For a long time, Israel had been ruled by Judges.  Samuel was the last of these Judges, and towards the end of his life he had more or less succeeded in forming a loose confederation among the twelve tribes of the Israelites with the Lord God as their Sovereign Ruler. But the people were displeased with the lack of unity and political security.  The pagan nations which surrounded them were ruled by kings who led them to battle and who organized their territories on a sound, political basis.  In spite of the Lord’s warning and the wise advice of the elders, the people demanded a king so that they could be like other nations.  Finally, the Lord granted them Saul as their first king (1030 BC). Though successful in many battles, Saul offended God, and the kingship was taken from him.  The Lord then prompted Samuel, the last Judge in Israel, to go to Bethlehem to anoint the next king. Today’s passage shows us Samuel’s journey to find the Lord’s chosen one and the ritual for anointing the new king. As an old and experienced judge who had studied how the first king (Saul) had failed, Samuel had his own ideas about whom God would choose.  But God chose the most unlikely candidate, namely, David, the shepherd boy, the youngest son of Jesse.   The reason He gave Samuel for this choice was:   “Not as man sees does God see, because man sees the appearance, but the Lord looks into the heart.”

The whole passage extends the  darkness-versus-light metaphor, leading to the blindness-versus-sight theme of today’s Gospel.  For Paul, Baptism is a “participation in the death and Resurrection of Jesus” (Rom 6:3-4) and a “clothing with Christ’’ (Gal 3:27).  In today’s reading, taken from his letter to the Ephesians, Paul echoes Is  26:19; 60  , saying that Baptism is also an “awakening and living in the light”— that is, Christ:  “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.” That is why in the early Greek-speaking Church, Baptism came to be known as photismos meaning “an illumination or bath in light.”  Hence, Paul reminds Christians of their new responsibility as children of light: “You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.  Live as children of the light, for light produces every kind of goodness and righteousness and truth. Try to learn what is pleasing to the Lord.” The Benedictine Bible scholar, Ivan Havener explicates today’s passage from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians thus: “The readers of this letter were once Gentiles without Christ and were darkness itself, but now as Gentiles in the Lord, they have become light. Their new identity as children of light requires that they live in a different way. The fruit produced by their light-life is all goodness, righteousness, and truth, considering what is pleasing to the Lord. Therefore, instead of participating in the unproductive works of darkness, they should condemn such deeds.”

The paradox of blindness. The healing described in today’s Gospel occurred when Jesus came to Jerusalem with his Apostles to participate in the feast of Tabernacles or the festival of tents (Sukkoth).  As part of the celebration of Sukkot, four huge golden four-branched candelabra were set up and lit in the courts of the Temple—each was 50 cubits (=75 feet) high. The Mishnah says that “there was not a courtyard in all of Jerusalem” that did not gleam with the light from the Temple menorahs when they were lit for Sukkot. The healing of the blind man, told so dramatically in today’s Gospel, brings out the mercy and kindness of Jesus, “the light of the world.”  Isaiah prophesied, and the Jewish people of that era believed, that when the Messiah came, he would heal blindness and other diseases.  The type of blindness which we now call ophthalmic conjunctivitis was very common in Biblical times.  Jesus gave to the beggar who was born blind not only his bodily eyesight but also the light of Faith.   This story also shows how the stubborn pride and prejudice of the Pharisees prevented them from seeing in the humble “Son of Man” the long-expected Messiah, and that made them incapable of recognizing the miracle. The healed beggar  begins by identifying Jesus as “a man.” Questioned further by the Pharisees, he declares that the man who healed him is a Prophet.  When the parents of the blind man convinced them that their son had been born blind, the Pharisees argued that the healer was a “sinner,” because the miracle had been performed on the Sabbath. But the cured man insisted that Jesus, his healer, must be a man from God, and they excommunicated him from Temple worship.  When Jesus heard this, He sought and found the man He had healed, and asked him, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” the man answered, “Who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” In response to Jesus,’ “You have seen Him, and the One speaking with you is He,” the now-sighted man said, “… ‘I do believe, Lord,’ and he worshipped Him.”  Fr. Harrington S.J. comments, “The blind man’s progress in spiritual sight reminds us that we need God’s grace and revelation to move toward sharper spiritual vision.”

The spiritual blindness of the Pharisees: The Pharisees suffered from spiritual blindness.  They were blind to the Holy Spirit.  They had the externals of religion but lacked the spirit of Jesus’ love.  They were also blind to the suffering and pain right before their eyes. They refused to see pain and injustice.  There was no compassion in their hearts.  In short, they were truly blind both to the Holy Spirit and to the human misery around them. “The blind man’s progress in spiritual sight is paralleled by the opponents’ descent into spiritual blindness.” (Fr. Harrington). Here is a contrast between those who know they are blind and those who claim to see. According to these blind Pharisees, Jesus, by healing the blind man doubly broke the Sabbath law, which forbade works of healing, and also kneading which was involved in making clay of spittle and dust. Raymond Brown adds a third and fourth reason that increased the seriousness of what Jesus had done: in the Jewish tradition: “there was an opinion that it was not permitted to anoint an eye on the Sabbath,” and “one may not put fasting spittle on the eyes on the Sabbath.” So, they concluded, “The man who did this cannot be from God, because he does not obey the Sabbath law.”

Spiritual blindness of modern Pharisees: Although the Pharisees have long since disappeared from history, there are still many among us who are blinded by the same pride and prejudice. Spiritual blindness is very common in modern times. Perhaps, the most awful disease in our country today is the spiritual blindness which refuses to see the truths of God’s revelation, and  even to admit that God or Christ exists.   In their pride, the spiritually blind claim that everything ends with death and that there is no life after death.  They propagate their errors and accuse believers of childish credulity and folly.  They ignore the gifts of the intellect we all possess.  God’s revelation through Christ informs us that there is a future life awaiting us in which our spiritual faculties and our transformed bodies will be fully and fittingly glorified. According to Pope Benedict XVI, the miracle of the healing of the blind man is a sign that Christ wants not only to give us sight, but also to open our interior vision, so that our Faith may become ever deeper and we may recognize Him as our only Savior. He illuminates all that is dark in life and leads men and women to live as “children of the light” (Lenten message-2011).