THE CHANNELS OF GRACE

 

We are in the Fourth Sunday of the holy season of Lent. Jesus is the light of the world. We use light to see our own bodies as well as other bodily beings and objects around us. We cannot use light to see the light itself, rather use the effect of light to see something other than the light. Jesus is the light who shows us what we are and what is around us. Jesus is the gift of God the Father. We need to use this gift of our Heavenly Father to see everything. Hence, praying to Jesus alone is not suffice for being a Christian. One should live out the teachings of Jesus so as to know one’s true self and the reality around him/her as they are.

In the first reading, the Lord sends Prophet Samuel to anoint one of the sons of Jesse, the Bethlehemite as the king of Israel. At first Samuel perceives Eliab as the chosen one of God. But Lord warns him saying, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the Lord sees not as man sees; man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” (1 Sam 16:7). Samuel gets surprised when the Lord chose the little boy David as the future king of Israel whose age, stature and behaviours are contrary to human assumptions and judgements for the one to be a king. Yes, David was only a boy at the time of election, yet his reign turned out to be the best regime in the entire Israelites history. Humans look for the one who can reign but God empowers the one who should reign. God chooses the weak and the least to reign so as to shame the wise (Cf. 1 Cor 1:27). The wise would reign from his/her capacity, on the contrary the weak would reign from his/her humility and the capacity to listen. God chooses the one who could lean on Him to do His work. It is the simple and the humble who leans, bends and bows to get directed. The humble turns out to be the best (Cf. Mt 23:12; Lk 14:11).

The Gospel of today opens with the words of Jesus’ disciples who try to reason out the blindness of the person to his own sin or the sin of his parents. Jesus corrects them by saying that the blindness (weakness) of the person is caused neither by the sin of the blind man himself nor by the sin of his parents, but it was caused to reveal the power of God (Jn 9:3). This particular person was born blind to get healed from Jesus. Even here what humans see as weakness turns out to be a grace. In this world we perceive limitations and weaknesses as curse. The present world discards the weak and the least as useless and empty pots. The truth is that only the empty pots can hold the water. If we discard the empty pots, where do we store the water? Only a sinner can gain mercy and grace. Similarly, it is in Weakness that one can gain the grace and miracle. Jesus leads this blind man from blindness to sight (light). This blind man gets sight to see bodily things as well as insight to know who Jesus is – Jesus gives both external and internal light. Those who have clear sight to witness the miracle could not see God at work in Jesus but the blind person strongly affirms the divinity of Jesus because he has experienced him. He has personally touched and given the sight by Jesus. When his weakness becomes the means to obtain divine grace, the blind person turns out to be grateful and offers reverence to Jesus.

In this season of Lent, we need to offer our weaknesses to the Lord. We may presume like Prophet Samuel that our failures and sins make us unworthy. But the truth is that it is precisely in those weaknesses and sins we find grace. They are the channels of grace. To accept our weaknesses and pitfalls as opportunities to receive grace, we need the light of Jesus. We need to see things as Jesus would see them. The world perceived the crucifixion of Jesus as the end in itself. But, Jesus used that shame as means to gain resurrection. May this Lenten season help us to know our blindness and get healed from the light of Jesus.