As a kid
growing up, one of my neighborhood buddies had a father who made quite
an impression on me. I must say, however, in view of today’s readings
which talk about blindness, darkness and light, and judging other people by
appearances rather than by God’s standards, it was not a very positive
impression...although I always enjoyed talking and visiting with him
because he can be quite entertaining.
Having had the
opportunity to visit my buddy at his house rather frequently, I
oftentimes heard his dad describing people. He was really excellent at
doing imitations. When he would describe
people and imitate them, I’d swear on a stack of bibles that I thought I
could identify each person even though I didn’t
know most of them. How? I could identify them by their atonal
or nasal voices, their unusual physical characteristics and traits, as well as by their
personal shortcomings and failings.
I distinctly recall
one of his co-workers, a Jewish man. In the estimation of my buddy’s
father, everything this fellow did was wrong and quite predictably so.
Why? I quote here: “Because of his whiny voice and Jew nose.” It’s an
awful way to describe a human being, isn’t it? That’s what I meant when
I said “not a very positive impression.”
There was also his
mother-in-law. For a variety of reasons, my buddy’s dad detested this
woman. As he described the mother of his wife, she not only talked too
slowly and droningly but she was also lazy, had no gumption, and never put herself out for
anyone else. She was a hypochondriac,
“chintzy” (meaning “cheap”), and
always expected everybody else to do everything for her. Not
surprisingly, her husband―this fellow’s father-in-law―allowed his wife
to wrap him around her little finger. “Run here, run there. Do this,
do that,” she’d tell the poor…well, let’s just say…fellow. But, that
was because, in the estimation of my buddy’s father, his father-in-law
had no…well, let’s just say…backbone.
When we were all in
high school, my buddy’s sister had a boyfriend who became the target of
her father’s imitations and barbs. The poor guy was too tall and his chin was too
pointy. He lacked ambition, exhibited horrific table manners, and would
never amount to much in life. Perhaps worst of all, he ate dry
pancakes…no syrup…and dipped them into the yolk of a sunny-side-up egg but
wouldn’t eat the egg whites. I knew this guy because all of us kids did
practically everything together. I knew him to be one of the most
hard-working, honest, trustworthy, and fun people to pal around with.
He wasn’t into drugs, alcohol, or pornography. What more could a father
want for his teenaged daughter?
Now, more than two decades
later, that pointy-chinned, good-for-nothing has been his son-in-law. He’s made a bundle of money, has a beautiful
home and, with his wife, they have three great kids. Was that God’s
revenge? Maybe.
On a recent
visit back home, my buddy’s father told me by chapter and verse how his
grandchildren aren’t being brought up right, that they have neither
social grace nor manners, and―like
their father―they don’t eat right.
My buddy’s
father swears
that the mother of his grandchildren (that’s his daughter) malnourished them as kids. Over
the years, all of this has led―not surprisingly―to a rift in the family.
Believe it or not, this fellow hasn’t seen his grandchildren for at
least the past nine years and he claims it doesn’t bother him.
If that’s not
enough, at that last visit, he also proudly announced―after
imitating his grandchildren and complaining about them and their
parents―that he’s now an extraordinary minister of the Eucharist.
It’s pretty obvious,
isn’t it, that sin has so blinded this fellow that he cannot see the
social reality he has created?
But, my homily isn’t
about him or his spiritual problem. It’s actually about any one of us who would judge others by
their appearance and behavioral characteristics rather than by using our
eyes to see into the substance of their character, as God does.
Think about it.
Isn’t it easier to spot and, then, to make a critical comment about what
it is on the surface of a person that we don’t particularly like? It might
be a particular hair style or coloring. (Purple and green hair, I have
to say, does make me wonder about what’s going on with a person.) It
could be clothes, paraphernalia like jewelry, earrings, or―gasp―body piercings. (I also have to admit, I am not an aficionado of
self-mutilation.) It might be bodily features, socio-economic status,
race, religion, or creed.
No matter what it is
that catches our attention and that we make a critical comment about, to
use our eyes to probe beyond the surface and to survey the true
character of a person requires more than subjective standards. It requires being able to see others as God sees them, as we
heard in today’s first reading from the Book of Samuel:
Not as
man sees does God see
because
man sees appearances
but the
Lord looks into the heart.
It’s a very
difficult thing to see others as God sees them, to pass beyond the
superficial, and to judge accurately another person’s character. Yet,
as today’s gospel reminds us, when we judge other people by mere surface
appearances and fail to discern their true character, we reveal not
their shortcomings and failures but, instead, our
own blindness.
It is an insidious
and evil thing to judge others based upon superficial appearances
because we use our judgments to uphold and to justify and the blind
interpretations we make about these persons. Then, compounding evil
matters even further, we allow ourselves another sinful luxury, namely,
that of treating those whom we’ve judged as deficient without any trace
of love of neighbor. So, we belittle, demean, taunt, or worse yet, dismiss
those people from our lives as unworthy of us and our attention and care.
What is insidious
about this evil behavior is that we actually believe we see these people
clearly and distinctly. But, the truth be told, when we do this, it is
we who are blind. And, then, as this evil―our self-chosen
blindness―spreads its tentacles around our hearts and sucks any trace of
love of God and neighbor from them, we destroy important things like our
families, our relationships with our in-laws, children, and even our
grandchildren, as well as our workplaces. We live in total darkness
falsely believing that we live in the light of day. Furthermore, we’re
blind to how we’ve invited this evil into our hearts and how we’re now
acting upon it in ways that are destroying our own lives, too. The
evidence is ample; but, it is most prominent in the way we blame everyone
else for their shortcomings and failures while we remain blind to our
own shortcomings and failures.
In today’s gospel,
Jesus teaches any one of us who would dare to think that we see clearly
and distinctly yet are blinded by all of our self-serving judgments had
better think twice. All of those other people will be saved from their sins long before any
one of us will ever be saved from our sins.
Why is this?
Because we’ve closed
our hearts and now we are incapable of seeing others as God sees
them.
So, what did those
in the crowd of people say when Jesus looked into the blind man’s heart,
saw what God loved in this man, and healed him of his blindness? “Some
of the Pharisees who where with Jesus heard this and said, ‘Surely, we
are not blind, are we?’ ”
And, what was Jesus’
response? Jesus said, “If you were blind you would have no sin;
but now, you are saying, ‘We see,’ so your sin remains.”
The holy season of
Lent―a period lasting forty days and we’re now nearing its end―provides time to allow the light of Jesus’ teaching to heal
our blindness. This healing begins with our own, personal conversion,
in particular, as
we turn away from the sin of judging other people simply by appearances.
As St. Paul wrote to
the Ephesians:
Brothers
and sisters:
You were
once darkness,
But now
you are light in the Lord.
Live as
children of light,
For
light produces every kind of goodness
and
righteousness and truth….
As we recognize our
own blindness, we can then seek forgiveness. Healed by the light of
Jesus’ teaching, we will then see other people as God sees them.
We will not judge by appearances but look into their hearts with eyes
enlightened by love of God and neighbor. |