Sunday of the Blindman 2025

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and

of the Holy Spirit. Amen. After Wednesday, this

week, we won't be greeting each other until next

year, God willing, with that wonderful phrase,

Christ is risen. And we won't be doing that after

Wednesday since we are moving on, let's say moving

up, to Ascension. Christ with the angels and

the apostles bearing witness. And that's an exhilarating

and exciting thing to ponder, and we'll get to

that in due time on Wednesday evening and Thursday,

the Feast of the Ascension. And then to Holy

Pentecost. We're moving on. And that Feast of

Pentecost is that which, let's say, it seals

in like a wax seal on an envelope. It ratifies,

it attests, it confirms, it validates, it authenticates

whatever synonym you want to use. The reality

of the life of the resurrection in us. And that's

important that we remember that Pentecost is

that crown. That we are coming to. We need to

be enlightened to be there though. Which is why

we're hearing this incredible story today. The

enlightenment comes from the grace of the Holy

Spirit shining within us. So that we can live

the life of the resurrection. So we understand.

who it is we are following, and what it costs

us. That's very important. You heard about the

paralytic. He was reviled. He was made fun of.

And this poor man, this poor man, the fresco's

right over there, by the way. This blind man

was brought in, and his parents were even subpoenaed,

if you want to put it that way. All these stories,

these lessons from Acts and the Gospel of John,

all since Pascha, are not just for the newly

baptized, by the way, their catechism continuing,

so to speak. It's not just for those that are

preparing now. We have baptisms a few, six next

week. But these readings are for us who perhaps

need encouragement because we have lost a bit

of zeal since Lent. We need encouragement to

live our life, to pursue this illumination that

Jesus is talking about when he says, I am the

light of the world. On to today's gospel account.

Jesus is passing by, as John tells us, and he

comes to a blind man. That man had no... Eyeballs

in his sockets. That's a medical condition. There's

a nurse or doctor, you can correct my pronunciation.

Anophthalmia. No eyes. He's blind. Now we're

in chapter 9 of the Gospel of John. Which follows

the dramatic and I would say upsetting chapter

8. With the hatred of Christ just boiling over.

In chapter 8. So Christ leaves that. It says

here at the end of chapter 8. Christ says to

them, amen, amen, I say to you. Before Abraham,

I am. He says those words, I am. He identifies

himself with the God of Israel. The one who causes

things to be. They took up stones to throw at

him because he said that. But Jesus hid himself

and went out of the temple, going through the

midst of them, and so passed by. Now, as Jesus

passed by, he saw a man who was blind from his

birth. Just like he saw the paralytic. Just like

he saw the Samaritan woman and began a conversation.

He took the initiative. Jesus has taken the initiative.

In other words, Jesus did what the blind man

could not do. Jesus saw him. He saw him. He sees

us. That's the way St. John, that's the way the

Lord expresses the primacy of grace, that God

initiates everything. I said... something like

this a few weeks ago. Man does not really search

for God. Mostly we run away. Think about it.

Man sometimes thinks he searches for God, as

I pointed out. And here we are again. Man's search

for God, says that wonderful writer and Christian

C .S. Lewis, is something like the mouse's search

for the cat. We want to know where he is so we

don't go there. That's man's search for God.

How many people run from the Lord or want to

redefine the Lord to make him more safe? It begins

with God. It is not, says St. John the theologian,

that we have loved God, but that God has first

loved us. We need to remember that and to be

encouraged that this is about God's love taking

the initiative to come to us, to change us, to

heal us, to give us a life that we did not know

before. And we could never attain without him.

We could not make it up. People could say they

believe in God, but until they come to Christ,

the giver of light and the healer, they don't

really know what God is. God is always searching.

reaching out to us poor ones, hoping that we

might catch a glimmer of his presence and follow.

Sometimes he's outside our window, so to speak,

tapping. But we're busy. We can't go there. And

then when we do turn around and say, God, oh,

he's not there. He expects us to follow. Anyway,

Jesus sees the blind man. And that's just an

important thing to remember, that God takes the

initiative. He's the one that loves us first.

