FOURTH SUNDAY -- March 15, 2026

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Theme: Learning to See

Readings:

• 1 Samuel 16:1b, 6-7, 10-13a 
• Psalm 23: 1-3a, 3b-4, 5, 6 
• Ephesians 5:8-14 
• John 8:12 
• John 9:1-41

“Neither this man nor his parents sinned… but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.” — John 9:3

Reflection

Lent is often described as a journey from darkness into light. A season in which God asks us to see again. Not only to see our personal sins, but to see the world around us more clearly - its suffering, its injustices, brokenness and its possibilities for transformation. The Gospel of the man born blind is not simply a story about a physical miracle; it is a story about learning to see.

The disciples begin with a question many of us ask when faced with suffering:

“Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

They want a cause. They want someone to blame. They want to point fingers.

But Jesus refuses the logic of blame. He shifts the focus: “Neither this man nor his parents sinned… but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.”

Jesus moves the conversation from guilt to grace, from blame to possibility. Here we hear an echo of the thought of late rabbi Jonathan Sacks. Rabbi Sacks often said that the religious life begins when we stop asking, “Who is to blame?” and start asking, “What is now my responsibility?”

The disciples looking for who to blame for human suffering. Jesus instead

points toward the possibility of transformation within suffering. Instead of explaining the darkness, Jesus brings light into it. Instead of explaining away suffering, Jesus acts to transform it. This is the heart of biblical justice: not explaining darkness but rather responding to it.

So, the real question this lent is not “What have I done wrong?” but rather “What is God trying to reveal in my life right now?” – because even our struggles can become places where God’s light breaks through.

So, this Lent let us pray for the sight not only to see God in the extraordinary, but for that sight that enables us to see God in the ordinary. The man born blind begins the day as a beggar at the side of the road. By the end of the story, he is the one who truly sees. May his be also our journey during this Lent.

AMEN!