WEBVTT 00:00:00.970 --> 00:00:03.770 In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and 00:00:03.770 --> 00:00:15.769 of the Holy Spirit. Amen. After Wednesday, this 00:00:15.769 --> 00:00:21.850 week, we won't be greeting each other until next 00:00:21.850 --> 00:00:26.829 year, God willing, with that wonderful phrase, 00:00:26.969 --> 00:00:32.560 Christ is risen. And we won't be doing that after 00:00:32.560 --> 00:00:36.380 Wednesday since we are moving on, let's say moving 00:00:36.380 --> 00:00:43.399 up, to Ascension. Christ with the angels and 00:00:43.399 --> 00:00:48.240 the apostles bearing witness. And that's an exhilarating 00:00:48.240 --> 00:00:50.759 and exciting thing to ponder, and we'll get to 00:00:50.759 --> 00:00:54.179 that in due time on Wednesday evening and Thursday, 00:00:54.600 --> 00:00:58.079 the Feast of the Ascension. And then to Holy 00:00:58.079 --> 00:01:02.030 Pentecost. We're moving on. And that Feast of 00:01:02.030 --> 00:01:06.670 Pentecost is that which, let's say, it seals 00:01:06.670 --> 00:01:11.030 in like a wax seal on an envelope. It ratifies, 00:01:11.230 --> 00:01:15.170 it attests, it confirms, it validates, it authenticates 00:01:15.170 --> 00:01:18.489 whatever synonym you want to use. The reality 00:01:18.489 --> 00:01:24.870 of the life of the resurrection in us. And that's 00:01:24.870 --> 00:01:27.609 important that we remember that Pentecost is 00:01:27.609 --> 00:01:33.150 that crown. That we are coming to. We need to 00:01:33.150 --> 00:01:36.030 be enlightened to be there though. Which is why 00:01:36.030 --> 00:01:44.010 we're hearing this incredible story today. The 00:01:44.010 --> 00:01:48.950 enlightenment comes from the grace of the Holy 00:01:48.950 --> 00:01:54.670 Spirit shining within us. So that we can live 00:01:54.670 --> 00:01:57.829 the life of the resurrection. So we understand. 00:01:58.489 --> 00:02:01.349 who it is we are following, and what it costs 00:02:01.349 --> 00:02:05.409 us. That's very important. You heard about the 00:02:05.409 --> 00:02:09.430 paralytic. He was reviled. He was made fun of. 00:02:10.229 --> 00:02:13.069 And this poor man, this poor man, the fresco's 00:02:13.069 --> 00:02:16.030 right over there, by the way. This blind man 00:02:16.030 --> 00:02:19.550 was brought in, and his parents were even subpoenaed, 00:02:19.569 --> 00:02:23.650 if you want to put it that way. All these stories, 00:02:23.770 --> 00:02:26.110 these lessons from Acts and the Gospel of John, 00:02:26.210 --> 00:02:28.289 all since Pascha, are not just for the newly 00:02:28.289 --> 00:02:31.669 baptized, by the way, their catechism continuing, 00:02:31.849 --> 00:02:34.870 so to speak. It's not just for those that are 00:02:34.870 --> 00:02:39.870 preparing now. We have baptisms a few, six next 00:02:39.870 --> 00:02:44.409 week. But these readings are for us who perhaps 00:02:44.409 --> 00:02:49.370 need encouragement because we have lost a bit 00:02:49.370 --> 00:02:53.990 of zeal since Lent. We need encouragement to 00:02:53.990 --> 00:02:57.669 live our life, to pursue this illumination that 00:02:57.669 --> 00:03:00.030 Jesus is talking about when he says, I am the 00:03:00.030 --> 00:03:06.949 light of the world. On to today's gospel account. 00:03:07.729 --> 00:03:14.729 Jesus is passing by, as John tells us, and he 00:03:14.729 --> 00:03:21.030 comes to a blind man. That man had no... Eyeballs 00:03:21.030 --> 00:03:26.189 in his sockets. That's a medical condition. There's 00:03:26.189 --> 00:03:29.289 a nurse or doctor, you can correct my pronunciation. 