Mass readings, reflections and activities for the Fourth Sunday of Lent (Year A).
Reflection
This is the second in a series of three “Scrutiny” Sunday gospel stories (the Lenten readings from Year A are always used in the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults for those who are journeying through their final weeks of “purification and enlightenment” before their baptism at the Easter Vigil.) The story of the man born blind is artfully told in an imaginative way, exploring the relationship between faith, knowledge, sin and vision. Even though the healing of the blind man is the central physical change, the moral and theological reality of sin is equally important in this gospel account. The disciples’ first question, “Who sinned?” and Christ’s answer are provocative still today. The Pharisees are so threatened by Jesus’ action – an action that explodes their neat traditional categories – that they resort to meaningless nit-picking.
(Reflection: Diocese of Saskatoon)
Background on the Gospel Reading As we did last week, we are reading today from the Gospel of John. In today’s Gospel, the healing of the man born blind invites us to focus on the physical and spiritual aspects of sight and light. In the first part of today’s Gospel, we hear Jesus’ response to a prevalent belief of his time: that misfortune and disability were the result of sin. That belief is why Jesus is asked the question of whose sin caused the man’s blindness—his own or his parents’. Jesus does not answer directly, but instead gives the question an entirely different dimension—through this man’s disability, God’s power will be made manifest. Jesus then heals the man. The healing is controversial because Jesus heals on the Sabbath. The Pharisees, the religious authorities of Jesus’ time, understood that the law of Moses forbade work (including healing) on the Sabbath. They also have trouble believing that Jesus performed a miracle. To determine whether the man was really born blind, the Pharisees question him and his parents. The man challenges the leaders of the synagogue about their assessment of the good that Jesus has done. In turn, they expel the man for questioning their judgment. The final revelation and moment of enlightenment comes when the man born blind encounters Jesus again. Having heard the news of his expulsion, Jesus seeks out the man born blind and reveals himself to him as the Son of Man. In this moment, the man born blind shows himself to be a man of faith and worships Jesus. Jesus replies by identifying the irony of the experience of many who encounter Jesus: Those who are blind will now see, and those who think they now see will be found to be blind. As in last week’s Gospel about Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman, today’s reading has many allusions to Baptism. The washing of the man in the pool of Siloam is a prototype for Christian Baptism. Through the man’s encounter with Jesus, the man born blind is healed, his sight is restored, and his conversion to discipleship begins. The man born blind gradually comes to a greater understanding about who Jesus is and what it means to be his disciple, while the Pharisees (those who should see) are the ones who remain blind. Source Loyola PressReflections
