For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind

 But the Jews did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind and received his sight, until they called the parents of him who had received his sight.  And they asked them, saying, "Is this your son, who you say was born blind?  How then does he now see?"  His parents answered them and said, "We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; but by what means he now sees we do not know, or who opened his eyes we do not know.  He is of age; ask him.  He will speak for himself."  His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had agreed already that if anyone confessed that He was Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue.  Therefore his parents said, "He is of age; ask him."

So they again called the man who was blind, and said to him, "Give God the glory!  We know that this Man is a sinner."  He answered and said, "Whether He is a sinner or not I do not know.  One thing I know:  that though I was blind, now I see."  Then they said to him again, "What did He do to you?  How did He open your eyes?"  He answered them, "I told you already, and you did not listen.  Why do you want to hear it again?  Do you also want to become His disciples?"  Then they reviled him and said, "You are His disciple, but we are Moses' disciples.  We know that God spoke to Moses; as for this fellow, we do not know where He is from."  The man answered and said to them, "Why, this is a marvelous thing, that you do not know where He is from; yet He has opened my eyes!  Now we know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He hears him.  Since the world began it has been unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of one who was born blind.  If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing."  They answered and said to him, "You were completely born in sins, and are you teaching us?"  And they cast him out.

Jesus heard that they cast him out; and when He had found him, He said to him, "Do you believe in the Son of God?"  He answered and said, "Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?"  And Jesus said to him, "You have both seen Him and it is He who is talking with you."  Then he said, "Lord, I believe!"  And he worshiped Him.  And Jesus said, "For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind."  Then some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these words, and said to Him, "Are we blind also?"  Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, 'We see.'  Therefore your sin remains."

- John 9:18-41

In our recent readings, Jesus is in Jerusalem at the Feast of Tabernacles.  The current events in our reading began with chapter 7.  Throughout the subsequent readings, Jesus has had extensive dialogue and confrontation with the leadership.  As they finally took up stones to throw at Him for blasphemy, He passed out of the temple unharmed.  In yesterday's reading, we learned that as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth.  And His disciples asked Him, saying, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"  Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.  I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the 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 these things, He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay.  And He said to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which is translated, Sent).  So he went and washed, and came back seeing.  Therefore, the neighbors and those who previously had seen that he was blind said, "Is not this he who sat and begged?"  Some said, "This is he."  Others said, "He is like him."  He said, "I am he."  Therefore they said to him, "How were your eyes opened?"  He answered and said, "A Man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, 'Go to the pool of Siloam and wash.'  So I went and washed, and I received sight."  Then they said to him, "Where is He?"  He said, "I do not know."  They brought him who formerly was blind to the Pharisees.  Now it was a Sabbath when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes.  Then the Pharisees also asked him again how he had received his sight.  He said to them, "He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and I see."  Therefore some of the Pharisees said, "This Man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath."  Others said, "How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?"  And there was a division among them.  They said to the blind man again, "What do you say about Him because He opened your eyes?"  He said, "He is a prophet."

But the Jews did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind and received his sight, until they called the parents of him who had received his sight.  And they asked them, saying, "Is this your son, who you say was born blind?  How then does he now see?"  His parents answered them and said, "We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; but by what means he now sees we do not know, or who opened his eyes we do not know.  He is of age; ask him.  He will speak for himself."  His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had agreed already that if anyone confessed that He was Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue.  Therefore his parents said, "He is of age; ask him."   Again, John's Gospel gives us degrees of witnessing, and particularly disagreements among the leadership and the people.  Here "the Jews" (we remember once again) is the title John gives to the religious leadership.  We know their attitude toward Jesus, they've just taken up stones to attack Him after He told them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, after Abraham was, I AM," a statement clearly indicating equality with God.   They are after witnesses, too, and question the parents of the man who was blind since birth, but had been healed and His sight restored by Christ.  The parents are poor witnesses; afraid of the leadership who want to put Christ to death, they say it is their son who should be asked.  They don't want to give the "good news" to those who don't want to hear it.

So they again called the man who was blind, and said to him, "Give God the glory!  We know that this Man is a sinner." My study bible says that with Jesus not present, the Pharisees call Him a sinner in front of this man who's been restored to sight.  But face-to-face, Jesus has already asked them, "Which if you convicts Me of sin?" (8:46), and at that time they evaded the question.  Give God the glory! is an oath formula, and it was used before giving testimony.  This healed man will indeed give God glory a little farther along in the reading (verse 38).  The more this man is pressed, the more fervent his faith becomes.  At the same time, the Pharisees lapse into deeper darkness.

He answered and said, "Whether He is a sinner or not I do not know.  One thing I know:  that though I was blind, now I see." The formerly blind man becomes a model of Christian witness.  My study bible says that many people do not bear witness to Christ because they fear they will be asked questions that they cannot answer.  But this man's answer, and to people far more educated than he was, provides the great solution to this dilemma, and the true way to state one's faith honestly. He admits what he does not know, but follows up with what he does know.   The formula, "That I don't know, but what I do know is this," is foundational to witnessing one's faith to others, says my study bible.  For all who read the Gospel, this healed man becomes the model of witnessing.

