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 had 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 current readings, Jesus is at the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem.  Yesterday we read 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."   We notice in these verses the place of the formerly blind man.  His own parents fear the leadership and being ostracized from community by being put out of the synagogue.   They insist that he will speak for himself.   As witness, the healed man will have to testify alone and of himself.

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 points out that with Jesus not present, the Pharisees call Him a sinner, but earlier when He asked them face-to-face, "Which if you convicts Me of sin" (8:46), they evaded the question.  Give God the glory! was an oath formula that was used before a person would give testimony.  Nonetheless, this healed man will indeed give God glory, as we'll read further down.  The more he is pressed, the more strongly he expresses his faith, while the Pharisees lapse into greater 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."   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."   My study bible tells us that this healed man has now become a model of Christian witness.  It says that many people do not bear witness to Christ because they fear they will be asked questions they cannot answer.  But this man's answer to people far more well-educated than he is provides the correct solution.  He admits what he does not know, and follows up with what he does know.  My study bible says that the formula, "That I don't know, but what I do know is this," is foundational to witnessing one's faith to others. 

 

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.  My study bible comments that  the unprecedented nature of opening the eyes of one who was born blind is a confirmation of Christ's divinity.  This was one of the signs of the coming Messiah (Isaiah 35:5; 42:7) and a prerogative which belongs solely to God (Psalm 146:8).  Let us note that successful witnessing does not mean necessarily converting others to one's way of thinking or winning them over somehow.  The more this man tells the truth, the more infuriated the leaders become.  They cannot refute his logic or the truth of what he reveals.  Therefore they resort to insult and they cast him out.   What is clear is their injustice and unrighteous behavior.

Jesus heard that they had 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.   My study bible makes note of the gradual spiritual illumination of the blind man which follows the physical opening of his sight.  It reminds us that he moves from knowing almost nothing about Christ, through the conclusion that Jesus could not possibly be a sinner, through confessing that Jesus must be from God, and to finally seeing Christ as the divine Son of God and worshiping 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."  My study bible says that our Lord's coming brought judgment to the world, not because He came to judge (12:47-48), but rather because of humankind's accountability to Him.   It says that those who see and hear Him but do not believe are judged by their own faithlessness.

The references to light in the recent passages, especially regarding the healing of this man blind from birth, are very important.  Historically, it is said that blindness is akin to darkness in physical and spiritual terms, and that the healing of a blind eye "lets the light in."  Illumination is an important concept that relates both to the physical healing of this man by Jesus -- think of it, who has never seen light in full -- and to the spiritual enlightenment of the man that follows.  By contrast, the religious leaders become increasingly stubborn in their blindness, clinging to their darkness, not wanting to know, embroiling themselves finally in insult and imposing hardship on the healed man by casting him from the community -- a kind of death.   In the end, Jesus says, "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."   Once again Jesus extends the metaphor of light and blindness, but this time there is a different tenor to the message, an even more sobering one.  At this time, and in light of the behavior of the religious leaders, Jesus not only speaks of judgment, but indicates that judgment is His purpose in coming into the world.  This mysterious statement is an indication that those who seem to dwell in spiritual darkness may be enlightened through His work and mission, and those who are supposed to be illumined and knowledgeable are rendered blind.  This is precisely what has happened in this story in the examples of the man who was blind and now sees, and in the leaders who increasingly retreat into the darkness of ignorance of Christ and His works -- even the stupendous and beneficial miracle of healing right before them.  They hear Christ's words and ask, "Are we blind also?"  Jesus makes an even deeper affirmation of judgment by saying, "If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, 'We see.'  Therefore your sin remains."   In other words, their insistence that they know better only renders them more culpable.  They have simply added to the cost of their denial of what is before them.  How often we may pause to ask ourselves what it means to be responsible for something we know or claim to know, something we have been told or witnessed and yet refuse to honor or take in.  There is a kind of deliberate ignorance which we can observe in the world, that has to do with a refusal to acknowledge something that is true.  Jesus contrasts this with people who don't know better, who haven't had an advantage of being taught something.  A deliberate ignorance, a shutting out of the light and of the truth is something altogether different from simple unawareness.  This has to do with a preference for darkness; and in the case of Christ's works and words, a preference for spiritual darkness, for the work and influence of one whom Jesus has recently called the father of these men.  In 8:44 Jesus said, "You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it."  The entirety of John's Gospel is concerned with judgment; it is concerned with truth and light, and the darkness that opposes them.  This is the darkness that prefers ignorance and lies, half-truths and deception, and Jesus rightly calls the effects and aim of such to be murder.  To deny truth is to murder:  it is to seek to destroy reality, the truth, the things necessary for real life, the energy and abundance of love, the things that nurture human life and the life of the world.  In this strategy of denial that is born out of selfishness to hang onto position and place, we find an investment in anything that hangs on to the status quo and prevents change borne of the light, and a refusal to heed God's word for fear of where it might lead.   It is this refusal of the light that will lead to the Cross, in a desire to shut it out for good.  In our personal lives, we may be faced with many crises, and it is easy for us to sink into deep denial of something we need to face.  This is a human response to change.  But God calls us forward, and we need to accept that this, also, is the place of the Cross, and the crosses we might bear in life.  We allow our Father and our Lord to take us forward; and the work of the Holy Spirit to work in us change at levels deeper than we know.  To refuse the gift of light is to refuse God's work, to hide what needs to be healed.  It means we reject His life.  These are themes that run straight from the beginning of John's Gospel, and will continue.  But Jesus is the One who always faces the real struggles of the world, for He knows also the beauty and truth of God toward which He seeks to lead us.