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.

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 

 

In our current reading, Jesus is at the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem (a section of John's Gospel which began with chapter 7).  Yesterday we read that as Jesus passed by, going out of the temple, 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 John's Gospel, we already understand that the terms the Jews is most frequently used as a political one, to designate the religious rulers in the temple, and not the people.  Unless specifically indicated otherwise, all the people in John's Gospel are Jews, including Jesus and the man that was born blind, as well as the author of the Gospel.  Here the religious rulers quiz the parents of the man who had received his sight from Christ's healing (see yesterday's reading, above).  The Gospel notes the fear of the parents, who simply reply, "He is of age; ask him.  he will speak for himself."   In a sense, the healed man is on his own, and must testify for 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 comments 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?" (John 8:46), they evaded the question.  Give God the glory! was an oath formula which was used before giving testimony.  But this healed man will indeed give God the glory -- the more he is pressed, the stronger his faith seems to become, while the Pharisees dig deeper into their own self-deception. 

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.  The formerly blind man who is now healed become 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 they cannot answer.  This man's answer to people who are far more educated than he is provides us with the correct solution:  he admits what he does not know, but follows up with what he does know.  My study bible says that this formula:  "That I don't know, but what I do know is this," is foundational to witnessing one's faith to others.   Note that for his honest testimony, he has been cast out of the temple.   My study bible also adds that the unprecedented nature of opening the eyes of one who was born blind is a confirmation of Christ's divinity.   This was understood as one of the signs of the coming Messiah (Isaiah 35:5, 42:7), and a prerogative which was considered to belong 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.    My study bible comments that, having opened the blind man's eyes, Christ also opens his heart and illumines his spirit to the truth of Jesus' identity.  This healed man has moved from knowing nearly nothing about Jesus to the conclusion that He could not possibly be a sinner, and then through confessing that He must be from God (see the verses immediately preceding these), to finally seeing Him 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."   The transformation the formerly blind man has gone through, subsequent to Christ's healing him, is also a process of illumination.  But here Christ shows the Pharisees have lapsed into a deeper and stubborn darkness; they are therefore deliberately spiritually blind.   Christ 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."  In this passage, we have observed how this happens.  Christ's coming into the world brought judgment to the world, not because He came to judge, my study bible says (see John 12:47-48), but because of our own human accountability to Him.  Those who see and hear Him but who do not believe are judged by their own faithlessness, their response to Christ and His word.

The presence of Christ Himself acts as a kind of pivot point.  The man who has been healed of his blindness gravitates toward faith, which we can observe through the events of this chapter, and especially in today's reading.  Gradually, as things progress, and as he's pressed to find his own answers, he comes to a deeper and deeper faith.  He does this specifically by relying upon his own experience.  That is, upon what he knows to be true.  The religious leaders also come with their own assumed truths to this discussion.  Jesus is already their enemy; they already seek to take Him and prosecute Him (see, for example, this reading, in which the temple officers have been told to arrest Jesus and they fail to do so).  Moreover, the religious leaders must protect their positions, which they think Jesus, with His growing following of disciples, threatens.  The divisions among them, and among the people, which John has documented throughout his Gospel and especially in the scenes from the religious festivals in Jerusalem, also add to the unease of the religious leaders.  So they are already inclined to seek ways to dispute that anything good can come from Jesus, or that He could be truly a Man from God.  As we observe their responses to Jesus, in contrast to the healed blind man, we can see them digging more deeply and firmly into their own blindness to Christ and what He does.  We must make the observation that this is how judgment works.  It is not about Christ coming into the world to declare who is who.  It is all about our responses to Christ, His teachings, His word, His work in the world -- all of which is given by the Father (see, for example, Jesus' testimony to this in John 5:19-30).  It is not therefore a question of Christ imposing judgment, but rather of our response to the truth of what Jesus does and teaches, and in the word He gives -- all of which is from the Father, the fount of all that is.  As Jesus indicates in today's reading, "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."   And in His word to the Pharisees and their deliberate and chosen blindness:  "If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, 'We see.'  Therefore your sin remains."   A true blindness is one thing, but one chosen despite greater awareness is another.  These religious leaders know full well the Scriptural truths and spiritual history of Judaism which Christ fulfills, but they choose, in their knowledge, to find ways to deny it, and to deny the witness of what is before them.  Let us note the contrast with the healed blind man, who sticks to the truth of his own experience and the reality of what has happened to him.   The presence of that experience is important, its immediacy informs the healed man what is true, and to what it is that he testifies.  Let us notice, also, how this experience has pulled him out of his environment.  He is brought into a place in which his identity as an individual is shaped and formed, and inadvertently brought out of a collective identity, as he is cast out of the temple by the religious leaders.  This is a form of martyrdom, in which his testimony to his experience of Christ gives his life shape and distinction; he is no longer simply of the world or of his time and place, but has been drawn, in a sense, out of the world (John 15:19).  His own testimony, his experience of being grilled by the religious leaders, further hones that process, as he sticks to the truth of his experience, and the humility to admit what he doesn't know.  Another important aspect of this testimony is simply how the healed man is riveted in the here and the now, so to speak.  To get down to the brass tacks of experience requires us to truly connect with the presence of what exactly we know, what has happened, and to focus on the present without distraction.  In the face-to-face encounter with Christ, and our retained experience of it, we find ourselves.  At the same time, we observe the religious leaders shrinking from that acknowledgement of what is immediately in front of them.  Let us witness this healed man's witnessing and consider our own lives.  What is your experience of Christ?  Could you testify to God's love in your life?  How does that bring you completely "present" right now?  How does that take you out of "the world"?

