March 30, 2025
Fourth Sunday of Lent
Year C Readings
Lectionary: 33
Reading I
The LORD said to Joshua,
“Today I have removed the reproach of Egypt from you.”
While the Israelites were encamped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho,
they celebrated the Passover
on the evening of the fourteenth of the month.
On the day after the Passover,
they ate of the produce of the land
in the form of unleavened cakes and parched grain.
On that same day after the Passover,
on which they ate of the produce of the land, the manna ceased.
No longer was there manna for the Israelites,
who that year ate of the yield of the land of Canaan.
Responsorial Psalm
R. (9a) Taste and see the goodness of the
Lord.
I will bless the LORD at all times;
his praise
shall be ever in my mouth.
Let my soul glory in the LORD;
the lowly
will hear me and be glad.
R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
Glorify the LORD with me,
let us
together extol his name.
I sought the LORD, and he answered me
and
delivered me from all my fears.
R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
Look to him that you may be radiant with joy,
and your
faces may not blush with shame.
When the poor one called out, the LORD heard,
and from all
his distress he saved him.
R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
Reading II
Brothers and sisters:
Whoever is in Christ is a new creation:
the old things have passed away;
behold, new things have come.
And all this is from God,
who has reconciled us to himself through Christ
and given us the ministry of reconciliation,
namely, God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ,
not counting their trespasses against them
and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.
So we are ambassadors for Christ,
as if God were appealing through us.
We implore you on behalf of Christ,
be reconciled to God.
For our sake he made him to be sin who did not know sin,
so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.
Verse before the Gospel
I will get up and go to my Father and shall say to him:
Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.
Gospel
Tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to listen
to Jesus,
but the Pharisees and scribes began to complain, saying,
“This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
So to them Jesus addressed this parable:
“A man had two sons, and the younger son said to his father,
‘Father give me the share of your estate that should come to me.’
So the father divided the property between them.
After a few days, the younger son collected all his belongings
and set off to a distant country
where he squandered his inheritance on a life of dissipation.
When he had freely spent everything,
a severe famine struck that country,
and he found himself in dire need.
So he hired himself out to one of the local citizens
who sent him to his farm to tend the swine.
And he longed to eat his fill of the pods on which the swine fed,
but nobody gave him any.
Coming to his senses he thought,
‘How many of my father’s hired workers
have more than enough food to eat,
but here am I, dying from hunger.
I shall get up and go to my father and I shall say to him,
“Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.
I no longer deserve to be called your son;
treat me as you would treat one of your hired workers.”’
So he got up and went back to his father.
While he was still a long way off,
his father caught sight of him, and was filled with compassion.
He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him.
His son said to him,
‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you;
I no longer deserve to be called your son.’
But his father ordered his servants,
‘Quickly bring the finest robe and put it on him;
put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.
Take the fattened calf and slaughter it.
Then let us celebrate with a feast,
because this son of mine was dead, and has come to life again;
he was lost, and has been found.’
Then the celebration began.
Now the older son had been out in the field
and, on his way back, as he neared the house,
he heard the sound of music and dancing.
He called one of the servants and asked what this might mean.
The servant said to him,
‘Your brother has returned
and your father has slaughtered the fattened calf
because he has him back safe and sound.’
He became angry,
and when he refused to enter the house,
his father came out and pleaded with him.
He said to his father in reply,
‘Look, all these years I served you
and not once did I disobey your orders;
yet you never gave me even a young goat to feast on with my friends.
But when your son returns
who swallowed up your property with prostitutes,
for him you slaughter the fattened calf.’
He said to him,
‘My son, you are here with me always;
everything I have is yours.
But now we must celebrate and rejoice,
because your brother was dead and has come to life again;
he was lost and has been found.'"
