This week we celebrate the Fourth Sunday of Lent as we continue to follow Jesus on His journey to Jerusalem. The readings this weekend are full of images about light and darkness and about seeing. God tells Samuel that He does not see as we see but rather He sees into the heart. Paul reminds us that we have been called out of darkness and into the light of Jesus. Our lives now must be full of that light. The gospel tells us the story of Jesus’ touch bringing sight to the man born blind. The church has long used this story as a model of the conversion process. We, like the formerly blind man, come to see Jesus more and more as the center of who we are called to be.

First Reading: 1 Samuel 16: 1b, 6-7, 10-13a

1 The LORD said to Samuel: “How long will you grieve for Saul, whom I have rejected as king of Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and be on your way. I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem, for I have chosen my king from among his sons.”

6 As they came, he looked at Eliab and thought, “Surely the LORD’S anointed is here before him.” 7 But the LORD said to Samuel: “Do not judge from his appearance or from his lofty stature, because I have rejected him. Not as man sees does God see, because man sees the appearance but the LORD looks into the heart.”

10 In the same way Jesse presented seven sons before Samuel, but Samuel said to Jesse, “The LORD has not chosen any one of these.” 11 Then Samuel asked Jesse, “Are these all the sons you have?” Jesse replied, “There is still the youngest, who is tending the sheep.” Samuel said to Jesse, “Send for him; we will not begin the sacrificial banquet until he arrives here.” 12 Jesse sent and had the young man brought to them. He was ruddy, a youth handsome to behold and making a splendid appearance. The LORD said, “There-anoint him, for this is he!” 13 Then Samuel, with the horn of oil in hand, anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and from that day on, the spirit of the LORD rushed upon David. When Samuel took his leave, he went to Ramah.

NOTES on First Reading:

* 16:1-14 There seem to be multiple traditions about David’s anointing. Each story, as recorded, seems to present itself as if it were his first one. The anointing presented in this chapter is unknown to David’s brother Eliab in the story that follows in the next chapter (1 Sam 17:28), and David is anointed twice more after Saul’s death (2 Sam 2:4; 5:3). This story is the beginning of a whole complex of David stories that present David’s rise to the throne until he finally becomes king in 2 Sam 5. Many of them present the increasing tension between David and Saul as Saul falls farther and farther from God’s favor.

Second Reading: Ephesians 5: 8-14

8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light, 9 for light produces every kind of goodness and righteousness and truth. 10 Try to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. 11 Take no part in the fruitless works of darkness; rather expose them, 12 for it is shameful even to mention the things done by them in secret; 13 but everything exposed by the light becomes visible, 14 for everything that becomes visible is light. Therefore, it says: “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.”

NOTES on Second Reading:

* 5:8-14 This is Paul’s admonition to live lives worthy of the great privilege to which the believers are called. As children of the light we must live lives that are full of that light. We must be channels of light to others. We can’t do that if our lives are full of darkness.

* 5:14 These words are probably from an early Christian hymn which was possibly part of a baptismal liturgy. Compare the content with Ephesians 2:5-6; 3:9 and Isaiah 60:1.

Gospel Reading: John 9: 1-41 or 9:1, 6-9,13-17, 34-38 (for the short form)

1 As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3 Jesus answered, “Neither he nor his parents sinned; it is so that the works of God might be made visible through him. 4 We have to do the works of the one who sent me while it is day. Night is coming when no one can work. 5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 6 When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva, and smeared the clay on his eyes, 7 and said to him, “Go wash in the Pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went and washed, and came back able to see.

8 His neighbors and those who had seen him earlier as a beggar said, “Isn’t this the one who used to sit and beg?” 9 Some said, “It is,” but others said, “No, he just looks like him.” He said, “I am.” 10 So they said to him, “(So) how were your eyes opened?” 11 He replied, “The man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and told me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went there and washed and was able to see.” 12 And they said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I don’t know.”

13 They brought the one who was once blind to the Pharisees. 14 Now Jesus had made clay and opened his eyes on a sabbath. 15 So then the Pharisees also asked him how he was able to see. He said to them, “He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and now I can see.” 16 So some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, because he does not keep the sabbath.” (But) others said, “How can a sinful man do such signs?” And there was a division among them. 17 So they said to the blind man again, “What do you have to say about him, since he opened your eyes?” He said, “He is a prophet.”

