“While it is Day”

Lent 4: Gospel, John 9:1-41

When are you usually busy? When do you do the stuff of life? For most of us, apart from third-shifters and the occasional night owl, we work while the sun is up. Or at least before all its residual light is extinguished for the day. Why do I ask? Well, in this week’s gospel Jesus performs a miracle. An amazing miracle using the same stuff by which He made us. Jesus likes working with dirt, cf. John 8:6,8. And not just the dirt of earth but our dirt. We’ve seen in our other readings this week that light has power. Light liberates. Light gives growth. And in our gospel today light … well … SHINES! It shines into the eyes of one who before his encounter with the Savior, had never seen it (9:1). I want you to take just a moment and ponder that a bit. A grown adult man who has never seen the light of the sun. It’s a bit overwhelming to think of it. We see it every day. Some days like yesterday having my eyes dilated at the optometrist, I kind of curse it, till things get back to normal. Shame on me.

But I want to focus for just a moment on the first six verses of the chapter. Prior to the actual act of healing the man, Jesus turns the focus on Himself and His Father. “The works of God,” “The works of Him who sent me,” and “I am the light of the world.” Come on Jesus. Get to the good part. Do the stuff.

Now wait just a moment. What Jesus is declaring IS the good stuff. “I’m bringing knowledge of the Father to you,” He could say. Look at Jesus’s Father. Look at Jesus. THAT is what brings light. That is what gives sight. A grown adult man who has never seen the light of the SON. And with the knowledge comes a charge of sorts. You know light doesn’t need our help to carry it. But it is a privilege to be an ambassador for it. Enemy territory is dark after all. Jesus says here that He is the light of the world and that the work of the Father-the work given to and for us all can only take place as long as His light is available. “Night is coming, when no one can work” (John 9:4b). Ominous.  Jesus sets limits on His mission of light.

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1. You and I have been given the Light that is Jesus. Do you sense a compulsion to share it?
2. God-Man or miraculous works: which should be our focus? What makes it easy for us to confuse means to and end with the end itself?
3. Read Genesis 1:1-5 and Psalm 27, then go back and read our gospel reading. What are some of the different aspects connected to light in these passages? Peace to all, in Christ.