Jesus sees this man with the disciples who makes

some comments, and after some discussion with

the disciples about who's to blame for this man's

blindness, you know, what we don't understand,

we usually think somebody's to blame here. But

then Jesus, the Word of God, by whom, through

whom, and for whom everything was created. And

there was nothing that was created that he didn't

create. Just like in Genesis, when God takes

the dust of the earth, which he created from

nonexistence and made man, Jesus does the same

thing here in this story. He stoops down. He

takes spit with the dirt that he picked up, and

he makes mud. And out of the blue, think, this

man is just sitting there begging. And all of

a sudden, there's someone putting mud in his

eye sockets, smearing mud. And then he says to

this man, who hasn't said a word yet, go and

wash in the pool of Siloam. You see the pool

in the fresco. Go, he says. You know the way

to the pool. Others will help you find it. Wash

there as if Christ is saying, I will heal you,

but you need to respond. You can't just sit there

and expect that this healing will do you any

good. You need to respond. And the man is obedient

to Jesus. The man does not resist like Naaman

the leper in the Old Testament. Remember, why

should I wash in the Jordan River? We have better

rivers in Syria. Now, suppose this man says to

himself, what's with this mud in my eyes? Some

total stranger telling me, go wash. Do I trust

him? Why would I trust him? Do I put my confidence

in him? Why would I put my confidence in him?

He says, wash. The blind man did not respond

to Christ's instructions with questions and reservations.

and caveats about how we could follow Christ.

What a sorrow it is to me that so many people

will come to Christ and begin to be enlightened,

and then they see what the cost is, usually from

some morality issue in society, which they feel

is more merciful than the Lord, and they leave.

This man, did not have questions, reservations,

and anxiety about the future course of his life.

The man does not resist the rays of divine light.

Jesus says, go and wash, and he goes, and he

washes, and he sees. And then he moves forward

and encounters challenges he could never have

anticipated. But it turns out this man was a

wise man. This is what it means to say that Jesus

is Lord. This is what it means to put yourself

under the headship, the lordship of Jesus. Otherwise,

Jesus can do nothing for us. And when he does

this, when we do this, we begin to grow in knowledge

of the Lord. enlightenment. Our hearts are changed.

We are illumined with the light of understanding

of Christ who said, I am the light of the world.

Our blind man's faith, like ours, is based on

obedience to the Lord, no matter what the cost.

I think of the confessors, the martyrs under

Soviet times, the saints. I think of us so weak

that we give up without any persecution at all,

but just because it's inconvenient, just because

there's a philosophy we feel might be better

than what Christ can give us. But the man's faith

was rooted in experience, and that experience

is this. One thing I know, and we have to get

there too, and that's the core of this message

today. One thing I know, I was blind, but now

I see. There's the proof that we need. It won't

do anybody else any good. The Pharisees had all

the proof in the world. They were the so -called

spiritual ones, the ones who say, we see, we

understand, we know. They became blinded by their

hatred and their ignorance and their sin. And

Jesus sums it all up at the end, which you don't

hear. It's the next verse after the man worships

Jesus. It says this, for judgment I came into

this world, that is to set things right. That's

what judgment means. That those who do not see

may see. And those who see may become blind.

Some of the Pharisees near him heard this and

said to him, oh, are you accusing us of being

blind? Jesus says to them, if you were blind,

you would have no guilt because you could not

see. But you say, we see. And so your guilt remains.

The whole story is about one thing I know. Brothers

and sisters, go deep in your experience with

the Lord. A man that is blind, that receives

his sight, what incredible joy. What an amazing

gift that would be to a person. A person who

is born spiritually blind, as we are, which gains

his or her sight in faith of God, Jesus Christ,

the Holy Spirit, in baptism and in charismation.

What a joy beyond calculation to hang on to it.

And there are those that we see in the saints

surrounded by them today. Some of them might

be sitting here. whose faith is a witness, and

they can say, I was blind, but now I see, and

nothing will shake that faith. Last week, on

Thursday, Deacon Justin and I and a few others

were in the small little hut of St. Paisius of

Mount Athos, who died in 1992. And we went into

his little chapel, and there is his seat. some

of his books that were there, where he spent

so much of his time. And we were told, well,

this is where St. Pius the Elder sat. This is

where he had many visions of the Lord and many

appearances of the Theotokos to him in his prayer.

And we thought, well, of course that's true.

With all the miracles? associated with this man's

name and the wisdom of the words that he had

said that were taken down, how could it be otherwise?

Our guiding principle in life and in our interaction

with the world around us is not our political

leanings or our personal feelings. or our personal

opinions. If you are guided by those things,

you might as well create an image of yourself,

pray before it, offer sacrifices to it, and you

will see that there will be no joy. There will

be no illumination. But be honest with yourself

and choose whom you will follow and ask yourself,

was I blind and now I see? And the Lord Jesus

Christ, his life, his teachings will illumine

you through the prayers of the saints. Amen.

Christ is risen.