6th Week OT (W)
At first go, Jesus fails to heal the blind man fully. It's an easy-to-miss moment. It takes a second attempt to get the healing right. What's happening here? Is Jesus running out of juice? Was he distracted? Most ancient commentators read this story as a symbol for “gradual enlightenment”; that is, a symbolic story pointing to Jesus' bit-by-bit revelation of his mission and ministry to the public. In the same way that the blind man's healing doesn't happen all at once, Jesus' self-revelation as the Messiah doesn't happen all at once. Fair enough. But I'd wager that there's another reason for the failed first attempt at a cure. The blind man isn't fully prepared to be healed. Notice that the blind man is brought to Jesus by his neighbors. He doesn't approach Jesus himself. Notice too that it's the man's neighbors who ask for healing. Not the man himself. If he's been blind since birth, he knows no other way of being. He's more than just used to being blind. Being blind is who he is. Being cured will not only allow him to see, it will radically change who he is. It's possible that Jesus' first attempt at the cure fails b/c the poor man is scared to death of being able to see. Who will he be if he can see?
Read this way, the story is symbolic of our reluctance to let go of our darkness and embrace the light. What if I like my darkness? What if I AM my darkness? It's familiar and comfortable. I know how to navigate in the shadows. Allowing Christ to heal me fully means that everything changes! It could mean losing friends, alienating family, changing jobs. It could mean a shift in my politics or the way I do business. Being healed in Christ Jesus obligates me in ways I can't even begin to imagine right now. And then there's the whole Church Thing – going to Mass, going to confession, being a volunteer, donating money. Yeah, so, the first try doesn't take. We see indistinctly. Better but still blurred. What becomes clear – between the first and second try – is that we cannot remain in darkness when the light is our calling. When being free from sin and death is how we were made to be. Sin and death are unnatural. Not according to our nature. The comfort we feel in darkness isn't comfort. It's just familiarity. We've gotten used to it. Now we are being dared to receive Christ's healing and live in the light. What familiar darkness is holding you prisoner? What's making you blind?
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