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, and it is the final year of His earthly life.  He has been disputing in the temple with the religious leaders, who sought to arrest Him and to stone Him, and failed to do either one.  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."  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 comments that, with Jesus not present, the Pharisees call Him a sinner, but earlier when He asked them face-to-face, "Which of you convicts me of sin?" (John 8:46), they evaded the question.  Give God the glory! was an oath formula which was used before giving testimony, according to my study Bible.  But nonetheless, God truly give God glory.  The more he's pressed, the more fervent his faith grows, and 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."  In giving this testimony, the healed man becomes a model of Christian witness.  My study Bible comments that many people do not bear witness to Christ because they are afraid they will be asked questions which they cannot answer.  But this man's answer to people who are more educated  than he is provides the right solution:  he admits what he does not know, but follows up with what he does not know, but yet 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.

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.  Since Christ had opened this formerly blind man's eyes, He also opens his heart and illumines his spirit.  The man has moved from knowing almost nothing about Christ (verse 25), through the understanding that Jesus could not possibly be a sinner (verse 31), to confessing that Jesus must be from God (verse 33); and finally to see Christ as the divine Son of God and worship Him (John 9:38).  Since the Pharisees once again cannot refuge the man's logic nor the truth of what he reveals, they once more resort to personal insult ("You were completely born in sins, and are you teaching us?"); see also John 8:48.  Additionally the unprecedented nature of opening the eyes of one who was born blind, my study Bible comments, 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 belonged solely to God (Psalm 146:8).

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."  My study Bible notes here that the Lord's coming brought judgment to the world, not because He came to judge (John 12:47-48), but because of our accountability to Him.  It says that those who see and hear Him but do not believe are judged by their own faithlessness. 

 

Today's reading is marked by issues of "sight."  How do we see?  What do we see?  Are we responsible if we say we see?  Jesus has healed this man blind from birth, a miraculous healing that is singular in all of Scripture -- for never was there a report of a person whose sight was restored from blindness at birth.  Of course the religious leaders are even more zealously going to go after Christ now.  They were already after Him after He healed a paralytic on the Sabbath.   Now this stupendous miracle of healing a man blind from birth has also happened on a Sabbath.  The religious leaders begin by questioning the formerly blind man's parents, who are so terrified to respond that they say, "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."  It's a little like the story of Adam and Eve in Genesis 3, only the inverse.  There we also read about sudden sight; we're told, "Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings."  God asks them, "Who told you that you were naked?"  Adam first blamed Eve, and Eve blamed the serpent.  They will all pay the consequences, and we the inheritors of the earth live with the same.  But in some sense, in this healing, Jesus reverses what is sometimes referred to as the Fall.  There is no shame in this act of this man's eyes being opened.  On the contrary, Jesus has declared, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him."  Here this man's eyes having been opened in the sense of physical sight, we see his spiritual sight gradually grow as well.  Again, the themes of sight and sinning reverse themselves from the Genesis story.  The religious leaders swear him to an oath, significantly, "Give God the glory!"  And they go on to claim about Jesus, "We know that this Man is a sinner."  The roles are reversed; here it is God Himself in the Person of Christ the Son who is declared a sinner by the religious leaders.  The formerly blind man 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."  It's truly powerful that my study Bible declares this the model of Christian witness or testimony of faith; it is both about seeing and telling the truth one knows, and that leads to a greater and expanding vision of truth.  This in turn leads to a greater revelation of faith; Jesus finds and asks the man if he believes in the Son of God.  Then He reveals to him, "You have both seen Him and it is He who is talking with you."  Then the man declares, "Lord, I believe!" His spiritual sight being truly opened, he then worshiped Christ.  This is the restoration of the relationship between God and Adam and Eve in the Garden, where this healed man may now speak with and fully engage in worship with God.  But there's a deeper story than the simple reversal of the Fall; it is a picture of this world in which Christ has entered.  And Jesus declares this new state of the world, this new age, in the following open way for all of us:  "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." This seems a paradoxical statement, but it is both further illumined and made more complex in Christ's next statement to the religious leaders, who still quite evidently don't see, ""If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, 'We see.'  Therefore your sin remains."  They cannot admit to their blindness and repent; but they declare they see, so their sin remains.  This is the state of the world in which we live now, this age which the coming of Christ has inaugurated for judgment.  At the Last Supper, Jesus will say to the disciples, "Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged" (John 16:7-11).  So we dwell in this place where so much depends upon our sight, on how we rely on faith to open our sight, or not:  sin, righteousness, and judgment all live there.  How will we play our part?  To whom shall we turn for our illumination, our sight, so that our eyes are washed in the living water He offers to restore? 

