4th Sunday of Lent, Year A (2026)
4th Sunday of Lent
1 Samuel 16:1b, 6-7, 10-13a
Psalm 23:1-3a, 3b-4, 5, 6 (1)
Ephesians 5:8-14
John 9:1-41
March 15, 2026
What would it be like to be born blind? Today a man who was born blind encounters Jesus. Being born blind effected not just his physical eyesight. It would have shaped his entire view of the world. How did he see the world? How do you see the world?
We should also consider how the world saw him as a blind person. In those days suffering was seen as a punishment for sin. So, the fact that he was born blind would mean that either he or his parents had sinned. He would have been treated as a sinner.
It is in this context that Jesus’ disciples ask him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents that he was born blind?”.
Jesus replies that neither he nor his parents sinned. His suffering has another purpose, “that the works of God might be made visible.” Jesus brings light to their understanding.
Jesus does a work of God. With his saliva, He made clay and smeared it on the eyes of the man born blind and told him to “Go wash in the Pool of Siloam.” It amazes me that the man born blind does not resist Jesus putting clay with his saliva on his eyes. This is not something anyone would expect Jesus to do for his eyes. Are we not told as children not to put things in our eyes because it might make us blind?
The man must sense Jesus’ divinity without even realizing it. Are you aware of our Lord’s presence in your life? Have you blinded yourself to God’s presence and action?
The man does what Jesus says. He washed in the pool of Siloam and “came back able to see.” This is a miracle! Everyone rejoices…or do they?
When others see him, we do not hear of rejoicing. They recognize him as the man they knew who was born blind but they doubt it is really him for no one had “ever opened the eyes of a person born blind.”
They wonder if it is another man who just happens to look like the man they knew was born blind. He tells them that he is man they knew. So, they ask him, “How were your eyes opened?”
He tells them of how Jesus made the clay and anointed his eyes and instructed him to wash in the pool. It says a lot that the man uses the word “anointed” here. This is not the way we think of anointing. We use olive oil for anointings and we would not put it directly on a person’s eyes. Yet, this is exactly how Jesus heals the man. While the man does not know Jesus, in calling what Jesus does an “anointing,” he sees what has happened an encounter with God. His life is forever changed by his encounter with Jesus.
The people see what Jesus did for the man only in human terms. Limiting themselves in this way, they cannot see God at work in the man. They are looking at the externals and refusing to see. The man sees something more. Jesus has touched not just the man’s eyes but his heart and soul.
Jesus healed the man on the Sabbath. The people know they are not supposed to do work on the Sabbath. It is the Lord’s Day. What they do not see is that the healing is a divine work, made possible only as in accord with God’s Will.
They refuse to see but their questioning and failure to understand leads the man who was born blind to reflect on what has happened. He moves beyond the base idea that he can now see physically. Through their questioning, he comes to see that Jesus is a prophet. Their lack of belief actually leads him to a deeper faith. Does the evil that happens in our world today lead you see something more? Does it lead you to look for our Lord?
While the man comes to see Jesus as a prophet, the people are blind to this. They are still wondering if he is really the man born blind. So, they ask his parents. They confirm his identity but refuse to say anything more because they were “afraid of the Jews.”
Are you afraid to see the world as God sees it because you fear rejection and/or persecution from the world?
They continue to see Jesus as a sinner because He healed the man on a Sabbath. The man sees the foolishness in this. The man does not yet fully understand but what he knows for certain is that he was born blind and can now see. This is an undeniable fact and it means something to him.
They remain stuck in their understanding that the man is a sinner because he was born blind. They refuse to see. They have blinded themselves to God’s divine action.
Jesus is not mentioned during the questioning. He is off someplace else. Yet, He knows exactly what is going on. When the Jews throw the man out, Jesus found him. He knows the man has come to see him as a prophet and is ready to take another step. He reveals himself as the Son of Man.
The man wants to believe. He comes to believe. He comes to see Jesus as the Messiah.
There is a lot of blindness in the world today. Some people have gone so far as to reject the very existence of God. They do not see God’s divine action in creation or in their own lives. They have blinded themselves.
Others may not formerly reject the existence of God but they allow themselves to become blind to God’s presence in their lives. For instance, they reject the idea of miracles. For them, there must be a scientific explanation for everything that has happened. They just don’t always know what it is.
Do you allow yourself to see God’s divine action in your life or do you rely on science for all your answers?
When you see evil things going on, are you open to see how the rejection of God’s Truth has led to the evil? Do you see how your choices shape how others see things?
For instance, when there is a mass shooting, are you able to see how society’s rejection of life has contributed to the shooting? Have you rejected life?
When one chooses abortion, one is rejecting the baby’s life. We should all be thankful that God is merciful and will forgive every person who repents after an abortion.
When one chooses to commit suicide, one is rejecting their own life. They fail to see the value of their own life. God sees value in their life and still loves them.
When one chooses to seek the death penalty, they fail to see the life of the criminal as of any value. God is willing to forgive them if they repent. How can we lead them to repentance?
When one attacks another militarily as an offensive action, one fails to see the value of the lives, most especially the innocent lives, that will be lost.
When one sees another human being in need and chooses not to help them, they fail to see the person as a child of God.
What do any of these have to do with the reasons for mass shootings and other terrorism?
When a person freely chooses to fail to see the value of life in any of these cases, they are giving, most often without meaning to, the criminal the right to say it is okay to end life. If it is okay to choose an abortion or to execute a murderer, they see it as okay to end the life of someone they disagree with or has offended them.
If you want the violence to stop, choose life and help others see the value of every life.
Peace,
Fr. Jeff