What do we do when we remember? Do we not bring together again, often in
memory some event or some occurrence that was witnessed from the past? We
re-member.
This Lent I have had in my mind that the
Christian scriptures were written a very long time, perhaps in some cases as
long as 100 years, after the event. Fortunately the oral tradition of the
people then was significantly strong. Events were heard as they had been spoken,
yet sometimes there are several versions of the same story.
The gospel today is one of those re-membered
events with several versions. Why did the Gospel of John re-member that
specific event? Which leads to another question: Was this the only time that
Jesus healed a blind person? We do learn something, I believe, something unique
in this event. The learning is that at that time saliva was used, probably more
rarely than wine and oil, as an agent of healing.
As I hear and read this gospel, something reminds
me of the story of St. Paul "Still breathing murderous threats against the
Lord's disciples" on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:1). What happened to
Saul (Paul), before he was converted? A bolt of light struck him and he was unable
to see for several days. Slowly, scales fell off his eyes and he would see
again. Slowly and gradually that light was that He whom Saul was persecuting
was the Messiah, the Resurrected Lord.
What I am proposing is something similar to the
road to Damascus experience. It took Paul several days to understand and
convert. In today’s gospel it took time for this person to see clearly that the
person who stood before him was the Lord.
In this case the story of the blind man serves
two functions. Immediately, to recount the healing of a person with this
disability, and re-membered, to help a believer to fully understand that He
whom he sought was the resurrected Christ.
Bro. Tom Barton, OSF
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