 

 

 

 

How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God?

"I can of Myself do nothing.  As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.  If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true.  There is another who bears witness of Me, and I know that the witness which He witnesses of Me is true.  You have sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth.  Yet I do not receive testimony from man, but I say these things that you may be saved.  He was the burning and shining lamp, and you were willing for a time to rejoice in his light.  But I have a greater witness than John's; for the works which the Father has given Me to finish -- the very works that I do -- bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me.  And the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me.  You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form.  But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe.  You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.  But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.  I do not receive honor from men.  But I know you, that you do not have the love of God in you.  I have come in My Father's name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive.  How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God?  Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuses you -- Moses, in whom you trust.  For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me.  But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?"

- John 5:30-47

Yesterday we read that Jesus answered the leadership in the temple and said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.  For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel.  For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will.  For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son, that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father.  He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.  Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.   Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live.  For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man.  Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth -- those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation."

"I can of Myself do nothing.  As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me."  In one sense, this statement sums up and emphasizes more deeply what Jesus has just said (in yesterday's reading, above).  As Christians, we understand that the divine will is common to the three Persons of the Trinity -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit -- all fully share in the same divine nature.   My study bible adds, however, that when the Son is said to obey the Father, this refers to His human will, which Christ assumed at His Incarnation.  He freely aligned His human will in every aspect with the divine will of the Father, and so we are called to do likewise.

"If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true.  There is another who bears witness of Me, and I know that the witness which He witnesses of Me is true.  You have sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth.  Yet I do not receive testimony from man, but I say these things that you may be saved.  He was the burning and shining lamp, and you were willing for a time to rejoice in his light.  But I have a greater witness than John's; for the works which the Father has given Me to finish -- the very works that I do -- bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me.  And the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me.  You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form.  But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe.  You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.  But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.  I do not receive honor from men.  But I know you, that you do not have the love of God in you.  I have come in My Father's name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive.  How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God?  Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuses you -- Moses, in whom you trust.  For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me.  But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?"  Here, Jesus provides witnesses to His claim of Sonship.  He is anticipating the argument and speaking the thoughts of the Jewish leaders (as He does also in Luke 4:23).   In Jewish tradition, a valid testimony requires two witnesses (Deuteronomy 17:6).  Jesus offers four witnesses confirming His identity as Messiah and as Son of God in this passage.  First He names John the Baptist ("You have sent to John. . .");  Next, His works ("the works which the Father has given Me to finish -- the very works that I do -- bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me").  As His third witness, He names God the Father ("the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me").  Finally, Jesus names the Old Testament Scriptures ("You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me"), through which Moses and others gave testimony ("if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me").

