Respect

4^th Sunday of Lent – Cycle A

1 Samuel 6: 1b, 6-7, 10-13a; 

Ephesians 5: 8-14; 

John 9: 1-41

 

The comedian Rodney Dangerfield was famous for his line, “I get no respect.” One of the self-effacing stories he told was how as a child he got lost at the state fair. Feeling desperate, he found a policeman and asked for help in locating his parents. After searching for a while, Rodney asks the policeman, “Do you think we will find my parents?” The officer replies, “I don't know, kid – there are so many places where they could hide.”

“I get no respect.”

Today's readings teach us something about respect. Not respect as in Rodney's meaning but the alternative meaning. The word “respect” comes from a Latin word which means to look back at or to look at a second time. In other words, to look more closely, more deeply. That is the kind of respect that God reveals in today's readings.

In the first reading from Samuel, we hear a wonderful example of God's respect. Jesse presents his sons, one by one, to Samuel, whose purpose is to anoint the future king of Israel. Samuel speaks of God's respect so clearly: “Not as man sees does God see, because man sees the appearance but the Lord looks into the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7)

What a freeing moment it is when we realize that God looks at the heart. If each of us were able to see the world as God sees, the possibilities would be endless. We would see each other as children of God and respect would be something freely given. There would be no need to earn respect. It would already be there! God has true respect for each of us. God cannot stop gazing lovingly upon His creation. Our challenge is to see each other and the world as God sees it.

We all want to have that kind of vision. We want to get beyond our prejudices, our biases and our fears and see our world as God does. This is a part of our longing to be a holy people. But how do we do it?

The answer lies in the story from today's gospel of the man healed of his blindness. The story teaches us that it is only by coming to faith in Jesus Christ that our vision can be fully restored.

This is a story intended specifically for the members of our community who will be entering the church at Easter – our elect and candidates. Depictions of this story appear seven times in the catacombs of Rome. The depictions are always associated with baptism. This story is about enlightenment, about seeing more clearly, about respect.

The blind man was not a respected man of the community. If anyone noticed him at all, it was to step around him on the way to wherever they were going. But Jesus noticed him. He sent him to wash in the waters of Siloam, reminding us of our own baptism. Jesus not only cured the man's physical affliction, but also awakened in him a faith in Christ. Notice that when he is first asked who healed him, the man replies: “The man called Jesus” did it; later, he says of Jesus, “He is a prophet.” Still later he acknowledges Jesus as the Son of Man. And finally he says simply, “I do believe Lord.” And he worshiped him. This is a synopsis our our growth in faith, growth that takes us a lifetime.

So how do we come to see as God sees? We Do it by drawing closer to Christ in faith. It begins with baptism but it is a lifelong process of giving our hearts to Christ. An intellectual knowledge of the historical Jesus is not enough. An acknowledgment of Jesus as a prophet, as a teacher, as a role model is not enough. It is only when we are able to say “Jesus is Lord,” and mean it, that we can make that breakthrough into seeing as God does. Then we experience true respect.

Deacon Darryl J. Diemer

Fourth Sunday Of Lent

March 6, 2016

Painting: "Healing The Man Born Blind" by Duccio, 1311.