Sometimes, the most obvious answer is the one we find least attractive. I may know that the bathroom needs to be cleaned, but I don’t really want to clean the bathroom. So, I find many other things that need doing, pretending that they are more important than cleaning the bathroom. I give myself a false sense of accomplishment while not actually accomplishing the thing that needs doing.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus is telling his disciples some pretty obvious things. Blind people don’t lead blind people, it obviously doesn’t work. You don’t go to a bramble bush expecting to find figs. If you are having problems and making a bunch of mistakes, are you really a good person to be pointing out the flaws in others?
What can we learn from these seemingly obvious realities? I think it shows us that Jesus deeply understands the human condition. He is fully human and he experienced all things except sin. He knows how easy it is to share our opinions and advice about how others should live their lives while taking none of it to heart in our own. He knows how we like to deceive ourselves, pretending everything is fine while we blindly follow someone else in their own blindness rather than fixing our gaze on our heavenly Father.
Jesus is trying to wake us up, to cause us to look around and see how stuck in the muck we are. We can only be saved if we realize that we are in need of saving. When we open our eyes and hearts to the reality of our sin, of our shortcomings, of our areas of blindness, we can turn to Jesus in humility and love. He is the one to lead the blind. He is the one to point out our failings. He is the one who will give us the love, forgiveness, and food we seek.
Daily Reading
Second Sunday of Lent
Reading I Genesis 15:5-12, 17-18 The Lord God took Abram outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars, if you can. Just so,” he added, “shall…
Saint of the Day
Second Sunday of Lent
Reading I Genesis 15:5-12, 17-18 The Lord God took Abram outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars, if you can. Just so,” he added, “shall…