Week of 2 Christmas, Monday

This morning we begin the transition from Christmas to Epiphany -- from stories about the birth of Jesus, the Light coming into the world, to the first manifestations of that Light during his ministry on earth.

The story from John's gospel of the man born blind (John 9) is one of the "signs" of Jesus' divinity -- inside the story is Jesus' assertion "I am the light of the world," where the "I am" echoes God's own self-disclosure to Moses.

But here's where we turn the corner with Jesus: the Great I AM has come into the world in the person of Jesus, and in a demonstration of that divine power Jesus has healed a man born blind. Problem is, the healing has resulted in the man's expulsion from the synagogue and has estranged him from his family. So what happens?

Jesus comes back to find him.

The Son of God, the Light of the World, the Word made flesh, comes back to find the man and invites him into a new community, completing his inner healing just as he had performed an outer healing.

This is extraordinary -- where Reynolds Price rightly observes that in John's gospel Jesus heals because he can, as an example of divine power -- we also see in the conclusion of the story a second movement of tenderness which ensures that the man continues in relationship.

God's power is truly "made perfect" in weakness, as Paul suggests to his church in Corinth (2 Cor. 12:9).

What has caused you to be estranged? What weakness in you cries out for a companion? Where will Jesus find you when he comes back to look for you?