Worse Than Being Blind?

< Fourth Sunday of Lent >

In today’s gospel we hear the story of a man born blind. Jesus cures him on the Sabbath, giving him the gift of sight, so naturally Jesus’ enemies find something to complain about. They actually criticize Jesus for working on Saturday. How pathetic is that? Instead of praising God for a wonderful miracle, the religious leaders tried to discredit Jesus because he broke the commandment against working on the Sabbath. Blindness is certainly a big handicap in life. But this story illustrates there is something actually worse than physical blindness. If you, God forbid, lose your eyesight later in life, due to disease, accident or violence, that’s a pity. But at least you have the memory of your mother’s face, or a beautiful sunset, or spring flowers. But if you were born blind, you literally don’t know what you are missing. Imagine this man being healed, regaining his sight, and the very first thing he sees is Jesus’ face! But the religious leaders were more pitiful. They had the gift of sight but did not know what or who they are looking at.

I often tell the story of Donna Winkie who was a Maryknoll lay missioner in Korea. She taught English at Sogang University. And she was blind. But that didn’t stop her. She rode the Seoul city bus to Sogang, walked up to her office, and taught English to college students. One day after class, Donna prepared for the next day’s lesson in Braille, the special text blind people use to read with their fingertips. Unbeknownst to her, the cleaning lady had entered the classroom and was watching Donna “read”. She gasped, “You’re blind!” Donna replied, “Yes, I know!” Then the cleaning woman said. “My son is blind. I never realized blind people could do anything.” On that day, that cleaning lady’s eyes were opened. Donna had cured the cleaning lady’s social blindness. What about us? What areas of our life or world are we blind to? Let Jesus touch our eyes that we might see him in unexpected places, and give glory to God.

배종섭 신부님 말씀