# The Light of the World - Bishop Barron Sermon

An episode of [Daily Sermons With Bishop Robert Barron](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/6783446284), 15 Sep 2026, 15 min.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/75098737/the_light_of_the_world_bishop_barron_s_sunday_sermon.mp3



## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: Peace be with you. Friends, we're now at the fourth
[0:03] Speaker 1: Sunday of Lent, and this season we're in the A
[0:06] Speaker 1: cycle of readings. That means we got some of the
[0:09] Speaker 1: best Gospels that there are. And Lent, you know, is
[0:13] Speaker 1: bringing us through the spiritual basic training, so it's really
[0:16] Speaker 1: important for us to pay attention to these. And we're
[0:19] Speaker 1: with these marvelous stories. This week, the man born blind.
[0:22] Speaker 1: Next week, Lazarus. Last week, the woman at the well.
[0:25] Speaker 1: These great stories from the Gospel of John. were meant
[0:28] Speaker 1: to identify with each of these people, with the woman
[0:31] Speaker 1: at the well, the man born blind, then with Lazarus.
[0:34] Speaker 1: And they're all talking about the dynamics of the spiritual life.
[0:37] Speaker 1: So let me just share a few insights from this
[0:40] Speaker 1: incomparably rich story that's beguiled Christians up and down the centuries.
[0:46] Speaker 1: I want you to know something now, right at the beginning.
[0:49] Speaker 1: It says, Jesus passed by. He saw a man blind
[0:53] Speaker 1: from birth. So his disciples asked him,' Rabbi, who sinned,
[0:56] Speaker 1: this man or his parents?' Listen now to the answer
[0:59] Speaker 1: of Jesus. Neither he nor his parents sinned. It is
[1:05] Speaker 1: so that the works of God might be made visible
[1:08] Speaker 1: through him. Let me just say something brief about this.
[1:12] Speaker 1: It's so important. Not many days ago, I was watching
[1:17] Speaker 1: a replay of the movie Jackie, which is about Jackie
[1:21] Speaker 1: Kennedy in the wake of the assassination of her husband.
[1:24] Speaker 1: And it's a good kind of— heart-aching movie. But she's
[1:30] Speaker 1: in dialogue in the course's movie with an elderly priest,
[1:33] Speaker 1: played by the great John Hurt, the English actor. And
[1:37] Speaker 1: she's suffering, of course. Why did this happen? How could
[1:41] Speaker 1: God have possibly allowed this horrible thing to happen to
[1:44] Speaker 1: my husband, to me, to our family? And the old
[1:47] Speaker 1: priest says, let me share a parable with you. And
[1:50] Speaker 1: he tells this story And he gives that answer of Jesus.
[1:55] Speaker 1: It's not because of his sin or anyone's sin. It's
[1:58] Speaker 1: that the works of God might be made visible through him.
[2:03] Speaker 1: You know, we all suffer to different degrees. I get it.
[2:06] Speaker 1: But we all suffer. And we're always looking for the answer. Why? Why? Why?
[2:10] Speaker 1: Why is God allowing this? Let this answer, everybody, sink in.
[2:16] Speaker 1: Let it sink in. When you're going through some terrible suffering,
[2:20] Speaker 1: that the works of God might be made visible in you. Somehow,
[2:24] Speaker 1: God is using this struggle, this difficulty, this pain for
[2:29] Speaker 1: his purposes. All right. Now, what do we see as
[2:34] Speaker 1: this story unfolds? Jesus declares himself the light of the world.
[2:42] Speaker 1: One of the great I am statements in John, I've
[2:45] Speaker 1: told you that before, the ego eimi, I am the
[2:48] Speaker 1: bread of life, I am the good shepherd, I am
[2:51] Speaker 1: the resurrection, echoing the I am who I am of
[2:55] Speaker 1: the book of Exodus. It's Jesus asserting his divine identity
[2:59] Speaker 1: and authority. In this case, I am the light of
[3:02] Speaker 1: the world. Beautiful. He's that by which we see properly.
