The man was blind from birth.
Jesus passes by him in the Gospel today and sees him (Jn. 9:1). Think of that moment. The man is blind. From birth. He has never seen anything of anyone. Only darkness. And Jesus sees him. Jesus sees the one who cannot see. Jesus sees the one who can only see darkness. Jesus is the Light of the world. There is no darkness that can withstand the Lord, even the darkness of blindness.
Blindness comes in many forms. One especially painful form is the blindness that can descend upon our spirit from hurt and old wounds.
Light heals. The light of Jesus heals in a determined way.
Healing doesn’t mean everything is suddenly “fixed.” In fact, healing and fixing aren’t the same thing. Healing is better. “Fixing” takes us back to what we believe ought to be or have been. Healing takes us to forward to believe in Jesus. And, from here, healing takes us places we have never been before.
Jesus, to heal the blind man, “spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva, and smeared the clay on his eyes” (Jn. 9:6). Jesus then tells the man, “Go and wash in the pool of Siloam” (Jn. 9:7).
Healing can be messy. Jesus goes to the ground to heal. The ground is the place of humility. The word humility comes from the Latin word humilis which means lowly, close to the ground. The ground is the place from which God created us. He reached for the mud of the earth to make man. Healing is a new creation. To heal, God reaches to the ground again. Healing is being grounded, not over-reacting to every push and pull, every whim and fancy. Healing is the opposite of the impulsiveness of chaos. And the blind man, now grounded by the action of Jesus sees through the darkness. He sees the light of the world.
Jesus wants to heal us, too. Healing will take us to places we never imagined or thought we’d go.
This Lent Jesus is again reaching out. He reaches down to the earth. He reaches for humility. And from there He will spread forth His arms on a Cross.
Go with Jesus. Trust Jesus. He is the Light of the world.
God bless,
Msgr. Bransfield
