In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and
of the Holy Spirit. Amen. After Wednesday, this
week, we won't be greeting each other until next
year, God willing, with that wonderful phrase,
Christ is risen. And we won't be doing that after
Wednesday since we are moving on, let's say moving
up, to Ascension. Christ with the angels and
the apostles bearing witness. And that's an exhilarating
and exciting thing to ponder, and we'll get to
that in due time on Wednesday evening and Thursday,
the Feast of the Ascension. And then to Holy
Pentecost. We're moving on. And that Feast of
Pentecost is that which, let's say, it seals
in like a wax seal on an envelope. It ratifies,
it attests, it confirms, it validates, it authenticates
whatever synonym you want to use. The reality
of the life of the resurrection in us. And that's
important that we remember that Pentecost is
that crown. That we are coming to. We need to
be enlightened to be there though. Which is why
we're hearing this incredible story today. The
enlightenment comes from the grace of the Holy
Spirit shining within us. So that we can live
the life of the resurrection. So we understand.
who it is we are following, and what it costs
us. That's very important. You heard about the
paralytic. He was reviled. He was made fun of.
And this poor man, this poor man, the fresco's
right over there, by the way. This blind man
was brought in, and his parents were even subpoenaed,
if you want to put it that way. All these stories,
these lessons from Acts and the Gospel of John,
all since Pascha, are not just for the newly
baptized, by the way, their catechism continuing,
so to speak. It's not just for those that are
preparing now. We have baptisms a few, six next
week. But these readings are for us who perhaps
need encouragement because we have lost a bit
of zeal since Lent. We need encouragement to
live our life, to pursue this illumination that
Jesus is talking about when he says, I am the
light of the world. On to today's gospel account.
Jesus is passing by, as John tells us, and he
comes to a blind man. That man had no... Eyeballs
in his sockets. That's a medical condition. There's
a nurse or doctor, you can correct my pronunciation.
Anophthalmia. No eyes. He's blind. Now we're
in chapter 9 of the Gospel of John. Which follows
the dramatic and I would say upsetting chapter
8. With the hatred of Christ just boiling over.
In chapter 8. So Christ leaves that. It says
here at the end of chapter 8. Christ says to
them, amen, amen, I say to you. Before Abraham,
I am. He says those words, I am. He identifies
himself with the God of Israel. The one who causes
things to be. They took up stones to throw at
him because he said that. But Jesus hid himself
and went out of the temple, going through the
midst of them, and so passed by. Now, as Jesus
passed by, he saw a man who was blind from his
birth. Just like he saw the paralytic. Just like
he saw the Samaritan woman and began a conversation.
He took the initiative. Jesus has taken the initiative.
In other words, Jesus did what the blind man
could not do. Jesus saw him. He saw him. He sees
us. That's the way St. John, that's the way the
Lord expresses the primacy of grace, that God
initiates everything. I said... something like
this a few weeks ago. Man does not really search
for God. Mostly we run away. Think about it.
Man sometimes thinks he searches for God, as
I pointed out. And here we are again. Man's search
for God, says that wonderful writer and Christian
C .S. Lewis, is something like the mouse's search
for the cat. We want to know where he is so we
don't go there. That's man's search for God.
How many people run from the Lord or want to
redefine the Lord to make him more safe? It begins
with God. It is not, says St. John the theologian,
that we have loved God, but that God has first
loved us. We need to remember that and to be
encouraged that this is about God's love taking
the initiative to come to us, to change us, to
heal us, to give us a life that we did not know
before. And we could never attain without him.
We could not make it up. People could say they
believe in God, but until they come to Christ,
the giver of light and the healer, they don't
really know what God is. God is always searching.
reaching out to us poor ones, hoping that we
might catch a glimmer of his presence and follow.
Sometimes he's outside our window, so to speak,
tapping. But we're busy. We can't go there. And
then when we do turn around and say, God, oh,
he's not there. He expects us to follow. Anyway,
Jesus sees the blind man. And that's just an
important thing to remember, that God takes the
initiative. He's the one that loves us first.
