Who said, “There is none so blind as the one who will not see”? I can’t remember, but that is what we see in the example of the Pharisees in the gospel today. The eyes of those Pharisees may have been wide open, but the eyes of their hearts were tightly closed. They could see only what they wanted to see, hear only what they wanted to hear. Denial held them in thrall.

Being open to the testimony of the man who had been blind from birth would have called the belief and practices of the Pharisees, their certainties, into question. It would have made them feel vulnerable, insecure. What do we do when that happens to us? Defend ourselves, of course, and, since we know the best defense is a good offense, that means attacking the messenger—just as the Pharisees did.

Does any of this begin to sound familiar? Are there areas in your life that you aren’t ready to expose to the light of Christ? Do you find yourself attacking the prophets that show up in your life to point out your blindness(es)? Or do you just ignore them hoping they will go away and leave you alone? Is denial one of your strongest coping mechanisms? Or maybe you are at the point where you begin to feel the need for self-examination, to look deep into the dark corners of your heart where all your mess has accumulated? Maybe, at last, you ready for metanoia, to repent and return to the Lord with a desire for amendment of life, to accept the transforming touch of God’s cleansing, life-giving love? The Pharisees in our gospel were not—to the end, they did not, would not recognize their internal blindness, leaving them wrapped in sin.

Fortunately for us, Lent comes to remind us that now is the time to strip off our blindfolds of denial, to expose “the unfruitful works of darkness” that we discover, and to step out into the healing light of Christ Jesus, trusting in God’s redeeming grace to see us through.