4^th Sunday in Lent    The Man Born Blind Jn 9      OSJ  Mar 15, 2026 (rev)

This Sunday we celebrate Laetare Sunday or Joy Sunday because we have completed half of Lent and our 40 days of Lent end in three weeks.   Our celebration includes the gospel of Jesus healing the man born blind.   It is one of the great short stories in John’s gospel.   First Jesus takes charge of the stage.  Then the blind Pharisees already out to get Jesus..some wanted earlier to stone him… the blind Pharisees enter the story.   Finally, however, the end of the story is an inspiration for us here today.

So First, The disciples are walking with Jesus through the Temple area on the Sabbath Day of a Jewish festival.   They see the Man Born Blind and ask Jesus a Pharisaical question about sin and punishment.    Who sinned and caused this blindness?  Did the blind man sin or his parents?    In this particular setting this seems an awkward question.   Do they whisper it, finding it too delicate to seem to be judging the blind man?   Should not the disciples be compassionate and ask the blind man if there is anything that he needs?      

But let’s not blame the disciples here for this question.  The point for us is Jesus’ answer.  His answer, in fact, treats the question as exactly the right question for the situation.   That is: There is no sin.   He was born this way, Jesus says, so that the works of God might be manifest in him.   Oh, had we thought of that?   Do we understand that our earthly bodies will gradually fall apart so that the glory of God can be manifested in us?  

Jesus prepares the blind man himself to be the perfect foil for all the other characters.   But the Blind Man seems to have no idea about what is happening, he is stoic at first.   And with this lack of awareness he remains passive as Jesus smears dirt and saliva on his eyes.  I can imagine people on the scene wondering about this mess.   Jesus simply tells the man to wash in the Pool of Siloam, and he goes immediately guided by a kind person eager to know what is to happen.   But the disciples?   I have the impression that the all-knowing Jesus nods to the disciples, and tells them to rest in place for a time.  A lot more is to happen and John has the story compressed into a tight string of events on a single day.

So the once blind man returns.   He can see and faces the puzzled stares of his neighbors who can’t believe their own eyes and question if he can be the blind man they knew.   But the healed man keeps repeating “I am the man.  Yes, I am the man.” These spoken words clearly proclaim he now knows even better who he is, once blind now healed.   He does not shout about seeing but declares some new way of talking about himself.

Whether out of joy or simply to get their friend certified as healed and eligible for full participation in Temple worship, some friends accompany the healed man to the Temple authorities, yes to the same Pharisees who already know enough about this Jesus to think of stoning him.

Now the story focuses on the troublesome Pharisees.  They are baffled.   They cannot make up their minds.  At first they think that they can use this healed man to help them convict Jesus of violating the Sabbath.   But this man will not be their patsy and when he expresses his own opinion that this Healer must be a prophet, they hesitate.   This guy is of no use to us.

The Pharisees then forget the accusation about Jesus healing on the Sabbath,   They adopt a new strategy that they think might work. They try to convict the man of lying to them about the healing.  They treat him as a fraud whom Jesus is using to trick the crowd.   In this they seek his parents help.   The parents confirm that, yes, the man was blind from birth but they offer no other testimony about the truth that their son can now see.  The Pharisees then hope, perhaps, that the parents would credit medicine or some other heavenly intervention for the healing.    Yes, the Pharisees in their own blindness try every angle to avoid accepting the truth that Jesus is a prophetic healer.   The healed man, after a second round of interrogation then with complete innocence suggests that maybe the Pharisees themselves are coming to see the wonder of what has happened.   The Pharisees react with anger.   They have had enough of this man.  Maybe he was healed but they consider him conceived in sin and they throw him out.   To them he is now more blinded with lies.   They blacklist him and he is unable to take part in higher forms of Temple worship.

So much for the Pharisees.  And finally Jesus learns that the healed man does not find the Pharisees to be worthy of his trust and has suggested to them that Jesus might be a healing prophet.  So Jesus seeks him out.   In this Jesus plans another gift beyond the gift of sight.   The once blind man now focuses his eyes on the man who has given him light and a new sense of himself.  And Jesus speaks the whole truth:

He asks “Do you believe in the Son of Man? The man responds “And who is he, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him.”  “You have seen him, Jesus says and the one speaking with you is he.”  The healed man, having discovered who he himself is, “Yes, I am the one”, also sees Jesus and speaks with that same straightforward conviction with which he has spoken all the day:  “Lord, I believe.”

In this story we, in this congregation, are represented not by the Pharisees, not by the by-standers, not by the parents or the Blind Man.   We are the disciples of Jesus in this drama now 2000 years later.    We today are the main characters.  Just as the disciples were following Jesus during his last days, we ourselves are seeking the light of Christ as we make our way through Lent and the mysteries of Jesus death and resurrection.   And the Blind Man is the foil who teaches us about ourselves.  

We disciples are often blind to God’s love.  So disturbing are the troubles in this world that we fail to be thankful for Jesus, the light of this world, a light that will help us in healing these troubles.   But the man born blind will not let the worldly ruling powers distract him from the truth.   Let’s ask for the same kind of amazement and integrity that guides this new person, once blind, to look closely at his healer and say simply, “Lord, I believe.”