Jesus is the light of the world. Only in him can we see clearly!
A homily from the Fourth Sunday in Lent based on readings from
1 Samuel 16:1b, 6–7, 10–13a, Psalm 23, Ephesians 5:8–14, John 9:1–41
These readings are available at the USCCB website.
No doubt you have noticed Father’s rose-colored vestment this morning. This is one of two times that we wear rose. We wear it once in Advent and today on the Fourth Sunday of Lent. You might hear it referred to as “Laetare Sunday” from the old Latin opening antiphon. It began…”Lætáre, Ierúsalem. Rejoice, Jerusalem”, and it continued, “Rejoice, Jerusalem, and all who love her. Be joyful, all who were in mourning”. Maybe you are asking, “Isn’t that a little off? Aren’t we supposed to be doing penance for Lent?” The answer of course is “yes” to both. We rejoice in our Lord, who brings light to the world. We do penance to prepare our hearts for his light and for his paschal sacrifice that brings us into the light.
We can do quite a lot using our own intellect, and our own reasoning capabilities. We are fearfully and wonderfully made but God, after all.[1] But when we rely on God who sees with a depth that surpasses anything we might, then will our eyes truly be opened!
God Opens Samuel’s Eyes to His King
In our first reading, God decides to choose a new king for his people, and he sends Samuel to make the selection from the many sons of Jesse. He sees Jesse’s son Eliab, and thinks, this guy is perfect for the job. He had every attribute that the king of Israel would need, except one. God had not chosen him. He made that clear to Samuel. Samuel listened. In a way, Samuel allowed his eyes to be opened by the Lord. What does the Lord say?
Not as man sees does God see,
1 Samuel 16:7
because man sees the appearance
but the Lord looks into the heart.
For those of us who develop a solid relationship with our Lord, particularly in prayer, can rejoice in the fact that we can rely on the Lord who sees beyond human experience.
It is even possible that there might be a better way than the way the world teaches us. I grew up on being the best version of myself, being all that I could be. I deserved a break today. According to every high school valedictory address I heard, I could be anything I wanted to be. An yet our first reading today is like a news flash from ancient times. There is a better way! We, just like Samuel, can rely on the Lord to guide us. We can let the Lord open our eyes and through him we can see beyond what the world sees. We can let him lead us into our most important decisions. Samuel chose the right king. We can choose the right vocation by asking in prayer, listening in prayer, and discerning with good spiritual guidance. We can let the Lord lead us where he wants us to be, where we will bear the most fruit, where he will bless us with happiness! If we listen really closely, he will even help us discern the most important thing – what to do next!
If this sounds like a commercial for vocations, it certainly is! You may be looking at your life, however old you are, and see a choice ahead of you that looks perfect! If God is behind and showing you that opportunity, go for it! If not, then look where he is guiding you. The world will not always show you your path. God always will, if you ask him. And if you listen. The world will not generally talk to you about self-giving love. It will rarely talk to you about devoting your entire life to God. And yet, God is calling us. God will open our eyes. God will bless us as we follow him. Perhaps you are sitting there right now thinking, “If one more person tells me I should think about becoming a nun or a priest, I’ll scream!” If you are, great! You are paying attention to the tugging in your heart. You may not exactly like where God is leading you, but that’s okay. We didn’t read this part of the reading this morning but when God asks Samuel to go anoint a new king for Israel, his response was, “God are you serious? We have a king and you want me to stick my neck out the replace him?” I am paraphrasing, of course, but my point is that some resistance is normal. The important thing is that you stay with it and find where God is calling you!
Allowing God to Open Our Eyes
Our gospel reading today speaks of what to us may seem like a simple healing miracle. Jesus worked a ton of them in the gospels. This one, however is particularly important. Jesus heals a man born blind, something that only appears once in scripture. Other ancient miracle workers claim to have restored sight, but none for a person born blind. This miracle is a sign of Jesus’s divinity, his power, and his love.
We have in our story a man who has never seen. Never. He doesn’t see Jesus passing by. He doesn’t ask for healing. He does, however, follow Jesus’s instructions and his eyes were opened. Notice the people around him. Notice how they rejoice that this man can now, suddenly, miraculously see! Actually, they don’t. This eye opening miracle identifies him with Jesus, who the crowd was not so sure about. Some in power were very much against him, and by association against the man born blind.
I know that I keep coming back to this theme, but a person only has to read a little of the news to see that we are in exactly the same position in our world. We become closely and publicly associated with Jesus, and many in power become uncomfortable. Maybe that is why letting God open our eye is such a painful operation. Listen to Jesus’s explanation of the events.
Then Jesus said,
John 9:39
“I came into this world for judgment,
so that those who do not see might see,
and those who do see might become blind.
Jesus comes that those who do not see might see. Jesus comes to us to open our eyes to the beauty that is living in him. Just like Samuel, he helps us to see like he sees, and we are blessed by it. We gain not just a physical sight, but spiritual insight that lets us know who we are and what God expects of us. In short, we can see to take that next right step and to see where the blessings will come from taking it. We see the beauty that world cannot see as we take up our cross every day.
For those of us who have it all figured out on our own, the story is reversed. We see what we want to see, perhaps only what the world tells us to see. We don’t see nor do we understand the beauty in following God. We wonder why we aren’t truly happy. We wonder why those thinks that bring us peace or happiness seem so shallow and only last for a very short time. And off we go, doubling down on our mistake, looking for a deeper more lasting joy in all the same shallow temporary entertainments that the world offers to sell us. We fail to see or appreciate the “mystery of the Incarnation … [that leads us] into the radiance of the faith”. [2] We become blind to the lasting joy that following our Lord Jesus can bring us.
We rejoice, even as we prepare for the paschal mystery, because through Christ we can live as children of the light. Our lives, lived out following God’s perfect plan for us can produce every king of goodness, righteousness, and truth!
We have a reason to rejoice! We have a reason to be joyful!
“Let our eyes be opened by the Lord that we may live out his perfect plan for us!”
[1] Psalm 139:14
[2] The Roman Missal: Renewed by Decree of the Most Holy Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, Promulgated by Authority of Pope Paul VI and Revised at the Direction of Pope John Paul II, Third Typical Edition. (Washington D.C.: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2011), Preface for the Fourth Sunday in Lent.