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/033025-YearC.cfm
Commentary on Joshua
5:9,10-12; 2 Corinthians 5:17-21; Luke 15:1-3,11-32
Lent is a time for renewal. Part of that renewal requires
that we become aware of the disorder, the disharmony and the distortions in our
life, in other words to become aware of the areas of sinfulness and of the evil
in our behaviour. We cannot change unless we are first aware of what needs to
be changed. Many of us go through life not prepared to take a really objective
look at the kind of people we are, although we may spend a good deal of time
being very aware of what is wrong with others.
Once aware of the areas of our lives which are ruled by
negative forces like hate, anger, resentment, greed, vindictiveness, injustice
or violence we need to repent. ‘Repentance’ in the Gospel calls not only for
expressions of regret and sorrow; it also demands a radical change in my future
behaviour and a profound change in the way I see God and people and other
things. It calls for a re-ordering of my relationships with God, with Jesus,
with other people and with myself. It means a real turning round of my life, a
real conversion.
Looking to the future
Many have the good habit of making a serious confession during Lent or
before Easter. However, we must be aware that such a confession entails not
just clearing the decks of past wrongdoings; it also involves a genuine desire
for a reform of life and a real change in our behaviour. If my confessions over
the years do not seem to change very much, it may well be that in making them,
I have paid too little attention to the present and the future. As we will see,
God is not really interested in our past.
Part of the renewal experience of Lent is to try to become
more truly disciples of Jesus and to share more deeply his values, his outlook
and his attitudes. As St Paul told the Philippians, we are to have the same
mind and same way of thinking as Jesus had.
God’s way of thinking
In today’s Mass, we have one of the most graphic descriptions of Jesus’—and
therefore of God’s—thinking. We are confronted with the attitude of God to the
wrongdoer, i.e. his deep desire to forgive and to be totally reconciled with
the one who has severed relations with him.
The context of today’s passage is important. Luke tells us:
…all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to
listen to him.
The Pharisees and Scribes, who were the ‘good and religious’
people, were shocked and disturbed:
This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.
By their standards, a ‘good’ person avoids ‘bad company’. To
be quite honest, don’t we think the same? If so, then we are not thinking like
God or like Jesus.
Jesus answers the Pharisees by telling three parables, only
one of which is given in today’s Gospel. The first parable is about a shepherd
who has lost one of his sheep. He goes to extraordinary lengths, even leaving
all the other sheep, to find that single one that has gone astray. That is a
picture of God and the sinner. When he finds the sheep, he has to share his joy
with all his companions. The second parable is about a poor woman who loses a
coin. It may be only one coin, but it means a lot to her. She turns her house
upside down till she finds it and when she does, she joyfully tells all her
neighbours.
The Prodigal Son’s Father
But the most striking story is the third parable. While it is normally
referred to as the parable of the “Prodigal Son”, in fact, the emphasis is less
on the son than on the father, who clearly represents God and Jesus.
No one can deny the appalling behaviour of the younger son.
He took all that his father generously gave to him as his inheritance and used
it in leading a life of total debauchery and self-centred indulgence.
Eventually, he had nothing. He was reduced to living with pigs and even sharing
their slops—something utterly abhorrent to the Jewish mind and something even
we would find appalling. The reaction of many, especially the ‘good and morally
respectable’, might be, “It served him right.”
This, however, is not the reaction of the father, who has
only one thought in his mind—how to get his son to come back to where he
belongs. The father does not say: “This son has seriously offended me and
brought disgrace on our family. May he rot in hell.” Instead, we can almost see
him standing at the door of his house watching and waiting for his son to
return. And we can almost hear him say, “My son went away and is lost, and I
want so much to have him back.” His love for his wayward son has not changed
one iota.
No force
There is no force involved. The police are not sent out. Servants are
not instructed to haul him back. No, the father waits. It is up to the son
himself to make the crucial decision—does he want to be with his father or not?
Eventually the son “came to his senses”, that is, he
realised the wrongness of what he had done. He became aware of just how good
his father had been. The process of repentance had begun. He felt deeply
ashamed of his behaviour and then, most significantly of all, he turned round
to make his way back to his father.
