03.10.26 - Managing our Thoughts | Blind from Birth | Intro to NT |
- tmaley
- 13 hours ago
- 11 min read
Opening Prayer:
O LORD
Thank you for your promise that where two or three of us are gathered in your name, You are there!
We ask for Your help to open our minds and hearts tonight so that Your Word breaks through and changes our lives.
And as you taught us to pray together…
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who have trespassed against us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen!
Major holy days: Ash Wednesday – the beginning of Lent, Feb 18
St. Joseph – March 19
The Annunciation – March 25
Mass or Confession anywhere/anytime: www.masstimes.org
TODAY:
Lenten Reflection – Managing our Second Thoughts
Gospel Reading for 4th Sunday in Lent (3/15): The Spit of Jesus & the Man Born Blind – John 9:1-41
Bible Timeline: Intro to NT
Quote of the Week: St. John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople, said this about Lent in a homily about 390 AD:
Meat…
“The fast of Lent has no advantage to us unless it brings about our spiritual renewal. It is necessary while fasting to change our life and practice virtue. Turning away from evil means keeping our tongue in check, restraining our anger, avoiding gossip, lying, and swearing. To abstain from these things—herein lies the true value of the fast.”
Lenten Reflection: Managing our “Second” Thoughts
Lent is about practicing and mastering new behavior. In this regard, there is a particularly important spiritual skill to consider, which is taking responsibility for our second thoughts.
What do we mean by our “second thoughts”?
First, let’s take a look at our first thoughts. We all have our initial reactions to things – that’s normal, that’s our nature. These thoughts tend to be instinctive responses and, as with all instincts, they tend towards the protective, because that’s how we survive. From a purely survival standpoint, who cares if our thoughts are morally correctl? These instincts are not bad by themselves and can still serve us by warning us of danger, but as civilization advanced we had to learn to control some of these initial responses to get along. Then along comes the Ten Commandments and Jesus’ sermon to love our neighbors and enemies, and suddenly these first responses could cause lots of problems! The fact is that our initial reactions often tend to be selfish and inconsiderate (survival) and morally dead-wrong. That’s our starting point. Running with our first responses is where we get the old adage, “Ready, Shoot, Aim!”
Jesus says that learning to love starts with learning self-control (control over selfishness). He also taught us that temptation is not evil in itself, but it’s what we do next that turns temptation into sinfulness: Jesus says, “If lust enters your mind, pluck out your eye!” Now, if we stop the temptation early and move our minds onto something better, we will not only have avoided sin, we will have taught ourselves how to control our minds, instead of events controlling us.
Our “first thoughts” are a lot like temptation. It might be, “I want to punch that person in the nose!” or “That was the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard!” or “Why didn’t that idiot use his blinker!” but with a little practice, we can catch our thoughts before they go further. We could practice saying, “Guardian Angel, help me out!” Or we could say the Jesus prayer, “Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, I am a sinner!” Or “JMJ, I need help, quick, get me out of this kitchen!” It’s also best not to leave a void where there was bad thought; instead, replace it with a good thought such as, “Lord, heal that person (and me, too).” Now you will suddenly have climbed the spiritual ladder by turning your first ugly response (whether valid or not) into a PRAYER for the other person. Prayers are acts of love! Heaven will be singing!
This Lent, let’s practice turning our first thoughts (“Ready-Shoot-Aim”) into our second thoughts (“Ready-Stop-Prayer”).
Gospel Reading: The Spit of Jesus & the Man Born Blind – John 9:1:41
Context
Today’s reading is about Jesus giving sight to a man born blind. To those of us accustomed to Jesus’s many miracles, this may seem to be no big deal, but not only is blindness from birth never healed anywhere else in the entire Bible, but can you imagine this guy seeing for the very first time? This is no ordinary healing, either. For one, it commands a full chapter in the Gospel of John. Second, rather than just touching the man’s eyes, or just speaking, he spits into the dirt and makes a kind of clay to put on the man’s eyes, and then sends him to the pool of Siloam to wash.
Why all this extra stuff?
Nothing in Scripture is by accident. The Word of God is like a many-faced truth diamond. Depending on where we are standing – or where we are spiritually – we see a different message; yet it is the same diamond, the same Truth, speaking to us.
How does a man born blind represent the human condition?
Since the Fall of Man, humans are born without Sanctifying Grace; the door to Heaven is out of our sight. Augustine gave this the name Original Sin, and it stuck, but it is not the best portrayal of our fallen natures unless you truly study what Augustine meant. It was the first sin, so it was indeed original. But this sin is not personal, which is how we tend to see sin.
