Podcast: 4th Sunday of Lent, Year A

Hi and welcome to the Modern Psalmist Podcast. I’m Rebecca De La Torre.

Today’s readings for the 4th Sunday of Lent, Year A, highlight some key steps of the Lord’s story of salvation for his people.

We journey from Isaish’s prophesy of the Lord’s final judgement, through King David’s anointing, continue to his famous psalm 23 “the Lord is my Shepherd”, and ultimately arrive at Jesus showing his disciples that He is the light of the world.

The entrance antiphon is taken from Isaiah chapter 66, which is the last chapter in the book of Isaiah. The entire chapter describes the Lord’s coming glory and final judgement on the world. But for those who love the Lord, they will rejoice in his abundant comfort.

The antiphon itself is taken from verses 10 and 11 and reads:

“Rejoice, Jerusalem, and all who love her.
Be joyful, all who were in mourning;
exult and be satisfied at her consoling breast.”

It’s an appropriate reminder, now that we are over halfway through the Lenten season, that the celebration is coming soon with the feast of the Resurrection.

In our first reading today, taken from 1 Samuel chapter 16, we are told the story of King David’s anointing by the prophet Samuel. David went on to become one of the greatest kings of Israel as well as the composer credited with many of the songs from the book Psalms.

The most famous of those is psalm 23, which was appropriately selected for today. The response is one we all know well:

“The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.”

Verse 5 echos David’s own experience of being anointed in front of his his brothers:

“you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows”

And in verse 4, he says

“Even though I walk in the dark valley
I fear no evil; for you are at my side”

which ties in well to Jesus announcing that He is the light of the world in the gospel acclamation.

Here is my interpretation of Psalm 23: The Lord Is My Shepherd.

The 2nd reading continues to point us toward Jesus as the light of the world. Taken from St Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, chapter 5, in verse 8 we read:

“Brothers and sisters:
You were once darkness,
but now you are light in the Lord.”

And in the gospel acclamation for today from John chapter 8, verse 12, Jesus tell us outright:

“I am the light of the world, says the Lord;
whoever follows me will have the light of life.”

In the gospel reading from John chapter 9, we recount the story of the man born blind that Jesus healed.

The disciples ask Jesus who is responsible for the man’s blindness. Jesus answers them in verses 3 through 5:

“Neither he nor his parents sinned;
it is so that the works of God might be made visible through him.
We have to do the works of the one who sent me while it is day.
Night is coming when no one can work.
While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

There is so much to unpack from that single quote from Jesus.

First of all, in those days, people thought that misfortune – like being born with a disability or suffering a calamity – was God’s punishment on the sinners. So if your house burned down, people thought you deserved it for your sin.

I didn’t grow up with that kind of guilty conscience mentality so it’s hard for me to imagine. And it’s double-whammy really because the people not only had to suffer from experiencing the disability or calamity, but also they received scorn from their fellow Jews who, culturally, assumed that they got what they deserved.

And as we know today, sometimes people do foolish things and get maimed or hurt or burn their own house down as a result. But even in those cases, Jesus makes it abundantly clear what *our* response should be to our neighbor’s suffering in John chapter 9 verse 4:

“We have to do the works of the one who sent me while it is day.”

and in verse 3: “it is so that the works of God might be made visible”

WE are supposed to do this work – to show compassion and help those less fortunate than ourselves because EVERYTHING we have is a gift from God. And WE need to do the Lord’s work here on earth.

In verse 5 Jesus goes on to say:

“While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

And later on he says in verse 39:

“I came into this world for judgment,
so that those who do not see might see,
and those who do see might become blind.”

This entire experience of Jesus *not* judging but instead *healing* the man born blind really opened the disciple’s eyes to the truth – that what they had believed all their lives about misfortunes falling only on those who were sinful was totally wrong.

What are we being blind to in our lives? We have to ask ourselves;
What am I missing? What am I refusing to see?

This leads us so perfectly to our communion antiphon for today, which quotes the man born blind.

Taken from the gospel for today, John chapter 9 verses 11 and 38, it says:

“The Lord anointed my eyes: I went, I washed,
I saw and I believed in God.”

The Lord – the Light of the World – has come to anoint our eyes so that we, too can see and believe in the truth.

Between the two coinciding themes of the Lord being our shepherd and also being our light – both of which are metaphors for forces meant to guide us on the right path – there are many options for songs to feature. But this time I felt called more to the theme of light more so than that of the shepherd.

My friend Michael John Poirier wrote a song titled “In the Light” and it proclaims the same message from the gospel today, especially the fact that those in unfortunate circumstances are just as much children of God as are those with more blessings.

The verses state beautiful truths like

“we are one, we are children”
“we are strong in our weakness”
“we are healed of our blindness”

Here is my interpretation of Michael John Poirier’s “In the Light”

That was “In the Light” by my dear friend and passionate servant of Christ, Michael John Poirier. In addition to links to all the recordings and sheet music for the songs from this podcast episode, I’ve also included links to Michael’s ministry web page where you can listen to more of his Spirit-inspired music. So check that out in the notes below.

Thank you for joining me for the 4th Sunday of Lent on the Modern Psalmist Podcast. See you next week for the 5th Sunday of Lent.

God bless you.