00:03:31.789 --> 00:03:37.110 Anophthalmia. No eyes. He's blind. Now we're 00:03:37.110 --> 00:03:41.430 in chapter 9 of the Gospel of John. Which follows 00:03:41.430 --> 00:03:44.710 the dramatic and I would say upsetting chapter 00:03:44.710 --> 00:03:49.050 8. With the hatred of Christ just boiling over. 00:03:49.610 --> 00:03:54.349 In chapter 8. So Christ leaves that. It says 00:03:54.349 --> 00:03:57.610 here at the end of chapter 8. Christ says to 00:03:57.610 --> 00:04:00.330 them, amen, amen, I say to you. Before Abraham, 00:04:00.590 --> 00:04:07.729 I am. He says those words, I am. He identifies 00:04:07.729 --> 00:04:11.689 himself with the God of Israel. The one who causes 00:04:11.689 --> 00:04:15.689 things to be. They took up stones to throw at 00:04:15.689 --> 00:04:19.410 him because he said that. But Jesus hid himself 00:04:19.410 --> 00:04:21.410 and went out of the temple, going through the 00:04:21.410 --> 00:04:26.170 midst of them, and so passed by. Now, as Jesus 00:04:26.170 --> 00:04:28.930 passed by, he saw a man who was blind from his 00:04:28.930 --> 00:04:37.870 birth. Just like he saw the paralytic. Just like 00:04:37.870 --> 00:04:40.949 he saw the Samaritan woman and began a conversation. 00:04:41.790 --> 00:04:45.449 He took the initiative. Jesus has taken the initiative. 00:04:45.769 --> 00:04:48.389 In other words, Jesus did what the blind man 00:04:48.389 --> 00:04:55.470 could not do. Jesus saw him. He saw him. He sees 00:04:55.470 --> 00:05:01.050 us. That's the way St. John, that's the way the 00:05:01.050 --> 00:05:04.790 Lord expresses the primacy of grace, that God 00:05:04.790 --> 00:05:10.519 initiates everything. I said... something like 00:05:10.519 --> 00:05:14.180 this a few weeks ago. Man does not really search 00:05:14.180 --> 00:05:20.079 for God. Mostly we run away. Think about it. 00:05:21.579 --> 00:05:24.500 Man sometimes thinks he searches for God, as 00:05:24.500 --> 00:05:29.740 I pointed out. And here we are again. Man's search 00:05:29.740 --> 00:05:33.259 for God, says that wonderful writer and Christian 00:05:33.259 --> 00:05:37.040 C .S. Lewis, is something like the mouse's search 00:05:37.040 --> 00:05:41.839 for the cat. We want to know where he is so we 00:05:41.839 --> 00:05:45.199 don't go there. That's man's search for God. 00:05:45.259 --> 00:05:48.620 How many people run from the Lord or want to 00:05:48.620 --> 00:05:54.600 redefine the Lord to make him more safe? It begins 00:05:54.600 --> 00:05:58.500 with God. It is not, says St. John the theologian, 00:05:58.519 --> 00:06:01.660 that we have loved God, but that God has first 00:06:01.660 --> 00:06:05.819 loved us. We need to remember that and to be 00:06:05.819 --> 00:06:08.500 encouraged that this is about God's love taking 00:06:08.500 --> 00:06:11.300 the initiative to come to us, to change us, to 00:06:11.300 --> 00:06:14.079 heal us, to give us a life that we did not know 00:06:14.079 --> 00:06:17.560 before. And we could never attain without him. 00:06:17.639 --> 00:06:20.639 We could not make it up. People could say they 00:06:20.639 --> 00:06:23.240 believe in God, but until they come to Christ, 00:06:23.379 --> 00:06:27.339 the giver of light and the healer, they don't 00:06:27.339 --> 00:06:31.839 really know what God is. God is always searching. 