"Christ is risen. (Congregation Responds: Indeed He is risen.) Christ is risen. (Congregation: Indeed He is risen.) Christ is risen. (Congregation: Indeed He is risen.)
You will forgive me for saying this so many times, but you've got to take advantage.... You never know you won't be able to say it. Today is the last Sunday of Pascha. Christ is risen. (Congregation: Indeed He is risen.)
On Wednesday we celebrate the Leavetaking. Christ is risen. (Congregation: Indeed He is risen.)
And then on Thursday we will enter the feast of the Ascension. It's gone so fast. I'm sure you all must feel that. It just was the other day when we began the paschal vigil. I ask you, has it been a blessed time for you? Have you grown in faith? In hope? In love? Have you paid attention to the Resurrection? Have you seen the Resurrection?
The triodion that we picked up on the feast on the Sunday of the pharisee was in the older days a big book. It included the time before Pascha and the time after Pascha. The triodion was called Penten triodion for the lenten period, and sometimes referred to as the Pentecostarion, or flowered triodion. This triodion accompanies us, has been accompanying us since the Sunday of the Pharisee, and it's leading us towards the feast of Pentecost. Same as the triodion of Lent. Led us pascha, the flower triodion or the Pentecostarion, the next part it leads us towards the fulfillment of a feast, the great feast of Pentecost.
These are what we call strong kinds of grace, deep kinds of grace. I want to trust, don't ignore or waste the gift of grace that we are standing in. This is the time of grace. This is the day of salvation. This is the time that is time that is favorable to the Lord.
The last Sunday of Pascha we hear, we've just heard the gospel of the healing of a man that was born blind, that had been blind all of his life. I want to share with you a short event that happened to me this week, this Thursday when a man who has been blind all his life opened my eyes. For some reason this man has been coming to the mission a long time, but I have never really spoken to him. On Thursday I felt an invisible force drawing us together to sit at the table. It was kind of strange.
I began to speak to him, and at one point I asked him, was he living alone in Toronto? did he have any family? who were his mother and father? and he told me that he is alone and that his mom and his father are back in the old country. Then I asked him, do you miss them? and there was this long silence as we passed bread and started to eat. Then he said, what do you mean by missing? What does missing mean? I said, I described what missing means? He didn't answer me, and again we ate, so the time went on.
Then he says, does missing include grieving? And I said, yeah it does include grieving. There was this long silence as if he had forgotten that I was even there. Then again he answered to me, no well I don't miss them. It was so almost apathetic; there was no emotion, no passion in this "I don't miss them," either because you hate them or whatever. And so I started to judge him in my heart, whose sin is it? Is it this man's or his parents that they are estranged? Who did what? I said to myself, here another man bitter.
After some silence he said, "I wish to grieve about not being able to see. I used to grieve that I couldn't see and couldn't have the life that everybody has, but I don't grieve anymore." Long silence. Then he says after, again, a few minutes, he says, "I only grieve of one thing." Long silence again. Then he says, "I grieve of not being closer to God."
Healing in scripture, and particular in the gospel, it's ultimately about restoring the person to communion with God, and to restoring that person in the community, to become again part of the family, the village of a community.
For scripture sees sickness as something that isolates us, that cuts us off from God and from the community. Illness can lock us away in great loneliness, in a loneliness which is different than solitude. Today you and I understand sickness as something that needs to be fixed. We understand miracles as a private event, God heals me so that I can become independent. God heals me so that I can get on with my life. But every time God acts, He has this goal. God acts in the world to lead the world into communion, into relationship with Himself. That's why God acts. God acts, like in the miracle story of today, it's more than just healing an individual.
Sometimes we observe people say, well there are so many people blind, so many sick people. Why didn't he cure them all? Why didn't he heal them all? But healing in a miracle is more than just getting some individual something they want or need, so that they can continue to exist as individuals. Not acts to transform us. The miracles are a sign that this is possible, that this is true for all of us. God acts to transform us and the world into the body of Christ so that we may exist face to face with God.
