God sees the heart: 1Sa 16, Eph 5, and the blind from birth in Jn 9

# Fourth Sunday of Lent – Laetare Sunday (Year A)## I. The First Reading: 1 Samuel 16:1b, 6-7, 10-13aThe Lord sent Samuel to Bethlehem to anoint one of Jesse’s sons. When Samuel saw Eliab, he thought, “Certainly this is the one the Lord has anointed” (v. 6). But the Lord said, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not see as mortals do; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks into the heart” (v. 7). Seven sons passed before Samuel, and none was chosen. Samuel asked if there were any more. There was the youngest, who tended the sheep. He was called. Though ruddy, of goodly countenance and well-proportioned, the Lord said, “Take him and anoint him, for he is the one” (v. 12). Samuel anointed David, and the Spirit of the Lord came upon him from that day forward (v. 13a). The divine criterion reverses the human one: not stature or primogeniture or outward appearance, but the heart. Lent invites us to let God see our hearts rather than present only our appearances.## II. The Second Reading: Ephesians 5:8-14“You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord” (Eph 5:8). Paul does not say they were in darkness; he says they were darkness. The transformation is ontological, not merely circumstantial. The fruit of light is “all goodness, righteousness, and truth” (v. 9). Paul exhorts them not to participate in the works of darkness but to expose them to the light. “Whatever is exposed by the light becomes light itself” (v. 13). He quotes what appears to be a primitive baptismal hymn: “Awake, you who are sleeping; rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you” (v. 14). The liturgy of Laetare Sunday is par excellence the liturgy of light approaching: Easter is near, the Paschal Baptism is imminent, the night will soon be over.## III. The Gospel: John 9:1-41The gospel presents the blind man born again, progressively receiving sight, both physical and spiritual, while the Pharisees, who claimed to see, become increasingly blind. The three texts depict the same paradox: what seems sighted is blind; what seems blind begins to see, and God chooses those whom men reject.

Jesus passes by a man born blind. The disciples ask, “Who sinned, he or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus replies, “Neither he nor his parents sinned; it is so that God’s works might be revealed in him” (Jn 9:3). Jesus makes mud with spittle, anoints the man’s eyes, and sends him to wash in the Pool of Siloam, which means “Sent” (v.7). The blind man went, washed himself, and regained his sight. Neighbors and acquaintances were divided. The Pharisees investigated. The man began to see more than just with his eyes: “He is a prophet” (v.17). The Pharisees pressed him and his parents. The man resists: “I know one thing: I was blind, and now I see” (v.25). He is expelled from the synagogue. Jesus goes to meet him and asks if he believes in the Son of Man. The man prostrated himself and worshiped (v.38). Jesus says, “I came into this world so that those who cannot see might see, and those who see might become blind” (v.39). The Pharisees, who claim to see, only grow more blind. The blind man, who could claim nothing, becomes the one who worships.

IV. Mary and the Vision of the Heart

1 Samuel 16 states that God sees the heart, not appearances. Mary was not chosen for her status, social position in Nazareth, or visibility in contemporary Israel. She was chosen for her inner disposition of total availability to God’s will. The same criterion that rejected Eliab and chose David rejected the powerful ones of Israel and chose the young woman from Nazareth. Ephesians 5 speaks of darkness turning into light: Mary never was darkness in Paul’s sense, but her light has the same source, the Spirit of Christ who covered her with his shadow. John 9 presents the blind man who went to the Pool of Siloam, the Sent One, and regained his sight. Mary was the one who brought the Sent One into the world: during the Visitation, when she arrived at Elizabeth’s house, her voice caused the little John in his mother’s womb to leap for joy (Lk 1:41). Mary arrived before Siloam: she brought the source of vision before the source reached everyone. Where the blind man in John 9 worships progressively, Mary worships from the start, with a heart that God knew how to see before any appearance.