The father, for his part, filled with compassion for his
son’s experiences, runs out to meet him, embraces him and brushes aside the
carefully prepared speech the son had ready. If the son had known his father
better, he would have realised that such a speech was unnecessary. Immediately,
orders are given to bring the very best things in the house and a banquet is
laid on.
This is forgiveness, this is reconciliation and, on the part
of the son, this is conversion and repentance, a real turning around of his
life and a return to where he ought to be.
All this, it is important to remember, is in response to the
comments of the Pharisees and Scribes about Jesus mixing with sinners. This
story reveals a picture of God which, on the one hand, many of us have not yet
fully accepted and, on the other, illustrates a way of behaving that does not
come easily to us in our own relationships with others.
No understanding
And this is where the elder son comes in. He simply cannot understand
what is happening. He was never treated like this and he had always been a
‘good boy’. What kind of justice is this? One brother stays at home keeping all
the rules (i.e. Commandments) and seems to get nothing. His brother lives
riotously with prostitutes in a pagan land, and when he comes back, he is
treated like royalty. The elder son could not understand the mind of his
father, and some of us may have such a difficulty as well.
In some ways God is very unjust—at least by our standards.
He is corrupted by love! But fortunately for us, he is like
that. Supposing we went to confession one day and the priest said, “Sorry,
that’s it. There can be no more forgiveness, no more reconciliations. You’ve
used up your quota. Too bad.” Of course, it is not like that. There is no limit
to God’s forgiveness.
As was said earlier, God is not interested in the past, but
only in the present. I am judged not by what I have done or not done earlier.
Nor need I be anxious how I will behave in the future. I am judged by my
relationship with God here and now. It was on that basis that the murderer
crucified with Jesus was told:
Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.
(Luke 23:43)
Despite all he had done, he is promised eternal life that
very day. It was on the same basis that the ‘sinful woman’, presumably a
prostitute, becomes totally reconciled with Jesus, and there and then all her
past behaviour is forgotten:
Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven;
hence she has shown great love. (Luke 7:47)
All I have to worry about is whether, right now, I have a
loving relationship with God and with all those around me through whom I come
in contact with him.
What limits do we set?
There is clearly much to reflect on in today’s readings as to how we
deal with those we feel have ‘offended’ us. In wanting to experience God’s
forgiveness, we also need to learn how to be forgiving to others. Do we set
limits to our forgiveness? To be reconciled with God, we need to learn how to
be reconciled with all those who are sources of conflict or pain in our lives.
We thank God that we have a Lord who is so ready to forgive
and welcome us back again and again, but we cannot stop there. We have to learn
to act towards others in the same way:
…forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against
us…
We, too, need to see a person in the here and now and not
continue to dredge up past hurts and resentments, anger and hatred.
By imitating Jesus more, we find that our relationships
improve. In so doing we are coming closer to having the mind of Jesus, but we
are doing something else as well. We will find that life will become a far more
peace-filled and harmonious experience. It is a perfect win-win situation.
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https://livingspace.sacredspace.ie/lc041/
Sunday, March 30, 2025
Fourth Sunday of Lent
Opening Prayer
Lord Jesus, send Your
Spirit to help us to read the Scriptures with the same mind that
You read them to the disciples on the way to Emmaus. In the light of the
Word, written in the Bible, You helped them to discover the
presence of God in the disturbing events of Your sentence
and death. Thus, the Cross that seemed to be the end of all hope became for
them the source of life and of resurrection.
Create silence in us
so that we may listen to Your voice in Creation and in
the Scriptures, in events and in people, above all in the poor and suffering.
May Your word guide us so that we too, like the two
disciples on the way to Emmaus, may
experience the force of Your resurrection and witness to others
that You are alive in our midst as source of fraternity,
justice and peace. We ask this of You, Jesus, son of Mary, who
revealed the Father to us and sent us
Your Spirit. Amen.