No one has ever heard of anyone opening the eyes of a man born blind, we heard in the Gospel today, and yet this very same man finds himself blamed, judged, and excommunicated by the religious authorities. And even his family distance themselves from this man. He finds himself alone. The miracle is obviously not complete; it has been frustrated, and this is why Jesus looks for him and finds him indeed alone. As the scripture says, they threw him out. They rejected him, they kicked him out and he's alone. Jesus goes and finds him because he knows that he is alone. That's not the purpose of the miracle, it was to awaken all into this possibility that all can again see.
There alone, face to face with this man, Jesus surrenders to him who he is. Remember, to reveal to another who you are is a very intimate and deeply personal moment. It is expressed by the name, but it is expressed by surrendering to another who you are. He offers to this man the possibility to believe in him, to believe not just, it's not a head thing, but it's to believe, to have faith is to enter into communion, enter into relationship with the one that you believe in.
Who is it, Lord, that I may believe in him? Jesus says, it is the one who speaks to you. This is what is amazing, is that the man who's kicked out of the church, kicked out of the synagogue, who is excommunicated, who is now on the street there in front of Jesus, he bows down and does what you're supposed to do only in the temple: he worships him. Worship is only given to God.
To worship is the soul's response when it is touched by grace. There is fake worship, there's pretend worship, there's people who go around thinking they're worshiping, but true worship, orthodox worship, the worship that is mentioned in the gospel to day, is a response because the soul has been touched by grace. Worship is the movement of the heart when it is seized by mercy. Worship is a total surrender of our being in a most personal act of adoration, of praise, and of thanksgiving. For to see the face of Christ is to see how much one is loved. In turn, this opens us up, or it can open us up, to God.
The man born blind does not only receive physical sight, but much, much more today. He is joined to the body of Christ, and thus receives what the world cannot give, and in fact, refuse because at the core of all that there is there is only mercy. Thus, he is no longer just a healed blind beggar; he has now become he who now sees God. In the body of Christ, where all that God does for us, aims to join us to him, in the body of Christ, he has been freed from loneliness, from judgment, he now sees and he is seen in love. This is the mercy of God.
This is what the religious authorities refuse to see. This is what my beloved friend, a blind man was willing to see, of what truly matters, to be joined to be one with God. Breaking bread with him, my eyes were also opened. Christ is risen. (Congregation: Indeed he is risen!)
Sunday of the Blind Man
(The Last Sunday of Pascha)
The Gospel of John 9:1-38
"At that time, as Jesus passed by, he saw a man blind from his birth. And his disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" Jesus answered, "It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be made manifest in him. We must work the works of him who sent me, while it is day; night comes, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world." As he said this, he spat on the ground and made clay of the spittle and anointed the man's eyes with the clay, saying to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing. The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar, said, "Is not this the man who used to sit and beg?" Some said, "It is he"; others said, "No, but he is like him." He said, "I am the man." They said to him, "Then how were your eyes opened?" He answered, "The man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, 'Go to Siloam and wash'; so I went and washed and received my sight." They said to him, "Where is he?" He said, "I do not know."
They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. Now it was a sabbath day when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. The Pharisees again asked him how he had received his sight. And he said to them, "He put clay on my eyes and I washed, and I see." Some of the Pharisees said, "This man is not from God, for he does not keep the sabbath." But others said, "How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?" There was a division among them. So they again said to the blind man, "What do you say about him, since he has opened your eyes?" He said, "He is a prophet."
The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight, until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight, and asked them, "Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?" His parents answered, "We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; but how he now sees we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age, he will speak for himself." His parents said this because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess him to be Christ he was to be put out of the synagogue. Therefore his parents said, "He is of age, ask him."
So for the second time they called the man who had been blind, and said to him, "Give God the praise; we know that this man is a sinner." He answered, "Whether he is a sinner, I do not know; one thing I know, that though I was blind, now I see." They said to him, "What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?" He answered them, "I have told you already and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you too want to become his disciples?" And they reviled him, saying, "You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from." The man answered, "Why, this is a marvel! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing." They answered him, "You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?" And they cast him out.
Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, "Do you believe in the Son of man?" He answered, "And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?" Jesus said to him, "You have seen him, and it is he who speaks to you." He said, "Lord, I believe": and he worshiped him."
