Fourth Sunday in Lent

“Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How does he now see?” His parents answered and said, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. 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 himself.” His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone acknowledged him as the Christ, he would be expelled from the synagogue.

There will be times in our lives when we will be challenged to either stand up for the truth and be punished for doing so or remain silent and save our skins. This is the choice the blind man and his parents were faced with and it is the same one we must confront in various ways in our lives. The parents chose to pass the buck onto their son. They were afraid of acknowledging Jesus ever after he healed their son. They should have been happy for the miracle of their son’s cure, but they let worldly concerns strangle their joy and muzzle their praise. The formerly blind man on the other hand is not afraid of speaking the truth. He does so several times and because of this he is tossed out of the synagogue. However, this apparent loss is really a gain. Jesus finds him and reveals himself to be the Son of Man. The man’s faith has saved him. He has chosen the light of Christ over the darkness of the world.

Are we willing to suffer in order to proclaim the truth? Are we willing to be persecuted for our faith? How can we conquer our fears and live in the light of the Good News?

O Lord, cure our blindness so we might see your guiding light.

Amen.