(See the readings for the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time)
“I was blind but now I see,” are familiar words to us from the hymn “Amazing Grace.” They capture the awe, gratitude and joy of one touched by God’s merciful love. The hymn was written by a former slave trader who personally experienced the transformative healing power of the Word. The healing is so wonderful; it is as though going from dark to light, from blindness to sight.
The Scriptures give witness to the miraculous healing power of God’s word. Jesus is the Word of God who also speaks His word. His words have power. We might recall the miracle of the man born blind (John 9:1-41) or the healing of the deaf man (Mark 7:31-37). The healings cause the crowd to remark: “He has done all things well. He makes the deaf hear and the mute speak” (Mark 7:37).
Jesus references the power of His word when He sends John the Baptist’s messengers back to John saying: “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the good news proclaimed to them. And blessed is the one who takes no offense at me (Luke 7:22-23).
Jesus uses the images of sight and sound in the Gospel passage for Sunday’s liturgy. In this case it is not so much in terms of healing but in receiving. He says: “Blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear. Amen, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.”
He is speaking to disciples who are there with him. They indeed are blessed and the blessing is the source of joy. They are blessed because they have encountered the Word of God. Their eyes have seen Him. Their ears have listened to His words. They have seen and heard. They have received and welcomed Him into their lives and through Him receive the gift of life.
Jesus’ mission is life. The first reading has the Lord speaking through Isaiah of a time when His “word” shall go “forth from my mouth; my word shall not return to me void, but shall do my will, achieving the end for which I sent it.” The “end” of which Isaiah speaks is life. He uses the images of snow and rain watering the earth making it fertile and fruitful, abundant with life, to illustrate the effect that the Word of the Lord has on those who will listen, take it in and allow it to grow within them.
The time is now — Jesus is God’s word, the Word. In the language of the Fourth Gospel, Jesus is the “word become flesh” who dwelt among us and “we saw his glory, the glory of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).
The parable of the Sower, also from Sunday’s Gospel passage, helps illustrate the blessings of life that come from opening our hearts to receive God’s word. The first three places where the seeds fall are inadequate for real growth. As Jesus later explains, they represent situations where the word is not understood, does not penetrate one’s life, or is undervalued.
The final place on which the seeds fall is just right for growth. This is the rich, fertile soil. This is the person, as Jesus explains, “who hears the word and understands it.” The first three places represent some degree of superficiality with regard to receiving the Word whereas the fourth represents a genuine reception of the Word, taking it in and allowing it to grow and give life.
Jesus references His disciples as this last group. Hence there is cause for great joy among them. Their “eyes” and “ears” are truly blessed because they have received the Word. Their hearts are abundant with life because they have taken in the author of life and the Word of God. The relationship so established brings with it a multitude of blessings. The Word carries with it the promise of eternal life and the hope it establishes.
It is this hope that has empowered disciples of all ages and times to face the sufferings of this world. St. Paul’s hope will even allow him to say that the sufferings, and he had many of them, “of this present time are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18).
All this to say that we, Jesus’ disciples today, are truly blessed and with the author of “Amazing Grace” and the man born blind can say, “I was blind but now I see.”
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Msgr. Joseph Prior is pastor of Our Lady of Grace Parish in Penndel and a former professor of Sacred Scripture and rector of St. Charles Borromeo Seminary. Read more reflections by Msgr. Prior here.
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