But then why are we subject to the effects of the Fall if we weren’t personally responsible?
I will give you a simplistic answer and a theologically nuanced answer.
Simplistic: Although a penguin has wings, it lost its ability to fly at some point in the past. Penguins today can complain all they want, but it doesn’t change their lot. Our first parents (first ones with a spiritual nature and free will) lost their wings, so to speak. No matter how much we don’t like it, we have the same brokenness they did.
Nuanced: As Augustine explains, we are all connected spiritually. Our spiritual natures is what makes us human, and it also connects us into one family. The whole idea of the Body of Christ and the Communion of Saints is that we are spiritually one family. That’s why we are called to love our neighbors and even our enemies. We are one, broken, dysfunctional family, and we must learn to love each other. That’s Heaven’s way.
In any event, back to our story. Spiritually, humans are like the man born blind from birth. We need God, which is why Jesus came here – to undo our bondage to our fallenness (Original Sin).
After putting mud in his eyes, Jesus tells the blind man wash in the Pool of Siloam. Why this pool?
King Hezekiah, descendant of the great King David, built this pool in the 7th century BC. He built this reservoir to supply Jerusalem with water in the event the city was besieged by a foreign army, which is exactly what happened (2 Kings 20:20, 2 Chronicles 32:30). The pool is about 225 feet long, 18 feet wide, about 20 feet deep at the time of Jesus.
In Isaiah and Ezekiel, the High Priest collected water from the Siloam Pool in a golden picture that was then poured out on the altar in the Temple courtyard 1) as a reminder of the time when “water” miracles of the Exodus took place and 2) to look forward to the day when the Messiah would “pour out” his blessings on Israel. Siloam is a Greek corruption of the Hebrew root “slh,” meaning “to send,” referring to the “one who will be sent” – referring to the Messiah.
John 9:1,6-9,13-17,34-38
(Skipped verses not in the reading…) His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “Neither he nor his parents sinned…”
What are we to learn from this? Do sins affect only us or others, too?
There isn’t any question that our sins affect others, most especially our children and perhaps even their children. Think of violence, abuse, dishonesty, or religious apathy – children assimilate all kinds of behaviors from their parents which can bring dysfunction to their entire lives. On the other hand, Jesus teaches that we will each be judged accordingly for our own actions. Sure, extenuating circumstances will be taken into account, but this works both ways: Jesus says the better our circumstances, the more will be expected of us! What’s always the key is how we respond to whatever circumstances we find ourselves in, because that’s what we control; it’s where our free-will comes in.
In today’s reading, Jewish tradition had become overly legalistic in their interpretation of the Mosaic Law and concluded that all bad circumstances – even physical maladies – were a result of past sins, or the sins of their parents. Jesus corrects this. Moreover, he will use this man’s blindness – and his healing – to instruct us.
As Jesus passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva, and smeared the clay on his eyes, and said to him, “Go wash in the Pool of Siloam” — which means Sent — so he went and washed, and came back able to see.
His neighbors and those who had seen him earlier as a beggar said, “Isn’t this the one who used to sit and beg?”
Some said, “It is,” but others said, “No, he just looks like him.” The man said, “I am.”
Does this act of Jesus call to mind anything from the Creation Story in Genesis 1-2?
The Creation of man from the dust of the earth. Jesus came to undo the Fall of Man, which involves a new start, a type of new creation for humans. Jesus’ acting in the role of God is not only initiating this new creation but it also reveals who Jesus is.
Human Resistance/Human Independence – Pride and Arrogance
They brought the one who was once blind to the Pharisees. Now Jesus had made clay and opened his eyes on a sabbath. So then the Pharisees also asked him how he was able to see.
He said to them, “He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and now I can see.”
So some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, because he does not keep the sabbath.” But others said, “How can a sinful man do such signs?” And so there was a division among them.
So they said to the blind man again, “What do you have to say about him, since he opened your eyes?”
He said, “He is a prophet.”
They answered and said to him, “You were born totally in sin, and are you trying to teach us?” Then they cast him out.
When Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, he found him and said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”
The man answered, “Who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he.”
He said, “I do believe, Lord,” and he worshiped him.
Note that Jesus found this man twice – once when he healed him and again when the man was cast out by the Pharisees and probably wondering what it all meant. This reminds us that God never stops seeking us out. Once again, he is the Good Shepherd in search of the lost lambs.
Who is the “Son of Man” that Jesus refers to, which the blind man seems to have some understanding?
