In today’s Gospel, Jesus cures a man on the Sabbath.  The man is given the ability to walk again.

Jesus’ ability to do that is founded in who he is.  This is something that many of the Jews failed to recognize.

Jesus came upon many people there who were lame, blind, or otherwise suffering physically.  He could have cured them all. He cured one so that all might choose to believe.  But he was able to cure because he is God. 

The laws regarding the Sabbath were given by God for the benefit of the Jews.   It is absurdity to try to force God to act within the limits of these laws given to his creatures.  The only reason why one would expect Jesus to comply with these laws is because one does not recognize his divinity. 

We do not read verses 17-18 as part of the Gospel today, but they really summarize the issue of Jesus and the Sabbath.  Jesus says:

“My Father is at work until now, so I am at work.”  For this reason, the Jews tried all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the sabbath, but he also called God his own father, making himself equal to God.

Not only do they not recognize Jesus’ divinity, they regard his claim of divinity as blasphemy. 

God transcends the laws regarding the Sabbath.  They exist to get us to take the time to worship God and to rest.  These are human needs.  God has no such needs.

Right now, it seems that our Sabbath is potentially every day.  At the same time, it is possible that we disregard the Sabbath completely.  Even in the midst of the disruptions today, we still need to take a day to worship God and to rest from our other concerns, even if we cannot gather in church.  We need to have a day focused on the Lord. 

Today’s Gospel includes what is usually called the Second Sign at Cana.  In Cana, a royal official whose son was ill in Capernaum asked Jesus to come with him to heal his son.  Jesus tells him that he may go back himself and that his son will live.  The official meets his slaves on the way back.  They tell him of the cure and when it happened.  The official realizes that his son was cured at the exact moment that Jesus had told him that his son would live.

Every parent takes great care to protect their children physically.  They buy helmets and other safety gear.  They often keep them within sight for their protection.  Some might even drive their cars differently because their children are with them.  If they are sick, parents will search endlessly for a solution.  Some might even travel the country to get them the best medical care possible.

This father that we hear about is no different.  He has undoubtedly heard of Jesus as a healer.  He comes to him desperately seeking a cure for his child. 

This cure, though, is given as a sign.  Not as a promise of an end to suffering.  Rather as a sign that we might believe.  It is a sign of the divinity of Jesus.  Jesus did not cure everyone.  He cured some so that all might believe. 

As parents, physical safety for your children should be a priority.  All parents have a responsibility there.

But all parents also have a responsibility for the spiritual safety of their children.  To ensure that their children are formed in the faith.  It is not something that they have to do alone.  The Church offers assistance.  Religious education, youth groups, and VBS are some examples.  But the primary responsibility belongs to the parents.  It is a responsibility to which they committed at their children’s Baptism. 

The greatest way to fulfill this responsibility is to be a role model for living the faith.  Attending Mass faithfully (outside of our current restrictions).  Praying in a serious way daily.  Placing religious articles throughout the home as reminders of the faith.  Even enthroning a Bible in a prominent place. 

We all know that children do what we do more than they do what we say.  We ourselves see how we often morph into our parents as we mature.  Parents’ behavior forms their children.

In what ways do parents ensure the physical well-being of their children?  In what ways can they ensure their spiritual well-being?  If our children become like us spiritually, will that help them toward becoming saints?

Today is Laetare Sunday.  The first words to the Introit or Entrance Antiphon are “Rejoice, Jerusalem.”  Laetare is Latin for “rejoice.”  It comes from Isaiah 66:10.  Of course, most churches use an entrance hymn in lieu of the Entrance Antiphon.

Why do we rejoice at this time?  Because, regardless of what is happening to us in this life, we have the Lord.  No matter our current suffering, the Lord is with us.  Our faith gives us hope.  And, the Good News needs to be shared.  One portion of which we see today in the Gospel.

A blind man is cured.  But, notice how he participates in the cure.  Jesus could have simply cured him on the spot.  Instead, he makes a clay paste that he smears on the man’s eyes?  Is he cured?  Not yet!  He is first commanded to go wash in the pool of Siloam.  The man’s response?  Given by four Greek verbs that we see translated here.  “he went and washed, and came back able to see.”  Or seeing.