00:06:32.560 --> 00:06:35.939 reaching out to us poor ones, hoping that we 00:06:35.939 --> 00:06:40.819 might catch a glimmer of his presence and follow. 00:06:41.899 --> 00:06:44.600 Sometimes he's outside our window, so to speak, 00:06:44.620 --> 00:06:51.600 tapping. But we're busy. We can't go there. And 00:06:51.600 --> 00:06:53.779 then when we do turn around and say, God, oh, 00:06:53.879 --> 00:07:00.100 he's not there. He expects us to follow. Anyway, 00:07:00.279 --> 00:07:03.620 Jesus sees the blind man. And that's just an 00:07:03.620 --> 00:07:07.100 important thing to remember, that God takes the 00:07:07.100 --> 00:07:10.879 initiative. He's the one that loves us first. 00:07:11.740 --> 00:07:15.579 Jesus sees this man with the disciples who makes 00:07:15.579 --> 00:07:17.920 some comments, and after some discussion with 00:07:17.920 --> 00:07:21.079 the disciples about who's to blame for this man's 00:07:21.079 --> 00:07:23.879 blindness, you know, what we don't understand, 00:07:23.959 --> 00:07:29.100 we usually think somebody's to blame here. But 00:07:29.100 --> 00:07:32.879 then Jesus, the Word of God, by whom, through 00:07:32.879 --> 00:07:38.500 whom, and for whom everything was created. And 00:07:38.500 --> 00:07:40.660 there was nothing that was created that he didn't 00:07:40.660 --> 00:07:44.180 create. Just like in Genesis, when God takes 00:07:44.180 --> 00:07:46.540 the dust of the earth, which he created from 00:07:46.540 --> 00:07:50.019 nonexistence and made man, Jesus does the same 00:07:50.019 --> 00:07:55.360 thing here in this story. He stoops down. He 00:07:55.360 --> 00:07:59.319 takes spit with the dirt that he picked up, and 00:07:59.319 --> 00:08:01.889 he makes mud. And out of the blue, think, this 00:08:01.889 --> 00:08:04.350 man is just sitting there begging. And all of 00:08:04.350 --> 00:08:08.250 a sudden, there's someone putting mud in his 00:08:08.250 --> 00:08:13.709 eye sockets, smearing mud. And then he says to 00:08:13.709 --> 00:08:17.410 this man, who hasn't said a word yet, go and 00:08:17.410 --> 00:08:22.069 wash in the pool of Siloam. You see the pool 00:08:22.069 --> 00:08:25.329 in the fresco. Go, he says. You know the way 00:08:25.329 --> 00:08:30.360 to the pool. Others will help you find it. Wash 00:08:30.360 --> 00:08:33.200 there as if Christ is saying, I will heal you, 00:08:33.279 --> 00:08:38.259 but you need to respond. You can't just sit there 00:08:38.259 --> 00:08:40.639 and expect that this healing will do you any 00:08:40.639 --> 00:08:43.799 good. You need to respond. And the man is obedient 00:08:43.799 --> 00:08:49.080 to Jesus. The man does not resist like Naaman 00:08:49.080 --> 00:08:52.620 the leper in the Old Testament. Remember, why 00:08:52.620 --> 00:08:54.820 should I wash in the Jordan River? We have better 00:08:54.820 --> 00:09:01.049 rivers in Syria. Now, suppose this man says to 00:09:01.049 --> 00:09:03.970 himself, what's with this mud in my eyes? Some 00:09:03.970 --> 00:09:08.529 total stranger telling me, go wash. Do I trust 00:09:08.529 --> 00:09:13.149 him? Why would I trust him? Do I put my confidence 00:09:13.149 --> 00:09:16.429 in him? Why would I put my confidence in him? 00:09:16.830 --> 00:09:22.889 He says, wash. The blind man did not respond 00:09:22.889 --> 00:09:27.190 to Christ's instructions with questions and reservations. 