Lent Four. Year A. 2nd March, 2008

Coming to new sight in Christ.   Lent Four. Year A. 2^nd March, 2008.

 

I love this weekend’s first reading.   it is such a visually descriptive passage……  I remember a few years back (in another parish)… I was invited to come along and be part of a session in a school retreat camp and then celebrate mass with the students.   The session before the mass, was a creative exploration of the scriptures…. and one little vignette was this reading of Samuel searching for the suitable leader -  many apparently suitable candidates come foreward…  who look and seem like they would be suitable…  but God passes by them all until God insists on them going out and getting the forgotten son still working as a shepherd in the fields… and this is David… the one who is chosen by God to be King of Isreal……..

 

In the retreat session, we devised a rather fun role play where the prophet Samuel would stand there like a talent show judge…… and as each of the sons of eli would come forward, (each of them full of confidence, or money, or bravado……..)……….as if it was like a fashion show catwalk or something…..… but one by one….they would all get “gonged” offstage…..    the point of this little vignette… is that humans look at appearances…..  but God sees into the heart…..  and knows where true substance lies…..

 

but, For us humans….    aren’t many things in life more like an audition for Australian idol or big brother… where people vote on how you come across… and use often very dodgy, very arbitrary standards to assess a person’s worth… and it has all too much with outer appearances…. and surface qualities…..   speaking of that… I once watched an episode of Australian idol and there was a rather good singer auditioning on it……    but they hit a couple of poor notes…  having to sing it unaccompanied…..  anyway, the judge came on and said…  ‘your singing was awful… you are terrible.’ That made me very annoyed… I though to myself…. ‘now come on, that judge should know better… that singing was not terrible at all…. they hit a couple of bad notes… that does not mean they can’t sing….  what singer hasn’t hit a wrong note in their time…..’   ridiculous…  but it made good television……     your whole “worth” judged by a few measly pieces of cobbled-together information…… and voted on by the whim of the masses…….      how far from the way God thinks and acts…….  (thank goodness)…..   if we were to do a phone vote of suitable leaders to be chosen by God……  then King David would never have been voted in…..    John the Baptist would have been voted off the show in the first episode…..    St Peter would have been considered too weak, too unsuitable. …. Saint Paul … well, he would never have made the short-list…. he had a history of persecuting people and can he really be trusted???   …  is he really on our side now??.,……   the list goes on and on….    God does not judge by appearances but looks into the heart and sees us as we really are…. and loves us…..

 

The first reading is really good for another reason….  When david is chosen by God, God commands the prophet Samuel to break open a container of oil and pour it over his head…..   ANOINTING him ….as King of the people….  this symbolism of anointing is powerful… ((in the play, when God chooses David, we then wanted to show the power of the symbol of anointing with oil…. so we thought about having the stage so we could actually pour a whole bottle over someone’s head… but we decided that was a bad idea and may not be a nice experience… (although I would have been happy to have the oil poured over me,.. the effect would be very visually dramatic and powerfull..  it would SHOW… the effect of God’s spirit of generosity and power being poured down onto us……)… so (instead) ….we had a bottle that had sparkly dry tinsel in it and the actor playing Samuel poured this thing representing oil and it glistened as it flowed down onto the head of the newly appointed DAVID………and it was quite effective……   and dramatic)…….…

 

We use this symbol of anointing in our rituals even today…..    anointing with oil… is a symbol of appointing, consecrating, commissioning and sending a person into mission.   This anointing oil is a symbol of royalty and leadership……   Even the name Christ, derives from the name “the anointed one”     and we are all united and commissioned to be joined to Jesus who is THE anointed one.. the Messiah and God the son….

 

In baptism we use oil of chrism to join the baptized to Jesus who is THE priest, prophet and King……   in confirmation, we confirm the gifts of the spirit in bapatism… and commission, send and appoint the newly confirmed to be witnesses of Christ in their daily lives and vocations…..   to be united with Christ in living the good news….. 

 

  In the Gospel, the man born blind is shown coming not only to physical sight, but also coming to a clearer and clearer vision of faith… the man first thinks that Jesus is just a wonderful man who helped him… but as he goes along, he thinks of him as the messiah.. and finally as God’s son….     He suffers taunts and questions but stands firm….    this man stands as a wonderful example of discipleship….  of endurance and trusting in what God is doing.. the legalists around him become more and more disappointing… they are clearly blind and their hearts and minds are not only closed, they are antagonistic… their own responses bring them into disrepute….  

 

A sobering lesson is here for everyone…  this man whom people judged to be a sinner, had understood the truth and meaning of Jesus better than the experts in the law. They could not get past their prejudices and pre-formed judgements of this man as a sinner and a lowly nobody… so they would not listen to his experience.. they would not give him the time of day…..   but he had the enlightenment of Christ in him…..    May the Lord help us to see beyond appearances, avoid jumping to conclusions based on outward things….  and help us to be open to everyone around us….    open to hear the good news in the most surprising places.. and people…