Becoming

Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgement so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind.” John 9:39

Some years ago I was on my way to the City of New York to attend a funeral. As I approached an intersection where I needed to make a right turn, I came to a complete stop. After looking for opposing and cross traffic I preceded to make a right turn. Before I got 50 feet a policeman was behind me flashing his lights. A right turn on a red light in New York was illegal. Ignorance of the law was no defense and I accepted the consequence. Jesus uses blindness as a metaphor for ignorance of the Law. The Pharisees didn’t understand that the law to which Jesus refers is the one in which we are called to love God and love neighbor as self. Instead they chose to use the physical Law of Moses to separate themselves among God’s chosen when in reality they separated themselves from God’s love given through Christ. Every day we may be different things to different people. As we get closer to understanding who we are in Christ, we become blind to others who want to keep seeing us as we used to be and we become who God always intended us to be, beloved children of God.