00:09:28.490 --> 00:09:32.070 and caveats about how we could follow Christ. 00:09:34.190 --> 00:09:37.789 What a sorrow it is to me that so many people 00:09:37.789 --> 00:09:41.929 will come to Christ and begin to be enlightened, 00:09:42.090 --> 00:09:45.129 and then they see what the cost is, usually from 00:09:45.129 --> 00:09:52.289 some morality issue in society, which they feel 00:09:52.289 --> 00:09:56.070 is more merciful than the Lord, and they leave. 00:09:56.669 --> 00:10:00.139 This man, did not have questions, reservations, 00:10:00.600 --> 00:10:05.799 and anxiety about the future course of his life. 00:10:06.039 --> 00:10:08.820 The man does not resist the rays of divine light. 00:10:08.940 --> 00:10:13.240 Jesus says, go and wash, and he goes, and he 00:10:13.240 --> 00:10:19.419 washes, and he sees. And then he moves forward 00:10:19.419 --> 00:10:23.860 and encounters challenges he could never have 00:10:23.860 --> 00:10:27.629 anticipated. But it turns out this man was a 00:10:27.629 --> 00:10:33.610 wise man. This is what it means to say that Jesus 00:10:33.610 --> 00:10:37.750 is Lord. This is what it means to put yourself 00:10:37.750 --> 00:10:42.950 under the headship, the lordship of Jesus. Otherwise, 00:10:42.990 --> 00:10:47.370 Jesus can do nothing for us. And when he does 00:10:47.370 --> 00:10:52.389 this, when we do this, we begin to grow in knowledge 00:10:52.389 --> 00:10:58.360 of the Lord. enlightenment. Our hearts are changed. 00:10:58.919 --> 00:11:01.299 We are illumined with the light of understanding 00:11:01.299 --> 00:11:06.019 of Christ who said, I am the light of the world. 00:11:07.059 --> 00:11:10.740 Our blind man's faith, like ours, is based on 00:11:10.740 --> 00:11:14.379 obedience to the Lord, no matter what the cost. 00:11:15.159 --> 00:11:19.919 I think of the confessors, the martyrs under 00:11:19.919 --> 00:11:26.080 Soviet times, the saints. I think of us so weak 00:11:26.080 --> 00:11:31.980 that we give up without any persecution at all, 00:11:32.080 --> 00:11:36.480 but just because it's inconvenient, just because 00:11:36.480 --> 00:11:39.399 there's a philosophy we feel might be better 00:11:39.399 --> 00:11:47.840 than what Christ can give us. But the man's faith 00:11:47.840 --> 00:11:50.340 was rooted in experience, and that experience 00:11:50.340 --> 00:11:57.809 is this. One thing I know, and we have to get 00:11:57.809 --> 00:12:00.669 there too, and that's the core of this message 00:12:00.669 --> 00:12:06.850 today. One thing I know, I was blind, but now 00:12:06.850 --> 00:12:12.710 I see. There's the proof that we need. It won't 00:12:12.710 --> 00:12:15.490 do anybody else any good. The Pharisees had all 00:12:15.490 --> 00:12:21.370 the proof in the world. They were the so -called 00:12:21.370 --> 00:12:24.809 spiritual ones, the ones who say, we see, we 00:12:24.809 --> 00:12:28.429 understand, we know. They became blinded by their 00:12:28.429 --> 00:12:33.629 hatred and their ignorance and their sin. And 00:12:33.629 --> 00:12:37.049 Jesus sums it all up at the end, which you don't 00:12:37.049 --> 00:12:41.129 hear. It's the next verse after the man worships 00:12:41.129 --> 00:12:44.250 Jesus. It says this, for judgment I came into 00:12:44.250 --> 00:12:48.299 this world, that is to set things right. That's 00:12:48.299 --> 00:12:52.919 what judgment means. That those who do not see 00:12:52.919 --> 00:13:00.360 may see. And those who see may become blind. 