The story of the man born blind

On one of my recent trips to give blood at the Red Cross, I started watching the movie Ray about the life of Ray Charles. Before I go any further, I feel like I need to make it clear that this movie is one that is best viewed by more mature audiences. It’s good, but it’s not something children should go to. But, I’ll keep my descriptions clean in this homily. We’ve probably all have heard a song by the great blind entertainer Ray Charles. Whether it is “Georgia on my Mind” or his tear-jerking version of “America the Beautiful” or any of his other great songs, we’ve heard them and tapped our knee to them and maybe even sang along to them. I’d never thought, however, that Ray Charles wasn’t just born into stardom. He had to struggle, especially given his physical disability. What Ray had going for himself is that his mother was the type of person that forced him to not be completely dependant on others. He had to figure out how he was going to get from one place to another without holding on to someone’s arm or using some other device. In fact, there’s a great scene in the movie where Ray remembers as time when he was walking into his house, presumably shortly after he became blind as a child, and he falls on the ground. He starts crying and calling for his mother who is standing just a few short feet away. But, she doesn’t move a muscle to help up her son. Instead, through tear stained eyes, she quietly watches as he quits crying and picks himself up off the ground, just like any good parent has to learn how to do with their own children.

The theme for today’s readings, in case you hadn’t discovered it, is coming into the light. Paul remarks that, as Christians, we are called to be people of the light. Notice that Paul didn’t say that we are to be people in the light. Paul said that we are to be people of the light not of darkness. I think this helps to shed some light on the Gospel, which is the great story of the blind man who can see while the Pharisees, who should be able to see, turn a blind eye to the reality of Jesus. In other words, this man who was born blind but is healed by Jesus, slowly grows to faith in the gospel. At first, he just knows Jesus’ name. Then he calls Jesus a prophet. Next he says that Jesus comes from God. Lastly, when called by Jesus, he comes to full faith and becomes a full disciple of the Lord. The Pharisees, on the other hand, had full use of their sight. They were the intellectuals who could read the scriptures and know what they said. But, when presented with the actions of one from God, they seek to undermine Jesus by getting proof that he sinned…that he healed on the Sabbath. God forbid that we should do something good on the Sabbath. They were blind to the possibility that there could be someone who could interpret the word of God more fully than they could because he was himself the word of God. But, the final challenge Jesus gives to these Pharisees is one that affects us today: are they willing to give up trying to wrap up God in a neat little comfortable package in order to hear the voice of the Lord who is calling them to new sight. Are we?

Let me give you one example: so much of the time that I talk to someone who either is considering leaving the church or has already left, I ask them why. Sometimes they say that they were affected by a priest in a bad way; either he preached on a topic that they didn’t like or he constantly preached about money or something more insidious. But, most of the time, I find that people have stopped coming to mass because they say it’s boring. And I have no problem acknowledging that they are right. If you compare mass to most television shows or movies or plays, you will find that mass is boring. But, the point of mass is not to entertain. That’s looking at this in the wrong way. The point of mass is to remember the things that God has done to us and ask God to help us to live as he would want us to. The point of mass is to learn how to be people of light. If you come with this vision, the homily may stink, the priest may read the words to the prayers without much feeling, the music might be slow and out of tune, the lector might pronounce everything wrong; but none of that will matter because your heart will see through the performance to the reality that is underneath it all, Christ’s death, resurrection and offer of salvation.

Today we find ourselves laying on the ground crying out for our father to come come pick us up. Our father, however, is not going to do so, not because he doesn’t love us, but because he wants us to stop blindly walking around and to live as a child of the light.