal of fortunes will make them blind! More
metaphorically, they might find Jesus insinuating revolutionary thoughts, with
the rise of the lowly and casting down of the powerful.
Jesus’s response
suggests to me that the very nature of their question was faulty. Notably, he
doesn’t answer it outright. Instead of stating his own opinion, Jesus implies
that their presumption of knowing the answer itself determined the answer. “Now
that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.” I can envision the opposite scenario
where the Pharisees ask more humbly, “Are we blind?” and Jesus says, “It is
good that you ask, ‘Are we blind?’ for it is through such questions that God’s
works might be revealed.”
Returning to the
actual text, it seems like Jesus and the Pharisees are having two separate,
albeit overlapping, conversations. The Pharisees, by their words and actions, are
focused on concerns of the world. They believe sin to be something
external; a modifier which determines our fate and status, even from birth, in
the same way that luck, happiness, and good fortune signify God’s good graces. As
figures of religious authority, they care about the status quo. They care more
about the letter of the law, the Law of Moses, than the spirit of the law, whose
purpose is to embetter the lives of the Israelites who follow it. It is out of
fear of usurpation, the fear that their role in society is being taken from
them, that they focus so heavily on the granular details of the blind man’s
recovery; anything they can grab onto to shake the power of Jesus’s ministry.
Conversely, Jesus
speaks and acts out of concern for the world. His time with us is
limited, and, as he said to his disciples earlier, “As long as I am in the
world, I am the light of the world.” What does it mean to be the light of the
world? I think it is telling that the very next line of text describes the physical
preparations which Jesus takes to facilitate the healing of the blind man; the
Gospeler going so far as to explicitly mention that Jesus’s actions immediately
follow those words. To be the light of the world is to cast out the darkness
that blinds us.
As Christians
and followers of The Way, we are expected to emulate Jesus. Jesus is the light
of the world, and we are children of light. But how do we follow up on actions
that are so miraculous? I don’t know about you, but if I spat on the ground,
made mud, then rubbed it into some poor soul’s face, I don’t think they’d
worship me afterwards. So, I think we’re going to have to be a bit more
creative.
Let’s start by
breaking down our terms; make them a bit more practicable. What does it mean to
be blind? What does it mean to cast out darkness, to be light?
By various
definitions, it wouldn’t be inaccurate to say that I am blind. I need glasses.
I get into trouble when you start mixing Red with other colors. In other ways
too. I know for a fact that I have been blind; and foolish; and clumsily
ignorant. And, perhaps unsurprisingly, blind to my own blindness. More broadly
speaking, I’d say that the things that blind us are anything that narrows, or
cuts off, our vision: adrenaline, fear, lack of oxygen…and, funnily enough,
light itself! The very thing that grants us our vision can also strip us of it.
So, what’s the
difference between light which illuminates and light which blinds? I would say,
acclimation. Have any of you ever hankered for food in the middle of the night?
You go down to the kitchen, open the fridge, and are suddenly blinded by the
light it emits? Well, the fridge wasn’t trying to blind you! Under normal
circumstances, the fridge-lights do their job and make visible the cold recesses
of its interior. Or, as Paul says to the Ephesians, “everything exposed by the
light becomes visible.” You set yourself up for blindness by
wandering around in the dark.
With that in
mind, let’s go back and look at my first quote of the day. “Jesus said, ‘I came
into this world for judgement so that those who do not see may see, and those
who do see may become blind.’” At first blush, this seems to be a 2-step plan:
step 1) heal the blind, then step 2) blind those with sight. Now, however, I’m
inclined to think that these are both actually the joined outcomes of a
singular action: being the light of the world. Jesus has set himself on this
path — teaching, healing, flipping tables — and here he spells out the
consequences of this path: both the blinding emotions of fear and anger amongst
those threatened by him, and the empowering enlightenment of those he helps
along the way.
So, again, what
are we supposed to do? Paul advises that we, “Take no part in the unfruitful
works of darkness, but instead expose them.” Great – that’s a first step. But
for me, it doesn’t give the specific set of directions that I’m looking for.
But don’t worry, good people! I, like Jesus, also have a 2-step plan which
might end up being a 1-step plan.
Step 1) See with
the eyes of your heart.
To give credit
where credit is due, Step 1 once more comes from Paul. Although we didn’t hear
it today, the following passage is taken from that same Letter to the
Ephesians: “with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may perceive what is
the hope to which [God] has called you…” This kind of sight is different from
our day-to-day vision. It involves, by means of strong empathy and
vulnerability, opening our hearts to all of the most impassioned emotions in
the world around us: all of the rage, the terror, the desperation, the longing,
the fascination, the zeal, the love. We open ourselves to the oncoming waves of
these emotions, not to combat them, not to subdue them, or even to agree with
them. We open our hearts so that we may see them; these invisible,
intangible, sometimes ephemeral aspects of ourselves that our eyes cannot
see. We see them with our hearts, and we grant them the dignity of
acknowledging their existence as they are. This is the first step to loving
anything or anyone: seeing them for who they actually are.
Step 2) Fight
against fear.
The 1st
verse of Psalm 27 has been on my mind while writing and preparing this homily.
It says, “The Lord is my light and my salvation — whom then shall I fear?” As I
mentioned earlier, fear is one of the ways we blind ourselves, focusing our attention
on just the source of our fear at the cost of everything in our peripheral. As an
emergency tool, fear is great; it keeps us alive. But when we hold onto fear,
when we live in fear, that’s when we get into trouble. As somebody famous once
said, “Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to
hate. Hate leads to suffering.”
Repeatedly
throughout the Bible, you’ll hear the angels say, “Do not be afraid.” They have to say this because angels are
terrifying! Their sudden appearance, their supernatural nature, and their radiancy
shake those who encounter them. But the reason they say this is because,
as messengers of God, they have important things to say; things they are
worried you will not hear unless you calm down. And so, we fight against fear
so that we can be receptive to the will of God.
The reason I
believe this 2-step plan is actually a 1-step plan is because I intend it to be
cyclical: never ending, as one leads into the other. An Ouroboros of God’s love
shaping itself in our lives. In that same way, we could also expand it into a
4-step plan: Step 1) Fight against your own fear, Step 2) See others with
empathy and love, Step 3) Teach others to combat their fears, Step 4) Empower
the whole world to see with its collective heart.
In conclusion, let me practice what I preach. Please know, genuinely, that I see you. I love you. And I wish for you to go and do likewise. Amen.