00:13:01.179 --> 00:13:04.220 Some of the Pharisees near him heard this and 00:13:04.220 --> 00:13:07.220 said to him, oh, are you accusing us of being 00:13:07.220 --> 00:13:10.940 blind? Jesus says to them, if you were blind, 00:13:11.120 --> 00:13:15.620 you would have no guilt because you could not 00:13:15.620 --> 00:13:20.240 see. But you say, we see. And so your guilt remains. 00:13:21.259 --> 00:13:26.500 The whole story is about one thing I know. Brothers 00:13:26.500 --> 00:13:30.679 and sisters, go deep in your experience with 00:13:30.679 --> 00:13:34.899 the Lord. A man that is blind, that receives 00:13:34.899 --> 00:13:38.519 his sight, what incredible joy. What an amazing 00:13:38.519 --> 00:13:44.000 gift that would be to a person. A person who 00:13:44.000 --> 00:13:49.480 is born spiritually blind, as we are, which gains 00:13:49.480 --> 00:13:55.100 his or her sight in faith of God, Jesus Christ, 00:13:55.220 --> 00:13:59.419 the Holy Spirit, in baptism and in charismation. 00:13:59.500 --> 00:14:05.399 What a joy beyond calculation to hang on to it. 00:14:05.980 --> 00:14:09.200 And there are those that we see in the saints 00:14:09.200 --> 00:14:13.039 surrounded by them today. Some of them might 00:14:13.039 --> 00:14:18.669 be sitting here. whose faith is a witness, and 00:14:18.669 --> 00:14:21.529 they can say, I was blind, but now I see, and 00:14:21.529 --> 00:14:26.549 nothing will shake that faith. Last week, on 00:14:26.549 --> 00:14:29.269 Thursday, Deacon Justin and I and a few others 00:14:29.269 --> 00:14:34.309 were in the small little hut of St. Paisius of 00:14:34.309 --> 00:14:38.509 Mount Athos, who died in 1992. And we went into 00:14:38.509 --> 00:14:43.799 his little chapel, and there is his seat. some 00:14:43.799 --> 00:14:46.899 of his books that were there, where he spent 00:14:46.899 --> 00:14:50.899 so much of his time. And we were told, well, 00:14:51.000 --> 00:14:54.460 this is where St. Pius the Elder sat. This is 00:14:54.460 --> 00:14:57.720 where he had many visions of the Lord and many 00:14:57.720 --> 00:15:01.179 appearances of the Theotokos to him in his prayer. 00:15:02.740 --> 00:15:06.419 And we thought, well, of course that's true. 00:15:07.379 --> 00:15:11.549 With all the miracles? associated with this man's 00:15:11.549 --> 00:15:17.309 name and the wisdom of the words that he had 00:15:17.309 --> 00:15:20.690 said that were taken down, how could it be otherwise? 00:15:23.450 --> 00:15:27.230 Our guiding principle in life and in our interaction 00:15:27.230 --> 00:15:30.350 with the world around us is not our political 00:15:30.350 --> 00:15:35.440 leanings or our personal feelings. or our personal 00:15:35.440 --> 00:15:38.580 opinions. If you are guided by those things, 00:15:38.700 --> 00:15:41.039 you might as well create an image of yourself, 00:15:41.320 --> 00:15:45.320 pray before it, offer sacrifices to it, and you 00:15:45.320 --> 00:15:49.159 will see that there will be no joy. There will 00:15:49.159 --> 00:15:51.960 be no illumination. But be honest with yourself 00:15:51.960 --> 00:15:54.399 and choose whom you will follow and ask yourself, 00:15:54.659 --> 00:15:59.779 was I blind and now I see? And the Lord Jesus 00:15:59.779 --> 00:16:03.600 Christ, his life, his teachings will illumine 00:16:03.600 --> 00:16:06.720 you through the prayers of the saints. Amen. 00:16:06.899 --> 00:16:07.759 Christ is risen.