Jesus names witnesses to the leadership who testify on His behalf, that He is the Son.  He begins today's passage with a clear specification that everything He does as human being -- and therefore in His earthly ministry --  is done out of obedience to God.  Jesus sets the example for us with this statement.  But then He names four witnesses with whom the leadership are intimately familiar already:  John the Baptist, the works that Jesus does, God the Father, and the Old Testament Scriptures which include the word of Moses who testifies to His coming.  Somehow we are given to understand through these words and witnesses provided by Christ that these men in the leadership are responsible for understanding the witnesses and the testimony that give evidence of Christ's identity.  That is, these all bear witnesses to the identity of Jesus as Son and Messiah.  And yet, they have failed to know Him.  They have failed to put together the witnessing testimony with the Man.  They can't truly see Him through His works, they can't hear the testimony of the Baptist, they don't recognize the One prophesied by Moses, neither do they know Him through their knowledge of God the Father.  All of this teaches us, leads us to infer, that we are all responsible for what we know and have been taught.  Surely, these men who are experts in Scripture, in the Law, and all the things of the spiritual heritage of Israel, are responsible for what they have inherited and carry as the leadership of the Jewish nation.  And yet, they fail to truly see and hear the One in front of them, they can't or won't see what His works produce and what manner of tree is indicated through the fruit He produces (Matthew 12:33).  We know that there are those among the leadership who are secretly followers of Christ at this point, such as Nicodemus (chapter 3), but as a body these men are willing only to condemn Jesus.  Yet so many among the common people do follow Jesus and suspect that He is indeed the Christ.  So why are these men so blind?  Why are they deaf to His word?  We are given one reason in the Gospels, that of envy (Matthew 27:18, Mark 15:10).   But really, all of this is a cautionary tale for us.  The story that Jesus tells us when we are given these witnesses, and He expects these men to understand Him and take the witnesses seriously, is that we ourselves must be responsible for our own hearing and understanding -- our own spiritual sight and hearing.  What we know already should not blind us to the holiness that may be around us, but rather open our eyes to it.  What we have learned already from the traditions of the Church, from our worship services, from Scripture, from prayer, from the saints, should prepare us for the immanence of God, God's presence to us.  (By the same token, it should prepare us for the discernment to understand when we are being deceived by false appearance as well.  See Matthew 7:15-20, in which Jesus also speaks of knowing people by the fruits they produce which bear witness to their character.)   Especially those who "know," who bear places of leadership in the Church, who hold themselves in some sense as those whose learning contains Scripture and tradition and spiritual knowledge, bear tremendous responsibility for discernment, for spiritual eyes and ears.  In our present time, this is the great "news" of this passage.  Our faith is living, alive, growing and working with its energies of grace all around us.  It is not meant merely for books and histories.  It is not something we memorize and codify to a set of laws or rules or customs.  Our faith is true and living, God's energies always at work in us and in the world.  We are called to be present to this work, witnesses ourselves.  Our prayer should make us more receptive, more alive to the work of God.  Let us consider, then, the responsibility to know testimony when we see or hear it, in any form in which it is given to us.  So much depends upon it.  What do we recognize, and how do we know it?

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.

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 may 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

Jesus is at the Feast of Tabrernacles in Jerusalem.  He has preached to the leadership, "Before Abraham was, I AM."  They took up stones to throw at Him, but He hid and passed by them out of the temple.  Now 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.  Again, it's important to remember that in John's Gospel the term "the Jews" is used sort of like a political affiliation; most of the time it's used not to refer to the Jewish people, but rather to the religious authorities, those who consider themselves the "regulators" of the faith.

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 suggests that while Jesus isn't present, the Pharisees call Him a sinner, but earlier He's already asked them face-to-face, "Which if you convicts Me of sin?"  (8:46, see this reading), and they evaded the question.  Give God the glory! is an oath formula that was used before giving testimony.  But the whole purpose of this man's blindness from birth, as Jesus has indicated in yesterday's reading, was to "give God glory" via his healing.  My study bible says that he also gives God glory in that, the more he is pressed, the more fervent his faith becomes, while 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 says, "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 much more educated than he provides the solution:  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."  Another form of giving God glory is this model of witnessing for all the rest of us.

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."    This unprecedented nature of opening the eyes of one born blind is a kind of confirmation that Christ is Messiah -- it was one of the signs indicated by Isaiah (Isaiah 35:5; 42:7) and, my study bible says, "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 points out that "having opened the blind man's eyes, the Lord also opens his heart and illuminates his spirit."   He's moved from knowing nearly nothing about Christ, to the conclusion that Jesus can't possibly be a sinner ("God does not hear sinners"), to a confession that Jesus must be from God ("If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing"), to finally seeing Him as the Son of God and worshiping Him.   The Pharisees can't and don't refute his logic or the truth of what he reveals in testimony; instead they resort to personal insult (see also 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 may 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, "Our Lord's coming brought judgment into the world not because He came to judge (12:47-48), but because of man's accountability to Him.  Those who see and hear Him but do not believe are judged by their own faithlessness."  Quite clearly, these men don't want to believe; their concern is to zealously guard their positions of authority against Jesus and his criticisms, as they did against John the Baptist.