The man responded immediately.  There was no question.  No doubts expressed.  Jesus said to do it.  He did it.  His immediate, and some would say radical, response was rewarded.

And so, we get into a contrast in faith between the man and the Pharisees.  The man grows in his faith.  He is now not only able to see physically.  He is growing in his ability to see with the eyes of faith.  The Pharisees, by contrast, start in a hole, to use another analogy.  And choose to keep digging.  You expect Jesus to tell them to put down the shovel.  Not that they would listen.

And so, the Pharisees’ spiritual blindness only worsens. 

And, even more so than the Samaritan woman at the well last week, the formerly blind man comes to see very clearly.

The man starts off with no idea who Jesus is.  Apparently not even asking to be cured.  This stranger just comes up, spits on the ground, makes some sort of paste, smears it over the man’s eyes, and tells him to go wash it off.  Amazing.

After his cure, the man’s first response is to tell his neighbors that he has no idea who Jesus is.

Then, he tells the Pharisees that Jesus must be a prophet.

After his parents throw him under the bus with the Pharisees for fear of being expelled from the synagogue, the man is called back.  He tells the Pharisees that Jesus must be doing God’s will and must be from God.  And…the Pharisees then threw him out.  What his parents wanted to avoid for themselves.

Jesus goes and finds him.  Not just happens to see him.  Goes and seeks him out.  And Jesus’ first words to him are “do you believe in the Son of Man?”  The man says that he wants to believe and asks Jesus to help him find the Son of Man.  Jesus say that he is the Son of Man. 

Earlier in the Gospel of John, Jesus had said several things about the Son of Man.  The one upon whom angels will be descending and ascending when heaven opens.  The one who has descended from heaven himself.  The one who gives us the food of eternal life….when we eat his flesh and drink his blood.  The one who will ascend to where he was before. 

And the man’s response to Jesus?  He says, “I do believe, Lord,” and he worshiped him.  Remember.  Who do we worship?  The saints?  The Blessed Mother?  No, only God.  The formerly blind man worshipped Jesus.

We too worship Jesus.  Not just in an intangible form.  No, in the Eucharist.  If the Eucharist really is Jesus, then the Eucharist is God.  And, we can worship the Eucharist.  Until this past week, how did we do that?  We went to Adoration. 

Yes, Eucharistic Adoration is also called Worship of the Eucharist Outside of Mass.  That is part of the title of the little brown book that defines the rules for Adoration.  We have a copy in the vesting sacristy.

This is a parish that has been blessed to have had Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration.  At some point, our isolation due to this COVID-19 virus will be over.  Eucharistic Adoration will return.  We will be able to come into this chapel again to worship our Lord in the Eucharist.  I pray that we will not take that opportunity for granted.  That we will all come together to give thanks for the end to this crisis.  That Mary Hartwell will be overwhelmed by the number of people asking to schedule time before our Lord.  Out of sheer gratitude for what our Lord has done for us.

When that day comes, what will I do?  Will my response be “I do believe, Lord.”  And will I too worship him in the Eucharist?

Today, we hear of the Pharisee and the tax collector who went up to the temple area to pray.  The self-righteous Pharisee says, “‘O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity — greedy, dishonest, adulterous — or even like this tax collector.” 

By contrast, the tax collector says, “O God, be merciful to me a sinner.”

It was the tax collector who went away justified.

This is another reminder of the importance of a balanced view of who we are before God.

On the one hand, we are made in the image of God (see Gen 1:27).

On the other hand, we are sinners in need of a Savior (see Mt 1:21).

If we hold to the first while ignoring the second, we likely fall into the sin of pride.

If we hold to the second while ignoring the first, we can fall into the sin of despair.

We need to hold both together.  We respond to God with great gratitude for being made in his image.  We also acknowledge our own sinfulness and continually ask for God’s mercy.

The tax collector’s words here are used by the Orthodox in the Jesus Prayer that they repeatedly pray:  “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.”  Not a bad practice for us either, whether repeating it in silent prayer or as we go about our day.  But, we also remember to give thanks for being made in God’s image.

Love of God and love of neighbor is worth more than burnt sacrifices.

The Jewish people offered these sacrifices to show their commitment to God.

But, when the sacrifices became what it was all about rather than signifying something within their hearts, then they were missing the point.

