Could He Be You?
Long ago, biblical scholars saw two levels of the healing of the blind man in today’s Gospel. First, it describes the physical healing of a 39 year old man who was born blind. Yet, in the story, more than physical sight is given. The man born blind was brought to the illumination of faith by Jesus as he gradually comes to accept Jesus as the Son of Man, even more, the Lord.
The season of Lent was a 40 day period of intense preparation by catechumens (tyro-Christians) for the reception of the Sacraments of Initation, viz., Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist, during the Easter Vigil, Holy Saturday into Easter Sunday. Some of the names by which Baptism was called in early Christianity was the “Sacrament of Illumination and Enlightenment.” The custom of lighting the small baptismal candle from the Paschal Candle is the vestige of this former sacramental name.
The healing of the blind man takes place bear a pool and it involves a washing with water. While Jesus only appears twice in the story, He is ever the Subject of the story because of the controversy over the identity of the Healer. While Jesus speaks to the man twice, the man sees Jesus once because he was still blind in the first encounter.
Curiously, the more grief is heaped upon the man, the more he calls Jesus “that man”, then, a “prophet”, then, “from God”, then,”Son of Man”, then, “Lord”. Like the Samaritan woman last week, the blind man’s faith develops because of the influence of Jesus. The blind man is a symbol of what we are all called to be as disciples of Jesus.
Late in the fourth Gospel, we start to hear of the “beloved disciple”, one who is the model disciple, the one whom we are all called to be. Contrary to the DaVinci Code, Mary Magdalen appears along with the Beloved Disciple. (I bet Dan Brown knew that, but assumed you did not.)
Traditionally, the Fourth Gospel has been attributed to the Apostle John (hence, its unofficial name.) However, all the Gospels are anonymous documents. We are not sure of the identity of any of the evangelists. Some thought that the Apostle John was remaining anonymous in his self-description.
Another opinion is that perhaps, Lazarus, the dead man raised to life in John 11 was the beloved disciple. (This last of Jesus’ 7 signs is the immediate trigger which results in the death and Resurrection of Jesus.)Neither Lazarus nor the beloved disciple had been mentioned earlier.
Still, another opinion is that, perhaps, it is our hero, the blind man, in today’s Gospel, who is the beloved disciple. He is favorable presented in the Gospel as a Jewish disciple who receives initial illumination and enlightenment from Jesus (Whom he cannot see) near a pool of water. As the pressure mounts, his faith in Jesus grows. In the closing scene , he “sees” Jesus Who obviously loves him and Whom he obviously loves in return.
The question in the Gospel today is not, “Is the man born blind the beloved disciple?” Maybe yes or no.
Rather, the real question is “Are you the beloved disciple?” 030605 AD jfq
