Sunday of the Blindman 2024

Glory to Jesus Christ. What an amazing story.

And so frustrating for this poor man who has

been enlightened. Today we have so many things,

such riches to consider and meditate upon. Today

is St. Columba, the Enlightener of Scotland.

This fresco is back there. It's also St. Cyril

of Alexandria, the great theologian and patriarch.

But we have this fresco here of the blind man,

and we really ought to focus our attention on

that healing. It's right there on the north side,

that last arch. I think it's important that we

also notice that the last, including today, the

last three gospel accounts are about a healing,

not just physical healing, that comes from baptism,

which we call holy illumination. The Samaritan

woman is there, and there's the well. It looks

like a baptismal font. The paralytic is there

with the five porches and the water in there.

The blind man is there. And again, the well,

the pool of Siloam, which he goes to, looks like

a baptismal font. We have all these three frescoes

here and these wonderful gospel accounts to help

us to teach the newly illumined, yes. baptized

just a month ago, just as much as Lent was about

the cleansing of the heart to prepare to receive

Christ, to celebrate Pascha, to have the grace

of God in us. So this time after Pascha is for

us to acquire that grace more fully. As we understand

the holy mysteries, the sacraments, particularly

baptism, this is important for the newly illumined,

but also, of course, this is also for those of

us who were baptized long ago, some time ago.

Maybe the aperture, the eye of the soul, the

heart, which is to receive God's grace and his

love, his activity, maybe that eye has gotten

smudged. Tarnished, clogged by our sins with

many, many distractions. This reading calls us

back to see the incredible, literally, I use

that word on purpose, change from one state to

the other of this man's life. Jesus is passing

by. St. John tells us. I'm not going to tell

you the whole story. There's so many aspects

of this account. I yearn to do a Bible study

for you on this, but I'm not going to do it today.

Yesterday, in our sessions on St. John of Chrysostom,

we heard at one point that St. John spoke sometimes

in his sermons for an hour. I won't do that,

I promise. People also clapped. Also, I don't

expect that. Jesus is passing by, as St. John

says, and he comes to a man. Who was blind? He

had no eyes in his sockets. There's a medical

term, anophthalmia. No eyes, anophthalmia. Like

in Genesis then, when God takes the dust of the

earth, which he created from nothing, and made

clay, and breathed into that dust a living soul

to make the human. To make us. What a sign of

God's power and love. This is Christ. By whom

all things were made as we heard on Pascha. He

was in the beginning with God. All things. were

made through him, and without him was not anything

made that was made. In him was life, and the

life was the light of men, and the light shines

in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome

it. And this man, miserable state, a beggar,

blind from his birth. Christ takes clay and his

saliva, his spit, and he puts it in this, imagine

the man's surprise. He hears his conversation

about sin and whose fault it is and so on. And

then all of a sudden, someone is putting something

in his eye sockets. Note that the blind man,

when he was told by Christ, go wash in the pool

of Siloam. Pretty much all he heard. Note. that

he did not respond to Jesus with questions and

reservations driven by anxiety about the future

course of his life. He obeyed the Lord because

the Lord is good and loving and knows what each

one of us desires and needs to be joyful, to

be fulfilled as a human being. to be his servant,

to be his image in this broken and dark world.

We need to respond to Christ with joy and quickly.

He obeyed, he washed, he saw, and then he moved

forward to encounter challenges that he could

not ever have anticipated. For him, we might

think, well, he conceived. Life is wonderful

now. Everything is good. Everything should be

going his way. Lovely, easy, and beautiful seeing

what God has made, his creation. He went to the

pool of Siloam. He washed the pool called Scent

by the one who was sent by the Father, and he

saw. And he knew the truth and the light from

that moment. But what was the first thing this

man saw? Was it congratulations from others?

Well wishes? Glory to God for what happened.

What he saw first, as you heard in the story,

38 verses of chapter 9, almost the entire chapter,

there were just two verses left. What he saw

first, what he encountered first upon receiving

his sight, was to be called into the authorities

to give a deposition. And he met with resistance

about what he experienced. Is this the man? Well,

he looks like the man. He can't be the man. He

met with disbelief, insults, and... shunning

and denial of what he knew to be the truth from

his experience and he was dismissed. And the

man who was formerly blind now sees is speaking

to those who ought to be able to see but are

totally spiritually blind and he responds to

the insanity of his accusers like a prophet,

like a theologian, like a philosopher magnificently.

which is to say he said the truth. After so much

harassment, he confesses that Jesus can't be

a sinner. He must be a prophet. And then this

man is told to get lost. You shun. His parents

are afraid. He's told he's a sinner. No words

of glory to God for the tremendous gifts of sight.

