In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit!
In the 6th week after Pascha, we hear the Gospel reading about the healing of the man born blind. Since his birth, this person has not seen the light. And here comes Christ to heal him. He makes clay from spit, anoints the blind man’s eyes with it, and sends him to the pool of Siloam to wash. And after washing, the blind man can see.
It is a marvelous miracle! This person has spent his whole life in darkness and suddenly sees the sunlight. A joyful event? Undoubtedly. But also, somewhat sad. Because in the end, his eyes will close again, the sunlight will fade for him, and the healed eyes will eventually perish. No, this is not true healing, nor true light, if this healing and this light will come to an end. The miracles that Christ performed were only a testimony about Him, as He Himself says: “the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me” (Jn.5:36). That is why He does not immediately heal the blind man but sends him to the pool of Siloam, “which is by interpretation, Sent” (Jn.9:7). However, Christ did not truly come only for these deeds. He did not come to grant us temporary healing and temporary health. Christ came for a much more important purpose: to heal our immortal soul, to bestow upon us spiritual insight, thanks to which we will be able to see not only the temporary beauty of this world but the eternal Divine light.
In this sense, we are also born blind. Our physical eyes see, but our mind—the eye of our soul—has been dwelling in the darkness of ignorance since birth, in the bondage of sensual pleasures and the captivity of passions. We have received holy Baptism, in which the original sin of our forefather Adam was washed away, we confess our sins, partake in the Holy Mysteries of the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, and yet we still remain in darkness. Why?
It has been five weeks since Great Lent, when during the Presanctified Liturgy, we hear the priest proclaim, “The Light of Christ enlightens all!” At that moment, everyone in the church falls down on their knees, expecting healing, expecting their minds to be enlightened by this light of Christ, expecting to see the light. The healing is offered to all: “The Light of Christ enlightens all!” Yet, we remain in darkness. Why?
If Christ grants us enlightenment, and we are not healed, it is evident that we are not accepting this healing. It all depends on us. We do not want to see. We reject Christ. “How can we not want? – you may wonder. – We do not reject! We want!” In words, yes. But in reality, we want and seek something entirely different. Each person wants something of their own, anything but God. If we were truly seeking God, our minds would be directed towards seeking His light, seeking healing. Unfortunately, our minds are attached to earthly matters, to our endless tasks, our plans, our desires. Our minds are rooted in our own knowledge, our opinions, our perspectives. It is constantly preoccupied with all these things, and it has no concern for God. That is why we remain blind.
“God is light” (1 John 1:5). And if we have no concern for God, it means we have no concern for light either. Therefore, we “loved darkness rather than light” (John 3:19). And that is why we are not healed. So, what should we do to change this situation? The answer is simple: we need to repent. Repentance (μετάνοια – a change) can change the situation. But for that, we need to change our mind. We need to detach it from the earthly and turn them towards heaven. “How can we do that?” you may ask. The Apostle Paul answers this question: “If anyone thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know” (1 Corinthians 8:2). Forget everything you know, reject your own opinions, get rid of your own point of view. Change the course of your thoughts. All our human knowledge and opinions are nothing but the darkness of spiritual ignorance in which we dwell, hiding from the Divine light. “A pure mind is the one,” writes St. Maximus the Confessor, “that has come out of ignorance and is enlightened by the Divine light” (First Century on Love, 33). That’s when healing begins to take effect. When our minds are purified, then they start to see the light of Christ. “But if any man love God”, the Apostle continues his thought, “the same is known of him (In Rus translation: he receives knowledge from Him)” (1Co.8:3). This way one receives Divine knowledge, not human. The Divine light does not penetrate through human knowledge, and any self-opinion closes the doors of love to us.
Judge for yourself why we have all these quarrels, discontentment, condemnation, and conflicts? It’s because everyone has their own opinion, and by defending or expressing it, they enter into conflict with their neighbor. Because our neighbors also have their own opinion, usually different from ours. And conflict is always opposition, contradiction, and warfare. Quarreling against our neighbor deprives us of peace, joy, and love, which Paul speaks of as the fruits of the spirit: “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace” (Galatians 5:22). But who needs such “wisdom”, such knowledge based on one’s own opinion, which clouds the mind and keeps it in spiritual blindness? Truly, “If anyone thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know” (1 Corinthians 8:2). But how should we understand everything? By loving.
Because all knowledge that is not from God, acquired outside of His love, is not true light but darkness. Freed from our own opinions, experiences, and knowledge, we distance ourselves from this darkness of ignorance and open our minds to receive the Divine light, which, penetrating the soul through the eye of the mind, enlightens it with Divine wisdom and teaches love. The love that “seeketh not her own” (1 Corinthians 13:5), but prefers the will and opinion of the neighbor, agrees with him in everything except sin, and thus abides with him in peace.
This is the true healing of the born blind: “He that loves his brother abides in the light” (1 John 2:10). Christ offers this healing to all of us. It is here. They are here, our relatives and neighbors. Look at them with love. Stop arguing, quarreling, and warring with them. Stop demanding that they do what you want, that they think as you think. Free them from the bondage of your “self”, release them to freedom. Let them do as they wish, even if it seems wrong to you. But what can seem wrong to us if we have rid ourselves of our own opinions and no longer know anything, having placed all our trust in God? Moreover, do as they want. Love them as Christ teaches us to love: “If a man love Me, he will keep My words” (John 14:23), that is, obey and do His will. Now remember that Christ is in every neighbor of ours. Therefore, whoever obeys the neighbor in everything except sin, doing as they want, loves them with Christ’s love. And not in the way of “let them do it first” or “why should I be the first”, and not in a way that expects love in return… That is the love of Christ, and whoever so loves their neighbor “abides in the light” (1 John 2:10), and thus, they see clearly. They are healed. That is the true miracle! Because this vision remains with our mind forever, and this healing of our soul is precisely the most important deed for which the Father sent His Son into the world, “that the world through Him might be saved” (John 3:17). May His salvific work not be in vain in our souls! Amen.