When The Man Called Jesus Remembers You...

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CssR

Homily for the Fourth Sunday of Lent, Year A

St. Gerard Majella Church, Baton Rouge, LA

Sunday, March 30, 2014

In today’s Gospel, Jesus continues his assault on human laws that make no sense. As Jesus and disciples were passing by, they met a man blind from birth. As soon as they saw him, his disciples were ready to pronounce a judgment of condemnation on him or his parents: “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” With this question, they demonstrated a lack of knowledge and insight to the whyness of human suffering. Like every other Jew of Jesus’ time, they also believed that any form of human suffering is as a result of sin. That poverty, sickness, leprosy, blindness and other human tragedies are consequences of sin. Now, Jesus’ answer by and large, answers the question of human suffering: “Neither he nor his parents sinned; it is so that the works of God might be made visible through him.”

After that, Jesus spat on the ground, made clay with his spittle, rubbed it on the man’s eyes and said to him, “Go wash in the Pool of Siloam.” As soon as the blind man did what Jesus asked him to do, his sight was restored. The once physically blind man was physically able to see. But it wasn’t only his physical blindness that was cured, his spiritual blindness was equally restored. In the debate that ensued after his cure, he demonstrated that it was not only his physical blindness that was cured, but also his spiritual one. When the Pharisees denounced Jesus’ action (because he performed a good act on a Sabbath Day) and proudly declared that “this man (Jesus) is not from God… He is a sinner,” the man born blind, unlike his parents, fearlessly declared “He is a prophet.” Later he asserted,  “This is what is so amazing, that you do not know here is from, yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if one is devout and does his will, he listens to him. It is unheard of that anyone ever opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, he would not be able to do anything.”  But before this debate ensued, people had asked the man born blind who opened his sight: “How were your eyes opened?” With courage and happiness, he replied them saying, “The man called Jesus…” made me see. 

Sisters and brothers, the Man called Jesus gave sight to a man born blind on the Sabbath day. He refused to keep the letters of the law of the Sabbath that forbids doing anything on the Sabbath day. He refused to continue to let a child of God suffer much longer just to abide by the letters of the law of the Sabbath. Because he assaulted a law that violated the higher command of love, compassion and mercy, the Pharisees concluded that he was a sinner and therefore not from God. But keeping the Sabbath Day holy actually means doing those things that God expects us to do at all times. The Sabbath Day is a special day of worship. It is not a day of doing nothing, but a day of being godly just like other days of the week. Just because Jesus demonstrated God’s love to a needy man who has never seen the face of his father and mother, never seen how he looks like, never seen how the world looks like, never appreciated beauty before, and never seen the light of the day, the Pharisees instantly condemned him and tagged him a renegade. But the man born blind is still a child of God. When God remembered him, and decided to take away his suffering, those around complained. They called him a sinner from birth, and also called God a sinner. 

Is that not what happens in our community, in our society, and even in our families?When the Man called Jesus remembers you, when he decides to promote you to a whole new level, those around will start complaining, some would become jealous and play down your blessings. When the Man called Jesus picks a child born in abject poverty and unimaginably blesses him with wealth, enemies of progress will call it “ill-gotten wealth.” When the Man called Jesus decides to take away your shame, some prisoners of the past will still call you shameless. When the Man called Jesus turns your night into day, turns your tears into laughter, some would still say you are in self-denial of your problems. When the Man called Jesus, the greatest Physician of all remembers you and decides to bring you healing, some folks will refuse to acknowledge your healing. They will think you are insane. When the Man called Jesus takes away your timidity and low self-esteem, some say you are being proud and arrogant. When the Man called Jesus puts songs of praise on your lips and you burst out singing and praising him, some naysayers will think you are noisy and out of your mind. But they will not remember the many years you were suffering, the time you had no job, the time you had to work three jobs just to get ahead. They will not remember the time you were sick, down, heartbroken, depressed, financially broken, sinfully ravaged etc. But when God remembers you, forgives you, heals you, takes away your shame, gives you a good job, haters of progress will start complaining. They will start wagging their tongues and accusing you of all sorts of things. “He is sinner; she is a sinner and therefore cannot possibly be blessed by God.”

Till today, a lot of people view suffering as God’s punishment on the sufferer. If someone is poor, they conclude he or she must have been lazy. If someone is in a perpetual state of material and financial brokenness, it must be his or her fault. If a man has lost his job, he is the cause. If a woman has not experienced the joy of motherhood, they conclude she committed several abortions when she was single, and now God is punishing her. Some even call her a witch! When there is earthquake or a tsunami in some parts of the world, some say that God is punishing them for their moral failure. Every human tragedy is hastily seen as God’s punishment on those who are suffering.

But in today’s Gospel from John 9:1-41, Jesus gives us a different perspective of looking at human suffering. He tells us that human suffering is not always as a result of human sinfulness. Those who suffer are not always being punished by God. Like the case of the man born blind, his condition made it possible for the work of God to be made visible. Jesus tells us that neither the man nor his parents had sinned. It’s nobody’s fault. God didn’t make the man blind as a punishment. Rather, the blind man has come to us so that we can be made to see. His blindness would lead to the restoration of our sight. The blindness of ignorance would be removed so we can see that not all who suffer are being punished. By restoring the sight of the blind man, Jesus opens our eyes and teaches us what we should do when we are confronted by human suffering. Although suffering can be redemptive; although suffering can bring about the manifestation of the glory of God, but the glory of God can only be manifested when we like Jesus decide to act out of compassion.

In his Apostolic Letter titled, “On Human Suffering”, Blessed Pope John Paul II used the parable of the Good Samaritan to teach us what we should do when we meet those who suffer. The Holy Father stresses that even though suffering can bring about healing and salvation through suffering, we should not fold our arms or become passive in suffering. We must do all we can to reduce suffering which is in keeping with the mission of the man called Jesus: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” The Gospel,  according to Pope John Paul II, is “the negation of passivity in the face of suffering. Christ himself is especially active in this field” when he went about doing good, healing and curing all those who were sick. The world of human suffering calls unceasingly another world, the world of human love.

For John Paul II, “We are not allowed to ‘pass by on the other side’ indifferently; we must ‘stop’ beside the sufferer. Our common origin, the relationship we share must compel us to stop beside those who suffer. Our common humanity must drive us to stop by the side of the one who mostly needs our help, just what the Good Samaritan did. Anyone who stops besides the sufferer, whatever form it may take, according to John Paul II, is a Good Samaritan. The stop beside the sufferer, explains John Paul II is not for curiosity sake but to be available. It must be a ‘stop’ out of compassion. It must be a profound compassion strong enough to inspire action of bringing help and relief to the sufferer. It is not enough to feel pity and sorry for those who suffer. The pity must drive us into action.

When the man called Jesus saw the man born blind, he did not simply feel sorry for him. He did not tell him, “Oh Sorry! Today is Sabbath, I cannot do anything today. I will attend to you another time.” He disregarded a blind observance of the law in order to regard a child of God as a child of God. After all, what is obedience of human law compared to the life of a human being? What is Sabbath compared to the life of God’s child? 

When the man called Jesus remembers you, he will do anything possible to turn your life around and change your situation. The man called Jesus does not take permission from anybody when he wants to bless you. He does not comply to the standard of this world when he wants to bless you. And when the man called Jesus remembers you, and blesses you, no one can curse you.