| For some reason, we seem to want to have someone or something to blame when things go wrong in our lives and in our world. When Hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated the Gulf Coast, there was a furious search for someone to hold responsible and accountable for the destruction.
 More recently, when a tanker spilled oil into San Francisco Bay, a similarly frenzied exercise to find the responsible party ensued. It wasn't enough to have an accident or disaster. Someone had to pay with their money, or their job.
In today's Gospel, Jesus and his disciples pass by a man who was blind from birth. "Rabbi," the disciples ask, "who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"
There is an assumption in the disciples' question that the man's blindness is someone's fault. Maybe they think that if someone's sin is responsible for the man's blindness, then perhaps that person's atonement can bring about healing.
There must be something comforting about knowing who to blame for the difficulties and disasters in our world. Maybe it's because if we can pinpoint who or what is responsible for our problems, then we can eliminate the source and ensure that the pain will end, or at least not be repeated. After all, if there's no way to improve the response to a natural disaster, or an oil spill, then we simply have to live with the fear that the same misery and destruction can be unleashed at any time.
What do we see when we look at our lives, our relationships, our work? Do we stop at the material conditions we experience, or do we look for the work of God?
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The same is true about the personal crises that can affect us. Whether it is physical blindness or spiritual emptiness, whether it is the end of a relationship or the end of a career, it would be nice to know that there is a cause for these events and circumstances that can, in the future, be controlled. If the parents are responsible for their son's blindness, or if the blind man is responsible for his own condition, then they are responsible to fix it.
"Neither he nor his parents sinned," Jesus responds to his followers. "It is so the works of God might be made visible through him."
Jesus changes the subject from who is responsible for the man's blindness and instead makes the man and his condition a means for others to see the work of God. It is as if he is trying to tell us that we are the spiritually blind, seeing only the physical world in front of us. We only see a blind man. Jesus sees the work of God.
This fourth Sunday of Lent asks us to reflect on our own vision. What do we see when we look at our lives, our relationships, our work? Do we stop at the material conditions we experience, or do we look for the work of God? Do we believe God is at work even when a situation seems bleak?  Today's Gospel suggests that what we think is a disaster is actually an opportunity to see God work. Jesus restores physical sight to the blind man. He seems to have a much harder time getting the disciples and the religious leaders of the day to see clearly.
Bill Peatman writes from Napa.
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