Glory to Jesus Christ. What an amazing story.
And so frustrating for this poor man who has
been enlightened. Today we have so many things,
such riches to consider and meditate upon. Today
is St. Columba, the Enlightener of Scotland.
This fresco is back there. It's also St. Cyril
of Alexandria, the great theologian and patriarch.
But we have this fresco here of the blind man,
and we really ought to focus our attention on
that healing. It's right there on the north side,
that last arch. I think it's important that we
also notice that the last, including today, the
last three gospel accounts are about a healing,
not just physical healing, that comes from baptism,
which we call holy illumination. The Samaritan
woman is there, and there's the well. It looks
like a baptismal font. The paralytic is there
with the five porches and the water in there.
The blind man is there. And again, the well,
the pool of Siloam, which he goes to, looks like
a baptismal font. We have all these three frescoes
here and these wonderful gospel accounts to help
us to teach the newly illumined, yes. baptized
just a month ago, just as much as Lent was about
the cleansing of the heart to prepare to receive
Christ, to celebrate Pascha, to have the grace
of God in us. So this time after Pascha is for
us to acquire that grace more fully. As we understand
the holy mysteries, the sacraments, particularly
baptism, this is important for the newly illumined,
but also, of course, this is also for those of
us who were baptized long ago, some time ago.
Maybe the aperture, the eye of the soul, the
heart, which is to receive God's grace and his
love, his activity, maybe that eye has gotten
smudged. Tarnished, clogged by our sins with
many, many distractions. This reading calls us
back to see the incredible, literally, I use
that word on purpose, change from one state to
the other of this man's life. Jesus is passing
by. St. John tells us. I'm not going to tell
you the whole story. There's so many aspects
of this account. I yearn to do a Bible study
for you on this, but I'm not going to do it today.
Yesterday, in our sessions on St. John of Chrysostom,
we heard at one point that St. John spoke sometimes
in his sermons for an hour. I won't do that,
I promise. People also clapped. Also, I don't
expect that. Jesus is passing by, as St. John
says, and he comes to a man. Who was blind? He
had no eyes in his sockets. There's a medical
term, anophthalmia. No eyes, anophthalmia. Like
in Genesis then, when God takes the dust of the
earth, which he created from nothing, and made
clay, and breathed into that dust a living soul
to make the human. To make us. What a sign of
God's power and love. This is Christ. By whom
all things were made as we heard on Pascha. He
was in the beginning with God. All things. were
made through him, and without him was not anything
made that was made. In him was life, and the
life was the light of men, and the light shines
in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome
it. And this man, miserable state, a beggar,
blind from his birth. Christ takes clay and his
saliva, his spit, and he puts it in this, imagine
the man's surprise. He hears his conversation
about sin and whose fault it is and so on. And
then all of a sudden, someone is putting something
in his eye sockets. Note that the blind man,
when he was told by Christ, go wash in the pool
of Siloam. Pretty much all he heard. Note. that
he did not respond to Jesus with questions and
reservations driven by anxiety about the future
course of his life. He obeyed the Lord because
the Lord is good and loving and knows what each
one of us desires and needs to be joyful, to
be fulfilled as a human being. to be his servant,
to be his image in this broken and dark world.
We need to respond to Christ with joy and quickly.
He obeyed, he washed, he saw, and then he moved
forward to encounter challenges that he could
not ever have anticipated. For him, we might
think, well, he conceived. Life is wonderful
now. Everything is good. Everything should be
going his way. Lovely, easy, and beautiful seeing
what God has made, his creation. He went to the
pool of Siloam. He washed the pool called Scent
by the one who was sent by the Father, and he
saw. And he knew the truth and the light from
that moment. But what was the first thing this
man saw? Was it congratulations from others?
Well wishes? Glory to God for what happened.
What he saw first, as you heard in the story,
38 verses of chapter 9, almost the entire chapter,
there were just two verses left. What he saw
first, what he encountered first upon receiving
his sight, was to be called into the authorities
to give a deposition. And he met with resistance
about what he experienced. Is this the man? Well,
he looks like the man. He can't be the man. He
met with disbelief, insults, and... shunning
and denial of what he knew to be the truth from
his experience and he was dismissed. And the
man who was formerly blind now sees is speaking
to those who ought to be able to see but are
totally spiritually blind and he responds to
the insanity of his accusers like a prophet,
like a theologian, like a philosopher magnificently.
which is to say he said the truth. After so much
harassment, he confesses that Jesus can't be
a sinner. He must be a prophet. And then this
man is told to get lost. You shun. His parents
are afraid. He's told he's a sinner. No words
of glory to God for the tremendous gifts of sight.