Gospel Reading - John 9: 1-41
A Key to the Reading:
The text of the Gospel of the fourth Sunday of Lent
invites us to meditate on the healing of a man born blind. It is a short but
lively text. It is a concrete example of the way the Fourth Gospel reveals the
deep hidden meaning of the events in Jesus’ life. The story of the healing of
the blind man helps us open our eyes to the picture of Jesus that we each carry
within ourselves. We often think of a Jesus who looks like a glorious king,
removed from the life of ordinary people! In the Gospels, Jesus is presented as
a Servant of the poor, friend of sinners. The picture of the Messiah-King that
the Pharisees had in mind, kept us from recognizing Jesus the Messiah-Servant.
As we read the Gospel, let us try to pay attention to two things: (i) the
expert and free way the blind man reacts to the provocations of the
authorities, and (ii) the way the blind man himself opens his eyes concerning
Jesus.
A Division of the Text as a Help
to the Reading:
•
John 9: 1-5: Blindness before the evil that
exists in the world
•
John 9: 6-7: The sign of the “One sent by God”
who will provoke various reactions
•
John 9: 8-13: The reaction of the neighbors
•
John 9: 14-17: The reaction of the Pharisees
•
John 9: 18-23: The reaction of the parents
•
John 9: 24-34: The final judgement of the Pharisees
•
John 9: 35-38: The final attitude of the man
born blind • John
9: 39-41: A closing reflection Text:
1 As He went
along, He saw a man who had been blind from birth. 2 His
disciples asked Him, 'Rabbi, who sinned, this man or
his parents, that he should have been born blind?' 3 'Neither he nor his
parents sinned,' Jesus answered, 'he was born blind so that the works of God
might be revealed in him. 4 'As long as day lasts we must carry out the work of
the one who sent me; the night will soon be here when no one can work. 5 As
long as I am in the world I am the light of the world.'
6 Having said this, he spat on the ground,
made a paste with the spittle, put this over the eyes of the blind man, 7 and
said to him, 'Go and wash in the Pool of Siloam' (the name means 'one who has
been sent'). So he went off and washed and came back able to see.
8 His neighbors and the people who used to
see him before (for he was a beggar) said, 'Isn't this the man who used to sit
and beg?' 9 Some said, 'Yes, it is the same one.' Others said, 'No, but he
looks just like him.' The man himself said, 'Yes, I am the one.' 10 So they
said to him, 'Then how is it that your eyes were opened?' 11 He answered, 'The
man called Jesus made a paste, daubed my eyes with it and said to me, "Go
off and wash at Siloam"; so I went, and when I washed I gained my sight.'
12 They asked, 'Where is he?' He answered, 'I don't know.' 13 They brought the
man who had been blind to the Pharisees.
14 It had been a Sabbath day when Jesus
made the paste and opened the man's eyes, 15 so when the Pharisees asked him
how he had gained his sight, he said, 'He put a paste on my eyes, and I washed,
and I can see.' 16 Then some of the Pharisees said, 'That man cannot be from
God: he does not keep the Sabbath.' Others said, 'How can a sinner produce
signs like this?' And there was division among them. 17 So they spoke to the
blind man again, 'What have you to say about Him yourself,
now that He has opened your eyes?' The man answered, 'He is
a prophet.'
18 However, the Jews would not believe
that the man had been blind without first sending for the parents of the man
who had gained his sight and 19 asking them, 'Is this man really the son of
yours who you say was born blind? If so, how is it that he is now able to see?'
20 His parents answered, 'We know he is our son and we know he was born blind,
21 but how he can see, we don't know, nor who opened his eyes. Ask him. He is
old enough: let him speak for himself.' 22 His parents spoke like this out of
fear of the Jews, who had already agreed to ban from the synagogue anyone who
should acknowledge Jesus as the Christ. 23
This was why his parents said, 'He is old enough; ask him.'
24 So the Jews sent for the man again and
said to him, 'Give glory to God! We are satisfied that this man is a sinner.'