 

 

Whether He is a sinner or not I do not know. One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see

 

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 

 

We are currently reading about the events which occurred at the Feast of Tabernacles, during the final year of Jesus' earthly life.  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."  In yesterday's reading (above), we read of the opening of the eyes of this man who was born blind, the sixth of seven signs in John's Gospel.  This "illumination" of the man's sight is an expression and manifestation of Christ's quality of light (John 1:4-5), as "Light of Light, and true God of true God" (Creed).  Here the religious leaders turn to the healed man's parents, to question them.  "The Jews" is used in John's Gospel as a type of political label, meant to indicate the leadership and not the people; all the people in this story are Jews.  Note the fear of the religious establishment, who  threaten "that if anyone confessed that He was Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue," and have the power to do so.  That the people fear them is a testimony to their power, and how they wield it.  By now, they clearly consider Jesus to be an enemy and a threat, and conspire against Him.  So much so, that these parents will not speak on behalf of their son.

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 comments that now, with Jesus not present, the Pharisees call Him a sinner, but earlier when He asked them face-to-face, "Which of you convicts Me of sin?" (John 8:46), they evaded the question.  Give God the glory! it says, was an oath formula used before giving testimony.  Nonetheless, this healed man will give God glory a little further on, toward the end of today's reading (verse 38).  My study Bible makes an important observation, that the more the healed man is pressed, the more fervent his faith becomes -- but 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."  My study Bible remarks that this formerly blind man now becomes 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.  This man's answer to people who are far more education than he is provides the right solution:  he admits what he does not know, but he follows up with what he does know.  My study Bible cites the formula, "That I don't know, but what I do know is this."  It is foundational to witnessing one's faith to others.  

 

 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." My study Bible notes 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 belonging solely to God (Psalm 146:8).

 

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.  My study Bible comments that, having opened the blind man's eyes, here Christ also opens his heart and illumines his spirit.  The healed man moves from knowing nearly nothing about Christ ("Whether He is a sinner or not I do not know. One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see"), through the conclusion that Jesus could not possibly be a sinner ("Now we know that God does not hear sinners. . ."), through confessing that Jesus must be from God, and to finally seeing Him as the divine Son of God and worshiping Him.  Again, the Pharisees can't refute the man's logic nor the truth of what he reveals; therefore, they resort yet again to personal insult ("You were completely born in sins, and are you teaching us?").  See also John 8:48.

 

 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 states that Christ's coming brought judgment to the world, not because He came to judge (John 12:47-48), but rather because of humankind's accountability to Him.  Those who see and hear Him but do not believe are judged by their own faithlessness.  This is a repeated theme in John's Gospel (see also John 3:16-21).  

The formerly blind man has something to teach us all, which my study Bible points out.  He knows how to testify.  Although he does not have the education, qualifications, and social position or power of the religious rulers to whom he speaks, he makes a good testimony for himself.  He also frustrates them in the process, because what he says cannot be counterattacked, except through the fallacy of personal insult.  He uses the formula my study Bible clearly names:  "That I don't know, but what I do know is this."  In so doing, he also displays a characteristic which is has historically been deemed essential to our faith, and the real door to all the virtues, and that is humility.  It takes a kind of grounded humility to be able to speak in this straightforward and honest way.  Perhaps it is because he has spent his life as a person blind from birth, and so has never had any capacity for pretense at being something he is not.  Possibly -- as even the disciples indicate in their beliefs -- because he was surrounded by a culture that presumed that either he or his parents sinned, and so his blindness was a result, he never experienced social distinction of any kind, but rather dismissal.  Possibly such a person has retained the capacity for the type of straightforward honesty, embedded in humility, that he expresses here.  This is another factor related to hidden beauty and goodness that the light of Christ may bring out of a bad circumstance.  When Jesus teaches, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:3), we should stop to think about this formerly blind man, if we are to understand what it is to be poor in spirit.  For this man embodies these qualities of honesty, humility, and being without guile that are hallmarks of what it is to be "poor in spirit," and those things in turn make him the perfect witness for Christ.  Effectively, from a life of affliction and hardship, is produced, through Christ, the beauty that blossoms in this man.  That is, not only his movement toward faith and what that means for him, and not only the opening of his eyes and the sixth great sign given us in John's Gospel of "God with us," but also that he serves as a kind of monument to witnessing for all the rest of us.  For in saying, "Whether He is a sinner or not I do not know.  One thing I know:  that though I was blind, now I see," this man gives to us a model, and the perfect image for how we present ourselves to the world.  It might be helpful to remember that Christianity and its theology is filled with mystery; we actually have a need to say there are things we don't know.  This man reminds us that there is never a need to pretend we know what we don't know, nor contrarily to behave in a way that is simply servile to those whom we would consider above us in some sense.  What is needful is to be "poor in spirit" -- humble, truthful, and without guile.  This serves for anyone, anywhere -- and maybe especially for those who would be in leadership positions.  Let us give thanks for Christ's illumination, bringing this man to such a place, and revealing the work of God in him.