Jesus sees this man with the disciples who makes
some comments, and after some discussion with
the disciples about who's to blame for this man's
blindness, you know, what we don't understand,
we usually think somebody's to blame here. But
then Jesus, the Word of God, by whom, through
whom, and for whom everything was created. And
there was nothing that was created that he didn't
create. Just like in Genesis, when God takes
the dust of the earth, which he created from
nonexistence and made man, Jesus does the same
thing here in this story. He stoops down. He
takes spit with the dirt that he picked up, and
he makes mud. And out of the blue, think, this
man is just sitting there begging. And all of
a sudden, there's someone putting mud in his
eye sockets, smearing mud. And then he says to
this man, who hasn't said a word yet, go and
wash in the pool of Siloam. You see the pool
in the fresco. Go, he says. You know the way
to the pool. Others will help you find it. Wash
there as if Christ is saying, I will heal you,
but you need to respond. You can't just sit there
and expect that this healing will do you any
good. You need to respond. And the man is obedient
to Jesus. The man does not resist like Naaman
the leper in the Old Testament. Remember, why
should I wash in the Jordan River? We have better
rivers in Syria. Now, suppose this man says to
himself, what's with this mud in my eyes? Some
total stranger telling me, go wash. Do I trust
him? Why would I trust him? Do I put my confidence
in him? Why would I put my confidence in him?
He says, wash. The blind man did not respond
to Christ's instructions with questions and reservations.
and caveats about how we could follow Christ.
What a sorrow it is to me that so many people
will come to Christ and begin to be enlightened,
and then they see what the cost is, usually from
some morality issue in society, which they feel
is more merciful than the Lord, and they leave.
This man, did not have questions, reservations,
and anxiety about the future course of his life.
The man does not resist the rays of divine light.
Jesus says, go and wash, and he goes, and he
washes, and he sees. And then he moves forward
and encounters challenges he could never have
anticipated. But it turns out this man was a
wise man. This is what it means to say that Jesus
is Lord. This is what it means to put yourself
under the headship, the lordship of Jesus. Otherwise,
Jesus can do nothing for us. And when he does
this, when we do this, we begin to grow in knowledge
of the Lord. enlightenment. Our hearts are changed.
We are illumined with the light of understanding
of Christ who said, I am the light of the world.
Our blind man's faith, like ours, is based on
obedience to the Lord, no matter what the cost.
I think of the confessors, the martyrs under
Soviet times, the saints. I think of us so weak
that we give up without any persecution at all,
but just because it's inconvenient, just because
there's a philosophy we feel might be better
than what Christ can give us. But the man's faith
was rooted in experience, and that experience
is this. One thing I know, and we have to get
there too, and that's the core of this message
today. One thing I know, I was blind, but now
I see. There's the proof that we need. It won't
do anybody else any good. The Pharisees had all
the proof in the world. They were the so -called
spiritual ones, the ones who say, we see, we
understand, we know. They became blinded by their
hatred and their ignorance and their sin. And
Jesus sums it all up at the end, which you don't
hear. It's the next verse after the man worships
Jesus. It says this, for judgment I came into
this world, that is to set things right. That's
what judgment means. That those who do not see
may see. And those who see may become blind.
Some of the Pharisees near him heard this and
said to him, oh, are you accusing us of being
blind? Jesus says to them, if you were blind,
you would have no guilt because you could not
see. But you say, we see. And so your guilt remains.
The whole story is about one thing I know. Brothers
and sisters, go deep in your experience with
the Lord. A man that is blind, that receives
his sight, what incredible joy. What an amazing
gift that would be to a person. A person who
is born spiritually blind, as we are, which gains
his or her sight in faith of God, Jesus Christ,
the Holy Spirit, in baptism and in charismation.
What a joy beyond calculation to hang on to it.
And there are those that we see in the saints
surrounded by them today. Some of them might
be sitting here. whose faith is a witness, and
they can say, I was blind, but now I see, and
nothing will shake that faith. Last week, on
Thursday, Deacon Justin and I and a few others
were in the small little hut of St. Paisius of
Mount Athos, who died in 1992. And we went into
his little chapel, and there is his seat. some
of his books that were there, where he spent
so much of his time. And we were told, well,
this is where St. Pius the Elder sat. This is
where he had many visions of the Lord and many
appearances of the Theotokos to him in his prayer.
And we thought, well, of course that's true.
With all the miracles? associated with this man's
name and the wisdom of the words that he had
said that were taken down, how could it be otherwise?
Our guiding principle in life and in our interaction
with the world around us is not our political
leanings or our personal feelings. or our personal
opinions. If you are guided by those things,
you might as well create an image of yourself,
pray before it, offer sacrifices to it, and you
will see that there will be no joy. There will
be no illumination. But be honest with yourself
and choose whom you will follow and ask yourself,
was I blind and now I see? And the Lord Jesus
Christ, his life, his teachings will illumine
you through the prayers of the saints. Amen.
Christ is risen.