Eyes Opened, Heart Awakened - Lent Week 4 Series

There are moments in life when we realize we have been seeing things only partially. Moments when something shifts, whether through an insight, a conversation, a season of struggle, or a surprising grace, and suddenly what once felt confusing or blurry begins to take shape. It is not that everything becomes perfectly clear, but something inside us awakens. We see ourselves differently. We see others differently. We see God differently. And often, that awakening does not happen all at once. It comes in stages, like dawn slowly breaking over the horizon, light stretching across the landscape a little at a time.

Lent is a season that invites us into that kind of awakening. It is a season where we slow down enough to notice what we have been missing, where we let God shine light on the places where we have been stumbling in the dark, where we allow the Shepherd to guide us with just enough clarity for the next faithful step. Not the whole map. Not the whole plan. Just enough light to trust the One who leads.

And today, in this fourth week of our Come to Me series, we are invited to reflect on how God’s light reshapes the way we see ourselves, the world, and the God who walks with us. We are invited to admit that our perspective is limited, that we do not always see clearly, and that sometimes the things we are most certain about are the very things God wants to transform.

Before we step into the story from John’s Gospel, we begin with a word from Paul, a word about identity, awakening, and the kind of clarity only Christ can bring.

Ephesians 5:8–14

8 For once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Walk as children of light, 9 for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true. 10 Try to find out what is pleasing to the Lord. 11 Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness. Rather, expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to mention what such people do secretly. 13 But everything exposed by the light becomes visible. 14 For everything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says,

“Sleeper, awake.

Rise from the dead,

and Christ will shine on you.”

“You were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light.” Not “you were in darkness,” but “you were darkness.” And now, “you are light.” This is identity language. This is transformation language. Paul is not talking about behavior modification. He is talking about a fundamental shift in who we are because of Christ. And then he says, “Sleeper, awake. Rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” This is resurrection language. This is awakening language. It is the language of someone who has been stumbling in the dark and suddenly feels the warmth of light on their face.

Hold that image with you, because the story we are about to walk through is a living example of what Paul is talking about. It is a story of someone who begins in darkness, literally, and slowly awakens to the truth of who Jesus is. It is a story of eyes opened and a heart awakened. And it is a story that unfolds in stages, which is why we are going to read it in stages today.

We begin at the moment of healing, the moment when Jesus sees a man others have overlooked.

John 9:1–7

As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3 Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned. He was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. 4 We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day. Night is coming, when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 6 When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man’s eyes. 7 He said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam,” which means Sent. Then he went and washed and came back able to see.

Jesus sees a man who has been blind from birth. Everyone else sees a theological problem. The disciples want to debate whose fault it is. The neighbors have likely walked past him for years without really noticing him. But Jesus sees him, not as a problem to solve, not as a sinner to blame, but as someone through whom God’s work can be revealed.

And Jesus does something unexpected. He makes mud, places it on the man’s eyes, and sends him to wash. And the man comes back able to see. It is a simple moment, almost understated. No dramatic speech. No big announcement. Just compassion, touch, and obedience. And suddenly, light floods in where there had only ever been darkness.