[3:08] Speaker 1: And here's the point. We're dealing with a man born blind.
[3:13] Speaker 1: Some people become blind. This man, though, is blind from birth.
[3:17] Speaker 1: He's never seen. From the beginning of his life, he's
[3:20] Speaker 1: been in the dark. You see what he stands for,
[3:23] Speaker 1: our great tradition has said? Original sin. That's all of us.
[3:29] Speaker 1: We're all men and women born blind. We're born into
[3:33] Speaker 1: a dysfunctional world, spiritually speaking. We're like someone born into
[3:38] Speaker 1: a household where there's physical abuse, or there's sexual abuse,
[3:43] Speaker 1: or there's drug abuse, or something. and everyone is affected
[3:46] Speaker 1: by it. Well, that's the human race. We're born into
[3:50] Speaker 1: a world that's been infected by cruelty and violence and
[3:54] Speaker 1: hatred and everything else, and we breathe it in. We
[3:59] Speaker 1: take it in from the time we're born, and it
[4:02] Speaker 1: blinds us. It takes us out of the light. Jesus
[4:07] Speaker 1: has come, I'm the light of the world, to illumine
[4:11] Speaker 1: and heal the blind eyes of all of us born
[4:15] Speaker 1: blind in original sin. So identify with this man. What
[4:22] Speaker 1: does Jesus do when he had said this, I'm the
[4:25] Speaker 1: light of the world? It says he spat on the
[4:28] Speaker 1: ground and made clay with the saliva and smeared the
[4:33] Speaker 1: clay on the man's eyes. Now, peculiar, huh? Was he
[4:40] Speaker 1: mimicking to some degree the sort of healing practices of
[4:44] Speaker 1: the time? You know, maybe. But with Jesus, especially as
[4:48] Speaker 1: John tells the story, there's always something richly theological going on. St.
[4:53] Speaker 1: Augustine figured it out, I think. The mixing of the
[4:58] Speaker 1: saliva with the earth, saliva which comes from the mouth
[5:01] Speaker 1: and from the head, and now mixing with the kind
[5:05] Speaker 1: of raw earth with the clay, It's a symbol, Augustine said,
[5:09] Speaker 1: of the incarnation of the Word of God becoming flesh,
[5:16] Speaker 1: God's Spirit mixing, as it were, with matter. And what's
[5:23] Speaker 1: that produce? It produces a salve. Now, imagine Jesus taking
[5:28] Speaker 1: this mud in his hands like this, and he's got
[5:32] Speaker 1: this salve, which he then rubs into the man's eyes. salve,
[5:39] Speaker 1: S-A-L-V-E in English, is closely related to salus in Latin.
[5:46] Speaker 1: Salus means health. And if you were greeting somebody with
[5:50] Speaker 1: the greeting of, you know, good health to you, what
[5:52] Speaker 1: you'd say was salve. You know, we have that great hymn,
[5:55] Speaker 1: the Salve Regina, Hail Holy Queen. Salve, hello, good health
[6:01] Speaker 1: to you. Who is Jesus? He's the Savior. Listen to
[6:07] Speaker 1: that word. From the Latin, salvator. Same thing, salve, salvator.
[6:15] Speaker 1: He's the healer par excellence. He's come to heal. His
[6:22] Speaker 1: very being, which is the coming together of divinity and humanity,
[6:29] Speaker 1: functions as a healing balm, a healing salve. It's rubbing...
[6:37] Speaker 1: Jesus into the man's blind eyes. Now, what does it
[6:42] Speaker 1: look like for us? The sacraments of the Church, what
[6:47] Speaker 1: are those? Just vague symbols? No, no, no, no. They're
[6:53] Speaker 1: the means by which God's grace is communicated to us. Listen,
[7:00] Speaker 1: body and soul. We talk about the matter and the
[7:04] Speaker 1: form of a sacrament. Think of baptism, the water. plus
[7:08] Speaker 1: the words. Think of confession, the imposition of hands, plus
[7:12] Speaker 1: the words. Think of confirmation, the oil, plus the words,
[7:17] Speaker 1: the matter and the form. The sacraments are the prolongation
[7:24] Speaker 1: of the very being and presence of Christ, rubbed like
[7:30] Speaker 1: a salve into our sin-sick bodies and souls. How do
[7:37] Speaker 1: we come to see we who are blind from birth?
