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“One thing I know, I was blind and now I can see.” This simple line in the Gospel for this Laetare, or “rejoice,” Sunday cuts through a Gospel filled with human complexities and frustration.

The long version of the passage preserves for us this contrast. Christ works the miracle of giving sight back to the blind man in a simple and straightforward way. There is a need, Christ meets that need and calls the man to faith.

Surrounding the miracle, however, are a long series of confused conversations. The Pharisees refuse to accept the miracle, and thus interview the formerly blind man, his parents, and then the man again. Their harried investigation takes up most of the passage and results in “division” among them. Their interviews inspire fear in the blind man’s parents, and are marked by irritation, angst and intransigence. In the face of Christ’s simple command, “go wash,” and its simple result of renewed sight, the world, represented by the Pharisees, is restless, agitated and ultimately achieves little or nothing. The man at the center of it, who has experienced both Christ and the world, is able to cut through everything with the simple assertion: “One thing I know, I was blind and now I can see.”

We too are invited to encounter the simplicity of Christ in the midst of a world that insists on restless and anxious complexity. Every day, new things call for our attention: our responsibilities at home and at work, our plans for the future, new events in our families and friendships, new events in our neighborhoods, our country, the church, or the world, fear and anxieties, questions and doubts, health, finances, achievements, reputation and many others.

Each of these voices calls us in a different direction and demands the response of our hearts. Some have legitimate demands, some do not. Some are legitimate but demand the first place in our hearts and minds, even though they may not deserve it. Even on quiet days, the murmuring of the world continues, restlessly calling us to restlessness. While we all have real obligations in the world around us, especially to the people for whom we are responsible, those murmuring voices can threaten to drown out the one voice that matters most, namely, Christ’s voice. It is no surprise that Pope Leo XIV has called all

Christians to turn away from technology for a time and silence the voices of the television and internet that so amplify the anxious spirit of the world.

During the Lenten season, Christ calls us, along with the blind man, to “go wash.” The blind man was to wash in the waters of the Pool of Siloam in Jerusalem. We are to wash in the spiritual waters of confession and acts of penance. The blind man receives his physical sight and can perceive the world around him for the first time. We will receive back our spiritual sight and be more able to see things as God sees them.

For both of us, the myriad voices of the troubled and ravening world will try to drown out the miracle with noise and contradiction, but both of us can hold fast to the simple encounter that has healed us. Most importantly, both of us will be able to see Jesus himself and follow him in simplicity of heart if we stay strong against the murmuring voices that would distract us. In meeting and seeing Christ our God, we find our lives definitively oriented toward him, the simple center of a complex universe, and everything else that matters in this life given its true direction.