"Lent: A Journey towards Truth"

A pond where a child can play and an elephant swim

According to Dr. Chris Ranalli, a Philosopher from the University of Amsterdam, most people are not so much interested in the truth, but in proving themselves right.  

So, then, people are most interested in what they have come to believe or expect, rather than to accept objective truth. 

Specially, if the objective truth could prove them wrong.

In the realm of the Christian faith, such attitude is “indoctrination” rather than belief.

Perhaps you may have heard about Adam Savage.  He was one of the well-known MythBusters who were famously dedicated to question urban myths and movie special effects.  In his endeavor, Adam voiced his call on a T-shirt with the message along the lines of “I reject your ‘so-called reality’, and I will substitute it with the ‘real reality.’”

Such refusal to challenge deep held beliefs, in particular when they may be wrong, is most evident in today’s Gospel lesson, which seemingly is about a young man receiving his sight again.  But it is way more than that.  For, if we conveniently focus on the story of the healing of the young man, we will be happy to marvel at Christ’s power and continue our own way. 

One of the early fathers of the Church, St John Chrysostom once described the Gospel of John as being as shallow as a poodle where a child can sit and play and deep enough for elephants to swim.  And today’s lesson proves the point.

The story you know.  A young man who was born blind is taken to Jesus.  Jesus heals him and an uproar ensues.  To prove that it was all a scam, the religious leaders call his parents to the mat.  Eventually, it is the young man himself that turns the table on the naysayers.  “I don’t know a thing about Jesus.  But I do not that before I had no sight and now, I can see.”

However, if we look deeper into the story, we soon shall find a message that it is quite relevant for us today.  In fact, relevant and almost imperative to be heard during the Season of Lent and not as a story reserved for the triumphal days of the Resurrection.

As the story develops, first we will notice the disciples voicing their concern not so much for the man’s plight, but for a hot-topic theological debate.  And so, they questioned Jesus not out of mercy but to be proven right.

“Whose fault is it for this man to be blind?  Was it because he sinned or because someone, perhaps generations ago did something wrong?  Or is it that it is God that is mad with him?”

If one reads the story of the Jewish religion, over centuries old sages had tried to deal with what they believed to be a merciless God who would punish the younger generations from the sins of the elders, and a merciful God who would not remember anymore the sins of old.

The religious leaders reinforced such way of thinking adding another layer of venom on Jesus.  “How come someone would make some mud, take it, and apply to a sick person on the Sabbath?  We are supposed not to do any work on the Sabbath.  Further, why heal someone who God perhaps wanted to suffer for his own sins or those of his elders?  Jesus must be a false prophet.”

And as you may guess, people of our Lord’s time preferred the first choice – “Alright God!  Let them have it!”  Now, let me suggest that thousands of years later, most people still would say “No Objection” to such propositions. 

Then and now people want our enemies – those who wronged us or our own folk to get fire and brimstone over their heads.  “Love your enemies??  That’s for losers, not for me!”

And as we have seen in Detroit, Norfolk, Buenos Aires, Beirut and so many other places, this is why many of those who name God as the “All-Merciful” still seek revenge.  And so, it is why those who teach “Thou shall not kill” always find ways to do just the opposite.

And the story goes on and on.  In fact, as we know, because people had their own ideas about God and how God should act, and what God shouldn’t do, they crucified Jesus.

The people of yesteryear had their own understanding about God and with God’s will.  They rejected the reality of Jesus of Nazareth, and, in the words of Adam Savage, they replaced it with their own beliefs.

Since then, all the way to our days, Jesus is put again to death not it the Eucharistic Table but in the hardened hearts of those who want to be proved right rather than to know Jesus as “The Way, The Truth, and The Life.”

Hiding behind “their” Bible, appealing to the “What we have always been taught”, and sheltering under outdated and non-sensical pseudoscience many still prefer to be proved right, than knowing the Truth of Jesus.

And this is one of the reasons this Gospel is read in Lent.  For if we enter deep into the story, it challenges us to press on the road to conversion of life.

Yes, it is upsetting to find out that we do not own the Truth of God, and that God can and will do whatever brings forth his love, mercy, and grace, rather than “letting them have it.” 

As St Paul encourages us, Lent is also a time to awaken, to become aware of a Reality with capital “R” which should stir us into following in the steps of Jesus, and not of our own convictions.

In fact, the Gospel invites us let go of our so called “truthisms” and to soften our hearts and to yield to God’s ways which can and will surpass our own limited understanding.

Indeed, the journey toward conversion is an ongoing process that lasts longer than a few weeks every year.  It is a journey where we are encouraged to reflect on the ways we might have resisted God’s call to change and, readily refused to attune ourselves to the melody of God’s love, mercy, and grace

So, as we continue our Lent journey, let us embrace the humility needed to surrender our need to be proven right and allowing God’s true Truth to teach us and to guide us.

Let us pray for the courage to let go of old certainties and for the willingness to be changed by God’s surprising Truth.  Together, as a community of faith, may we support one another on this pilgrimage, so that when Easter morning dawns, we shall be renewed, ready to live more fully in the light of the Hope of the Resurrection.

Fr. Gustavo