May 17th, 2026: Sunday of the Blind Man

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

of the Holy Spirit, Amen. Before we leave Pascha

time, this Wednesday, as we enter into the time

of the Ascension. And there will be a lot to

say about ascension. The church gives us one

final Paschal lesson. The man born blind. Ninth

chapter of John. You just heard the account,

so I won't review it. I won't repeat it. You

know it's about vision, right? You know there

are all kinds of visions. I can see you all now.

Quite clearly, my eyes work. The light is shining,

the shadows and the light, so I can see you.

There's that kind of vision. There's also the

kind of seeing as in, you tell me something,

I say, I see what you mean. Then there's the

kind of sight. Spiritual vision, perception,

understanding, apprehension, whatever you want

to call it. They call it noetic sight. the faculty

of our nous, the eye of the heart. And only Christ,

only Christ can enable that kind of vision for

us. You can be a brilliant person, like the Pharisees

in the account we heard, brilliant, studied.

They knew their scriptures. They were disciples

of Moses as they boasted, but they could not

see. It was insane, actually. And this blind

man would start to teach them. Do you also, and

he says sarcastically, I believe, do you also

want to be his disciples, which makes him very

angry. So we have this kind of vision, this kind

of spiritual vision, that Jesus confers on those,

on us. We had chrismations. That's the beginning

of that. That's the fulfillment of that. Those

who really desire to know him. To keep his commandments.

To see his providence. To be obedient to him.

And it begins with seeing not visions and angels

and demons and crazy stuff. If that happens,

come to confession. We'll have a good conversation.

No, it begins with seeing myself. Being accountable.

to God, and to other people for my own actions,

my words, and my thoughts. It's that kind of

seeing. It's our sins. Yes, we start to see our

sins. But we also, at the same time, because

it's the light of God, we start to see his love

and his providence, his guidance in our life,

his mercy. We do not want to be in the position

of saying, I see. But we're actually blind to

the truth. We hear what Jesus says about that.

Just after this selection ends, Jesus says this

in the gospel. For judgment, that is for justice,

to make things right. I came into this world

that those who do not see may see. And those

who see, who say they see, may be blind. I read

about the late Father George Calciu, a Romanian

priest and confessor for the faith, who suffered

for a long time in those frightening and brutal

Romanian communist prisons, being tortured for

years and years, witnessing to his faith, always

witnessing to his faith. I read about how he

was given a gift of seeing truly the light of

God. He was brought up by his mother, a very

pious, devout woman, brought up in the church.

He learned to pray. She taught him how to pray.

She taught him how to pray and to be at the divine

liturgy, which is a very special thing, which

we need to teach ourselves and our children how

to do. to pay attention to the hymns and the

prayers and the service and the action. He writes

about how he perceived God's light. And I'll

quote. He says this. Before I read it, remember

that this event in his life sustained him through

terrible years of suffering. He said this, when

I was eight years old, I was standing in front

of my parents' land on their farm. I remember

this exactly. I had been followed by this image

all my life. It was especially strong during

my imprisonment. I was looking over the fence.

I was looking over the fence, and the field of

wheat was very great. And I was really moved

in my soul. thinking about God who created the

world. And I was remembering what the priest

had said the previous Sunday at church. And I

was remembering what my mother had said to me.

And then in a moment, in a moment, I realized

that the field was full of light. I could not

understand what it was. This light had no shadow.

And I could see all the details. But only in

light, not in shadow. I was petrified. I don't

know how long I was there. Maybe a long time.

And then I recovered. And the field was normal.

When I was a student in high school, I told my

mother about it. She ate what he had this. And

she was not astonished. I suppose she knew something

about it, but she only made the sign of the cross

on me. Then to my surprise, she kissed my hand.

I did not understand this at the time. Later

I understood that she was kissing not my hand,

but the body of this child who had seen the light

of God and would be a priest. We hear repeatedly

during Great Lent, the light of Christ illumines

all. Saint Simeon says, he who does not see the

light of God is not yet truly alive. This is

not about seeing different things. This is about

seeing things differently. God's light in all

of creation. Once we had a baptism here. A number

of people. And the young man, they had moved

long ago. He's still very much in the church.

