David is Anointed  "...Yahweh said to Samuel, take no notice of his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him.  God does not see as human beings see; they look at appearances but Yahweh looks at the heart." 1 Samuel 16:1,6-7,10-13

The Good Shepherd  "...I make my home in the house of Yahweh for all time to come." Psalm 23:1-6 

The New Life in Christ  "...Try to discover what the Lord wants of you, take no part in the futile works of darkness but, on the contrary, show them up for what they are." Ephesians 5:8-14 

The Cure of the Blind Man  "...'Neither he nor his parents sinned', Jesus answered, 'he was born blind so that the works of God might be revealed in him.'" John 9:1-41

In going through this Sunday's readings, I couldn't help but be struck by how skeptical humans are.  We find in John's gospel reading Jesus tells his disciples that the man born blind is not a sinner, and neither are his parents, but rather " he was born blind so that the works of God might be revealed in him."  This is a familiar story, but it was filled with insight into human nature.

The people from his village can NOT accept that he is the person they saw blind and begging in the streets, they even go so far as to call on his parents to verify through them that he has been blind all his life.  Then some people in the crowd begin to take notice that Jesus performed the miracle on the Sabbath, so there is much made about the timing of his miracle.  The blind man is eventually ejected, because he trys to tell them that if Jesus wasn't from God he could not have performed the miracle, but then the crowd shows their pride, since this poor, once blind begger is now trying to teach them, and they still think of him as a sinner.

I found myself wondering how many times has the truth stared me in the face, and I didn't see it.  The whole idea of Christ wanting to reveal God's glory through the giving of the gift of sight to this blind man, but only a few could see the message is absurdly sad.  This man's neighbors did not want to see the truth, they had a preconceived notion and truth would not be recognized that day.  How many days have I been predisposed and preoccupied so that the opportunity to experience the "truth" passed me by?

Also, found in the readings, in 1 Samuel 16:7, we are reminded that God looks at our hearts and not our external selves.  Could that be why we don't recognize the truth when it presents itself?  The Spirit of God is trying to communicate in ways we are not accustomed to experiencing.  If our five senses do not pick up the transmission, and our minds control our reactions, maybe we need to ask our hearts for the meaning.  Use our whole selves, at all levels experience the message, even go deep inside to see what will be revealed today.  Let us take advantage of the hindsight revealed in todays readings and go forth inspired not to make the same mistake.  We are all searching for the Truth, but it might not be so hard to find.

As we continue our lenten journey, we are reminded of how easy it is to be facing the truth, but not be able to see it.  Let us ask God to help us recognize today's message as being from the source of Truth, and also be able to understand its meaning in our own lives.

From Ephesians 5:8-11 we see we are called to be children of the "light", so that darkness can be revealed. Truth and Light, oh that we might become more aware of their presence in our hearts this day.  Let us learn to utilize and trust that which may be revealed by God's Spirit, we ask this in Christ's name.  Amen.