[7:42] Speaker 1: You don't come to see through the lights provided by
[7:44] Speaker 1: the world. They're more obscuring than illuminating. No, no, we
[7:48] Speaker 1: come to see by the light of Christ. We're healed
[7:53] Speaker 1: by our contact with him. Think of that now, Catholics.
[7:59] Speaker 1: Next time you receive one of the sacraments, think of
[8:02] Speaker 1: this mud paste, this salve, that Jesus rubs into the
[8:08] Speaker 1: man's eyes. That's what the sacraments are doing for us now.
[8:13] Speaker 1: So he smeared the clay on his eyes, and then
[8:16] Speaker 1: he said to him, go wash in the pool of Siloam.
[8:21] Speaker 1: And then John adds, which means scent. So pool of
[8:27] Speaker 1: Siloam in Jerusalem, a place of cleansing and bathing. But
[8:34] Speaker 1: the fact that it means scent— One of the great
[8:38] Speaker 1: descriptions of Jesus, especially in John's Gospel, is the one
[8:42] Speaker 1: who's been sent. Jesus often refers to the Father as
[8:46] Speaker 1: the one who sent me. See, I've been sent on mission.
[8:51] Speaker 1: I'm the one who's been sent. And so to bathe
[8:55] Speaker 1: in the pool of Siloam, what is that? That's baptism.
[9:00] Speaker 1: That's being washed in Christ. Again, baptism is not just
[9:06] Speaker 1: a vague symbol. But it's the means by which, listen,
[9:10] Speaker 1: we are incorporated into Christ. We come to share his
[9:16] Speaker 1: relationship with the Father. So the salve, the sacraments, the
[9:23] Speaker 1: pool of Siloam, you see what's being described here is
[9:27] Speaker 1: how all of us, born blind in sin, are brought
[9:32] Speaker 1: to healing and vision through our immersion in Christ— mediated
[9:38] Speaker 1: by the sacraments. That's how the Church Fathers read this
[9:43] Speaker 1: great text. Now, listen to what happens. So he went
[9:46] Speaker 1: and washed, and he came back able to see. Now,
[9:52] Speaker 1: is this a physical healing? Yes. Yes, Jesus healed people physically. Absolutely.
[9:57] Speaker 1: They remembered this story. Absolutely. Absolutely. But when it comes
[10:01] Speaker 1: to Jesus, everything is operating at different levels. There's a
[10:04] Speaker 1: physical level, and then there's the richly symbolic and spiritual
[10:09] Speaker 1: level at which this story is operating. How do we
[10:13] Speaker 1: come to see? How do I know where I'm going
[10:18] Speaker 1: Don't follow the false lights of the world. No, no.
[10:22] Speaker 1: Wash in the pool of Siloam. Have the sacraments smeared
[10:29] Speaker 1: into you, if you want. Be immersed in Jesus. There's
[10:34] Speaker 1: so many great details in this. So the man— imagine
[10:38] Speaker 1: what it's like. Someone who's never seen, now able to see.
[10:44] Speaker 1: And so he comes back, and he's just overwhelmed. And
[10:48] Speaker 1: the people, they don't know what to make of this.
[10:54] Speaker 1: Is this the one that used to sit and beg?
[10:57] Speaker 1: Some said, yeah, it is. Others said, no, it just
[11:00] Speaker 1: looks like him. I love that detail, because, see, when
[11:03] Speaker 1: you come to Christ and you're changed by him, you
[11:06] Speaker 1: don't look the same. You don't act the same. People
[11:09] Speaker 1: might look at you and say, is that the same guy?
