4 Lent: March 18 / 19, 2023

    As Jesus passed by – he saw a man blind from birth.
    Jesus smeared clay on the blind man’s eyes and said to him, “go and wash in the pool of Siloam–”  where the sick of Jerusalem often bathed, hoping for a cure.
    So at this point, after his engagement with Jesus – the man was still blind.  It wasn’t until he DID wash in the pool of Siloam that he was, indeed, able to see.
    I think it is interesting to note the man did not attribute his cure to the healing waters of Siloam – but he attributes his cure to Jesus:  “he put clay on my eyes, and now I see.”


    And the blind man who could not see – continues to give credit to Jesus – as the source of his cure – even though his neighbors and the Pharisees tried to criticize Jesus and to discredit the man’s testimony about Jesus.
    No this nameless man – remained faithful to Jesus and says at the very end of the Gospel, “I do believe Lord,”  and he     WORSHIPED Jesus.

    And that’s my word for the week [which may not be your word]  WORSHIP:  the act of ardent, humble devotion.

    And this is the picture. [Woman with upraised arms in prayer]

And this is what I want you to reflect on:
Who or what do we worship in life??  Now of course we all want to say – why of course, Jesus – or we would not be here right?
But is that truly the case??  Could someone watch to see how we spend our time, our talent, and our treasure – and say, yes – that person has Christ as the center of their lives. . .

Worshiping Jesus – is a fine answer – as long as what we see, hear, and do HERE - does effect what we do and say the rest of the week – how we live our lives, how we make our decisions, how we spend our time, talent, and treasure. . . we can’t put in the time on Sunday – and not walk the walk the rest of the week — and say that we truly worship Jesus!
When we are somewhat successful in our professions, our relationships, our life in general – do we always give the credit to God – or do we think we do these things completely on our own??
    
Are we pulled away from focussing on Jesus by our neighbors, our work, our other commitments in life??
Who – or what – do we worship in life?
Ponder these things – and then read the Gospel for next Sunday to discover your word that may – or may not – be my word for next Sunday. . .

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