25 The man answered, 'Whether he is a sinner I don't know; all I know is that I
was blind and now I can see.' 26 They said to him, 'What did he do to you? How
did he open your eyes?' 27 He replied, 'I have told you once and you wouldn't
listen. Why do you want to hear it all again? Do you want to become
His disciples yourselves?' 28 At this they hurled abuse at him, 'It is
you who are His disciple, we are disciples of Moses: 29 we know
that God spoke to Moses, but as for this man, we don't know where
He comes from.' 30 The man replied, 'That is just what is so amazing!
You don't know where He comes from and
He has opened my eyes! 31 We know that God doesn't listen to sinners,
but God does listen to people who are devout and do his will. 32 Ever since the
world began it is unheard of for anyone to open the eyes of someone born blind;
33 if this man were not from God, He wouldn't have been able to do
anything.' 34 They retorted, 'Are you trying to teach us, and you a sinner
through and through ever since you were born!' And they ejected him.
35 Jesus heard they had ejected him, and when He
found him He said to him, 'Do you believe in the Son of man?'
36 'Sir,' the man replied, 'tell me who he is so that I may believe in
Him.' 37 Jesus said, 'You have seen Him;
He is speaking to you.' 38 The man said, 'Lord, I believe,' and
worshipped Him.
39 Jesus said,
‘It is for judgement that I have come into this world, so that those
without sight may see and those with sight may become blind.’
40 Hearing this, some Pharisees who were present said to
Him, 'So we are blind, are we?' 41 Jesus replied,‘If you were blind, you
would not be guilty, but since you say, “We can see,”
your guilt remains.’
A Moment of Prayerful Silence
so that the Word of God may
penetrate and enlighten our life
Some Questions
to help us in our personal
reflection.
•
What part of this text touched me most? Why?
•
A popular saying goes, “None
so blind as those who will not see!” How does this apply to the conversation
between the blind man and the Pharisees?
•
By what titles is Jesus hailed in the text? Who
pronounces these? What do they mean?
•
Which title do I like best? Why? Or,
what picture of Jesus do I carry in my mind and my heart? Where does this picture
come from?
•
How can I purify my eyes to see the true Jesus
of the Gospels?
To Delve Deeper into the Text
The Context Within Which the
Gospel of John was Written:
As we meditate on the story of the healing
of the blind man, it is good to keep in mind the context of the Christian
communities in Asia Minor towards the end of the first century for whom the
Gospel of John was written and who identified with the blind man and his
healing. Because of a legalistic view of the Law of God, they were blind from
birth. But, as happened with the blind man, they too were able to see the
presence of God in the person of Jesus of Nazareth and were converted. It was a
painful process! In describing the steps and conflicts of the healing of the
blind man, the author of the Fourth Gospel recalls the spiritual journey of the
community, from the darkness of blindness to the full light of faith
enlightened by Jesus. A
Commentary on the Text:
•
John 9: 1-5: Blindness before the evil that
exists in the world
When the disciples see the blind man, they ask: “Rabbì, who
sinned, this man or his parents, for him to have been born blind?” In those
days, a physical defect or sickness was thought to be a punishment from God.
Associating physical defects with sin was the way the priests of the Old
Testament kept their power over people’s consciences. Jesus helps his disciples
to correct their ideas: “Neither he nor his parents sinned…he was born blind so
that the works of God might be displayed in him!” The
works of God is the same as Sign of God. Thus, that which in those days
was a sign of God’s absence, is now a sign of his brilliant presence in our
midst. Jesus says: “As long as the day lasts I must carry out the work of the
one who sent me; the night will soon be here when no one can work. As long as I
am in the world I
am the light of the world.” The Day of
signs begins
to manifest itself when Jesus, “on the third day” (Jn 2: 1), makes present the
“first sign” in Cana (Jn 2:n11). But the day is about to end. The night is
about to fall, because it is already “the seventh day,” the Sabbath, and the
healing of the blind man is now the sixth sign (Jn 9: 14). The Night
is the death of Jesus. The seventh sign will be the victory over death at the
resurrection of Lazarus (Jn 11). In John’s Gospel there are only seven signs,
miracles, that announce the great sign, namely the Death and Resurrection of
Jesus.