You will forgive me for saying this so many times, but you've got to take advantage.... You never know you won't be able to say it. Today is the last Sunday of Pascha. Christ is risen. (Congregation: Indeed He is risen.)
On Wednesday we celebrate the Leavetaking. Christ is risen. (Congregation: Indeed He is risen.)
And then on Thursday we will enter the feast of the Ascension. It's gone so fast. I'm sure you all must feel that. It just was the other day when we began the paschal vigil. I ask you, has it been a blessed time for you? Have you grown in faith? In hope? In love? Have you paid attention to the Resurrection? Have you seen the Resurrection?
The triodion that we picked up on the feast on the Sunday of the pharisee was in the older days a big book. It included the time before Pascha and the time after Pascha. The triodion was called Penten triodion for the lenten period, and sometimes referred to as the Pentecostarion, or flowered triodion. This triodion accompanies us, has been accompanying us since the Sunday of the Pharisee, and it's leading us towards the feast of Pentecost. Same as the triodion of Lent. Led us pascha, the flower triodion or the Pentecostarion, the next part it leads us towards the fulfillment of a feast, the great feast of Pentecost.
These are what we call strong kinds of grace, deep kinds of grace. I want to trust, don't ignore or waste the gift of grace that we are standing in. This is the time of grace. This is the day of salvation. This is the time that is time that is favorable to the Lord.The last Sunday of Pascha we hear, we've just heard the gospel of the healing of a man that was born blind, that had been blind all of his life. I want to share with you a short event that happened to me this week, this Thursday when a man who has been blind all his life opened my eyes. For some reason this man has been coming to the mission a long time, but I have never really spoken to him. On Thursday I felt an invisible force drawing us together to sit at the table. It was kind of strange.
I began to speak to him, and at one point I asked him, was he living alone in Toronto? did he have any family? who were his mother and father? and he told me that he is alone and that his mom and his father are back in the old country. Then I asked him, do you miss them? and there was this long silence as we passed bread and started to eat. Then he said, what do you mean by missing? What does missing mean? I said, I described what missing means? He didn't answer me, and again we ate, so the time went on.
Then he says, does missing include grieving? And I said, yeah it does include grieving. There was this long silence as if he had forgotten that I was even there. Then again he answered to me, no well I don't miss them. It was so almost apathetic; there was no emotion, no passion in this "I don't miss them," either because you hate them or whatever. And so I started to judge him in my heart, whose sin is it? Is it this man's or his parents that they are estranged? Who did what? I said to myself, here another man bitter.
After some silence he said, "I wish to grieve about not being able to see. I used to grieve that I couldn't see and couldn't have the life that everybody has, but I don't grieve anymore." Long silence. Then he says after, again, a few minutes, he says, "I only grieve of one thing." Long silence again. Then he says, "I grieve of not being closer to God."
Healing in scripture, and particular in the gospel, it's ultimately about restoring the person to communion with God, and to restoring that person in the community, to become again part of the family, the village of a community.
For scripture sees sickness as something that isolates us, that cuts us off from God and from the community. Illness can lock us away in great loneliness, in a loneliness which is different than solitude. Today you and I understand sickness as something that needs to be fixed. We understand miracles as a private event, God heals me so that I can become independent. God heals me so that I can get on with my life. But every time God acts, He has this goal. God acts in the world to lead the world into communion, into relationship with Himself. That's why God acts. God acts, like in the miracle story of today, it's more than just healing an individual.
Sometimes we observe people say, well there are so many people blind, so many sick people. Why didn't he cure them all? Why didn't he heal them all? But healing in a miracle is more than just getting some individual something they want or need, so that they can continue to exist as individuals. Not acts to transform us. The miracles are a sign that this is possible, that this is true for all of us. God acts to transform us and the world into the body of Christ so that we may exist face to face with God.
No one has ever heard of anyone opening the eyes of a man born blind, we heard in the Gospel today, and yet this very same man finds himself blamed, judged, and excommunicated by the religious authorities. And even his family distance themselves from this man. He finds himself alone. The miracle is obviously not complete; it has been frustrated, and this is why Jesus looks for him and finds him indeed alone. As the scripture says, they threw him out. They rejected him, they kicked him out and he's alone. Jesus goes and finds him because he knows that he is alone. That's not the purpose of the miracle, it was to awaken all into this possibility that all can again see.
