March 18 Lenten Reflection: Samuel's search for David

Today is the 4th Sunday of Lent, and one where we slowly approach the Easter mysteries.

The readings today are about the Samuel searching for the king of Israel, David, and Jesus healing the blind man.

Samuel is an interesting character in the Bible narrative.  A child of the tribe of Levi, his pregnancy was a miraculous pregnancy, and his name means 'The name of God.'  Samuel would go on to be the judge of many people and problems, and the last.  For Samuel was sent by God to find who would be the King of Israel, and he found David, after Jesse presents his seven sons as worthy to be king, Samuel asks if there is another, and when David appears, Samuel knows David will be the beginning of the line of kings, into the New Testament.  And when Samuel anoints David with oil, "the spirit of the LORD rushed upon David" and from that point on, his life changed, and he had his first true experience of God.

In the New Testament reading, Jesus cured the blind man on the Sabbath.  And the Pharisees, who were suspicious of Jesus' miracle (perhaps rightly so) said that performing miracles on the Sabbath is a sin. But the crowd replied 'How could a sinful man have cured this man?"  And I take from this what the crowd really meant was 'How could it be a sin to make a man whole again and restore his life?"

And the Pharisees denounced this miracle, and the family of the one who was blind, so that they were thrown out of the temple.  Jesus meets them on the road, and says to them:

"I came into this world for judgment,
so that those who do not see might see,
and those who do see might become blind."

And at this point, Jesus is saying that he plans to upend the structure that currently exists in the world, and he is pointing out the problems that exist in the temple:

 Some of the Pharisees who were with him heard this
and said to him, "Surely we are not also blind, are we?"
Jesus said to them,
"If you were blind, you would have no sin;
but now you are saying, 'We see,' so your sin remains.


All of this connects very well, to today' second reading, which is Eph 5:8-14:

Brothers and sisters:
You were once darkness,
but now you are light in the Lord.
Live as children of light,
for light produces every kind of goodness
and righteousness and truth.
Try to learn what is pleasing to the Lord.
Take no part in the fruitless works of darkness;
rather expose them, for it is shameful even to mention
the things done by them in secret;
but everything exposed by the light becomes visible,
for everything that becomes visible is light.
Therefore, it says:
"Awake, O sleeper,
and arise from the dead,
and Christ will give you light."

 

And here the darkness and light imagery (which has caused much trouble and confusion throughout Christian history and doctrine) are used to explain sin, seeing, and blindness.  For the ones who sin are blind to the truth, and the ones who are anointed, are listening and following the calling of God, shall see.  And the process of seeing involves a kind of spiritual learning of know what is pleasing to the Lord and what is not.

I was particularly taken with the second reading today, and felt it's complexity as it was read.  Because part of exposing things to the light is not to speak of them, or to argue people or activities that are fruitless, but instead to focus on what produces a spiritual harvest.