Seeing Rightly

John 9:1-41

Lent 4, March 15, 2026

Holy Trinity Cathedral

“Seeing Rightly”

Have you noticed that the gospel readings are getting longer as we move through the season of Lent? Part of the reason is that we can’t stop at telling half a story.  John chapter 9 is a good example: we need to hear the entire episode of Jesus’ healing the man born blind to make sense of it all. For this is a story not so much about physical healing as it is about seeing rightly.

Preachers have to handle this carefully and sensitively. I know there are people in every community, both in Jesus’ time and now, that have chronic issues or traumatic injuries to their eyes.  So right away, I want to say that what happens to the man in this narrative is not a matter of sin or even of faith.  You have not done something bad to be blind, and you are not going to regain your eyesight if you just pray hard enough.  Jesus dismisses these interpretations.  To have sight restored is a miracle, sure enough! But the miracle here is just as much for the community as it is for the individual.  The purpose is for people to see God’s glory in action and believe.  “So that God’s works might be revealed” (John 9:3).  Nobody here knows exactly how it happens.

The scriptures record that this man was born blind.  He has never had the opportunity before to experience the world in the way that most of us take for granted.  From birth he has been stigmatized by his difference: by his family, his community, and the religious institution.  His otherness is seen as a disability in a society that prioritizes sight.  But he has found other ways of negotiating life to adulthood.  The other senses of touch, sound, taste, smell are heightened to interpret his surroundings. He does not see Jesus with his eyes, but he hears Our Lord speaking to him.  He feels the touch of his fingers as mud is spread on his face.  He finds his way to the pool of Siloam and senses the cool waters washing his body.  And in a moment, a new dimension opens for him.  Maybe the new input is a bit overwhelming, confusing, even painful in its intensity.  People who have had cataract surgery report a sudden change in colour: the world gets brighter and less yellow in tinge.  It takes getting used to.  The first thing the man wants to see, however, is Jesus, and he sets out to find him again.

In the gospel reading, the man is asked several times to explain what has happened to him. He can’t.  No one can.  But in the process, he testifies to the glory of God and gives credit to Jesus.  “He is a prophet” (John 9:17).  “If this man were not from God, he could do nothing” (John 9:33).  With new eyes, he sees Jesus as the Son of Man; he believes and worships (John 9:35-38). 

Ironically, the religious authorities, who are supposed to holy witnesses to the power of God, are the very ones who dismiss the possibility that a sinful man could have been healed by the Son of Man.  They tell the man who was blind to stop lying and give glory to God instead of crediting this Jesus fellow with either power to forgive or heal.  The man is giving glory to God because he sees God in Jesus.  The Pharisees may have physical sight, but they are limited in their vision because they fail to recognize the power that is at work here.  However some of them, at the end of the passage, do start to question themselves.  They begin to glimpse the light when they take their uncertainty to Jesus and say to him, “Surely we are not blind, are we?”  Jesus responds that “if you were blind, you would not have sin, but now that you say, ‘we see’, your sin remains” (John 9:41). 

Certainty blinds us.  If we think we are right, we leave no room for God’s glory.  If we are sure about how God operates in healing, we are bound to be disappointed.  It is always good to ask God for healing, but dangerous to tell God exactly how we expect that to come about.  The trap is then set to be caught by mistaken ideas of sin and faith.  When the expected cure doesn’t come about, we may think it is because our (or another’s) sin is too big.  Or our (or another’s) faith is too small.  We miss God’s purpose shining through to us in other ways than our preferred outcome.  I’m not saying that we have to be happy about whatever happens, but there is room to look for blessings within any situation.

This week, a friend from out-of-town needed emergency eye surgery and is staying with us post-operation until it is safe to fly home. What has been touching is the support of the small community that fundraised for the travel costs, and is staying in touch through prayer, text, and phone calls.  Whatever the physical result of this medical procedure, there is healing in the knowledge of the love and care that surrounds at this time.  That to me is God’s glory shining through.  One frustrating thing is the instruction that because of the nature of the procedure, our friend has to keep head down to facilitate the healing.  Jokingly we said that humility is a virtue!  But maybe that is good advice for all of us who want to know God’s presence and glory.  We don’t have to use our physical eyes to look up.  We don’t have to rely on ourselves or our understanding of how God operates.  When we hear and feel and respond to the One who loves us, we learn to see rightly.  There is a lot of darkness and blindness in our world today .  Seeing rightly through it all depends not on our eyes but on our heart. Amen.