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 recent readings, Jesus has been at the Feast of Tabernacles, an autumn harvest festival, and it is the final year of His earthly life.  He has been disputing with the religious leaders, and given many teachings.  Because of His declaration of equality with the Father, they tried to stone Him, but Jesus went out of the temple.  Yesterday we read that, as Jesus passed by, He saw a man 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 this 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."  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 comments that with Jesus not present, the Pharisees call Him a sinner, but earlier when He asked them face-to-face, "Which of you convicts Me of sin?" (John 8:46), they evaded the question.  Give God the glory! was an oath formula used before giving testimony.  Nonetheless, the healed man will truly give God glory in his dialogue with Jesus further on in our reading ("Lord, I believe!").  The more he is pressed, my study Bible notes, the more fervent his faith becomes, while the Pharisees lapse into deeper darkness.  To get an idea about their use of power, note how the parents of the formerly blind man fear to say anything to them, referring them only to their son, who will understandably come to rely on Christ,  "He is of age; ask him."

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."  My study Bible says that this healed man becomes a model of Christian witness.  Many people do not bear witness to Christ because they fear they will be asked questions they cannot answer.  This man's answer to people who are much more educated than himself provides our solution:  he admits what he does not know, but follows up with what he does know.  My study Bible tells us that this formula, "That I don't know but what I do know is this," is foundational to witnessing one's faith to others. 

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.  My study Bible asks us to see the evolution of the faith of this man.  Having his eyes opened by Christ begins a process of healing whereby his heart and spirit also become illumined.  Here he moves from knowing almost nothing about Jesus, through the conclusion that He could not possibly be a sinner, to confessing that Jesus must be from God -- and in dialogue with Jesus a little farther on in today's passage, to seeing Him as the divine Son of God and worshiping Him.  As the man says, it was unprecedented that the eyes of one who born blind would be opened.  This is a confirmation of Christ's divinity, and also a prophesied sign of the coming Messiah (Isaiah 35:5; 42:7), a prerogative belonging solely to God (Psalm 146:8).  Note the process of the man's logic which the Pharisees cannot refute, neither can they dispute the truth of what he reveals to them -- therefore, characteristically, they again resort to personal insult (see John 8:48). 

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.  My study Bible says that Christ's Incarnation brought judgment to the world, not because He came to judge (John 12:47-48), but because of humankind's accountability to Him.  Those who see and hear Him but do not believe are judged by their own faithlessness.  

What does it mean to truly hear and see Christ, and yet reject any faith in Him, to reject belief?  What is it about being exposed to the deity in the expression and works of Christ which is potent enough to render judgment in those who cannot accept them?  It tells us something not only about Christ, but also about our own capacities for knowing God.  For, unless we were capable of communing with God, of recognizing spiritual truth within ourselves, how could our rejection be that powerfully condemning?  What we receive from this understanding is not simply the depth of our freedom (for how deep must our freedom be to be capable of such potent rejection?), but also the nature of truth itself, and our own internal capacity to participate in it, and the dynamic internal call to faith.  We might think it a no-brainer to accept Christ should we be standing in the shoes of any witnesses to this stupendous healing of a man who was blind from birth.  But if so, then we fail to understand our own capacity for rejection and selfishness.  For clearly, the religious authorities do not want to relinquish any of their own authority which they would have to do if they recognized Jesus as the Christ.  This capacity for self-delusion which is ultimately self-serving is something that perhaps should never surprise us, if we but look around in our world.  But the figure of Christ adds an extra dimension to this question.  His presence tells us at once about the compelling nature of spiritual truth, and also of our own capacities for rejection of it, for fooling ourselves, and for our own blindness to anything but our own immediate gratification.  For we should consider what it might mean for the Pharisees, like Nicodemus who is one of them, to accept Christ among them.  At this time in history, Israel was suffering and on its way to terrible defeat and dispersion, even the horrific destruction of the temple and the Siege of Jerusalem that would come in a generation.  Who knows what path was possible should these men have recognized and accepted Christ?  The same is true for our lives as well.  It is hard for us to see beyond our immediate grasp of circumstances; we are blind to the future.  So often we fail to calculate where our path is taking us.  This happens because we fail to acknowledge our own ignorance and blindness.  It happens because we think we know more than we really do.  And it happens because we have our own course we'd rather pursue than face where a spiritual truth will take us, and there is the real crux of the matter.  Like these Pharisees, we fail to see and note our own blindness and limited capacity for understanding the powerful forces that surround us spiritually and are invisible to us.  We fail to see where our own misguided selfishness and even corruption is leading.  But most importantly, a rejection of Christ (that is, of the spiritual truth He offers) has its own capacity for disastrous consequences, for plans that go awry, for the wrong-headed pursuit of a dead end or one that leads to destruction.  In today's reading, a man blind from birth receives his sight.  But as my study Bible pointed out, this "sight" isn't merely physical; it also, of necessity, becomes a healing of soul and spirit, a granting of sight also on these levels of personal life for this man.  Let us consider this man a stand-in for ourselves; perhaps he has the great advantage of knowing he is blind, when we do not -- and we are capable of fooling ourselves enough to believe that we know more than we really do.  For today, let us consider what we miss when we fail to sit up and take note, to find the truth in Christ standing before us, even within us and among us (Luke 17:20-21).  What we fail to see might be the very thing we need, the one thing necessary, without which we might be among the blind led by the blind.  But it is the deliberate blindness of those who should know better which should give us all pause, for it is something of which we are each capable.