Lent 4, 2026

 

When I was at Holden Village I took a little class about how the eye sees color. We have cones in our eyes that detect red, green, or blue light waves that come into our eyes. In the class we learned that humans developed the green and red rods and cones first. The green was to detect green leaves, which tells us an environment is able to support life because there is plentiful water to keep plants green, there will be enough water for people to live there. We developed red receptor cones to be able to see fruits that would be delicious and I was quick to come to the conclusion that we needed red cones early on so we could see if we were bleeding. The last to develop was the blue receptors. Blue is not a color that shows up in early writings. The sky was described as white or yellow. People didn’t see blue very often. But over time these receptors have developed, helping us see some of the most beautiful colors of all.

I wonder about the receptor cells of our hearts and what we can see and what we are still developing the ability to see. In our Gospel story today we meet a man born blind that gets everyone thinking about what they see and what they don’t and how they might see more clearly. Although this man is blind, we find the people around him are perhaps even more blind, not seeing what is right in front of their faces, the Messiah, and not choosing to see or celebrate a miracle in their midst.

This story first highlights how we see people with disabilities or different abilities. For a long time in the story no one even talks to him. They talk about him and around him. Jesus doesn’t ask his name and we never find it out. When people finally do talk to him, they don’t trust what he says and they only hear what they want to hear.

We find the man to be so much more than his limitations. He isn’t just a blind man, he has power. The man has power to listen to Jesus. He has power to call upon friends or family to guide him to the pool of Siloam. The man has the power to speak for himself, even if no one chooses to listen. The man has the power to be a disciple of Jesus and he is one even before he is healed of his physical limitation.

The ones who were supposedly in power, the religious authorities also have power but they are not choosing to use it the way this man uses it. Maybe they take their power for granted. Or maybe they are immobilized or limited or blinded by their own expectations or their own fears. I’d like to think there was hope for the religious authorities, since I can sometimes be categorized as one. That a man born blind could be cured of blindness is hope for religious authorities but the fact that he was healed before they were makes me stop and wonder how I need to be healed from my own limitations. The religious authorities were probably not motivated by malice. I may be biased but I think they thought they were trying to help. What we don’t see here is the potential for there to be trouble because of this healing. The religious authorities know that if healing and liberation is taking place, it might get the attention of the Romans who are likely to bring their power to try to take away the hope of ordinary small people whose lives Jesus is changing. If the Romans think the people are starting to be hopeful and they might rise up against their power, they are probably going to make a move to take away that power and put the Judeans back in their place. So the religious authorities try to minimize or hide or discredit Jesus and his healing power. They will make their own move to have him arrested and hand him over in order to save the rest of the people from being attacked by Rome. So the religious authorities become another part of the machine of oppression of the Roman government. So I have to look at my own responses to people when they experience liberation and freedom. In what ways do I cast doubt on the liberating, healing power of Christ so as not to make waves?

The truth is that we all have limitations. Even Jesus took on limitations. I’m so glad I have access to contact lenses and eye surgery which 10 years ago saved me from a tear in my retina that had it happened at an earlier time in history even by 20 years would have left me blind in one eye. To have access to laser eye surgery is such a privilege that I have access to because of when and where I am born and that I had money and transportation and insurance and eye surgeons available. We all have limitations whether it is with our eyes or some other parts of our bodies, our age, our perception, our income and so much more.

Having limits is what it means to be human. But our limitations don’t have to define us. We are so much more than what we lack. God has not defined us by what we lack, but met our limitations with grace and love and given us so many gifts so that we can be in relationship with God and each other and this earth. Furthermore, our limitations can be good teachers. Having limitations keeps us humble, keeps us living together in community, helps us laugh at ourselves and not worship ourselves. Having limitations means needing each other and needing God. This man born blind only highlights the limitations we all have but forget about, that we take for granted.

I deal with my own limitations all the time. I also have the privilege of walking with you in your limitations. Our bodies change. Our brains change. Our families change. We grieve, we hurt, we help each other find healing, and we learn to say goodbye. So I see in you limitations that are beautiful and you are training me for the day I will retire or give up driving or say goodbye to dear ones. Facing limitations is something we practice all the time.

Sometimes we can be limited in how much good news we are willing to accept, which is a sad kind of limitation. For the religious authorities to have such low expectations of God, says a lot about where their focus is. Maybe we get jaded after seeing so much pain. I hope that we can never be too beat down to celebrate someone’s good fortune, someone’s healing, someone’s second chance, someone’s new life. Here in the Gospel a miracle is taking place which signifies the power of God for healing not only physical ailments but spiritual ones, ones of hopelessness and suspicion and questioning people’s good news. Will we let Jesus open our eyes or won’t we? Will we let Jesus open the eyes of our hearts to know his forgiveness, love, and grace and share that with others? We don’t have the end of the story. We don’t know what happens to this man. How do you start life over after something like this? And we don’t know what happens to these religious authorities. Jesus seems to be saying that nothing is impossible with God. And we don’t know what happens to all the people who weren’t healed. Did they feel grief and disappointment or did they take their place among all the limited people, including Jesus, and rise again to share the unlimited good news of God’s grace and love.