4th Sunday in Lent

Mrs Gwen Clucas

Through the spoken word, may we know your Living Word
Jesus Christ our Saviour. Amen
 
Today, on the fourth Sunday in Lent, the readings we have heard continue to focus on the important teachings of Jesus leading up to the crucifixion at Easter. Today we reflect on Jesus’ words in John 8:12 “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
 
In the epistle reading we heard today from Ephesians, Paul wrote to the Christians in Ephesus and told them to “live as children of light” (Ephesians 5:8). He told them to avoid getting tangled up in the darkness of the sins that had limited them. He said, ”Christians  should live as people who have the light of God.”
The imagery of light and darkness that Paul used refers to one’s spiritual state. The death, guilt, and separation that sin brings is “darkness.” Walking in darkness means that a person is living in sin and giving in to sinful desires. Life, grace, love, and mercy are “light.” We are told in 1 John 1:5 that, “God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.” In today’s gospel reading  Jesus says that he is the “light of the world.” John 8:12 

Christians don’t just walk in light, they have been transformed by the light of Jesus, to become a light of Jesus. Through the sacrifice of Jesus, Christians were given the light of Jesus and are therefore able to walk in the new life that Jesus gives, no longer trapped by darkness. Salvation enables us to give up the old life and accept  the new life we have in Christ. Verse 9 from Ephesians tells us that, “The fruit of light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth, “ and this is pleasing to God (Ephesians 5:9).

The Gospel reading told us the story of the man born blind. who was healed by Jesus, and this story was used to discuss ‘spiritual darkness’ and ‘spiritual light’.  Jesus used a similar process for last week’s reading when he told the story about the Samaritan woman at the well which lead to the lesson of the living water.

The reading is divided into three parts. Firstly, there is an account of Jesus healing the man who was born blind. Secondly, there is the interrogation of the blind man by the Pharisees, which ultimately ended in the expulsion of the man from the synagogue. Lastly Jesus uses the story to provide teaching that sums up the lessons in the story.

The story today acts as a parable about a spiritual journey from darkness to light. John wants us to see that like the man in the story we are ‘born blind.’

We are told that as Jesus walked along he saw a man who had been blind from birth. His disciples asked him who had sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind. Jesus replied that neither this man nor his parents had sinned. He had been born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. Jesus said “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” After he said  this, he spat on the ground and made mud with saliva and spread the mud on the man’s eyes, telling him to , “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” The man went and washed and came back able to see. The man who lived in the ‘darkness’ had miraculously been given ‘light’. The story uses physical healing to become a symbol of spiritual healing, and physical blindness is replaced by spiritual blindness.
 
The second part of the reading tells us of the reaction of people around him and of the Pharisees at the synagogue. The neighbours interrogated the man and found it difficult to accept that this was the man who had been blind. They didn’t dismiss the claim but went to the Pharisees in the synagogue for advice. The Pharisees then questioned the man. Their main concern was that this healing had taken place on the Sabbath. They then questioned the man’s parents, who in awe of the Pharisees, directed the questions back to their son. He couldn’t deny the miracle. The attitude of the religious authorities hardened, and the man born blind grew in insight. The man moved from identifying his healer only as “the man called Jesus” to replying when pressed by the Pharisees that Jesus is a prophet and then, when further pressed, that he must be from God. Finally the man was driven out of the synagogue and finds Jesus  who reveals himself fully to him as the Son.
The final part of the reading provides the teaching that sums up the lessons in the story. The story acts as a parable about a spiritual journey from darkness to light. From today’s Gospel reading John wants us to see, that like the man in the story, we are ‘born blind’. Spiritual blindness stops us from seeing the reality of God’s work in the world. This miracle was a sign that Jesus can open the eyes of the spiritually blind. To receive complete sight leads to perfect faith. Faith means passing from darkness to light. Christian faith begins when people recognise that sin has robbed them of spiritual vision. For John this was a parable of conversion – the man went from having little or no faith to making a commitment to Jesus.

The Jews in the synagogue failed to recognise Jesus as the Apostle of God and Light of the world. The man in the story knew he had undergone a unique experience therefore he could not accept the verdict of the Pharisees that Jesus is not a Godly person because he broke the Sabbath. Even after persistent  questioning from the Pharisees the man would not be bullied into accepting their judgement about Jesus, because it conflicted with what he came to know about Him. In the reading it becomes clear that those who claimed to be spiritual leaders were in fact spiritually blind. They are left in the darkness of unbelief as the man goes towards the light of his faith.
 
I will read last three verses of the Gospel reading again; “Jesus said, “For judgement I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.” Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we blind too?” Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.” These verses make it clear that the incident has been recorded because it is a parable of faith and unbelief. The primary work of Jesus was to awaken people in a sense of their spiritual blindness.
 
In e-life this week the Bishop writes, “Every encounter between a physically blind person in the Gospels is always an encounter with surrounding people who are spiritually blind to the truth about Jesus.” The Bishop leaves us with two questions to ponder: “What do we see?” “What are we blind to?”
 
We need to pray that the Lord will open our eyes, so that we can see the world as he sees it.