Born Blind

Allowing Jesus to heal our inner blindness

John 9: 35-41

When Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, he found him and said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” He answered and said, “Who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, the one speaking with you is he.” He said, “I do believe, Lord,” and he worshiped him. Then Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment,  so that those who do not see might see,  and those who do see might become blind.” Some of the Pharisees who were with him heard this  and said to him, “Surely we are not also blind, are we?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin;  but now you are saying, ‘We see,’ so your sin remains.

Many years ago in Nepal two Buddhist monks were walking along a country path.  They came upon a finely dressed woman at the edge of a river unable to cross.  She was loud and obnoxious, complaining excessively about the raging river and the lack of a bridge right where she was standing.  The older of the two monks approached the lady and offered to carry her across the river on his back.  She agreed, but not very happily, grumbling that her clothes would get wet.  The older monk set her safely down on the other side, and the lady left in a huff, without a word of thanks.  The two monks resumed their journey.  After an hour of walking in silence, the younger monk finally burst out: “Why did you help that grumpy and garrulous old woman?  She was so self-centered and annoying.  She didn’t even say thanks!”  The older monk replied, “I put her down by the river an hour ago.  Why are you still carrying her?”  The younger monk had figuratively carrying the woman much farther than the older monk.  He could see the faults in the old woman but he was blind to his own bitterness, resentment and anger.  Someone asked Helen Keller once if there was anything worse than being born blind.  She answered, “Having sight but without vision.”  That’s what the younger monk suffered: having sight but without vision, he was without a penetrating perception into himself.

In the gospel today Jesus wants to help people have both sight and vision, and especially the vision of faith.  You see, faith is a kind of “double vision” that allows us not only to understand who God is, but also to see ourselves better.  John Paul II frequently said Jesus came not only to reveal the mystery of who God is, but also the mystery of who man and woman are.  Jesus cured the blind man and gave him faith, and that’s why the blind man worshiped Jesus.  With the eyes of faith he could see that Jesus was not only a man but also God.  Jesus wanted to give the Pharisees the gift of faith, too, because they suffered from an inner blindness.  They knew plenty about God but they woefully lacked self-awareness, especially their sins.  Like the older monk helped the younger monk to see his blindness, so Jesus tried to help the Pharisees, but they refused.  Therefore, Jesus sadly declares, “I came into this world for judgment, so that those who do not see might see, and those who do see might become blind.”  The “double vision” of faith helps us see that Jesus is the light of the world, but also that everyone is born blind.

Here’s a little joke to lighten things up a bit.  Several years ago, an Irish priest was driving from Connecticut to New York and was stopped by a state trooper for speeding.  The state trooper smelled alcohol on the priest’s breath and saw an empty wine bottle on the floor of the car.  He asked, “Sir, have you been drinking?”  The priest replied, “No, I haven’t lad, I’ve just been sipping plain water.”  The trooper asked again, “Then why do I smell wine?”  The priest looked at the bottle and exclaimed, “Glory be to God!  He’s done it again!”  Now, for the record, that priest was not me!  The state trooper could see the priest’s sins, but the priest couldn’t.

My friends, let me ask you a tough question: do you have sight but lack vision, especially the vision of faith?  You see, our faith helps us know God, and we do know a lot about him.   But faith also should help us to know ourselves.  But do we?  How easily we see other people’s sins and vices, their faults and failures, yet remain ignorant about our own.  Archbishop Fulton Sheen jokingly said: “It used to be that only Catholics believed in the Immaculate Conception.  Now, EVERYONE believes that he is “immaculately conceived”!  Our own sins and vices are like halitosis – bad breath – everyone else can smell our bad breath, but we think our breath smells like roses.  It never fails when a couple comes to see me for marriage counseling: each person can see so clearly and obviously the faults of the other, but have hardly any awareness of their own weakness and flaws.  Once I gently pointed out to someone, “You have some areas you could work on.”  He said, “No I don’t.”  I suggested that he was denying his issues.  He fired back, “No, I’m not.”  I said, “Dude, you just denied your denial.”  He insisted, “No I didn’t.”  I said, “Okay.  I guess we’re done here.”  Trying to see our own sins is like a dog trying to catch its own tail: we run in circles, and no matter how fast we run, we can’t quite grab it.

I am convinced this is why more Catholics don’t go to confession.  It’s because we can’t see our own sins; and because we can’t see our sins, we think we don’t have any.  If you seriously want to know your own sins and failings, here’s a fool-proof way to find them.  Turn to your wife and say, “Honey, I honestly cannot think of anything I do wrong that I need to confess.  I really can’t.  If you could make a list of my sins – which I’m sure would be very short and very sweet because of course there’s really aren’t any – I’ll be happy to confess them.”  What do you think would happen?  You’d have the happiest wife in the world!  Wives should say that to their husbands.  Children should say that to their parents and parents should say that to their children.  Priests should say that to their secretaries!  I’ve been telling Fr. Andrew he needs to do that ever since I arrived here!  How easily other people can see we are jealous and lazy, we are gossips and greedy, we are vain and self-righteous, we are arrogant and condescending.  If people prepared lists of sins for each other, our Saturday confession lines would stretch all the way down Garrison Avenue!  But like that young monk, we’d rather talk about the angry and acerbic old lady at the river bank than look at our own flaws and failures.

Is there anything worse than being born blind?  Yes, there is: to have sight but no vision; the “double vision” of faith not only helps us to see who God is, but also to see who we are.  And that faith opens us our eyes to see one simple fact: we are all born blind.

            Praised be Jesus Christ!