Week 20 of the Church year
വലിയ നോമ്പിലെ ആറാം ഞായർ
Jesus heals a man who has never seen. Everyone around him argues about how it happened and who is to blame. The man himself sticks to one thing he knows.
Jesus makes mud, puts it on a blind man’s eyes and sends him to wash in the pool of Siloam. He comes back seeing. Neighbours, Pharisees and even his parents argue about it. He is thrown out of the synagogue, and Jesus finds him.
On the sixth Sunday of Lent all three Gospels are about blind men receiving sight. The Church also keeps this Sunday as Catholicate Day.
The man did not have all the answers. He held on to one thing: I was blind, and now I see.
ഈ ഞായറാഴ്ചയുടെ വായനകൾ
Blind Bartimaeus shouts “Son of David, have mercy on me!” and receives his sight.
Two blind men follow Jesus: “Do you believe I can do this?”
Honest weights and measures, and the first fruits brought to God.
Job repents in dust and ashes and prays for his friends; God restores him.
Return to me; bring the whole tithe and see if I will not open heaven’s windows.
Do not be surprised at the fiery trial; share in Christ’s sufferings.
God loves a cheerful giver.
Jesus heals a man born blind: “I was blind, and now I see.” This is the Gospel of the day.
Open in five scenesDeuteronomy asks for honest weights and the first fruits of the harvest, and Malachi says bring the whole tithe. Job is restored after his trials. Corinthians praises a cheerful giver, and Ephesians says: wake up, and Christ will shine on you.
References follow the official lectionary of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church. Your parish may read them in a different order.
Pick a scene to see what happens in it and what is easy to miss.
The disciples ask whose sin made the man blind. Neither, says Jesus; this is so God’s works can be seen. He spits, makes mud, puts it on the man’s eyes and tells him to wash in the pool of Siloam. He comes back seeing.
John notes that Siloam means “Sent”. Jesus, the one sent by the Father, sends the man to the pool called Sent.
The neighbours cannot agree if it is him. The Pharisees question him: Jesus made mud on the Sabbath, so he cannot be from God. Others ask how a sinner could do such signs. The man says: he is a prophet.
Each time he is asked, the man’s view of Jesus grows: “the man called Jesus”, then “a prophet”.
The authorities call his parents. They confirm he was born blind but will not say how he sees. Ask him, they say, he is old enough. They are afraid of being put out of the synagogue.
His own parents step back from him. The healed man is left to stand alone.
Questioned again, he says: I do not know if he is a sinner. One thing I know: I was blind, and now I see. He asks if they want to become his disciples too, and they throw him out.
The man who has never been taught teaches the teachers: if this man were not from God, he could do nothing.
Jesus hears he has been thrown out and finds him. Do you believe in the Son of Man? Lord, I believe, he says, and worships him. Jesus says he came so the blind might see and those who claim to see might become blind.
The man who first saw Jesus as “a man” and then “a prophet” ends by worshipping him. His sight grows in two ways.
The verse to keep
“അതിന്നു അവൻ: അവൻ പാപിയോ അല്ലയോ എന്നു ഞാൻ അറിയുന്നില്ല; ഒന്നു അറിയുന്നു; ഞാൻ കുരുടനായിരുന്നു, ഇപ്പോൾ കണ്ണു കാണുന്നു എന്നു ഉത്തരം പറഞ്ഞു.”He therefore answered, “I don’t know if he is a sinner. One thing I do know: that though I was blind, now I see.”
The man born blindകുരുടനായി ജനിച്ചവൻ
A beggar in Jerusalem who has never seen. He is healed and then thrown out of the synagogue.
“—”
His parentsഅവന്റെ അമ്മയപ്പന്മാർ
They confirm he was born blind but are too afraid to say more.
“—”
The Phariseesപരീശന്മാർ
Religious leaders who question him and argue among themselves.
Probably “the separated ones”
ഒന്നു ഞാൻ അറിയുന്നു
John 9 is a long chapter, and most of it is not about the healing. It is about what happens afterwards. The neighbours argue, the Pharisees interrogate, the parents back away. Everyone has a theory about Jesus. The man who was healed has only his experience.
He does not pretend to know more than he does. Asked if Jesus is a sinner, he says he does not know. What he knows is simple and cannot be taken away: I was blind, and now I see. Under pressure, his faith gets clearer, not weaker. He is thrown out for it, and Jesus comes looking for him.
We do not need to win every argument about faith. We do need to be honest about what God has done for us. A young person asked hard questions at college, or an adult mocked at work, can still say: this is what I know. That kind of witness is quiet, but it is very hard to argue with.
കുടുംബമായി സംസാരിക്കാം
What is one thing you know God has done for you, even if you cannot explain it all?
Two minutes after the audio. Everyone gets a turn, and nobody is interrupted.Tell one person this week a short story of something God has done in your life.
Lord Jesus, light of the world, you gave sight to the man born blind. Open the eyes of our hearts, give us courage to speak of what you have done, and come and find us when we are left alone. Amen.
The whole year
Every Sunday of the Church year, season by season: readings, the Gospel and a question for the family.
Sunday 6 of 7 in Great Lent