Lent 4A -Easier Not to See

As I prepare for this week's sermon on John 9:1-41,

I think about the blindness in our society.

We cut off

disability benefits,

collective bargaining rights,

unemployment benefits,

protection for our environment.

And, yet we still fight two wars

and one "non-war."

We consume.

We use.

We burn.

We blow up.

We divide.

We bicker.

We hate.

We do not see.

We do not see.

We do not see.

One thing is clear to me in John's gospel story.

We cannot be sent into the world

if we cannot see it.

We cannot heal it

if we do not love it.

We cannot.

We must first see.

Our eyes are closed,

though.

There is too much to see

sometimes.

To see

is to love.

To love

is to act.

To act in love

is to heal

and not kill.

I wonder if we are ready

to wash in the Pool

of Sent.

But I pray to God

to rub our eyes with holy mud,

made from earth

and holy spit,

and to open our eyes

to new sights

that cannot

be unseen.

This is the Gospel of Our Lord:

To see.