Light is not just a colorful look at Siloam and its neighborhood in Jerusalem - it is seeing, with the help of God’s enlightenment, the Truth of God’s work. Living water is not just the refreshing liquid in Jacob’s Well - it is refreshing, sanctifying grace in the soul. And Jesus really restores Lazarus to life.Īt the same time, because they are real symbols, those realities also contain and point to realities beyond themselves. Jesus really gives the blind man physical sight. Jesus really wanted a draught of water at noontime, after traveling all morning, in Sychar. They do not “just” point to something beyond themselves or “stand in” for a bigger reality. When Jesus invokes physical realities - water, light, life - they are real. This week, Jesus’ encounter with the dead Lazarus points to God as the Source and Giver of Life … and also the foretaste of Christ’s conquest of death that we will celebrate in two weeks on Easter. Last week, Jesus’ encounter with the man born blind pointed to Christ as enlightening every man through Baptism. Two weeks ago, Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan Woman pointed to the “living waters” of grace. As previously noted, the Gospels of the Third, Fourth and Fifth Sundays of Lent can always use the “scrutiny readings” - the readings for preparing catechumens for Easter Baptism - which happen also to be the stipulated readings for this Year A of the Sunday Lectionary.
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