He is referring to the well-known vision of the prophet Daniel (Dan 7:13-14). It is Daniel's vision of the divine Messiah who is to receive universal kingship and world-wide worship.
Another tragic paradox in the story:
We can see that as the healed man’s faith deepens, the authorities become more and more distant and obstinate. Jesus is a threat to their status. Think of the devil’s success in leading this along: first they express doubt, then they assert that Jesus is a sinner (healing on the Sabbath), and then their outrage at the healed man for speaking the truth and casting him out. The power of pride/arrogance shows us how utterly they have been “blinded.”
The more we have, the higher our status, the better our circumstances, the harder it is for us to think we need God and respond to His call. That is our fallen nature at work, not who we were created to be.
Daniel 7:13
Bible Timeline/Covenants
Although we generally only discuss two primary covenants – the Old Covenant and the New Covenant, this can also be broken down into six covenants, based on what is called “family form.”
Where we left off…
Introduction to The New Testament
How many books in the NT?
27
As we move into the New Testament, we will not read all 27 books, but will continue the “Biblical Timeline Narrative,” which will primarily be the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles, although other books will be referenced throughout. Much of today’s content was taken from the “Bible In A Year,” which does an excellent job at the Timeline Narrative.
Canonical Order of Bible Books
The Bible was codified at 73 books (46 OT + 27 NT) at three Church councils between 382-397 AD. Although the Bible might make more sense if when read it chronologically, it was originally organized by content. Chronological would be complicated in that most books were not written right after the events themselves, and some were written centuries after the events occurred. Saint Jerome, the church scholar who translated the first complete Christian canon of the Bible into Latin in 405, arranged the seventy-three books into categories of content. This became the order of the canon that most Bibles have today.
Old Testament 46 books + New Testament 27 books = Total Bible 73 books
The New Testament
As we close the OT and open the NT, it is easy to think we are finishing one book and moving on to a totally new book with its own unique storyline. Nothing could be further from the truth. Although there will be new characters and some new themes, the same plot that began back in Genesis stretches right into the life of Christ and the Church.
Part I of our studies will be the Life of Christ (Gospels) and Part II will be the Church (Acts of Apostles).
As the Church teaches, the New Testament must be read in light of the Old, and the Old Testament finds his climax and fulfillment in the New. All of God’s words and actions, his promises and covenants, his words through the prophets, will find their completion in his Son, Jesus Christ (2 Cor 1:20).
Recall last moth we finished up the Maccabees and then Herod. This period of Jewish quasi-independence was short-lived, as a new power from the west – Rome – swept through the world and the Jews found themselves once again under foreign rule awaiting the promised Messiah. It is into this historical and cultural setting that Jesus Christ was born in the quiet town of Bethlehem in the hill country of Judea.
From Nazareth to Jerusalem was about 85 miles if you took the Jordan River route (about a 5-day walk). Bethlehem was another 6 miles south of Jerusalem.
Part I, The Gospels: The Life of Christ
After the wise men from the east inform King Herod of the Star of Bethlehem and remind him of the prophecy of the new king, Herod dispatches his men to Bethlehem to kill all the children under the age of two. Warned in a dream, Joseph takes Mary and Jesus to Egypt. After another dream, the holy Family returns and settles in Nazareth. Thirty years later, Jesus public ministry begins with his baptism in the Jordan. Jesus then spends three years teaching, preaching, healing, and performing other miracles in Judea and Galilee. But his message of repentance and the establishment of the kingdom of God will threaten Jewish authorities who, rather than rejoicing and the coming of the long-awaited Davidic king and Messiah, pressure Pilate to condemn Jesus to death. Jesus offers his life as a willing sacrifice, atoning for sin, and opening the gates of Heaven for mankind.
The life of Jesus can be divided into four parts – or acts.
Act One describes the historical setting into which the new Davidic king is born.
Act Two describes Jesus’ public ministry and key aspects of his teaching throughout Jedea and Galilee.
Act Three focuses on Jesus’ passion and death, which climaxes the story of Israel.
Act Four recounts Jesus resurrection, his encounter with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, and his Ascension.
ACT I: A King is Born
Caesar Augustus
Herod the Great
The Ark of the New Covenant
Jesus’ Birth
Closing Prayer
Come, Holy Spirit
Fill the hearts of your faithful; kindle in them the fire of your love.
Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created.
And you will renew the face of the earth.
Hail Mary
Full of grace, the Lord is with thee.
Blessed are thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death.
Amen.
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