18 Now the Jews did not believe that he had been blind and gained his sight until they summoned the parents of the one who had gained his sight. 19 They asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How does he now see?” 20 His parents answered and said, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. 21 We do not know how he sees now, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him, he is of age; he can speak for him self.” 22 His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone acknowledged him as the Messiah, he would be expelled from the synagogue. 23 For this reason his parents said, “He is of age; question him.”

24 So a second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, “Give God the praise! We know that this man is a sinner.” 25 He replied, “If he is a sinner, I do not know. One thing I do know is that I was blind and now I see.” 26 So they said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” 27 He answered them, “I told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples, too?” 28 They ridiculed him and said, “You are that man’s disciple; we are disciples of Moses! 29 We know that God spoke to Moses, but we do not know where this one is from.” 30 The man answered and said to them, “This is what is so amazing, that you do not know where he is from, yet he opened my eyes. 31 We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if one is devout and does his will, he listens to him. 32 It is unheard of that anyone ever opened the eyes of a person born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he would not be able to do anything.” 34 They answered and said to him, “You were born totally in sin, and are you trying to teach us?” Then they threw him out.

35 When Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, he found him and said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” 36 He answered and said, “Who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” 37 Jesus said to him, “You have seen him and the one speaking with you is he.” 38 He said, “I do believe, Lord,” and he worshiped him. 39 Then Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment, so that those who do not see might see, and those who do see might become blind.”

40 Some of the Pharisees who were with him heard this and said to him, “Surely we are not also blind, are we?” 41 Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you are saying, ‘We see,’ so your sin remains.

NOTES on Gospel Reading:

* 9:1-10:21 This fifth sign in John’s Gospel illustrates the saying, “I am the light of the world” (8:12; 9:5). The conflict narrative about Jesus contrasts Jesus (light) with the Jewish authorities (blindness, 9:39-41). The theme of water is reintroduced in the reference to the pool of Siloam. There is irony in that Jesus is being judged by the Jewish leaders, yet they are judged by the Light of the world in 3:19-21.

* 9:2 It was a common belief of that time that physical illness or misfortune was a punishment for sin or, at least, the result of sin committed personally or by one’s family.

* 9:6 This was a common action by the “healers” of the day.

* 9:7 The Old Testament background for this image may be 2 Kings 5:10-14. The name of the pool means “sent.” This is an allusion to Jesus who is the one who is sent and in whom the catechumens will find light. They who had been spiritually blind from birth will be given sight by the one who was sent as the Light of the world. The early church saw Baptism as the immersion in Christ that would provide the insight of reality to which they had been blind from birth. The blind man’s progressive sight parallels the catechumen’s progressive insight into the mystery of Jesus. First, knowledge that there was a man named Jesus (9:11). He is a prophet (9:17). He is seen as a man from God (9:33). He is the heavenly Son of Man (9:35). Finally, He is worshiped as Lord (9:38).

* 9:14 It was in using spittle, kneading clay, and healing that Jesus had broken the sabbath rules laid down by Jewish tradition.

* 9:22 This is an artifact of the time in which the Gospel of John was written. The same terms are used again in John 12:42 and 16:2 The real separation between the Jews and the Christians did not occur until about 70 AD when the temple was destroyed and Judaism reached a crisis that threatened its existence in the Roman Empire. They acted to distance themselves from the Christians because the followers of Christ had acquired the disfavor of the Roman empire.

Rejection/excommunication from the synagogue of those Jews who confessed Jesus as Messiah seems to have begun around A.D. 85, when the curse against the minim or heretics was introduced into the “Eighteen Benedictions.”

* 9:24 This appears often as an Old Testament formula of adjuration to tell the truth. See Joshua 7:19; 1 Sam 6:5 (Septuagint version) as well as John 5:41.

* 9:32 The only Old Testament cure from blindness is found in Tobit (Tobit 7:7; 11:7-13; 14:1-2), but Tobit was not born blind. The statement in this verse was still true until about the year 1728 when the celebrated Dr. Cheselden by surgical operation, gave sight to a 14 year old boy who had been born blind.

* 9:34 The popular belief of the time was that illness was a punishment for sin.

* 9:40 The Pharisees often called themselves “the teachers of the blind” referring to the common folk as “the blind” in that they did not know the law.

* 9:41 The Pharisees tended to trust in their own righteousness and refused to see the extent of their own need. Thus they placed themselves beyond Jesus’ reach as He reached out to them.

Scripture text: New American Bible with revised New Testament copyright © 1986,1970, Confraternity of Christian Doctrine.
Commentary Sources:
Vince Del Greco
The New Jerome Biblical Commentary (1990) (Eds. Brown, Fitzmyer & Murphy)