He told me after we had come in from the church

and circled the gospel, singing, as many as have

been baptized into Christ have put on Christ,

that when he entered the church, he said this

to me later, a week later. He said, I saw all

the people in the church, and I saw them with

some kind of strange vision that God loves every

single person. an immeasurable, infinite amount

of love, and there was light around each person.

He said it was just for a moment, but it was

so startling. He said it was from God. The light

of Christ illumines all. Can we begin to see

how God's providence guides us? If we want to

see that, we not only need to remember to give

thanks to God for all things, like this eight

-year -old boy standing in front of this immense

wheat field. And then, all of a sudden, it's

just filled with God's grace. It's constant state.

It's not a new thing that he saw. It's the way

the world is all the time. We only see the garbage

because we watch, many of us, too much news.

We're on the internet too much. We are becoming

programmed by society rather than by the gospel.

Leave that stuff aside and absorb the gospel

and the writings of the fathers in the church.

If it's so important in this world, you will

find out. You don't need the news to tell you.

In the account of the gospel, when Jesus takes

the dust off the road and makes mud with his

spit, The man in this gospel, born blind, he

had no eyeballs. The man had no idea what was

happening. Nobody's saying to you, oh, come here,

fellow. We're going to do something for you.

It just happened. And Jesus is saying, I am the

light of the world. If any man comes after me,

he lives. Otherwise, you're in darkness. This

is what I mean by only Christ can confer this

kind of noetic spiritual vision to us. And Jesus

offers no explanation to this man. He says nothing

about the reason for this man's blindness. He

doesn't warn about what's going to happen with

the Pharisees and that he will be kicked out

of the synagogue. He's told to go and wash. And

the man begins the difficult and crowded mile

and a half. on a not even road, probably more

potholes than Montgomery Drive, towards the pool

of water, to trust that there is water there.

He does not argue. He does not negotiate. He

does not say, but what if it doesn't work? You're

telling me to do this thing. I have no idea.

What if my life becomes complicated? This is

just stupid. Just say the word. I'll be healed.

But he puts himself under Christ's lordship.

And he walks, and he washes, and he receives

his sight, the eyes of his heart, his noetic

sight, his vision, his true vision is restored

to him. Why do I say that? Because he worships

Christ at the end. Faith is given to him despite

the resistance he meets. St. John Chrysostom

reminds us that it is precisely in our trials

and our difficulties that God is present with

us. When we are struggling, God is present with

us. And then we grow spiritually through what

he permits to come to us, like this man. Like

a carbon becomes a diamond under pressure, so

we are formed by what we endure when God's grace

is with us. when we call upon him, when we say,

O Lord, thou art ever present and a ready helper

to me in my troubles. And that man, in a single

day, in a single hour, became a theologian and

a martyr, a witness before authorities of who

Jesus was. And here's what makes this man remarkable

for me. He witnessed, he said, he's a man. He

is a prophet. He is from God. He never saw Jesus

until the very end. He never saw him. His faith

was built entirely on what he experienced inwardly,

not by sight, and what he knows to be true. I

was blind, but now I see. That's our situation

too, is it not? We have not seen Christ with

our physical eyes. But we have seen those that

Christ dwells in. We have the God -inspired Gospels

from which Christ teaches us. We have the saints.

We have the baptismal water. We have the holy

chrism. We have the bread and the wine changed

into the body and blood of the Savior. We have

confession. We have prayer. We have the Jesus

prayer. This is the last lesson now as we leave

Pascha behind. The Pascha celebration, the Paschal

life, we never leave behind. And the church gives

this gospel to us as a challenge for four things.

Simple obedience. Honest testimony from what

you know. Courage when resistance comes to you

and reliance upon God. And worship. This is the

last lesson of the Pascha season. We heard this

prayer this morning, the prayer to keep the baptismal

garment undefiled for the newly illumined. That's

not poetry. That's a description of the struggle.

If we are true to Christ, if we are authentic

in our faith, one thing I know, that's the key.

I was blind, but now I see. Yes, you may be strange

to others in the best possible way. But you will

be awake. You will be spiritually present. You

will be aware of God's grace and love and truth,

even in an ordinary situation, standing in front

of a field of wheat. And you can see the glory

of his name. Christ is risen.