Then they said to him again, "What did He do to you?  How did He open your eyes?"  He answered them, "I told you already, and you did not listen.  Why do you want to hear it again?  Do you also want to become His disciples?"  Then they reviled him and said, "You are His disciple, but we are Moses' disciples.  We know that God spoke to Moses; as for this fellow, we do not know where He is from."  The man answered and said to them, "Why, this is a marvelous thing, that you do not know where He is from; yet He has opened my eyes!  Now we know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He hears him.  Since the world began it has been unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of one who was born blind.  If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing."  They answered and said to him, "You were completely born in sins, and are you teaching us?"  And they cast him out.  We witness the progression of this healed man's faith and witness.  My study bible says that having opened the blind man's eyes, Christ also opens his heart and illumines his spirit.  The man moves from knowing almost nothing about Christ, through the conclusion here that Jesus could not possibly be a sinner, through confessing that Jesus must be from God.  As the Pharisees cannot refute his logic nor the truth of his witnessing reveals, they once more resort to personal insult (see also 8:48).  We observe their frustration.  Finally, they cast him out.  "Since the world began it has been unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of one who was born blind" -- this kind of healing is unprecedented, and thus confirms Christ's divinity.  It was one of the signs foretold about the coming Messiah (Isaiah 35:5, 42:7), and a prerogative belonging to God (Psalm 146:8).

Jesus heard that they cast him out; and when He had found him, He said to him, "Do you believe in the Son of God?"  He answered and said, "Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?"  And Jesus said to him, "You have both seen Him and it is He who is talking with you."  Then he said, "Lord, I believe!"  And he worshiped Him.  And Jesus said, "For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind."  Then some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these words, and said to Him, "Are we blind also?"  Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, 'We see.'  Therefore your sin remains."   We observe once more the pattern of growth of faith in the formerly blind man.  Here he moves to the conviction that Jesus is the divine Son of God, and worshiping Him.  We can see the basis of real faith, and that is trust.  He trusts the word of Christ, as Christ has entrusted faith and healing to this man.  My study bible comments on this section that our Lord's coming brought judgment into the world, not because He came to judge (see 12:47-48), but because of our accountability to Him.  Those who see and hear Him but do not believe are judged by their own faithlessness.

How does faith work?  Faith, in some sense, is based on a kind of judgment.  If we understand faith as trust, then we must see the discernment involved.  Do we have the capacity to discern who truly loves us?  Do we discern who gives us the truth?  Can we manage to put our trust in the right Person or Persons?  The formerly blind man has confidence in Christ, and it is the leadership that presses him for a false statement.  As the pressure and demands mount, we can see two opposite things happening in the different parties in the story.  The healed blind man comes more deeply to faith and trust in Christ.  At the same time, the leadership, feeling only that their position is threatened, pressure the man to disavow Jesus, and become more stubborn and harsh in their own response.  It tells us an important story about our own capacity for discernment or good judgment, and the necessity of humility as a quality that precludes such a state in ourselves.  There are too many obstacles in the way for the leadership.  Their desire to please God comes second to their other concerns about their places in the social and religious life of the people, their positions of authority and the "praise of men," as the Gospel puts it.  They become more desperate as the truth takes root, as this formerly blind man's witness challenges what they would rather like to hear.  They are ready to put Christ to death for violating the statutes that are more important to them and which they guard zealously as their prerogative in the scheme of things.  The formerly blind man's parents also give no witness at all, out of fear of the religious authorities in the temple.  But the blind man only moves more deeply into faith, even as he is cast out of the temple.  He relies on what he knows, what has happened -- and ultimately his trust in Christ.  And that's an important thing.  Who we give our trust to can make all the difference in life.  What is perhaps most important is that we have the capacity to know love.  This is of course, something natural, but it is also learned.  There are ways in which life can take a human capacity and change it, put obstacles in its way -- and healing comes through relationship with the One who truly loves us and thereby teaches us love.  This is where true "good judgment" comes from.  This is where real trust and confidence take root, even when all else fails, even the human institutions we most rely upon.  Christ is there for us.  He is the One in whom we can place our trust.  Prayer becomes dialogue of mutual confidence, and a mutual vehicle for love and the true learning of love.  This is the Way of Christ, His Way.  It's a path of growth that we observe in this healed man who was blind from birth, and it's a path we can observe in our own lives as we, also, may experience this kind of growth in faith through time.  It's important to understand faith as a journey of growth in relationship, and that this relationship nurtures our own understanding of discernment, of love, and of trust.  It builds who we are.  A disciple is a "learner," and we are meant to grow and heal as we abide in Him, and He in us.