"Letting Go" Lent Series - Fourth Sunday - Labels

Weekly Theme: Labels - Letting Go of False Identity

This week we are invited to bring truth into the light. Many things that grow in darkness — shame, fear, and false identities — lose their power when exposed to God’s truth.

The label the world gives us is never the identity God gives us.

Lent calls us to release the labels that limit us and rediscover who we truly are as children of God.

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Overview

Throughout Scripture, God repeatedly chooses the people no one expects.

In the first reading from Samuel, the prophet is sent to anoint a king from the sons of Jesse. One by one the older, stronger, and more impressive sons are presented. Yet none of them are chosen.

David, the youngest, is not even invited to the gathering. He is out tending the sheep — overlooked and underestimated.

But God reminds Samuel of a powerful truth:

“People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

The world labeled David one way. God saw him another way entirely.

This theme continues in the Gospel with the man born blind.

The culture of the time labeled him a sinner. Because of his blindness, people assumed his life must be the result of wrongdoing. He was pushed to the margins of society and reduced to a title: beggar.

But Jesus refuses to accept that label.

Instead, Christ reveals that this man’s story will become a testimony to the works of God.

When Jesus heals him, the miracle exposes something deeper — the people who believed they could see were actually the ones who were blind.

The Pharisees were so attached to their own labels, authority, and interpretations that they could not recognize the presence of God standing before them.

This still happens today.

Sometimes others place labels on us. Sometimes we place them on ourselves. Sometimes we accept identities shaped by fear, past mistakes, or the opinions of others.

But God sees something different.

Before anything else, you are a child of God — created in His image and called into His light.

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Scripture Focus

First Reading: 1 Samuel 16:1b, 6–7, 10–13a

David is chosen as king, even though he is the least expected.

“The Lord does not look at the things people look at… the Lord looks at the heart.”

God sees beyond labels and appearances.

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Second Reading: Ephesians 5:8–14

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

Our identity is not rooted in the past — it is transformed by grace.

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Gospel: John 9:1–41

Jesus heals the man born blind.

“One thing I do know is that I was blind and now I see.”

The miracle reveals two kinds of blindness: physical and spiritual.

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Spiritual Focus for the Week

Labels can quietly shape how we see ourselves.

Ask yourself:

• Have I accepted labels from others that limit who I believe I can become?

• Do I still define myself by past mistakes or failures?

• Am I willing to see myself the way God sees me?

When we bring our struggles into the light, God restores our vision.