God wants our hearts. He wants us…all of us. Wholly and completely. There are no material offerings that we can make to compensate for an unwillingness to offer ourselves. Our willingness to offer material offerings show the extent to which we are willing to offer ourselves.

In Scripture, this point is made several times:
– Sacrifice and offering you do not want; you opened my ears. Holocaust and sin-offering you do not request; (Psalm 40:7)
– For you do not desire sacrifice or I would give it; a burnt offering you would not accept. (Psalm 51:18)
– For it is loyalty that I desire, not sacrifice, and knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. (Hosea 6:6)
– For this reason, when he came into the world, he said: “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; holocausts and sin offerings you took no delight in. (Hebrews 10:5-6)

What is in our hearts? Do we love God with everything we have? More than anything else? Or, do we attend to God after our other concerns have been met?

The angel tells Joseph that this child will “will save his people from their sins.”

The Jewish people were awaiting the Messiah. They had visions of a greater version of King David. One who would gather the twelve tribes into a greater kingdom than what had been in David’s time. They wanted to see the Romans kicked out. They wanted a new earthly power not subject to any others.

Today, when we think of a savior, we might think of someone who will eradicate human suffering. We might look for someone to eliminate all injustice from this world. Important, yes. But, most important?

Here, the angel says that he will save his people from their sins.

This is what God wants for us. This is what God wants us to understand as most important. Freedom from sin and restoration of our relationship with God is why we were sent a savior.

We are his people. We belong to God. We do not belong to ourselves or to our own desires. We do not fulfill our purpose in doing our own will, but in doing the will of God.

Is God what is most important in our life? Is our relationship with God the most important relationship in our life? Do we seek healing from sin as much as we seek healing from physical illness or injury?

Jesus tells us in today’s Gospel reading, ““Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.” What does that mean?

The Ten Commandments are invaluable and divinely revealed. Following the Ten Commandments is a proper moral response to God. They are largely a set of prohibitions that keep us from straying from a moral path.

But, where does that path lead? Where are we really headed?

Our final end is entering into the joy of the Lord. To see God face to face.

Jesus becomes the fulfillment of the Old Law with the New Covenant established by God in Jesus. He becomes our destination in the journey that is this life. The Ten Commandments become aids to us on that journey. Following the Commandments means not running our car into the ditch on our life’s journey. But, they are not the destination for the journey.

Jesus gives us a New Covenant that is a law of love, grace, and freedom. Not a freedom to do anything, but a freedom to do the right thing. A freedom for excellence. A freedom from sin.

How Jesus fulfills the Old Law is seen in the Greatest Commandment. This focus on love of God and neighbor is the positive focus that can lead us further than a negative focus on prohibitions. Especially as revealed in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus gives us an interior law of charity that is focused on what is in our hearts rather than an exterior law focused on our actions.

Are we open to our participation in this New Covenant? Are we open to the grace that helps us to live it? Are we attentive to the things of our heart? Or, do we only pay attention to the quality of our exterior actions? Do we allow ourselves to participate in this law of love? To receive God’s love? To reflect that love to others?

Why does Jesus ask us to forgive without limit? Not seven times, but (depending on your translation) seventy-seven times or seventy times seven times? A number that signified infinity. Because it is the right thing to do? Because it is the model that our Lord showed to us in forgiving those who crucified him? Because, it is the model that he showed in offering his life for our sake?

Yes, but also, as with so much else that God asks us to do, because it is good for us.

When someone wrongs us, they commit an injustice against us. Justice requires that they then owe something to us. They are indebted to us because of what they have done to us.

When we forgive, we do what the king did originally. We release the debtor from their debts. We let go of what they rightly owe to us.

Perhaps more importantly, we move on from the injustice that had been committed. Rather than retain an accounting of the offenses committed against us, we turn away and move on.

Does the one forgiven even care that we forgave? Perhaps not. Whether or not the offender feels released in being forgiven, the reality is that the offended person is released by forgiving. They can put down the burden of any resentment or anger that they might have felt. And, they are able to get on with their lives.

Will the one who forgives completely forget what was done? Likely not. Will they necessarily restart their relationship with the one who offended them? Prudence might dictate otherwise. But forgiveness allows healing to replace resentment.

In our relationships with others, forgiveness benefits the one who forgives. Perhaps much more than it benefits the one who was forgiven.