Witnessing is an important and essential thing to think about.  How do we witness to what we have experienced, or to the things that have illuminated our own vision?  Yesterday, we read a comment in my study bible that baptism has always been understood as "illumination," that this was the goal of the catechumens in the ancient Church.  In our past two readings, a man blind from birth has had his own illumination.  His eyes have been opened to the light of day, the light of the world, even as we've read that Jesus taught, "As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world."  As "light of the world," or of the cosmos, His is the light by which we are taught to see the many things truly there for us in our lives, and it's to that kind of light that we witness.  What have you discovered on your own journey with Christ?  Christ's light can also illumine the not-so-pleasant things in our lives, the dark corners, the things that we need to change or at least acknowledge.  Many forget that part of the journey, or talk like it's not there.  But His light is always leading us somewhere, on a closer road with Him, and with the Father, and the Spirit.  So, how do you need your eyes opened today?  To what can you witness as to the light that has illumined you in your life, one way and another?  This is the important vision and goal we take with us as we understand our faith, what it means to glorify God, and to testify as witness.

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

 In the past couple of chapters in John, Jesus has been in Jerusalem at the Feast of Tabernacles, an eight-day feast of the coming kingdom, commemorating the time that Israel lived in tents, or tabernacles.  It's also a harvest festival.  It is now the last, great day of the feast.  Jesus has just passed through the crowds out of the temple, as the leadership seeks to arrest Him.  Now 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 we remember that the term "the Jews" is used most often in John's Gospel as a sort of political term; it is meant to denote the leadership among the Pharisees and other ruling parties, and those who follow them, who now seek to put Jesus to death.  We remember that all of the people here are Jews, including those whom we have been told came to believe in Jesus as He spoke in the temple, even as He engaged in adversarial dialogue with members of the religious leadership.  We now see the position of the parents of the man healed from his blindness; they are put under the microscope as possible witnesses to this sixth sign performed by Jesus in John's Gospel.  But they fear being put out of the synagogue.

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, "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?', they evaded the question [see yesterday's reading].  Give God the glory! was an oath formula used before giving testimony.  Nevertheless, the healed man will indeed give God glory.  The more he is pressed, the more fervent his faith becomes, while 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 has a note that tells us:  "This healed man becomes a model of Christian witness.  Many people do not bear witness to Christ because they fear that they will be asked questions they cannot answer.  This man's answer to people much more educated than he provides the solution:  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."

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.  Refusal to listen accompanies resorting to insults on the part of the leadership, just as they have done with Jesus.  They can't refute his logic, nor the truth he's telling.  They don't want to come to the conclusions this blind man is witnessing to, so the response is a personal diminishing.  As a witness, they are saying, this healed man is worthless to them; the insult is an implied superiority on their part -- a conclusion among the leadership that they can learn nothing from the witness.  And indeed, they can't, because they refuse to hear.  So they throw him out.  My study bible notes on this passage, "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)."

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 teaches us:  "Having opened the blind man's eyes, the Lord also opens his heart and illumines his spirit.  The man moves from knowing almost nothing about Christ, through the conclusion that Jesus could mot possibly be a sinner, through confessing that Jesus must be from God, to finally seeing Him 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."  A note says, "Our Lord's coming brought judgment to the world, not because He came to judge (12:47-48), but because of man's accountability to Him.  Those who see and hear Him but do not believe are judged by their own faithlessness."

