The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. John. (9:1-38)
We are told that as Jesus was passing by He encountered a man who was blind. Some of the Church Fathers tell us that this man was unlike some of the other blind men that Our Lord had encountered because he did not have eyeballs, only empty sockets. Now as the Lord and His disciples encountered this man the disciples asked a very interesting question: “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
That is a really profound question. The disciples felt at home asking these types of questions of the Lord Jesus, they had travelled with Him for a long time and they felt that when they were with Him, He was always unlocking the mysteries of life and God’s kingdom for them. So this was a good questions because it was conceived through their Jewish, old covenant understanding of life. They were under the impression that sin had caused these issues, that it was something like a curse from God.
What do we think about when bad things happen to us, or around us? Or when we hear a story about something bad happening to someone? Might we think that it was a punishment from God? Often when there is a natural disaster, people will blame God. It is interesting that at times the saints and Church Fathers will claim that a certain calamity was caused by God. St. John Chrysostom said exactly that after a great earthquake hit Constantinople. But St. John was a prophetic and powerful saint who spoke from a place of true, authentic spiritual knowledge gained through years of asceticism and spiritual struggle in the monastic life.
What would we think for instance if a man was building a church and he was up fixing the roof and then the roof collapsed and he died? Might we be inclined to think that God was punishing the man? Yet, the Holy Church, our mother, teaches us otherwise. Let us take for instance, the example of St. Athanasius of Mt. Athos. He was the founder of the Great Lavra.
While undertaking their church construction project, we are told that “foreseeing the time of his departure to the Lord, (he) prophesied about his impending end and besought the brethren not to be troubled over what he foresaw. “For Wisdom disposes otherwise than as people judge.” The brethren were perplexed and pondered the words of the saint.”
“After giving the brethren his final guidance and comforting all, the saint went to his cell to pray and emerged after prolonged prayer. Alert and joyful, the holy abbot went up with six of the brethren to the top of the church to inspect the construction. Suddenly, through the imperceptible will of God, the top of the church collapsed. Five of the brethren immediately gave up their souls to God. All who were nearby heard the saint call out to the Lord, “Glory to Thee, O God! Lord, Jesus Christ, help me!” before finding him dead a few moments later.
From the outside, we say it’s a tragedy, but we might also say, God punished him because he didn’t want the church built. We might say the same when we see a church catch on fire. But sometimes bad things are permitted because the end result will glorify God and be a cause for the salvation of everyone around. We see this clearly in the lives of the martyrs and we see it clearly in this gospel passage. Our Lord Jesus Christ invites the disciples into His world, into the mysteries of the kingdom. He tells them that it wasn’t a punishment for this man or for something that his parents had done, rather, it was “that the works of God might be made manifest in Him.”
It is a refreshing way to see our difficulties and trials in life. They are sometimes permitted so that we might grow in our prayer and reliance on God. They are sometimes permitted because they lead to the perfection of our souls. They are sometimes allowed because if we had not received them, we might not come to an authentic relationship with God and therefore we might not be healed and saved. They are, according to Our Lord Jesus Christ, allowed “that the works of God might be made manifest in us.” So there is a proper way to deal with our difficulties. Some difficulties might be caused by us, by our choices by our negligence, but other things are out of our control. They are permitted to help us become radiant children of God. They are allowed because through them others will say “look at how God loves us and works in our lives, praise be to God!”
While I am telling you this I am also aware that this will be a foreign concept for many of you. We are faced with this dichotomy in today’s reading. Sometimes we have eyes, but we don’t see clearly, we don’t see the reality of things. We can have physical sight but lack spiritual vision. The opposite can also be true. We might see things around us but we completely misunderstand them. As St. Athanasius said earlier, “For wisdom disposes otherwise than people judge.”
We have a clash of worldviews in this gospel reading. We have a clash of sight versus blindness. It is really a clash of faith versus unbelief. Sadly, it is often those who claim the most faith, who are the most in blindness because they fall into the trap that the Pharisees fell into. They put limits on what God can do and they have a very narrow understanding of what is possible with God. In fact if we are honest. We often fall into this trap. I do. Perhaps you do also. May God protect us from falling into this trap!
What are some remedies to this possible way of thinking? Here are a few: We study the Scriptures. We see miracles everywhere when we read the Holy Bible. We also see miracles everywhere when we read the lives of the saints. These stories open us up to what God can do in our lives even in the midst of trials and great tribulations. We have another very powerful tool at our disposal. We can bring to mind all of the many blessings which God has poured out on us. We can recall all of the times that things were going badly with us and then the Lord provided a resolution for us and took care of us. Sometimes we even have to recall when we went through great suffering and tragedies but God never left us. When we do this often, we will be free of blindness. We will see things as they are, ordered by God for each of us and for our salvation. We will see that God is indeed the center of the Universe and that if we are paying just a little attention we will see His merciful hand in everything regarding our lives, to Him alone be glory, honor and worship AMEN.
Source: Sermons