There alone, face to face with this man, Jesus surrenders to him who he is. Remember, to reveal to another who you are is a very intimate and deeply personal moment. It is expressed by the name, but it is expressed by surrendering to another who you are. He offers to this man the possibility to believe in him, to believe not just, it's not a head thing, but it's to believe, to have faith is to enter into communion, enter into relationship with the one that you believe in.
Who is it, Lord, that I may believe in him? Jesus says, it is the one who speaks to you. This is what is amazing, is that the man who's kicked out of the church, kicked out of the synagogue, who is excommunicated, who is now on the street there in front of Jesus, he bows down and does what you're supposed to do only in the temple: he worships him. Worship is only given to God.
To worship is the soul's response when it is touched by grace. There is fake worship, there's pretend worship, there's people who go around thinking they're worshiping, but true worship, orthodox worship, the worship that is mentioned in the gospel to day, is a response because the soul has been touched by grace. Worship is the movement of the heart when it is seized by mercy. Worship is a total surrender of our being in a most personal act of adoration, of praise, and of thanksgiving. For to see the face of Christ is to see how much one is loved. In turn, this opens us up, or it can open us up, to God.
The man born blind does not only receive physical sight, but much, much more today. He is joined to the body of Christ, and thus receives what the world cannot give, and in fact, refuse because at the core of all that there is there is only mercy. Thus, he is no longer just a healed blind beggar; he has now become he who now sees God. In the body of Christ, where all that God does for us, aims to join us to him, in the body of Christ, he has been freed from loneliness, from judgment, he now sees and he is seen in love. This is the mercy of God.
This is what the religious authorities refuse to see. This is what my beloved friend, a blind man was willing to see, of what truly matters, to be joined to be one with God. Breaking bread with him, my eyes were also opened. Christ is risen. (Congregation: Indeed he is risen!)
+ P.R., Orthodox Priest in Toronto, 2014
Sunday of the Blind Man
(The Last Sunday of Pascha)
The Gospel of John 9:1-38
 |
| From a Contemporary Illustrated Gospel Painted by Laura James Liturgy Training Publications (RC Publishing House) http://laurajamesart.com/portfolio/book-of-gospels/ |
"At that time, as Jesus passed by, he saw a man blind from his birth. And his disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" Jesus answered, "It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be made manifest in him. We must work the works of him who sent me, while it is day; night comes, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world." As he said this, he spat on the ground and made clay of the spittle and anointed the man's eyes with the clay, saying to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing. The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar, said, "Is not this the man who used to sit and beg?" Some said, "It is he"; others said, "No, but he is like him." He said, "I am the man." They said to him, "Then how were your eyes opened?" He answered, "The man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, 'Go to Siloam and wash'; so I went and washed and received my sight." They said to him, "Where is he?" He said, "I do not know."
They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. Now it was a sabbath day when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. The Pharisees again asked him how he had received his sight. And he said to them, "He put clay on my eyes and I washed, and I see." Some of the Pharisees said, "This man is not from God, for he does not keep the sabbath." But others said, "How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?" There was a division among them. So they again said to the blind man, "What do you say about him, since he has opened your eyes?" He said, "He is a prophet."The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight, until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight, and asked them, "Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?" His parents answered, "We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; but how he now sees we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age, he will speak for himself." His parents said this because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess him to be Christ he was to be put out of the synagogue. Therefore his parents said, "He is of age, ask him."
So for the second time they called the man who had been blind, and said to him, "Give God the praise; we know that this man is a sinner." He answered, "Whether he is a sinner, I do not know; one thing I know, that though I was blind, now I see." They said to him, "What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?" He answered them, "I have told you already and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you too want to become his disciples?" And they reviled him, saying, "You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from." The man answered, "Why, this is a marvel! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing." They answered him, "You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?" And they cast him out.Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, "Do you believe in the Son of man?" He answered, "And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?" Jesus said to him, "You have seen him, and it is he who speaks to you." He said, "Lord, I believe": and he worshiped him."
