Coming to Belief: The Fourth Sunday of Lent

                                                          Coming to Belief:

The Fourth Sunday of Lent

March 19, 2023

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1 Samuel 16:1-13 ; Psalm 23; Ephesians 5:8-14; John 9:1-41

 

          We have three strong images in these readings today starting with the Spirit’s selection and unlikeliest anointing of David, the shepherd child, who is to become king. The Psalm punctuates God’s shepherding of the people, and then Paul uses the imagery of light as a symbol of coming to belief and living in goodness that comes from Christ himself. John then gives us this lengthy passage of coming to sight of the blind man and the dilemma in which the man finds himself. 

 

          One of the main themes in the Fourth Gospel is to show that Jesus is the fulfillment of each of the feasts because the Jewish community, following the Resurrection, would not let any of the followers of Jesus take part in the traditional liturgical celebrations because they changed the liturgical structure of the gathering. The whole point of the Fourth Gospel is to reassure the young community that they no longer need a place to worship God because where Jesus is present, God can be worshipped. In this setting, the healing takes place on the Sabbath, and Jesus proves that he is the fulfillment of the Sabbath. He reveals to the community that he is one with God. 

 

          The Pharisees debate if Jesus is from Satan or from God. In the estimation of some of the conservative Jews said he could not be from God because he sinned by not keeping the Sabbath laws, while others concluded that the healing was good and beneficial for the man. As they could not figure out the source of Jesus’s identity, they turn to the man for an explanation and for his conclusion. The man simply describes what Jesus asked him to do, and then his eyesight was restored, and for that explanation, they felt schooled by an unlearned man. The man who has no name stands before Jesus and comes to know Jesus as the Son of Man with a close relationship to God. 

 

          A further issue has to do with who sinned to create a man born blind. Was it his parents or himself? Jesus stated that birth conditions are not due to sin. No one did anything wrong, and they are not being punished for their sins. Sometimes unfortunate things happen and there is no sin, explanation, or blame. Rather in other parts of the Gospel, he concludes that sin comes from the thoughts and attitudes that come from within a person. When we look at the ways Jesus regards sin in the Gospel, it comes from a failure to extend mercy, when one fails to even try to love another person, when one creates a thought that is judgmental and unloving. Sin is when we refuse to enter into the chaos of another person’s life. It would help the church to return to his reasons.

 

          Why does the church always include this passage in the readings as we approach the end of Lent? Sight is equated with faith, and this man demonstrates his process of coming to belief in Jesus, so that he ends up standing in front of Jesus to declare unequivocally that he believes, even with all the turmoil of his parents, the debate about sin, and the disagreements among the religious authorities. He believes. We are much like this man as we stand before Jesus who has given us our sight. In the beginning, and in the end, what matters most to us, is that we can say, “I do believe, Lord. Help me see even more clearly.”

 

Scripture for Daily Mass

 

First Reading: 

Monday: (Isaiah 65) The Lord is about to create new heavens and a new earth; the things of the past shall not be remembered; there will always be rejoicing and happiness.

 

Tuesday: (Ezekiel 47) The angel brought the prophet to the entrance of the temple where life-giving water flowed forth and bringing life to all.

 

Wednesday: (Isaiah 49) The Lord finds favor with Israel and promises help on the day of salvation. The Lord will help Israel keep the commandments because He cannot forget her beauty.

 

Thursday: (2 Samuel 7) The Lord said to David: Your house shall endure forever; your throne shall stand firm forever.  

 

Friday: (Wisdom 2) The wicked said, “Let us beset the just one because he is obnoxious to us. Let us revile him and condemn him to a shameful death.” 

 

Saturday: (Jeremiah 11) Jeremiah knew their plot, but like a trusting lamb led to slaughter, had not realized they were hatching plots against him.   

 

Gospel: 

Monday: (John 4) Jesus returned to Galilee where he performed his first miracle. Some believed in him. A royal official approached him as his child lay dying, but at the hour Jesus spoke to him, his son recovered. 

 

Tuesday: (John 5) Jesus encountered an ill man lying next to a healing pool, but when the water is stirred up, no one is around to put him in. Jesus heals him and he walks away. The Jews protest that Jesus cured on the Sabbath. The Jews began to persecute Jesus. 

 

Wednesday: (John 5) Jesus explains that he is the unique revealer of God and cannot do anything on his own. He judges as he hears and his judgment is just because he does not seek his own will.

 

Thursday: (Matthew 1) The birth of Jesus came about through Mary, betrothed to Joseph. In his dream, the angel tells Joseph to take the pregnant Mary as his wife.

 

Friday: (John 7) Jesus did not wish to travel around Judea because the Jews were trying to kill him, but he went up during the feast of Tabernacles where he was spotted. He cried up in the streets, “You know me and you know where I am from.”

 

Saturday: (John 7) Some in the crowd said, “This is the prophet.” Some said, “This is the Christ.” A division occurred because of him because they could not settled how he fit into Scripture. Nicodemus interjected, “Does our law condemn a man before it first hears him and finds out what he is doing?” The crowd dispersed to their homes.

 

Saints of the Week

 

March 19: Joseph, husband of Mary is honored today for his support of Mary in their marriage. He is portrayed as a righteous man who obeys the will of God. Therefore, his ancestry is upheld as a virtuous stock through which God’s promises come true. We seldom contemplate his marital relationship to Mary and his responsibility to love and raise Jesus as his son. He was a descendent of King David and a carpenter or builder by trade. In Matthew's dream sequence, Joseph was embarrassed by Mary's pregnancy before their marriage, but went through with the wedding because he was a righteous man. He considered dissolving their marriage because of Mosaic Law, but is told in a dream to take Mary as his wife and to raise Jesus as his own. He is honored as the earthly father of Jesus. 

 

March 23: Toribio of Mogrovejo, bishop (1538-1606) was a Spanish law professor in Salamanca who became the president of the Inquisition in Granada. As a layman, he was made the Archbishop of Lima, Peru and became quickly disturbed at the treatment of the native populations by the European conquerors. He condemned abuses and founded schools to educate the oppressed natives. He built hospitals and churches and opened the first seminary in Latin America.

 

March 25: The Annunciation of the Lord celebrates the announcement that God chose to unite divinity with humanity at the conception of Jesus. God sent the angel Gabriel to Mary to inform her of God’s intentions to have her conceive the future Messiah. The boy’s name was to be Jesus – meaning “God saves.” This date falls nine months before Christmas Day. 

 

This Week in Jesuit History

 

·         March 19, 1836. By imperial decree, the Society was allowed to re-enter the Austrian dominions. 

·         March 20, 1602. The first "Disputatio de Auxiliis" was held before Clement VIII. The disputants were Fr. Gregory de Valentia SJ and Fr. Diego Alvarez OP. 

·         March 21, 1768. In Spain, at a special meeting of the Council of State in the presence of King Charles III, the Suppression of the Society was urged on the pretense that it was independent of the bishops, that it plotted against the State, and that it was lax in its teaching. 

·         March 22, 1585: In Rome, Fr. General received the three Japanese ambassadors with great solemnity in the Society's Church of the Gesu. 

·         March 23, 1772: At Rome, Cardinal Marefoschi held a visitation of the Irish College and accused the Jesuits of mismanagement. He removed them from directing that establishment. 

·         March 24, 1578: At Lisbon Rudolf Acquaviva and 13 companions embarked for India. Among the companions were Matthew Ricci and Michael Ruggieri. 

·         March 25, 1563: The first Sodality of Our Lady, Prima Primaria, was begun in the Roman College by a young Belgian Jesuit named John Leunis (Leonius).