Heal our blindness

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.’

- John 9:1-17

In reading commentary on this passage, I have found several significant ideas. First, I am told that this is the one healing in which the man who is afflicted was blind from birth. I read also that this blindness signifies the blindness of humanity in a darkened world. This passage was apparently read in the ancient Church on the eve of Easter when the catechumens were baptized, as it reiterates themes of healing, washing, illumination, redemption.

Because I have been concerned in the most recent commentaries with the notion of the omnipotence of the Father, what strikes me first and most obviously in connection with this reading is the notion that this man's affliction is an opportunity for the glorification of God. Jesus' disciples ask him who sinned to cause this blindness - but Jesus denies that this affliction has anything to do with specific sin. In these two sentences, we do have an ample opportunity for comparison to baptism and its elements of redemption: his affliction is neither his fault nor his parents', but rather reflects the conditions of the world into which he (and we) are born. As such, the brokenness of the world, all our affliction in need of healing, is reflected in his blindness - and blindness is a metaphor for our lack of understanding, our limitation, our need. Again, the commentary I have read notes that Jesus uses earth (mud made from dirt and spittle) to repair what is born of earth: another reflection of the rebirth of baptism and its aim of illumination, to give us the Spirit we need for what ails us, for what we are otherwise blind to.

I think this passage is significant for its reflection of what we are born into and what we are born for: for the glorification of God, so that God's works may be shown in us, regardless of our condition and who we are as the product of birth into an imperfect world. There is no sin or guilt to cause those conditions for which we take blame, but this does not mean that we don't need healing, that it is not up to us to grasp the gift that is offered. We all need the light of illumination to find our way out of our own blindness and darkness nevertheless.

Power was brought into the world so that it might do its work in us and through us. What law serves to blind us to that is blindness indeed. It is faith that leads us to the light. And what do we do with it from there?