Fourth Sunday in Lent
Year A
RCL
Looking past the Surface into the Light
By +Brian Ernest Brown, CWC
We live in a world that is completely obsessed with appearances. We judge books by their covers, products by their packaging, and people by their resumes, their social media feeds, or their outward confidence. We have trained ourselves to look at the surface of things to decide what is valuable, what is important, and who is worth our time.
But our readings today invite us into a radical shift in perspective. They challenge us to realize that our human way of seeing is often incredibly limited, and that God operates on a completely different visual frequency.
We see this human limitation play out clearly in our first reading from the book of Samuel. God sends the prophet Samuel to Bethlehem to anoint the next king of Israel from the house of Jesse. Jesse lines up his sons, starting with Eliab, the oldest. Eliab is tall, handsome, and muscular. He looks exactly like a king from central casting. Samuel looks at him and thinks, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is now before the Lord.”
But God stops Samuel in his tracks. God says, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”
Jesse parades seven of his impressive, capable sons in front of Samuel, and each time, the answer is no. Finally, Samuel has to ask, “Are all your sons here?” Jesse basically says, “Well, there is still the youngest, but he is out keeping the sheep. He is just a kid, we didn’t even bother to invite him to the dinner.”
David was completely overlooked by his own family. But when he walks through the door, God says, “Rise and anoint him; for this is the one.” God saw a king where everyone else just saw a scruffy shepherd boy.
This contrast between human sight and divine vision explodes onto the scene in the Gospel of John. Jesus encounters a man who has been blind from birth.
Immediately, the disciples treat this man like a theological case study rather than a human being. They ask, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” They are looking at his suffering through the narrow lens of judgment and blame.
Jesus completely rejects their premise. He says, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him.” Jesus then spits on the ground, makes mud with His saliva, rubs it on the man’s eyes, and tells him to go wash in the pool of Siloam. The man goes, washes, and comes back able to see.
You would think this incredible miracle would cause a massive celebration. But instead, it throws the community into a total crisis. The neighbors are confused, and the religious authorities, the Pharisees, are furious because Jesus performed this healing on the Sabbath.
The religious experts launch a massive investigation. They interrogate the man, they bring in his terrified parents, and they cross-examine the man a second time. They are completely blinded by their own rules and assumptions. They tell the healed man, “We know that this man Jesus is a sinner.”
And the formerly blind man gives one of the greatest, most practical lines in all of scripture. He looks at these highly educated theologians and says:
“One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.”
The tragedy of the story is that by the end of the chapter, the physical positions have completely flipped. The man who started out in physical darkness is now standing in the full light of faith, worshiping Jesus. But the religious leaders, who have perfect physical eyesight, are trapped in total spiritual darkness. They cannot see the grace standing right in front of them because they refuse to look past their own pride.
This transformation from darkness to sight is exactly what Paul is writing about to the Ephesians. He doesn’t tell them that they are just standing in a dark room. He says:
“For once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Live as children of light.”
Paul reminds us that our baptism completely changes our baseline reality. We are no longer defined by the shadows of our past, our failures, or the labels that the world tries to stick on us. We have been brought into the light of Christ. And the fruit of that light is found in everything that is good and right and true. Paul issues a beautiful, waking call to all of us: “Sleeper, awake! Rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”
But even when we live as children of the light, we still have to navigate days where the shadows feel incredibly thick. We still have to walk through seasons of grief, confusion, and fear.
That is why Psalm 23 is such a comfort to us today. It is a song about a Shepherd who knows how to guide us when our own vision fails. We sing:
“Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”
Notice that the Shepherd does not always navigate us around the dark valleys. Sometimes, the path goes right through them. But when you are in a pitch-black valley, your eyesight doesn’t help you anyway. You cannot see the path ahead. In those moments, survival depends entirely on your proximity to the Shepherd. You rely on His voice, His rod, and His staff to keep you safe.
As we continue our journey through Lent, Jesus is inviting us to a deep examination of our own spiritual eyesight.
Where are you operating out of blindness this week? Are you judging the people in your home, your workplace, or your community based purely on their outward appearance, their mistakes, or their political labels? Are you looking at your own life and feeling like an overlooked shepherd boy, forgetting that God looks directly at your heart and calls you beloved?
Let’s pray this week for the grace to have our eyes washed in the pool of Siloam. Let’s ask Jesus to rub away the mud of our cynicism, our pride, and our habits of judgment.
When the world tries to drag you into the darkness of fear or division, look to the Shepherd who restores your soul and leads you along right pathways. Wake up from the sleep of your old routines, step boldly into the light of His presence, and let Christ shine through everything you say and do this week.
Amen.