Who Did This?

Fourth Sunday of Lent; John 9:1-41

how were your eyes opened? 

Ours is a litigious world. According to the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System, over 100 million lawsuits are filed in state trial courts annually, and over 400,000 cases federally. US citizens are more inclined to turn to the legal system compared to other societies, primarily because of economic factors in their favor. Additionally, US citizens have legal rights to an accessible court system. Anyone can file a lawsuit in civil court. There are consumer protection laws to protect shoppers from false advertising, unsafe products, and fraud. Because of these laws, consumers often have easier access when filing lawsuits against major corporations.

I have no doubt that most of the lawsuits are valid and address a situation that requires justice. But I wonder how many lawsuits could have been avoided if only the two parties had talked to each other and listened to each other. Maybe I watched too many episodes of “Judge Judy”, but communication skills seem to be in low supply these days. That, and the desire we all seem to have to blame someone else for our problems. We just want to know, Who Did This?

I was at a doctor’s office not long ago when a woman came in ranting about someone parked in the wrong spot, which caused her to scrape her car on another car. She was incensed and wanted the owner of the incorrectly parked car to pay for her damage. The problem was, the car in question was parked entirely legally and properly. The woman was simply angry that she had caused damage to her own car and wanted to find someone else to blame.

It’s a common and, apparently, old story.  In this Gospel story of the man born blind, the Pharisees and townspeople are trying to figure out how the man suddenly has his sight. “Who did it?” they ask. The man is incredulous because they saw Jesus cure him. But no one wanted to believe that Jesus really could do such a wonderous deed. They were too concerned about how the man’s “sins” were forgiven.

Ah, yes. Sins.

We have been taught that sin is a result of our incorrect or immoral behavior. Worse, we have been schooled that we, as human beings, are inherently sinful and therefore bad; Our lives are worthless, hollow, and evil. Because we have ingested this our entire lives, we get scared that we are not worthy of God’s mercy. And in order to make us feel better, we look for a cause to our problems. And when we find that scapegoat, we lash out at them. Wars have been started over scapegoating. People are being jailed and deported due to xenophobic scapegoating in today’s America. Jails are inordinately filed with people of color because it’s inconceivable that people who look like me could commit heinous crimes.

The problem is, that is not what sin is at all. The man born blind did not have sins that needed to be confessed to regain his sight. He merely need to connect with God, and he was restored to society. Fr. Richard Rohr wrote in his book, Things Hidden: Scripture as Spirituality, “Sin primarily describes a state of fragmentation—when the part thinks it’s separate from the Whole. It’s the loss of any inner experience of who we are in God. That “who” is nothing we can earn or obtain. It’s nothing we can accomplish or work up to. Why? Because we already have it.”

I struggle each and every day to remain in God’s love. Not because it is not available or not freely given, but because I make choices in my thoughts, words and deeds that make me think (if only for that moment) that I am more important than my neighbor. Which in turn makes me act as if I am more important than God. (see Matt 25:40)  When I realize that I have (yet again) gone down that path, I make an immediate course correction and ask forgiveness. Sometimes I need the sacrament of Reconciliation, sometimes I need to seek a professional, and (usually) I need to seek out the person I have offended. But when I do, I return to the flow of God’s love and mercy, and peace returns to my soul.

Every Day.

© 2026 by Timothy J. Doppel

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