March 15 | Lent 4, Year A
1 Samuel 16:1-13
Psalm 23
Ephesians 5:8-14
John 9:1-41
God tells Samuel to go to the house of Jesse the Bethlehemite and anoint his son as King Saul’s replacement. The problem for Samuel is how to choose which son it will be. Samuel goes to Bethlehem with a vision of the proper appearance of a king.
His criteria, however, were rejected by God. Samuel is forbidden to anoint the eldest, tallest, strongest, or best-looking—rather, he was to anoint the youngest son who was performing the necessary but least esteemed task of watching the sheep. As the Lord said to Samuel, “the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”
Our eyes cannot see the heart. But if we are to see what God sees, we need to train our hearts to see the hearts of others. Only the content of a person’s heart reveals whether we are dealing with a whitewashed sepulcher or a battered cask of buried treasure. A person’s real nature can only be found in the heart.
If we are blind to what is in the heart, then how can we discern the nature of our neighbor? Samuel was able to see because the Lord gave him sight. Just as a person who is blind needs a guide to perceive his environment, we who are spiritually blind need a spiritual guide so that we can see what is eternally real. Like Samuel, we need to turn to God to overcome our spiritual blindness. If we are open to God’s direction and voice, we will be able to discern the Truth.
Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind.” The scales on our eyes are the cataracts of sin. We only see what we want to see and what we think is best for us. In reality, we are born blind. So when we say, “We see,” it is an affirmation of our sin because we are declaring our independence from God. The only way to remove sin is to confess that we have sinned and ask God to remove it. Only Jesus can remove our sin, and only Jesus can give us godly sight.
St. Paul tells us that God will bring us from darkness to light if we acknowledge our blindness and try to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. It was not Samuel who discerned whom to anoint. It was God who showed him. But both Samuel and the blind man were able to see only after they did what the Lord commanded them to do. The prophet went to Bethlehem and did what he was told to do. It was in Samuel’s obedience that God gave him sight. Likewise, Jesus treated the blind man, but it was not until the man obediently went to the pool and washed that he was given his sight. If we are to see what God sees, we too must train our hearts to see through the discipline of obeying God’s will.
Look It Up: John 9:35-41
Think About It: While a blind person can be healed by being given his sight, seeing persons must first turn back to the light before their “blindness” can be healed.
The Rev. Dr. Chuck Alley, former rector of St. Matthew’s Church in Richmond, Virginia, teaches anatomy at Virginia Commonwealth University Medical School.
