LENT 4 A/B (SCRUTINIES) 2015 BOYNES
"Not as man sees does God see..." These are crucial words from our first reading today. In fact, this theme of seeing or vision ties all of the readings together this weekend.
The first reading is the story of the call of King David. God sends Samuel to Bethlehem to anoint the next king for Israel. God only tells him that it would be one of Jesse's sons, and he'd know when he saw the right one. The first one he sees is the oldest son, so Samuel assumes this is the one. The oldest son was always the most important in that culture.
But our assumptions can blind us to the truth. So can customs, habits, narrow ways of thinking - all can act as blinders and keep us from seeing God's hand at work.
So God tells Samuel, "Do not judge by appearance or stature." Don't we do that sometimes? Don't we sometimes let our first impression of someone be our only impression? Have we ever dismissed what someone might teach us because of how they look or where they're from? If we're honest, I think we've all done this - even if it wasn't our intention.
Scripture shows us again and again that God can use anyone or anything to bless, to teach, to heal. Our society doesn't think this way sometimes. It values appearance over substance, status over character, political correctness over speaking the truth with charity.
We need to stand against this false vision. We need to transform it according to God's vision: a vision which sees every person as made in His image and likeness, all having the same infinite dignity and value.
God chose the least likely of Jesse's sons - the youngest was seen as the lowest in that culture. This is a common pattern in salvation history: God using the lowly to do great things...Jesse's youngest son, a sinful woman at the well, some smelly fishermen, a poor carpenter, and a peasant girl named Mary. All were lowly in the eyes of the world. But, remember, "Not as man sees does God see." Thanks be to God!
In the Gospel today, Jesus heals the man born blind. But there's much more to the story than physical healing. The disciples ask Jesus, "Whose sin caused the man to be born blind - his or his parents?" That was the wisdom of that culture: that illness or handicaps were a punishment for sin. Jesus corrected their misunderstanding.
What myths are out there today which can blind us? The thought that money leads to happiness, or that morality is whatever I think it is, or that marriage is a private matter? We need to take a new look at these assumptions which mislead our society, and bring them into the light of the gospel.
It wasn't just the disciples who were blinded, it was the Pharisees too. They were upset that Jesus was healing someone on the Sabbath day instead of resting. They said, "surely this man is not from God, because he does not keep the Sabbath." They were so focused on the rules that they failed to see the power of God at work right in their midst!
The Pharisees didn't want to believe that Jesus had healed the man. They went to his parents to ask if he had really been born blind. But the parents were afraid to say too much and contradict the Pharisees, for fear of being kicked out of the synagogue. You see, the Pharisees had already decided that anyone who claimed that Jesus was the Messiah would be expelled from the faith community. They had already made up their minds about Him, so they were blind to anything He might do.
It's so easy to pre-judge someone, so easy to miss the ways in which God might be working through them.
One last detail: notice how Jesus uses mud to heal the blind man, plain old saliva and dirt. Another word for dirt is "humus", which shares the same root word as humility. Only if we are humble will we allow Jesus to open our eyes to a new vision. Only if we are humble will we allow Him to wash away those things that blind us.
Only then can we hope to really see, as God sees.