The challenge here is understanding that there are those who just don't want to hear.  It doesn't matter what the great news is, nor even how miraculous and good the effect.  If a conclusion is too threatening to someone's way of life, or conventional sets of prejudices, or foregone conclusions, then they will not want to hear real witnessing, real truth, or real logic.  They will be angered by the conclusions that one is pointing to.  A truly open mind and open heart requires courage.  It requires the courage to go beyond oneself, and to give up conventional and comfortable framework.  God always calls us beyond what we know already.  It doesn't matter that these Pharisees are the learned religious men of their time.  It matters not at all that they are experts in the Law.  The conclusions they draw are false and they are also prejudiced:  they are those things that must be for them so that they retain their leadership positions, their superiority, their own capacity to judge.  What Jesus offers, and particularly through the witnessing of this blind man who has been healed, is something threatening to all that they personally hold dear above all else:  their positions, their own authority and judgment.  So they seek to rid themselves of the blind man, and of Jesus.  And this is something important when it comes to witnessing, as my study bible points out.  We stick to what we know, and admit plainly what we don't know.  After all, the mysteries of God are so far beyond us that in order to truly understand what it is to be a follower of Christ, we know that there is so much we simply don't know.  And it's an important article of the faith that there is so much that is beyond us, awaiting us, above us.  But even that which we do know, say, for example, the effects of our faith in our own lives, our own healing, or help, or comfort, or direction, may be something that is not viewed at all as good news to someone who finds the conclusion threatening to their own point of view.  It's something important to remember, as witnessing is also a part of our lives, even in very simple, direct terms -- even sticking simply to our own experience and nothing more.  But the bedrock of faith is that:  experience.  And there is more; a real love of Christ or any experience of this faith also solidifies identity.  It becomes a part of who we are.  Just like the formerly blind man now knows something about himself and his life.  It's something his parents can't give him nor even support as witnesses, but it belongs strictly and permanently to this witness, this healed man, who now knows something about himself and His relationship to Christ.  It's that place we remember, and hold onto, regardless of whether or not others want our witness to it.

This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it

 Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha.  It was that Mary who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.  Therefore the sisters sent to Him, saying, "Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick."  When Jesus heard that, He said, "This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it."

Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.  So, when He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was.  Then after this He said to the disciples, "Let us go to Judea again."  The disciples said to Him, "Rabbi, lately the Jews sought to stone You, and are You going there again?"  Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours in the day?  If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world.  But if one walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him."  These things He said, and after that He said to them, "Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up."  Then His disciples said, "Lord, if he sleeps he will get well."  However, Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought that He was speaking about taking rest in sleep.  Then Jesus said to them plainly, "Lazarus is dead.  And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe.  Nevertheless let us go to him."  Then Thomas, who is called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, "Let us also go, that we may die with Him."

- John 11:1-16

The events of yesterday's reading took place at yet another Festival, this time the Feast of Dedication (or Hanukkah), for which Jesus was again at the temple in Jerusalem (see Thursday's reading and commentary, My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me).   After Jesus told them, "I and My Father are one," the religious leadership took up stones again to stone Him.  Jesus answered them, "Many good works I have shown you from My Father.  For which of those works do you stone Me?"  The Jews answered Him, saying, "For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God."  Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in your law, 'I said, "You are gods"?  If He called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), do you say of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, 'You are blaspheming,' because I said, 'I am the Son of God'?  If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; but if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him."  Therefore they sought again to seize Him, but He escaped out of their hand.  And He went away again beyond the Jordan to the place where John was baptizing at first, and there He stayed.  Then many came to Him and said, "John performed no sign, but all the things that John spoke about this man were true."  And many believed in Him there.

  Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha.  It was that Mary who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.  Therefore the sisters sent to Him, saying, "Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick."  When Jesus heard that, He said, "This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it."    Here begins the account of Jesus' seventh and last sign in John's Gospel.  My study bible says that the account of the raising of Lazarus (beginning in today's and over the course of the next few lectionary readings) "exemplifies the truth that Christ is the resurrection and the life (v. 25).   This miracle . . . [is] the sign which sealed the decision of the Jewish authorities to put Jesus to death.  Bethany is on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives, about 2 miles from Jerusalem.  Lazarus is the same  name as Eleazar (lit. 'God helps')."  It also notes that the Evangelist assumes that the reader already knows about Mary's anointing of Jesus which is actually told in the following chapter.  As with the man blind from birth, this sad state will be an occasion for the glory of God, Father and Son.

Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.  So, when He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was.  Then after this He said to the disciples, "Let us go to Judea again."  The disciples said to Him, "Rabbi, lately the Jews sought to stone You, and are You going there again?"   Jesus' waits two more days before beginning the journey toward Bethany.  This will assure that there can be no doubt of Lazarus' death, which, as my study bible puts it, "will underscore the magnitude of the miracle."   His disciples remind Jesus that His death is sought by the leadership in the temple, as we read in yesterday's reading regarding events at the Feast of Dedication.  Bethany, where Lazarus and his sisters are, is in Judea, near to Jerusalem.

 Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours in the day?  If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world.  But if one walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him."  These words take us back (once again) to Jesus' teaching before He healed the man blind from birth:  "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."

These things He said, and after that He said to them, "Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up."  Then His disciples said, "Lord, if he sleeps he will get well."  However, Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought that He was speaking about taking rest in sleep.  My study bible notes that sleep is often used to signify death (Acts 7:60: 1 Cor. 15:6). 

However, Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought that He was speaking about taking rest in sleep.  Then Jesus said to them plainly, "Lazarus is dead.  And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe.  Nevertheless let us go to him."  Then Thomas, who is called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, "Let us also go, that we may die with Him."   A note here reads, "Thomas, if not with full understanding, speaks the truth:  dying with Christ, in baptism and sometimes in martyrdom, will become the seal of Christian discipleship."

Today's reading speaks about the glorification of God.  If we look up this Greek word for glory here (δοξα/doksa) we find several meanings that reflect upon one another to add to our understanding.  Among other things, this word means something that "evokes good opinion," or honor, or renown.  It can also mean "splendor."  In the Old Testament, the word used for glory is "kabo" - to be "heavy," suggesting a substance added to something, a depth of  intrinsic worth that doesn't necessarily meet the eye, a value (as in the weighing of a precious metal).  In the Greek, we also have an understanding of this word for glory which reflects light, as in splendor:  brightness, such as that of the stars and planets in the night sky.  So we get a depth of meaning when Jesus suggests that the death of Lazarus, which is not to be permanent, is for the "glory of God"  (of both the Father and the Son).   The events that follow will add depth:  glory, meaning, understanding, illumination.  Tied in with this illumination is testimony, witnessing.  And there, we have to go back to the previous sign, and look once again at the healing of the man blind from birth, about whom Jesus said that his blindness was not the result of sin, but "so that the works of God may be revealed in him."  When Jesus also states there that "I am the light of the world," He gives connotation between glory and witnessing.  To witness truly is to add light to something, to reflect light, to illumine -- and to add depth, meaning, and good opinion.  If we think about the oath administered to the formerly blind man by the Pharisees when they ask him about Jesus, we'll see a full circle:  "Give God the glory!"   John's Gospel ties in the themes of glory, light, illumination, and witnessing.  That is, true witnessing.  The works He does, the works of God, are the true witnesses to who Jesus is, as He has repeatedly insisted to the authorities.  When we choose to do our best to "walk in the day" and to "walk in the light" we must accept that we, too, are seeking to witness, to give God the glory.  When we seek to reflect His light, to "let our light so shine before men," we also are giving testimony, weight, reflection, renown, and good opinion to God.  Thereby, all of our lives, every moment, can become an occasion for witnessing, for glory, for the illumination of light and the "adding to" of meaning and value of God's kingdom, of God.  As disciples, this is how and why we seek to live in that light, as reflection of that light.  Let us remember something incredibly important:  the final two signs in John's Gospel occur on occasions of deep sadness and loss -- that of a man's blindness from birth, and the death of Jesus' very dear friend Lazarus.  In an earlier reading, we cited St. Augustine writing about the betrayal of Judas:  "Yet our Lord made a good use of [Judas'] wickedness, allowing himself to be betrayed so that he might redeem us.… If God employs the evil works of the devil himself for good, whatever the evil person does by making bad use of God’s good gifts only hurts himself. It in no way contradicts the goodness of God"  (Tractates on the Gospel of John 27.10.44).   Here, we can once again cite Augustine's thoughts and note how the glory of God in this Gospel comes especially on the occasion of tragic events.  Let us remember that every occasion of our lives can be one for witnessing in the way we respond and move through and turn to Christ.  In this way truly our lives become a testimony adding glory to God, reflecting light and value (or to put it another way, light and salt).  We remember the testimony of St. Paul:  And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me (2 Corinthians 12:9 NKJV).  Let us remember this through everything we think is "less than" or "imperfect."  It is the hope in every loss.  It's the blessing of the Beatitudes.  It is the great paradox of the fullness of the Gospel.  It is our message from the Cross, His Way.  This is the true way of Resurrection.