No, this happened on the Sabbath. This man must
be a sinner. And Jesus sums it up at the end
in a verse which the gospel does not call us
to read today. But I will tell you, this is the
last verse of chapter 9. Jesus sums up the whole
thing. For judgment I came into this world. What
is judgment? To set things right as God intends
them to be. Justice. From God's point of view.
For judgment I came into this world that those
who do not see may see. And those who see may
become blind. Some of the Pharisees near him
heard these things and said to him, are we also
blind? Jesus said to them, if you were blind,
actually blind, you could not see, you would
have no guilt. But now that you say, We see,
as in, do you see what I mean? You understand?
We see your guilt remains. The blind see, the
seeing become blind, and they prefer, I suppose,
what we would call these days, their truth. You
know that phrase, my truth. We've all heard that
phrase. Also, you've heard this phrase. You will
know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
But it's just a meaningless phrase by itself.
More like, my truth and I will do what I want.
That's the way it gets used by most people for
anything they want to justify. But Jesus didn't
just say that. He said these words here now.
Jesus spoke to the Judeans there saying, if you
abide in my word. You are truly my disciples,
and you will know the truth, and the truth, who
is Christ, not an idea, the truth will set you
free. Abide in my word, meaning to be in Christ,
to live according to Christ, to think, to act,
to plan, to meditate, everything according to
Christ. Once again, we have clarity and hope
and encouragement that we need from the one who
said, I am the truth. And finally, finally, the
man sees Jesus, sees the one who healed him,
sees his Redeemer, and I'm reminded of that wonderful
phrase from the prophet Job, that in my flesh
I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself,
and my eyes shall behold, and not another, how
my heart yearns within me. Those beautiful words
of the prophet Job. And the man worships Jesus.
You all know the famous song, of course, Amazing
Grace, inspired by this gospel. What can I say?
God's power can overcome all blindness, darkness,
ignorance, all sin. Since when the light comes,
the darkness goes away. You turn on your flashlight,
the room becomes light. But when that darkness
is self -inflicted, stubborn, prideful, which
denies the truth, like those in the gospel, when
it's right before you, when you have heard it,
that can't be overcome. It's also important to
say to you that have been newly illumined just
a month ago and to those that will be baptized
next week and to all of us, you will meet resistance
against the faith. That you have been given.
It's been given to you. Not just to hold. But
to live. Beloved ones. You exist. To manifest
the glory of God. As Jesus said at the beginning
of this. The works of God. You bring glory to
God in all circumstances. Not just when things
are going well. And you are healthy. When you
have questions about faith. and life that trouble
you, then that's when you can bring glory to
God. And perhaps you can bring glory and honor
to God when you show fidelity and love toward
him and your neighbor during those difficult
times when you face rejection like this man,
when suffering seems to intrude and it just comes
upon you, when sorrows come. Perhaps we needed
it as a gift from the Lord. And then we call
out to the Lord in our faithfulness. All authentic
Christians, brothers and sisters, for all authentic
Christians, St. Paul says, there will be persecutions
of some sort. It might not be government persecution
or religious persecution, but it will be something.
Today's reading from Acts, think about that.
The apostles... The Apostle Paul and Silas are
preaching. This incident occurs with this girl
who has this demon. It's cast out. St. Paul and
Silas are beat up. They're put into a prison.
In the darkest, deepest part of the dungeon,
they are chained to the walls. There's no prisoner
rights. There's no bathroom breaks. This is a
place of darkness and stench. And fear. And what
do they do? They sing praises to God. They sing
praises to God. What else can they do? As we
heard yesterday, speaking of St. John Christom,
they don't want to be victims of somebody else's
evil. So they say, we're here, Lord. And they
start to sing praises. This is the best way maybe
to show fidelity. Elder Joseph of Vatopedi on
the Holy Mountain said to his monks once, he
says, guys, that's what he said, guys, God didn't
leave us when we didn't know him. When we insulted
him with our deeds, our words, our sinful immoral
life, our forgetfulness of God. Despite all that,
God didn't leave us. And now, when we've come
to know him somewhat, When we've somewhat become
acquainted with him and are clumsily seeking
our salvation, even though our sins are so great
that they prevent us from proving that we truly
desire to be saved, we're making some steps,
more or less, compared to how we lived before.
Is it really possible, he says, that God would
abandon us now? God will not abandon you. St.
John Chrysostom says of the blind man, he was
not ashamed of his former blindness, nor did
he fear the wrath of the people, nor did he decline
showing himself in public that he might proclaim
his benefactor. Remain faithful to the faith,
to the truth, who is Christ. This gospel account
is the last of the Paschal Seasons. Now, we prepare.
for ascension. To our Lord be glory, honor, and
worship, now and ever, two ages of ages. Amen.
Christ is risen. He is risen.