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Message from the desk of the Pastor:

THE FOURTH SUNDAY OF LENT

Sunday, March 15, 2026

Gospel Reading 

John 9:1-41

Jesus heals the man born blind and reveals himself to him as the Son of Man.

Background on the Gospel Reading

As we did last week, we are reading today from the Gospel of John. In today’s  Gospel, the healing of the man born blind invites us to focus on the physical and spiritual aspects of sight and light. In the first part of today’s Gospel, we hear      Jesus’ response to a prevalent belief of his time: that misfortune and disability      were the result of sin. That belief is why Jesus is asked the question of whose          sin caused the man’s blindness—his own or his parents’. Jesus does not answer    directly, but instead gives the question an entirely different dimension—through      this man’s disability, God’s power will be made manifest. Jesus then heals the man.

The healing is controversial because Jesus heals on the Sabbath. The Pharisees,    the religious authorities of Jesus’ time, understood that the law of Moses forbade work (including healing) on the Sabbath. They also have trouble believing that    Jesus performed a miracle. To determine whether the man was really born blind,    the Pharisees question him and his parents. The man challenges the leaders of the synagogue about their assessment of the good that Jesus has done. In turn, they expel the man for questioning their judgment

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The final revelation and moment of enlightenment comes when the man born blind encounters Jesus again. Having heard the news of his expulsion, Jesus seeks out  the man born blind and reveals himself to him as the Son of Man. In this moment,  the man born blind shows himself to be a man of faith and worships Jesus. Jesus replies by identifying the irony of the experience of many who encounter Jesus: Those who are blind will now see, and those who think they now see will be found    to be blind.

As in last week’s Gospel about Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman,      today’s reading has many allusions to Baptism. The washing of the man in the      pool of Siloam is a prototype for Christian Baptism. Through the man’s encounter with Jesus, the man born blind is healed, his sight is restored, and his conversion to discipleship begins. The man born blind gradually comes to a greater understanding about who Jesus is and what it means to be his disciple, while the Pharisees (those who should see) are the ones who remain blind.

Family Connection

When infants are baptized, parents, with the help of the godparents, assume responsibility for raising the child as a follower of Jesus. The process of maturation in the faith is much like the example found in the story of the man born blind. The man is cured of his blindness, a symbol of his sin. Each time he meets someone  after the healing, the man comes to a deeper awareness of who Jesus is. In a    similar way, we who are baptized continue to mature in faith as our relationship      with and knowledge about Jesus grows.

Invite each member of your family to draw a timeline of his or her life. On the timelines, ask family members to identify significant moments in their lives, especially their life of faith. Invite each person to reflect upon who Jesus was            to him or her at each significant moment. How has each person’s relationship          with Jesus changed or matured? Then read together today’s Gospel, John 9:1-41. Note how the relationship between Jesus and the man born blind changes and  grows throughout the Gospel. Pray together that your relationship with Jesus will continue to grow and develop, becoming ever deeper. Conclude by praying together the Lord’s Prayer.