First thing — full disclosure — I tend to not take stories of miracles that appear in scripture literally. I regard them as metaphors that still convey deep and profound truths. That said...
Today’s Gospel continues the story of a man, blind from birth, who has been given the gift of sight by Jesus, and promptly becomes a target of several fearful religious leaders (he does, however, manage to throw a little snark in their direction), is thrown under the bus by his own parents, and basically excommunicated from his faith community. Quite an afternoon!
He is nameless in the scripture, so let’s call this guy Mike for ease of discussion.
Mike understandably could spend the rest of the day just feasting on the visual kaleidoscope around him, but there is more here than simply seeing. Mike also seems to be grasping the big picture. Even before Jesus reveals to him just who he is, Mike has decided to become a disciple of this man who gave him sight because he believes that Jesus is "from God." Mike seems to understand that he has been given a great gift and now needs to pursue something bigger than himself. He has a calling.
I guess we all need to learn to look beyond ourselves. Thank you, Mike!
The Readings
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