•
John 9: 6-7. The sign of the “One sent by God”
who will provoke various reactions
Jesus spits on the ground, forms mud with his saliva, puts
the mud on the eyes of the blind man and tells him to wash in the pool of
Siloam. The man goes and comes back healed. This is
the sign! John comments saying that Siloam
means sent.
Jesus is the One
sent by the Father who
works the works of God, the signs of the Father. The sign of this ‘sending’ is
that the blind man begins to see.
•
John 9: 8-13: The first reaction: that of the
neighbors
The blind man is well known. The neighbors have doubts: “Is
this he?” And they ask: “How do your eyes come to be open?” The man who was
blind testifies, “The Man called
Jesus opened my eyes.” The basis of our faith in Jesus is to accept that He is
a human being like us. The neighbors ask: “Where is he?” - “I don’t know!” They
are not satisfied with the answer of the blind man and, to clarify matters,
they bring the man before the Pharisees, the religious authorities.
•
John 9: 14-17: The second reaction: that of the
Pharisees
That day was a Sabbath and on the Sabbath it was forbidden
to heal. When asked by the Pharisees, the man tells everything once more. Some
Pharisees, blind in their observance of the law, say, “This man cannot be
from God,
He does not keep the Sabbath!” They could not admit that Jesus could be
a sign of God because He healed the blind man on a Sabbath. But other
Pharisees, faced by the sign, answer, “How could a sinner produce signs like this?”
They were divided among themselves! So they asked the blind man, “What
have you to say about him yourself, now that He has opened your eyes?” And
he gives witness: “He is a Prophet!”
•
John 9: 18-23: The third reaction: that of the
parents
The Pharisees, now called the Jews, did not believe that he was blind. They
thought that it was a matter of deception. So they called his parents and
asked, “Is
this man really your son who you say was born blind? If so, how is it that he
is now able to see?” Very carefully the parents reply: “We know he is our son
and we know he was born blind, but we don’t know how it is that he can see now,
or who opened his eyes. He is old enough: let him speak for himself!” The
blindness of the Pharisees before the evidence of the healing produces fear
among the people. And anyone who professed faith in Jesus Messiah was excluded from the
synagogue. The conversation with the parents of the blind man reveals the
truth, but the religious authorities will not accept it. Their blindness is
greater because of the witness given, now they will not accept the law that
says that the witness of two persons is valid
(Jn 8: 17).
•
John 9: 24-34: The final judgement of the
Pharisees concerning Jesus
They call the blind man again and say, “Give glory to God! For our part we know that
this man is a sinner.” Here: “give glory to God” meant, “Ask pardon for the lie you just pronounced!” The
blind man had said, “He is a prophet!”
According to the Pharisees he should have said, “He
is a sinner!” But the blind man is intelligent. He replies, “I don’t know if he is a sinner; I only know that
I was blind and now I can see!” There are no arguments against this fact! Again
the Pharisees ask, “What did He do to you? How did
He open your eyes?” The blind man answers with a touch of irony: “I have
told you once…. Do you want to become His
disciples too?” Then they insulted him and said, “You
can be His disciple, we know that God spoke
to Moses, but for this man, we don’t know where He
comes from.” Again with a touch of irony the blind man replies, “Now here is an astonishing thing! He has opened
my eyes, and you don’t know where He comes from! …. If this man were not from God, He
couldn’t do a thing.” Faced with the blindness of the Pharisees, the light of
faith grows in the blind man. He does not accept the logic of the Pharisees and
confesses that Jesus comes from the Father. This profession of
faith costs him his expulsion from the synagogue. The same was happening in the
communities of the end of the first century. Those who professed faith in Jesus
had to break all family and community ties. This happens today: those who
decide to be faithful to Jesus run the risk of being excluded.