[11:12] Speaker 1: That's the fellow I know. No way! No way! See,
[11:15] Speaker 1: of course he's been transformed and transfigured by Christ. But then,
[11:19] Speaker 1: listen to what he said. So some say it is,
[11:23] Speaker 1: some say he's not. And the man says, ego eimi
[11:27] Speaker 1: in the Greek. He said, I am. In other words,
[11:32] Speaker 1: at the surface level of the story, he's saying like, yep, yep,
[11:34] Speaker 1: it's me. But in John's Gospel, we're not going to
[11:38] Speaker 1: miss the ego eimi. Jesus says, I am, I am,
[11:43] Speaker 1: I am. Now, why? Because he's the Son of God.
[11:46] Speaker 1: I am who I am. Well, I know it's extraordinary
[11:49] Speaker 1: to say, but when we get grafted onto Christ in
[11:53] Speaker 1: baptism and through the sacraments, we share in his life.
[11:57] Speaker 1: We become conformed to him. We begin to see with
[12:02] Speaker 1: his eyes, to think with his mind, to move as
[12:05] Speaker 1: he would move. I am. We become identified with him. Now,
[12:12] Speaker 1: I love, especially in John, you watch this a lot,
[12:15] Speaker 1: this marvelous thing has just happened. He's born blind, and
[12:20] Speaker 1: now he sees. And what's the reaction of the crowd? Well,
[12:26] Speaker 1: we're not too happy about this. Who does this guy
[12:29] Speaker 1: think he is? And how did this happen? And isn't
[12:31] Speaker 1: this the wrong day to be doing it? And I mean,
[12:34] Speaker 1: I get it. I get it because I know what
[12:39] Speaker 1: the fallen world is like. This miracle of grace has happened,
[12:44] Speaker 1: but our reaction to it is very negative. It's, how come?
[12:49] Speaker 1: How come? Because it's in the interest of blind people
[12:53] Speaker 1: to keep other people blind. Does that make sense? See,
[12:56] Speaker 1: it's in the interest of blind people and institutions and
[13:00] Speaker 1: systems that are created by blind people to keep everybody blind.
[13:05] Speaker 1: If you It's like in Plato's great parable. If you
[13:08] Speaker 1: break out of the cave and you start seeing things
[13:11] Speaker 1: that other people aren't seeing, they don't like it. They
[13:14] Speaker 1: don't like it. Don't be surprised when you come to
[13:18] Speaker 1: Christ and he really changes you to the point that
[13:22] Speaker 1: they don't even recognize you. Don't be surprised. They're going
[13:27] Speaker 1: to oppose you. So he has to deal with that.
[13:31] Speaker 1: Even his poor parents get dragged into it. And they're
[13:34] Speaker 1: probably afraid for their lives that The officials are going
[13:36] Speaker 1: to be after them and all of that. But how
[13:40] Speaker 1: does the story now come to its conclusion? The blind
[13:47] Speaker 1: man confronts the Lord. Jesus comes to him. Do you believe?
[13:54] Speaker 1: Do you believe in the Messiah? Who is he, sir,
[13:58] Speaker 1: that I might believe in him? You are seeing him.
[14:03] Speaker 1: And with that, The formerly blind man worships the Lord.
[14:10] Speaker 1: He doesn't just thank him. He doesn't just admire him.
[14:14] Speaker 1: He worships him. There's the goal. As I've said so
[14:17] Speaker 1: many times, the problem is always false worship. It's our
[14:20] Speaker 1: blindness that leads us to worship in the wrong way.
[14:25] Speaker 1: But when we get healed by Christ, we get baptized
[14:28] Speaker 1: in the pool of Siloam, we get the sacraments rubbed
[14:31] Speaker 1: into us, we become conformed to I Am. See, when
[14:34] Speaker 1: all that happens, then I'll know where I'm going. I'll
[14:38] Speaker 1: know what I'm about. And I will bow down and
[14:42] Speaker 1: worship the one who gave me light and vision. And
[14:47] Speaker 1: God bless you.

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