Working with the Word

Focusing the Gospel

Key words and phrases: made clay with the saliva, smeared the clay on his eyes, I am, Jesus … anointed my eyes, You are that man’s disciple, I do believe

To the point: In making clay from his own saliva and smearing it on the blind man’s eyes, Jesus re-creates the man by transferring something of his own being to the man. The man is anointed by Jesus as “I am” and comes to be a stalwart, believing disciple. Not even the powerful Pharisees can sway him from his testimony to the work of Jesus in him. In baptism we, too, encounter Jesus and become a new creation in him. Are we as stalwart and believing as the blind man?

Connecting the Gospel …

… to the Second Reading: By Samuel’s anointing, David is re-created from shepherd to king. By Jesus’ anointing, the blind man is re-created from unseeing to believing. By our baptism, we are re-created from doing “fruitless works of darkness” to being “children of light.”

… to experience: When we are young, we flip-flop about who we are. Only time and experience grant us the wisdom of knowing with sureness who we have grown to become. This sureness enables us to be stalwart in our values and beliefs.

**From Saint Louis University