FIRST MOVE ^_[1]

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1. Our divine lesson today proclaims that Jesus Christ makes the first move in your life: "You did not choose me," says the Lord, "but I chose you." [Jn 15:16] Jesus Christ will heal you and feed you, spiritually and physically, to make known God's glory. Then, with the Holy Spirit illuminating your eyes of faith, you will be pleased to bend your knee to the Saviour whose name is above every other name. [cf Ph 2:9-10]
 
2. First, let's reflect on very real physical things. The so-called mountains, upon which Jerusalem is spread, are really steep hills clustered at a high, arid elevation. The brilliance and clarity of the atmosphere can be quite breath-taking. The whole effect of the hills and heights confirms the Psalm-writers' conviction that Jerusalem is at the top and center of the world.

 
3. King David's mountain, the literal "Mount Zion" of the Old Testament, is a somewhat disappointing small hill immediately south of the old walled city at the center of today's Jerusalem. Today it's quilted by a patchwork of houses, all of which are Palestinian and very poor. The Gihon Spring, which fills the Pool of Siloam mentioned in John's Gospel, issues from a high point on this hill. It was the only reliable water source for ancient Jerusalem.
 
4. Unfortunately in David's and Hezekiah's time, it happened to be located outside the defenses of the city wall. Of course something eventually had to be done about it. King Hezekiah, who lived in the 8th and 7th centuries before Christ, ordered his engineers to carve a tunnel out of solid rock to redirect the spring into the ancient walled city to keep it from being captured by the Assyrian army commanded by King Sennacherib.

 
5. To this very day the underground tunnel remains viable and the Gihon spring rushes through it like the spirit of the Lord did upon David. Last summer, I sloshed my way through this 1,750 foot long tunnel built by the good, just and truthful king of Judah, described in the 2nd books of Chronicles and Kings in the Old Testament scriptures:

THIS SAME Hezekiah closed the upper outlet of the waters of Gihon and directed them down to the west side of the city of David. And Hezekiah prospered in all his works. [2Chr 32:30]

THE REST of the deeds of Hezekiah, and all his might, and how he made the pool and the conduit and brought water into the city, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? [2Kg 20:20]

6. The tunnel is about two feet wide and about six feet high on the average. Of course, it's pitch dark underground. The tens of thousands of chizel marks made by Hezekiah's stone masons are carved into the tunnel walls. My hands touched these gouges, made by the Israelites some 2,700 years ago.
 
7. The underground spring water is clear and very cold compared to the broiling heat rising from the hard, desert ground above. For a few moments deep down inside the mountain artery, I felt apprehensive because the low ceiling forced me to stoop. My chin cleaved the water's surface like the prow of a ship. At times, it took a lot of energy to keep from being swept off my feet by the water's force. But I survived. At the foot of Hezekiah's Tunnel, the spring empties out into the Pool of Siloam.

 
8. At a favorable time in human chronological history and God's salvation history, there was a man who made his way to this pool. He obviously didn't look like much, and his face was messy because a strange man had stopped him on the road and said, "Here's mud in your eye." Forging his way with a stick, trusting the elbow of a friend, he walked to the Pool of Siloam ("one who has been sent") to wash and came back able to see.
 
9. The Gihon spring is a tangible artifact of salvation history. I know because I smashed my face against an iron grating as I stepped out of the water at the upper end of the tunnel where the Gihon Spring originates. I have a scar on the bridge of my nose as a reminder. The man born blind submitted himself to Jesus who anointed him with dirt and spit. In turn, he received a kind of "double vision": physical human sight and spiritual insight.

 
10. Now let's consider very real spiritual things. There is more to faith in God than tangibles. The human soul begs us not to fall asleep on our spiritual journey. Human sight, miraculous as it is, must yield to spiritual insight. To do otherwise is to remain "ignorant of God and foolish by nature". [Wis Sol 13:1a]
 
11. The many people and the Pharisees who rejected the light of Christ saw only "tangibles": 1.) mud and spit violated the religious laws of purity and cleanliness, 2.) the miracle of sight restoration (Jesus' 6th sign) disgraced their interpretations of what it meant to rest on the sabbath, 3.) the blind man "reeked with sin", 4.) his physical blindness resulted from sinful actions, and 5.) God in no way listens to sinners.

12.  The authorities sinned because they claimed for themselves "the last word," literally the word of Moses, whose name they often invoked in their investigations. In none of this, however, were they correct in (their) judgment of what pleases the Lord. For the Lord alone has the last word. 

13. There are many people today who, like the Pharisees, believe they possess the last word, that is, their own personal "autonomy" and "authority" no matter how uneducated or uninformed they may be. They claim that, like God, they can see into the heart, but while practicing upon everyone else, they are blind to their own sinful hearts hardened like the rock in Hezekiah's Tunnel. [cf. Wis Sol 13:9]

THE ONLY reason for Jesus to mix clay with the spittle and smear it on the eyes of the blind man was to remind you that he who restored the man to health by anointing his eyes with clay is the very one who fashioned the first (human being) out of clay, and that this clay that is our flesh can receive eternal life through the sacrament of baptism (and the forgiveness of our sins). 

YOU, TOO, should come to Siloam, that is, to (Jesus Christ) who was sent by (Almighty God). Come and (wash), be baptized, it is time; come quickly, and you too will be able to say, I was blind, and now I see. [Ambrose of Milan Lent II p. 66]

14. You have feasted today at the sumptuous banquet of God's Word. Is there any disciple among us present today who would refuse to bend his or her knee under the gentle yoke [Mt 11:28-30] of this divine lesson? None? Then with eyes of faith: let us rejoice, bow down and worship our Saviour who lives in our hearts and in the Holy Eucharist.