Email subscribers will find it easier to access these weekly resources directly on the website, where readings are given in full along with additional video and music resources.
You can find the complete ENCOUNTERING GRACE resource for Lent 2026 here.
Reflections for Sundays in Lent
Sunday 22nd February — the first Sunday in Lent
Sunday 1st March — the second Sunday in Lent
Sunday 8th March — the third Sunday in Lent
Sunday 15th March — Mothering Sunday
Sunday 22nd March — Passion Sunday and our APCM services
Encountering Controversy
Take five deep breaths and check-in with how you are feeling in body, mind and spirit. Take five more deep breaths and ask God to abide with you this Lent, and especially in this time today you have set aside for devotions.
In John 10, we hear Jesus declare, “I am the good shepherd.” Sit gently with this idea for a few moments. And then give thanks, repeating quietly, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want”.
Our attention returns each Sunday to the mud and spit of John 9.
As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’
Jesus answered, ‘Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.’
When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man’s eyes, saying to him, ‘Go, wash in the pool of Siloam’ (which means Sent).
Then he went and washed and came back able to see. The neighbours and those who had seen him before as a beggar began to ask, ‘Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?’ Some were saying, ‘It is he.’ Others were saying, ‘No, but it is someone like him.’
He kept saying, ‘I am the man.’
But they kept asking him, ‘Then how were your eyes opened?’
He answered, ‘The man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and said to me, “Go to Siloam and wash.” Then I went and washed and received my sight.’
They said to him, ‘Where is he?’
He said, ‘I do not know.’ They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. Now it was a sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. Then the Pharisees also began to ask him how he had received his sight. He said to them, ‘He put mud on my eyes. Then I washed, and now I see.’
Some of the Pharisees said, ‘This man is not from God, for he does not observe the sabbath.’ But others said, ‘How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?’ And they were divided.
So they said again to the blind man, ‘What do you say about him? It was your eyes he opened.’
He said, ‘He is a prophet.’
The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight and asked them, ‘Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?’
His parents answered, ‘We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; but we do not know how it is that now he sees, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.’ His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus to be the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. Therefore his parents said, ‘He is of age; ask him.’
So for the second time they called the man who had been blind, and they said to him, ‘Give glory to God! We know that this man is a sinner.’
He answered, ‘I do not know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.’
They said to him, ‘What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?’
He answered them, ‘I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?’
Then they reviled him, saying, ‘You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.’
The man answered, ‘Here is an astonishing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but he does listen to one who worships him and obeys his will. Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.’
They answered him, ‘You were born entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us?’ And they drove him out.
Jesus heard that they had driven him out, and when he found him, he said, ‘Do you believe in the Son of Man?’
He answered, ‘And who is he, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him.’
Jesus said to him, ‘You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he.’
He said, ‘Lord, I believe.’ And he worshipped him.
Jesus said, ‘I came into this world for judgement so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind.’
Some of the Pharisees near him heard this and said to him, ‘Surely we are not blind, are we?’
Jesus said to them, ‘If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, “We see”, your sin remains.’
- The healing happens quietly, but the controversy begins immediately. What do you notice about the neighbours’ confusion and the crowd’s uncertainty?
- Where do you see pressure, suspicion, or fear shaping the way people speak in this story?
- As the questioning intensifies, the man grows in clarity and courage about what has happened to him. How do you see his understanding of Jesus changing as the controversy unfolds?
- The man is cast out — excluded for telling the truth he knows. Think over why this happened.
- In the wilderness Jesus resists the temptation to dominate, impress, or coerce. How do you see that resistance shaping his shepherding in this story?
You might like to say the Lord’s Prayer and use this collect:
Creator and Healer, root of all goodness, working your Sabbath will in the chaos of our life: teach us the insight that gives true judgement and praises you wherever you are found making miracles from spit and mud; through Jesus Christ, the son of the earth. Amen
Close this time with a moment of quiet and stillness, recalling
I am the good shepherd
Sit gently with this idea for a few moments.
And then give thanks repeating quietly
“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want”.