•
John 9: 35-38: The attitude of faith of the
blind man towards Jesus
Jesus does not abandon those who are persecuted for His
sake. When Jesus hears of the expulsion and meets the man again, He
helps him to take a further step by inviting him to take on his faith and asks, “Do
you believe in the Son of Man?” He replies,“Sir…tell me who He is
that I may believe in Him?” Jesus said to Him, “You are looking at Him; He is
speaking to you.” The blind man exclaims, “Lord, I believe!” And he worships Jesus. The faith attitude of the
blind man before Jesus is one of absolute trust and total acceptance. He
accepts everything from Jesus. It is this faith that sustained the Christian
communities of Asia towards the end of the first century, and that sustains us
today.
•
John 9: 39-41: A final reflection
The blind man who could not see ends
up seeing better than the Pharisees. The communities of Asia Minor who were
once blind, discover the light. The Pharisees who thought that they saw well
are more blind than the man born blind. Bound by an ancient observance, they
lie when they say they can see.
None more blind that those who will not see!
A Broader View:
• The Names and
Titles given to Jesus
Throughout the story of the healing of the blind man, the
Evangelist registers various titles, adjectives and names given to Jesus by a
host of people, the disciples, the Evangelist himself, the blind man, the
Pharisees and Jesus Himself. This way of describing the events in the life
of Jesus was part of the catechesis of the time. It was a way of helping people
to clarify their own ideas concerning Jesus and to identify themselves in His
regard. Here are some of the names, adjectives and titles. The list shows the
growth of the blind man in faith and how his vision becomes clear:
•
Rabbì (master) (Jn 9: 1): the disciples
•
Light of the world (Jn 9: 5): Jesus
•
The One sent (Jn 9: 7): the Evangelist
•
Man (Jn 9: 11): the healed man
•
Jesus: (Jn 9: 11): the healed man
•
Does not come from God (Jn 9: 16): some
Pharisees
•
Prophet (Jn 9: 17): the healed man
•
Christ (Jn 9: 22): the people
•
Sinner (Jn 9: 24): some Pharisees
•
We do know where he comes from (Jn 9: 31): the
healed man
•
Religious (Jn 9: 31): the healed man
•
Does the will of God (Jn 9: 31): the healed man
•
Son of Man (Jn 9: 35): Jesus
•
Lord (Jn 9: 36): the healed man
•
Lord, I believe! (Jn 9: 30): the healed man
•
The Name:
“I AM”
To reveal the deep meaning of the healing of the blind
man, the Fourth Gospel records the words of Jesus: “I
am the light of the world” (Jn 9:5). In several places, in answer to
questions people put to Jesus, the Gospel repeats this same statement “I AM”:
•
I am the bread of life (Jn 6: 34-48)
•
I am the living bread come down from heaven (Jn
6: 51)
•
I am the light of the world (Jn 8: 12; 9: 5)
•
I am the gate (Jn 10: 7, 9)
•
I am the good shepherd (Jn 10: 11, 25)
•
I am the resurrection and the life (Jn 11: 2
•
I am the way, the truth and the life (Jn 14: 6)
•
I am the vine (Jn 15: 1)
•
I am king (Jn 18: 37)
•
I am (Jn 8: 24, 27, 58)
•
This self revelation of Jesus reaches its peak
in His conversation with the Jews, when Jesus says,
“When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am
He” (Jn 8: 27). The name I am is the same as Yahweh, the name God
gave in Exodus, an expression of the
liberating presence between Jesus and the Father (Ex 3: 15). The
repeated affirmation I AM reveals the deep identity between Jesus and the
Father. The face of God shines in Jesus of Nazareth:
“To have seen Me is to have seen the Father!” (Jn 14: 9)
Prayer: Psalm 117 (116)
A
resume of the Bible in one prayer
Alleluia!
Praise Yahweh, all nations, extol Him, all peoples, for His faithful love is
strong and His constancy never-ending.
Final Prayer
Lord Jesus, we thank
You for the word that has enabled us to understand
better the will of the Father. May Your Spirit enlighten our
actions and grant us the strength to practice what Your
Word has revealed to us. May we, like Mary, Your mother,
not only listen to but also practice the Word. You who live and reign with the
Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen.
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