The Man born blind
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
This is one of the longest Gospel readings that we have (outside of Holy Week). Who is blind in today’s Gospel ? It certainly is not the blind man who is blind because he who was blind from birth is able to glorify God by the fact that he instantly responds to the Lord. As soon as he knows who the Lord is, instantly he falls down, worships the Lord, and says : “‘Lord, I believe!’” More than once in the Gospel, Jesus said, as it were : “If you cannot believe Me, at least believe the works. Believe what happens ; see how God acts, and understand. Do not be unbelieving but be quick to believe and quick to understand how God’s love works”.
The Jewish people and the Pharisees were not ready to listen. They absolutely refused. They were the ones who were completely blind. They were the ones who could not see the action of the will of God even when all the evidence was right in front of their faces and there were all sorts of witnesses that this was the case. They absolutely refused to believe and in the end they threw people out of the synagogue. They were that angry at not getting their own way. There was no justice whatever, not the slightest bit. Nevertheless, the blind man is not worried about justice from the Pharisees or from anyone else. The blind man is glorifying God because he has been given sight. Our hymns last evening said that he had never in his life been able to see human beings who are made in the image of God. Instead, he had only been able to touch and to hear. When he receives his sight, he is able not only to see with his eyes, but more deeply with his soul.
There is more than one way to approach life and our relationships with each other. You and I are all images of Christ, our Lord. We are icons of the Lord. Time and again, Saint John Chrysostom says (and other Fathers also say) that we are to respect that presence of Christ in each other. We are to look for it and to help it grow. Sometimes we too are just as blind as those Pharisees who could not with their physical eyes see that this man had been healed, and that he had been healed by the love of God. They were angry because he had been healed on the Sabbath Day. The Lord had technically broken the Law by working on the Sabbath Day. They wanted to get revenge and justice, and that is all that they were interested in. What are you and I interested in ? Are we interested in getting justice for ourselves at the expense of everyone else ? Are we interested in getting our own way at the expense of everyone else ? What is important to us ? This is where our blindness comes in. Our blindness has to do with our relationships with one another. Can we see Christ in each other ? Do we affirm Christ in each other ? Do we build up the presence of Christ in each other or do we deny the presence ? Do we live as Christians must live – giving life, being honest, being supportive, healing, and building up the Body of Christ ? Or are we like the world where people eat each other up, slash each other with their words, kill with their words (not to overlook killing with weapons) ? Are we like the world where we serve our own selves first and only, or are we living in the Kingdom as we must ? Do we put the Lord first ? Do we put the service of others and their welfare even before ours ? Which way do we live ? Do we see with the eyes of the Kingdom or do we see with the eyes of the world ?
Today, we are standing in the Kingdom. Do we see that we are standing here in the Kingdom, or is this merely some sort of chummy gathering that we attend because we like to see our friends ? Are we here to glorify God first above all things ? Can we see with our hearts the presence of our spiritual ancestors, our mothers and fathers who have been here before us and who have offered their praise to the Lord, and have given this particular place such an uplifting and prayerful atmosphere ? Can we see them ? Can we feel them ? Can we sense them ? Can we know that our loved ones are here still in the Body of Christ, here in the Kingdom ? Can we see the Lord standing in our midst today, giving us Himself, giving us His life, His love and feeding us with His love ? Can we see Him standing in our midst with His arms stretched out to us, saying : “‘Come to Me, all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest’” (Matthew 11:28) ? Are we here instead simply out of habit or obligation ? Do we come to refresh our Russian culture and language ? If we are here only for the last reason, then we are like the Pharisees with blind eyes and we have to wake up. Our first reason to be here must be to offer our praise to the Lord, to unite ourselves to Him, and to be united with all our fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters who have gone before us, as well as with each other. The blue ceiling above us is to remind us that we are standing here in the Kingdom, under the dome of Heaven. We are standing here in Heaven in the presence of the Lord before His throne.
As we come to the Lord, He gives Himself to us. He makes us one, all together. Let us ask Him to open our eyes so that we can see Him here, and in each other, and also in other places in the world. Let us ask Him to help us see Him in people that we meet, so that we may bring the presence of the Kingdom out there to the world. The unity in Christ that we find here may we bring to the brokenness of the world out there. May we bring the love that we find here amongst ourselves to those out there who have no love. There, where there is only hate and death, may we bring the life and the love that we find here. Let us ask Him to enable that, so that our lives may glorify the all-holy Trinity and that every minute of our lives we may proclaim : “Christ is risen”.