The Fourth Sunday of Lent 1 Samuel 16:1, 6-7 & 10-13; Ephesians 5:8-14; John 19:1-41

St John's prolonged account of the healing of the man born blind is a meditation on Christ as the Light of the world. "As long as I am in the World, I am the light of the World." The Scriptures for this Sunday draw us to Christ, the Light of the World.
In the spirit of Lent we are invited to acknowledge the blindness, the inner darkness, that so perfectly describes the consequence of sin in our lives. We acknowledge the darkness that struggles to hold on to belief, that has little to hope for, that has lost all sense of love. This is the worst kind of blindness. Sometimes such blindness is the consequence of our own, sometimes it comes uninvited, the darkness of a broken world.
The Gospel healing of the man born blind becomes a reflection on the nature of sinful blindness.
As we see sight restored to the blind man, we become aware, through the characters filling the narrative, of our own deeper blindness, our dwn need for the light.
The Pharisees. and those who surrounded them, were blind to the healing presence of Christ. Their self-righteous judgment could see no further than their imagined self-importance. "This man cannot be from God: he does not keep the Sabbath." This seeming zeal for the law disguised a deeper blindness. The Pharisees were threatened by anything that seemed to shine brighter than themselves. When we acknowledge our own hurt pride we will frequently detect a similar blindness and pettiness in our dealings
with those around us. When we remain locked into our own pride we are blind to everything else. When we begin to see as God sees, we cease to judge so readily. We begin to acknowledge the reflection of his light in all we meet. The eyes of the blind man were truly opened when he acknowledged Christ.
"Jesus said to him: 'Do you believe in the Son of Man?' The man said: 'Sir, tell me who he is.' Jesus said: 'You are looking at him; he is speaking to you.' The man said: 'Lord. I believe', and worshipped him."
During Lent we turn away from the darkness that sin has created in our lives. We embrace Christ and allow him to be our Light.
St Paul describes the change that takes place in those who turn to Christ. "You were darkness once. but now you are light in the Lord; be like children of light, for the effects of light are seen in complete goodness and right living and the truth."
These familiar words state a truth so often overlooked. We are frequently overwhelmed by the darkness we discover within ourseives, the darkness of a sinful world. We sometimes act as if we alone must banish the darkness, must struggle to become the light. In Christ that struggle is lifted from us. Christ himself is the Light that we cannot find within ourselves. In him we have the Light of life.
Christ invites us to be the light of hope in a darkened world. He invites us to be the light of love in a lonely world. He invites us to be the light of faith for those . who can believe in nothing. When we surrender our darkness to Christ, we become all these things.