{"id":1051,"date":"2020-03-20T09:04:29","date_gmt":"2020-03-20T09:04:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/?p=1051"},"modified":"2020-03-20T09:04:29","modified_gmt":"2020-03-20T09:04:29","slug":"22-march-2020-a-fourth-sunday-of-lent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/?p=1051","title":{"rendered":"22 March 2020 (A) Fourth Sunday of Lent"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A. The bible<\/em> as Guide in Life and Liturgy (Sunday Readings)<\/em><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

B.\nReflection & Dialogue:<\/em><\/strong> Jesus and the Church the light of the world.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0A. The Bible as Guide in Life and Liturgy (Sunday Readings). <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

First Reading<\/em> (1 Samuel 16:1,6-7,10-13). David is anointed king of Israel. <\/em>This reading tells how\nGod chose the youthful David, son of Jesse, as king. He sent the prophet Samuel\nto anoint David. It is from the Hebrew word for \u201canoint\u201d, mashach <\/em>through the Greek that the word \u201cChrist\u201d (\u201canointed\u201d)\ncomes, while the Hebrew itself has given us the word \u201cMessiah\u201d. By a word from\nGod Samuel had already anointed Saul as king of the northern tribes of Israel, but\nSaul had failed as king and was set aside by God. This present reading stresses\nthat God freely chose David, not because of any particular physical traits on\nDavid\u2019s part. This anointing of David was really only a symbolic act which\nwould take effect only years later. David spent some time serving in Saul\u2019s\narmy before his own clan elected him as king of Judah. After the death of Saul he\nwas elected as king over the united kingdoms\nof Judah and Israel.\nGod made a covenant with David that his dynasty would last forever, and despite\nthe vicissitudes of history this faith and this hope led to the messianic\nexpectation which was fulfilled in Jesus. That anointing of the youthful David,\nson of Jesse, by Samuel gave rise to the age-long expectation for the coming of\nthe Son of David which will have its reply by Jesus, the Son of Man, who in\ntoday\u2019s gospel reading tells the man cured of his blindness concerning himself:\n\u201cHe is speaking to you\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Responsorial\nPsalm <\/em>(Psalm 22[23]).\nThe Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing\nI shall want.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second\nReading <\/em>(Ephesians\n5:8-14). Rise from the dead and Christ\nwill shine on you<\/em>. Jesus told his disciples that they were the salt of the\nearth and the light of the world. The early Church took these words of Jesus\nseriously, as is clear from the letters of Paul and the other New Testament\nwritings. This message of Christ was to be proclaimed both in the teaching and\nthe practise of Church life. Most of the early converts came from paganism, and\nthis, with its beliefs and practices, were regarded as darkness. This approach\nwas expressed in the rites of baptism which was presented as a passage from the\ndarkness of paganism to the light of the Gospel, or perhaps rather as union\nwith Christ who was the life and light. This new Christian life was to bear\nwitness to the world of the Gospel values, a new life that would show forth the\neffects of the Christian light, seen in complete goodness and right living and\ntruth. The implications of these principles would have been spelled out in the\ncatechesis with an indication of the virtues to be practiced and the vices and\nweaknesses to be avoided. There is stress on transparency. Christians should be\naware of the evils in the world on which the Gospel truths shed light, but, by\nimplication, also of the weaknesses and sins in the Christian community itself.\nAt the end of the reading there is a verse, or half-verse, most probably taken\nfrom an ancient Christian hymn, now lost, possibly a baptismal hymn. At baptism\nit would have been addressed to the new converts to awake from the sleep, or\nmetaphorically from the death, of their former life to the new Christian life\nenlightened by Christ. For Christians in their post-baptismal life, the hymn could\nserve as a call to awaken from torpor to a new awakened life in the light of\nChrist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Gospel <\/em>(John\n9:1-41). The blind man went off and\nwashed himself, and came away with his sight restored. <\/em>Today\u2019s Gospel\nreading is a lengthy one, in which there are different episodes, linked\ntogether by a central theme which is Christ as the light of the world. It is\ntaken from John\u2019s Gospel, and this evangelist tends to narrate at two levels,\nlinking an earthly episode with a religious interpretation. This was so in last\nSunday\u2019s reading about the Samaritan, the well of Jacob and the water of life\nthat Jesus would give to believers. The reading today is about the man born\nblind and Jesus as the light. In the mind of many in the time of Jesus (and\npossibly in that of some still today) physical deformity was seen to be caused\nby sin, whether of the parents, or of the sufferer, in this case of the child\nstill in the womb. Jesus denies that this was so, and says that in this case\nthe blindness is for the glory of God which will be revealed in the healing to\ncome. Jesus then gives the theme of this episode in his words that as long as\nhe is in the world he is the light of the world. It was thought at that time\nthat spittle had some medicinal qualities. In keeping with this Jesus mixes mud\nwith his saliva and put the paste over the blind man\u2019s eyes, without effecting\na cure. He tells the blind man to go to the well-known pool in Jerusalem called Siloam, where he would be\nhealed. John is careful to point out that this name means \u201cSent\u201d, in Hebrew and\nAramaic (from the verb shalach<\/em>). For\nJohn, of course, the real Siloam, \u201cSent\u201d, is Jesus, the one sent by the Father.\nAfter the blind man was healed questions follow as to how it happened,\nquestions among his neighbours and friends, then among the Pharisees, one of whose\nconcerns was the Sabbath rest, apparently violated by this healing which took\nplace on a Sabbath. In all this the healed person bore witness to Jesus who\nhealed him, as a man of God, to whom God listens. For him he was a prophet. The\n\u201cJews\u201d, that is the religious authorities, then call in the parents of their\nhealed son to get an explanation, as to whether he was their son and if so how\nhis sight was restored. They affirm the first, but are wise enough to tell\ntheir questioners to ask their son himself with regard to the second, knowing\n(in John\u2019s telling) that expulsion from the synagogue was decreed against\nanyone who professed faith in Jesus. (In the early years of the Church in Judea this was a reality.) The Jews next call on the man\nhimself who was blind to give his evidence. He bears glowing evidence to Jesus,\nwhich infuriates the \u201cJews\u201d who drove him away. Jesus heard of this and sought\nhim out. When he found him, Jesus presented himself to the man who had been\nblind as the Son of Man, asking if he believed in the Son of Man. On being informed\nby Jesus that he himself was the Son of Man the cured man believed and\nworshipped Jesus. He was the example of one who had come from physical and\nmoral blindness to faith in Jesus. The reading ends more or less as it began,\nwith an affirmation by Jesus that his coming into the world as light also brings\njudgment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

