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Learning to See
Sermon for the Fourth Sunday in Lent
Gospel of John 9:1-41
“I am the light of the world.”
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Lent is the season for honesty. It is the season when the Church slows down long enough to let God examine our hearts. We confess what we have done and what we have left undone. We name our sins. We name our blindness. And yet today, in the middle of Lent, the Church speaks of light. Not because we are finishing repenting. Not because everything is resolved. But because the “light of the world” is already breaking in. All the readings for today ask one question: How do we see? How Do I See
In the Old Testament, the prophet Samuel is grieving over Saul’s failure as the king of Israel. The future feels uncertain. We can all relate to the uncertainty about the future of our nation, communities, and church. In the midst of the pain and the fear of not knowing what is going to happen next for the people of Israel God sends him to Bethlehem to anoint a new king. Jesse presents his sons — strong, capable, impressive. Samuel assumes the tallest and the strongest must be the one. But God interrupts him: “The LORD does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.” David is not even in the room. He is out in the field tending the sheep. Overlooked, forgotten, and yet he is chosen. Already, this reading is exposing my own assumptions about how I see things. And Hope has done the same for you. We live in a culture that surely knows how to measure worth by achievement, stability, and influence. We know how to recognize success. We think we know how to identify the “right” candidate for the job.
But God sees differently. And Lent is helping us to examine ourselves and ask. Where have I been looking only at appearances? Whom have I failed to see? Paul, in the letter to the Ephesians, reassures us, “Once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Live as children of light.” Notice the boldness of that claim. Not “you are trying to become light.” Not “you are searching for light.” You are light. At our baptism, we renounce “the evil powers of this world which corrupt and destroy the creatures of God.” We renounce the blindness that distorts our vision. Our Identity comes first as beloved Children of God, and because we belong to Christ, we are called to live as children of light. Paul tells us that light exposes our brokenness and our blindness Now that the world can make us nervous. But the exposure in the scripture is not humiliation. It is healing. We cannot repair what we refuse to see. We cannot reconcile what we will not acknowledge. Lent reminds us to allow God to examine us and help acknowledge our moral and spiritual blindness.
In the Gospel of John, we meet a man born blind. The disciples immediately ask. Who sinned? The disciples, operating under the assumption expressed in Exodus that “the sins of the parents are visited upon the children”. The disciples wanted a simple answer; they needed someone to blame. Jesus tells the disciples, “Neither this man nor his parent sinned.” The man is blind so that God’s glory can be revealed”. Jesus refuses this theology of suffering as a punishment Suffering is not always punishment. It is not always someone’s fault. Sometimes suffering is not the result of wrongdoing. Sometimes suffering can become the place where God’s grace is revealed.
I can relate to how painful it can be to think that our own suffering happens because we did something wrong. And how relieved I am that Jesus said “Neither.” I remember how difficult it was for my family when our son began struggling academically from the time, he began preschool. Eventually, we learned that our son’s developmental disability became the reason that we began to see the educational world differently. It was a very painful reality to understand that my child’s developmental disability would be the reason that I would learn about the importance of making all children feel included. If I wanted to help my son, I needed to learn how to advocate for inclusive learning opportunities for my child, and while I was doing that, I began helping other parents to do the same. Navigate the Committee on Special Education. I realized that, because of my own difficult experience in finding supportive communities, I needed to ask our church to be more welcoming and understanding of families with children with special needs. I became even more compassionate toward mothers struggling to find communities that would support them in their journey to advocate for their children’s needs.
As the story continues, Jesus says, “I am the light of the world.” And Jesus heals the man. Although what unfolds next is not just a healing story — it is a story about interrogation and sight. The man gradually comes to see more clearly who Jesus is. This man recognizes who Jesus is when the Pharisees question him about his healing. First, “the man called Jesus.” Later, he said, “He is a prophet.” Then he declares, “If this man were not from God. How will he perform my healing? and finally, when he encounters Jesus again, “Lord, I believe.” The religious authorities could not recognize the power of the blind man’s confession because they were too focused on maintaining their religious tradition. For them, the only thing that mattered was that Jesus had violated the Sabbath by working a miracle of healing. The only people who insist they see clearly… are the ones who remain blind.
And Jesus says something sobering: “If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.” The danger is not blindness. The danger is thinking we have nothing left to learn. Lent is not about shaming us. It is about awakening us. It is about allowing Christ to open the blindness of our souls. Langston Hughes writes a poem about Helen Keller She, in the dark, found light Brighter than many ever see. She, within herself, found loveliness,
As we are preparing to come to our communion Table, perhaps the most faithful prayer we can Pray is this: Lord, help me see as you see. Lord, help me see my neighbor as you see them Lord, help me see the suffering of this world as you do. Lord, expose the way I have been blind Lord, expose the places where I have preferred comfort over courage. Because it is in the communion Table, where Christ gives Himself to us. The Light of the world places Himself into our hands. Reminding us of our baptismal Identity of who we already are. And as we come forward today, into our communion table May we come not as people who already see clearly — But as people who are willing to learn how to see. And in the seeing shine.
Amen.
