Amazing grace, how sweet the sound
that saved and set me free.
I once was lost, but now am found,
was blind, but now I see.

Samuel could clearly see who was standing before him.
He looked like a king – tall and handsome,
strong and smart.
But God could see even more clearly.
God could see even what a prophet could not.
God could see what was in someone’s heart.
God could see potential.
And even though God could see into the future
God did not hold future sins against David.

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound
that saved and set me free.

The Psalmist could see, too.
He could see what kind of shepherd God is.
He could see a shepherd
who would lead us from death into life.

I once was lost, but now am found,
was blind, but now I see.

The man born blind couldn’t see at all
until he had an encounter with Jesus of Nazareth.
And little4 by little his sight improved.

At first, he only recognized him as “a man named Jesus.”
But as he reflected on the questions prosed to him,
he declared, “He is a prophet”
and a man sent by God.

No matter how often the Pharisees questioned him,
he could never see Jesus as a sinner.
“If this man were not from God,
he would not be able to do anything.”

Ultimately, he came to recognize Jesus
as the son of man,
the savior of the world.

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound
that saved and set me free.
I once was lost, but now am found,
was blind, but now I see.

Even the disciples didn’t seem to see clearly.
They wondered whose sins made the man blind.
They only saw his blindness
as something caused by sin,
his or his parents’ sins.

And the Pharisees couldn’t imagine
that Jesus wasn’t anything more than a sinner.
They chose blindness over sight.
They knew he had made mud on the sabbath,
and that was enough to condemn him forever.
They couldn’t see what else had happened.
They closed their eyes to the miracle
right in from of them.
Rather than rejoicing with the man
who once was blind,
but now could see,
they deliberately chose not to see
what was happening right before their very eyes.
They chose blindness over sight.

I once was lost, but now am found,
was blind, but now I see.

Even his parents couldn’t choose their own son
over the sinner they knew him to be.
They let fear blind them to miracle right before their eyes.

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound
that saved and set me free.
I once was lost, but now am found,
was blind, but now I see.

In a few weeks,
we will gather to celebrate the Resurrection of the Lord.

We’ll be invited to join the man born blind
in professing our faith
in the Son of Man,
our Savior and our Lord.

Today’s readings challenge us
to open our eyes,
to see more clearly,
to look around and see what is really happening in our lives,
in the lives of people around us,
and in our world.

We all choose blindness once in a while.
We choose blindness whenever we
close our eyes to the goodness of others,
especially to the goodness of people we just don’t like.

We choose blindness once in a while
whenever we choose to see all migrants as evil,
all Iranians as deserving the war imposed upon them,
all people of different faiths or even people of the same faith
who choose to live in a way different from what we prefer
as somehow misguided, unintelligent, or just plain wrong.

We choose blindness whenever we choose
to label people who disagree with us
on any issue as stupid or crazy or downright evil.

As we prepare to renew our baptismal promises at Easter,
todays scriptures challenge us to see more clearly,
not only to recognize Christ in the Word proclaimed
and in the Bread broken and the Wine that is shared,
but also to recognize the Lord
in each and every one of our brothers and sisters,
and to recognize the amazing grace at work in our lives
and in theirs.

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound
that saved and set me free.
I once was lost, but now am found,
was blind, but now I see.