His neighbors and those who had seen him earlier as a beggar said, "Isn't this the one who used to sit and beg?" Some said, "It is," but others said, "No, he just looks like him." He said, "I am." So they said to him, "How were your eyes opened?" He replied, "The man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and told me, 'Go to Siloam and wash.' So I went there and washed and was able to see." And they said to him, "Where is he?" He said, "I don't know."
They brought the one who was once blind to the Pharisees. Now Jesus had made clay and opened his eyes on a sabbath. So then the Pharisees also asked him how he was able to see. He said to them, "He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and now I can see." So some of the Pharisees said, "This man is not from God, because he does not keep the sabbath." But others said, "How can a sinful man do such signs?" And there was a division among them. So they said to the blind man again, "What do you have to say about him, since he opened your eyes?" He said, "He is a prophet."
Now the Jews did not believe that he had been blind and gained his sight until they summoned the parents of the one who had gained his sight. They asked them, "Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How does he now see?" His parents answered and said, "We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. We do not know how he sees now, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him, he is of age; he can speak for himself." His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone acknowledged him as the Christ, he would be expelled from the synagogue. For this reason his parents said, "He is of age; question him."
So a second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, "Give God the praise! We know that this man is a sinner." He replied, "If he is a sinner, I do not know. One thing I do know is that I was blind and now I see." So they said to him, "What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?" He answered them, "I told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples, too?" They ridiculed him and said, "You are that man's disciple; we are disciples of Moses! We know that God spoke to Moses, but we do not know where this one is from." The man answered and said to them, "This is what is so amazing, that you do not know where he is from, yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if one is devout and does his will, he listens to him. It is unheard of that anyone ever opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, he would not be able to do anything." They answered and said to him, "You were born totally in sin, and are you trying to teach us?" Then they threw him out.
When Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, he found him and said, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" He answered and said, "Who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?" Jesus said to him, "You have seen him, the one speaking with you is he." He said, "I do believe, Lord," and he worshiped him. Then Jesus said, "I came into this world for judgment, so that those who do not see might see, and those who do see might become blind."
Some of the Pharisees who were with him heard this and said to him, "Surely we are not also blind, are we?" Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you are saying, 'We see,' so your sin remains.”
- John 9:1-41
The blind man in this Gospel is a stand-in for each of us. While not many of us are physically blind, we all suffer from some kind of blindness. Maybe we fail to see the value in the homeless around us. Or maybe we fail to see how our actions affect those we love. Maybe we even fail to see how our habits are harming ourselves. Still, whatever we are blind to, we can take hope in the story of this Gospel. Jesus tells us that he came “so that those who do not see might see.” He came to open our eyes, both physically and figuratively.
This is the great hope we have as Christians. Jesus did not come for the strong and the mighty. He came for the weak and sinful. He came for those who society would tell us to ignore. He came for those we too often look down upon. The irony is that, in spite of whatever we think, we are included in those groups. No matter who we are, we all sin and fall. We all have flaws that we hope others look passed. We all have been ignored and looked down upon. And because of this, we can confidently say that Jesus came for US. He came that we might have eternal life and be healed.
But Jesus does not do this completely on his own. He could, but, because of the gift that is free will, he wants us to choose to have our eyes opened. Just as the man born blind had to go and wash after Jesus put the mud on his eyes, we too must wash before our blindness can be cured. How do we do this? Through prayer, confession and penance. Prayer must be the center of our lives because it is through this that we are strengthened to live a life according to God’s will. It is through prayer that we are able to discern what is blinding us and how we can restore our sight. But after that, we have to take the sometimes uncomfortable step of admitting our sins and failures in the sacrament of confession. In doing this, we humble ourselves before God and express our desire to be reunited with God and the Church. Finally, after admitting our sins, we must do penance. This is an outward symbol that we truly want to change our lives. It is through these acts of penance that we condition ourselves to a life of grace with God. That is why Lent is such an important season. The Church gives us an opportunity to perform these penances and reflect on how we can improve.
What is blinding you this Lent? Are you willing to let Jesus heal you?