No, this happened on the Sabbath. This man must

be a sinner. And Jesus sums it up at the end

in a verse which the gospel does not call us

to read today. But I will tell you, this is the

last verse of chapter 9. Jesus sums up the whole

thing. For judgment I came into this world. What

is judgment? To set things right as God intends

them to be. Justice. From God's point of view.

For judgment I came into this world that those

who do not see may see. And those who see may

become blind. Some of the Pharisees near him

heard these things and said to him, are we also

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

actually blind, you could not see, you would

have no guilt. But now that you say, We see,

as in, do you see what I mean? You understand?

We see your guilt remains. The blind see, the

seeing become blind, and they prefer, I suppose,

what we would call these days, their truth. You

know that phrase, my truth. We've all heard that

phrase. Also, you've heard this phrase. You will

know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

But it's just a meaningless phrase by itself.

More like, my truth and I will do what I want.

That's the way it gets used by most people for

anything they want to justify. But Jesus didn't

just say that. He said these words here now.

Jesus spoke to the Judeans there saying, if you

abide in my word. You are truly my disciples,

and you will know the truth, and the truth, who

is Christ, not an idea, the truth will set you

free. Abide in my word, meaning to be in Christ,

to live according to Christ, to think, to act,

to plan, to meditate, everything according to

Christ. Once again, we have clarity and hope

and encouragement that we need from the one who

said, I am the truth. And finally, finally, the

man sees Jesus, sees the one who healed him,

sees his Redeemer, and I'm reminded of that wonderful

phrase from the prophet Job, that in my flesh

I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself,

and my eyes shall behold, and not another, how

my heart yearns within me. Those beautiful words

of the prophet Job. And the man worships Jesus.

You all know the famous song, of course, Amazing

Grace, inspired by this gospel. What can I say?

God's power can overcome all blindness, darkness,

ignorance, all sin. Since when the light comes,

the darkness goes away. You turn on your flashlight,

the room becomes light. But when that darkness

is self -inflicted, stubborn, prideful, which

denies the truth, like those in the gospel, when

it's right before you, when you have heard it,

that can't be overcome. It's also important to

say to you that have been newly illumined just

a month ago and to those that will be baptized

next week and to all of us, you will meet resistance

against the faith. That you have been given.

It's been given to you. Not just to hold. But

to live. Beloved ones. You exist. To manifest

the glory of God. As Jesus said at the beginning

of this. The works of God. You bring glory to

God in all circumstances. Not just when things

are going well. And you are healthy. When you

have questions about faith. and life that trouble

you, then that's when you can bring glory to

God. And perhaps you can bring glory and honor

to God when you show fidelity and love toward

him and your neighbor during those difficult

times when you face rejection like this man,

when suffering seems to intrude and it just comes

upon you, when sorrows come. Perhaps we needed

it as a gift from the Lord. And then we call

out to the Lord in our faithfulness. All authentic

Christians, brothers and sisters, for all authentic

Christians, St. Paul says, there will be persecutions

of some sort. It might not be government persecution

or religious persecution, but it will be something.

Today's reading from Acts, think about that.

The apostles... The Apostle Paul and Silas are

preaching. This incident occurs with this girl

who has this demon. It's cast out. St. Paul and

Silas are beat up. They're put into a prison.

In the darkest, deepest part of the dungeon,

they are chained to the walls. There's no prisoner

rights. There's no bathroom breaks. This is a

place of darkness and stench. And fear. And what

do they do? They sing praises to God. They sing

praises to God. What else can they do? As we

heard yesterday, speaking of St. John Christom,

they don't want to be victims of somebody else's

evil. So they say, we're here, Lord. And they

start to sing praises. This is the best way maybe

to show fidelity. Elder Joseph of Vatopedi on

the Holy Mountain said to his monks once, he

says, guys, that's what he said, guys, God didn't

leave us when we didn't know him. When we insulted

him with our deeds, our words, our sinful immoral

life, our forgetfulness of God. Despite all that,

God didn't leave us. And now, when we've come

to know him somewhat, When we've somewhat become

acquainted with him and are clumsily seeking

our salvation, even though our sins are so great

that they prevent us from proving that we truly

desire to be saved, we're making some steps,

more or less, compared to how we lived before.

Is it really possible, he says, that God would

abandon us now? God will not abandon you. St.

John Chrysostom says of the blind man, he was

not ashamed of his former blindness, nor did

he fear the wrath of the people, nor did he decline

showing himself in public that he might proclaim

his benefactor. Remain faithful to the faith,

to the truth, who is Christ. This gospel account

is the last of the Paschal Seasons. Now, we prepare.

for ascension. To our Lord be glory, honor, and

worship, now and ever, two ages of ages. Amen.

Christ is risen. He is risen.