Do you ever put yourself into the story of the Gospel? Ever wonder what it would have looked like to BE THERE the day that these miracles happened?
It’s no secret that The Chosen is probably my favorite TV show ever. For those who haven’t seen it, it’s a series where they develop some fictional but very believable background stories for the people in the Gospel. For example, y’all remember that Mary Magdalene was a follower of Jesus – we know that from the Bible - and the scriptures tell us that she had had 7 demons cast out from her. From those two facts, they built a beautiful back-story to show what that might have looked like – going back to her childhood, the weaved a story filled with pain and loss and fear and darkness – and the cinematography is brilliant at times – like one time you can kind of tell that the demons are kind of taking over, and as that happens, a door closes blocking the light and she was left in darkness. Hopefully you can see the connection to today’s readings which deal so much with light and darkness. That first episode ends with Jesus liberating her simply by calling her name… you might say, he restored her true identity. Well – I’m skipping a bunch of details – but she met a guy who was astounded that she had been released from her demons and he asked how it happened – and here’s where Mary said possibly the best line of the whole series.
“All I know is I was one way and now I am completely different, and the thing that happened in between was Him. ”
She had been in darkness and had given up all hope of escaping the demons – in fact, she had been ready to end her life – until Jesus showed up and called her by name… bringing her back from darkness to the light. Think that changed her life?!?! Once she saw the light, she became a follower of Jesus to continue walking toward the light – and to help others come to know him.
Hopefully you can already see the connection with today’s Gospel, because Jesus heals a man born blind…. Literally restoring him from darkness to the light! And the guy says, “One thing I do know is that I was blind and now I see.”
Is that YOUR story? Have you ever had that kind of experience? Can you point to the moment in your life that changed everything? The moment when the Glory of God changed your life?
That might not seem like a Catholic question to ask. You know – you talk to other Christians and they can often name the date and time they were ‘saved’… which means it’s the moment they felt like they made the decision to accept Christ as their savior. One and done. Now – there’s something beautiful about that – something to be celebrated for sure – but we need to be clear about one thing: You see – salvation is an act of GOD – not OUR action. Yes, we must accept it, but God moves first. In a way, it’s like lovers… both must act – but one is an act of surrender.
I remember a buddy of mine who grew up Catholic and he was going to church with his wife – I think to a Baptist congregation – and he said they kept pressuring him that if he didn’t have that big AHA moment that he could point to when Jesus became his savior, then he’s not saved! He said – I’ve not had that big moment – Jesus has just always been with me.
Isn’t that true for most of us – we’ve been raised in the Faith and receive the Sacraments and go to religious Education – and many never have that big AHA moment. Unfortunately, that means for many people, we’re only going through the motions. Unfortunately, that also means many people walk away… in fact, MOST people walk away. If we never have that personal encounter with Jesus, then religion usually remains nothing more than checking boxes. I submit to you that we Catholics really DO need that AHA moment… or a least a moment when we surrender to the Love of God… where we make a willful choice to allow God to open our eyes and touch our hearts.
You see – we were all born blind! Every one of us needs that moment when we open our eyes and realize that we’ve been changed… when we wake up and realize that one moment ago, we were in darkness, but now we are in the Light. We need that moment when we can sing – “I was blind, but now I see”… and MEAN it! But even that is dangerous… we might make a decision to follow Christ today, but a year from now we’re blind again – why? Because when we THINK we were already in the light, we don’t need feel the need to do any more to change. Here’s the kicker – while I think we need that BIG event when Jesus breaks through the darkness, it must be followed by a DAILY event…a daily surrender.
I would say my eyes were opened back in 1995 after I made my Cursillo. That was my AHA moment….but it wasn’t just going to Cursillo weekend – that was like the SEED. But immediately afterward I joined a small group of men who meet weekly to encourage each other in our walk with Jesus… to share nuggets that we learn in our study and prayer. THAT was what really transformed me. If I’d gone to Cursillo and didn’t change my life to Seek Jesus, I’d still be where I was in 1995 – in darkness. But I continue to seek Jesus. My eyes continue to be opened almost every day to a truth or an insight that I hadn’t considered… to surrender to God’s love a little more each day. That’s a benefit to having a wife and friends who like to study and pray and share their insights with me. We grow together. If I thought I knew everything already because “I’m the Deacon!”, then I wouldn’t be listening – and I would remain in darkness.
Jesus is reaching out to you today – and every day. In the Sacraments, in the scriptures, in the people around you, in nature… He is reaching out to touch your eyes. He might even spit and make you muddy to get your attention. The only thing standing between us and the light that Jesus wants to reveal is our stubbornness. If I don’t realize I’m blind, I won’t accept the healing. If I think I already know everything about God – I’ll miss what he’s doing right now!! …Like the pharisees in the story who didn’t even seem to notice that Jesus had overturned the laws of nature by healing a man born blind! All they cared about was that it was the wrong day of the week. They were willfully blind and totally MISSED the Glory of God.
Each of us can pray this Lent about what areas of our lives we’re blind to and ask Jesus to reveal the Glory of God to us. This is not a matter of putting ourselves down – that’s not at all what I’m talking about. This is not about Catholic guilt – but about taking an honest look inside at where we are blocking Jesus from touching us. The first step in being ‘saved’ is to realize that we need a savior. The first step to seeing Jesus is to admit that we’re blind.
