This Gospel Account is multi-layered and rich in symbolism. Even though we might think we know the story, we would do well to have another look before praying the verses. Take note of the icon as well; the scene within the scene.
John 9: 1-41
This man's problem is deeper than most,
his blindness is from birth.
Let us find our way to Christ, Light of the World,
illumination for humankind.
The Lord's restoration reveals baptismal themes:
washing, enlightenment, healing - faith, conversion, salvation.
Glorify the Lord with me;
let us exalt his name together. (Psalm 34: 3)
The Lord's time with us is limited.
There is urgency in his words.
O Christ, bring a new time of light into our darkened world,
lest we be lost utterly to the night.
The Lord fulfills Isaiah's promise:
Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened. (Is. 35:5)
Glorify Christ, of whom the blind man becomes aware,
while Pharisees devolve into deeper darkness.
The muddy-eyed man makes his stumbling way, to the temple,
some distance from the Siloam Pool.
And I will trust the Lord in hopeful expectation
on the halting way to my own illumination.
The Pharisees already have Christ on trial:
doubting, discrediting, belittling, accusing.
They take the oath, Give God the glory,
while the once blind man holds on to his belief.
In opening the eyes of the man born blind,
the Lord really opens the eyes of his heart:
that Christ is God, sent to save us from darkness;
that earth is crammed with heaven. *
The Lord made clay, as in the beginning;
a mix of dust and spittle.
Christ is divine, working still,
making of us a new illumined humanity.
The one now-seeing shares what he knows,
and what it means at last to see:
that God has kissed our world in Christ;
that heaven is already here.
The new see-er reveals the cure,
how to be healed of spiritual blindness:
I washed, and now I see.
Oh, to obtain a clean heart!
*The phrase crammed with heaven, comes from the novel/poem, Aurora Leigh, by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