B.\nReflection & Dialogue<\/em><\/strong>: Jesus and the Church the light of the world.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Three clear points emerge from today\u2019s liturgy\nand readings and they give rich material for reflection on Christian life and\nour dialogue with the age in which we live.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

             The first is that Christ is the light of the\nworld. It is for this purpose that he has been sent into our world by his\nheavenly Father. He was \u201cthe One Sent\u201d, the Siloam, who cured the man born\nblind. He came so that the world might have a vision of the glory of the\nFather. That is clear from today\u2019s Gospel reading, and from many other places\nin the New Testament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            The second point is that all this is\nnot just for the lifetime of Jesus on earth. He chose apostles and disciples so\nthat the Good News would be proclaimed to the ends of the earth, and to the end\nof time. The followers of Jesus are sent out to be the light of the world and\nthe salt of the earth. That is how the Church understood and preached the\nGospel from the beginning. The Church is the universal sacrament and mystery of\nsalvation in its teaching and in the lives of the faithful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            This takes us to the third point:\nthe dialogue of the Church with herself and with the world of our own day. The\nchurch must constantly renew herself, to live as the second reading calls for,\nfrom a Christian light that is seen in complete goodness and right living and\ntruth. Very often today when mention is made of Church renewal, renewal of\nchurch structures is what is intended, especially of the Vatican and its\ncuria. While such reform is called for, where necessary, the renewal in keeping\nwith today\u2019s reading is not quite that. Rather is this renewal in question a change\nin the minds and religious practices of the faithful in keeping with the Gospel\nmessage, to bear witness to Christ, the light, in the world in which we live. A\nmatter worth mentioning here in the question of dialogue with our age, but one\nnot to be developed here now, is that many moderns believe that what New\nTestament readings and Christians regard as light, are in their view darkness,\nold-fashioned views and practices.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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