返回Chapter 9
Chapter 9
Chapter Nine
Jn. 9:1. And as He passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth.
The Lord departs from the temple in order to somewhat temper the wrath of the Jews. He proceeds to heal the blind man so that by this sign He might soften their hard-heartedness and obstinacy, although they did not profit from it, and at the same time to show them that it was not in vain or out of self-glorification that He said, "Before Abraham was, I am" (Jn. 8:58). It is fitting that He Himself approached the blind man, and not the blind man to Him.
Jn. 9:2. His disciples asked Him: Rabbi! Who sinned, he or his parents, that he was born blind?
The disciples, having noticed His attention to the blind man, ask: "Who sinned, he or his parents, that he was born blind?" This question seems strange. For how could he have sinned before his birth? The apostles probably did not share the pagan superstition that the soul, before its union with the body, lives in another world and descends into the body as a punishment for sin. Being fishermen, they could not have heard any such thing, for such ideas belonged to the philosophers.
So, the question seems unreasonable, but not to one who is attentive. For know this: the Apostles had heard Christ say to the paralytic, "Behold, you have been made well; sin no more, lest something worse happen to you" (Jn. 5:14). Now they see the blind man and are perplexed, and they speak as if to say, "Let us grant that the paralytic was afflicted for his sins, but what will You say about this man? Did he sin? But this cannot be said, because he has been blind from birth. Or did his parents sin? Neither can this be said, because a son is not punished for his father." So then, the Apostles in the present case are not so much asking as they are expressing perplexity.
Jn. 9:3. Jesus answered: neither he nor his parents sinned,
The Lord, in resolution of their perplexity, says: "Neither did he sin (for how could he have sinned before birth), nor his parents." However, He says this not to absolve them of sins. For He did not simply say that his parents did not sin, but added that "he was born blind." Although his parents did sin, it was not for that reason that this affliction befell him. To lay the sins of fathers upon children who are in no way guilty is unjust.
This is also what God conveys through Ezekiel: "Let this proverb no longer be used among you: 'The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge'" (Ezek. 18:1–2). And through Moses He established as law: "The fathers shall not be put to death for the children" (Deut. 24:16).
"But how is it," you will say, "that it is written: 'Visiting the sins of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation' (Exod. 34:7)?" To this one can say, first, that this is not a universal sentence, spoken not about all people, but only about those who came out of Egypt. Then look also at the meaning of the sentence. It does not say that children are punished for sins committed by the fathers, but that the punishments for the sins of the fathers pass also to the children when the children committed the same sins. Lest those who came out of Egypt should think that they would not be punished with the same punishment as their fathers, even though they sinned worse than them, He says to them: "No, not so. The sins of the fathers, that is, the punishments, will pass also to you, because you have not become better, but have committed the same sins, and even worse ones." If we see that not infrequently children also die as a punishment to the parents, we know that God takes them from this life out of His love for mankind, so that in life they would not become worse than their parents and would not live to the harm of their own soul or even of many others. But the abyss of God's judgments has hidden these cases within itself. And let us press on further.
Jn. 9:3. but this is so that the works of God might be revealed in him.
Here is yet another difficulty. Someone might ask: "How did He say this? For this would mean that a man, deprived of sight, was wronged so that the works of God might be revealed in him? Could they not have been revealed in some other way?"
What injury, tell me, O man, does he suffer? "This one," you will say, "that he was deprived of sight." And what harm is there in being deprived of sensible light? On the contrary, he was more greatly benefited. For together with bodily sight, he also saw clearly with the eyes of the soul. Blindness served him for good, since through his healing from it he came to know the true Sun of Righteousness. Therefore, this blind man was not injured, but benefited.
Furthermore, everyone who occupies himself with the word of God must know that the particles "in order that" are often used in Scripture to denote not the cause, but the event itself. For example, David says: "So that You are righteous in Your verdict" (Ps. 50:6). David did not sin in order that God might be justified. But as a consequence of David's sin, it came about that God was justified. For when God had bestowed upon David so many gifts of which he was unworthy, and he transgressed the commandment of God, committed murder and adultery, and used his royal power to offend God, what conclusion followed from this, if not that God, judging and reproving David, was justified and appeared as the victor over the condemned king, because he had transgressed the law of the One from whom he had received the kingdom, and transgressed precisely because he was king? Had he been an ordinary man, he could not so easily have committed two such great crimes. So you see, in the phrase "so that You are righteous" (the Slavonic "that You might be justified"), the particle denotes not the cause, but the consequence.
You will find many such turns of speech in the Apostle as well. For example, in the Epistle to the Romans: "What can be known about God is plain to the Gentiles, so that they are without excuse" (Rom. 1:19–20). God gave the Gentiles knowledge not so that, by sinning, they would be without excuse, but so that they would not sin. But since they did sin, this knowledge consequently rendered them without excuse. And again: "The law came in besides," "that the trespass might abound" (Rom. 5:20). Although the law was not given so that sin would increase, but so that it would decrease, yet since those who received the law did not wish to diminish sin, the law served to increase their sin. For their sin became more serious and graver because they had the law and nevertheless sinned.
So also here, by the expression "that the works of God might be revealed" is indicated not the cause, but the consequence. For through the healing of the blind man, God was glorified.
Often a builder of a house will complete one part and leave another unfinished, so that to one who does not believe that he constructed the first part, he can prove through the completion of the unfinished portion that he is the same craftsman who built what came before. So too our God Jesus, healing damaged members and restoring them to their natural (normal) condition, shows that He is also the Creator of the other members.
"That the glory of God might be revealed," He says this about Himself, not about the Father. For the glory of the Father was already manifest, but the glory of Jesus needed to be revealed, namely that He who made man in the beginning is He. And in this, without doubt, there is no small glory, when it is disclosed that He who has now appeared as Man, in the beginning as God created man. That He speaks about Himself, listen to what follows.
Jn. 9:4. I must do the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work.
He adds: "I must do the works of Him who sent Me." "I," He says, "must reveal Myself and perform works that can show that I accomplish the same things that the Father does." Notice, He did not say that I must do works such as the Father does, but the very same ones that the Father does. "I," He says, "must do the very same works that He who sent Me does."
I must do them "while it is day," while the present life lasts and people can believe in Me. Then "the night comes, when no one can work," that is, believe, for He calls faith a work. Thus, in the age to come no one can believe.
The present life is a day, because during it, as in the daytime, we are able to act; although the Apostle Paul also calls it night, partly because here those who practice virtue or vice are unknown, and partly in comparison with the Light that will illumine the righteous. The age to come is a night, because there no one can act; although the Apostle Paul also calls it day, because the righteous will appear in light and the deeds of each will be revealed. Thus, in the age to come there is no faith, but all will submit, willing and unwilling.
Jn. 9:5. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.
"As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world," for by teaching and the manifestation of miracles I enlighten souls. Therefore now too I must enlighten the souls of many through the healing of the blind man and the illumination of the pupils of his eyes. As the light, I must enlighten both physically and spiritually.
Jn. 9:6. Having said this, He spat on the ground, made clay from the spittle, and anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay,
Having said this, Jesus did not stop at words alone, but joined action to them as well. "He spat on the ground, made clay from the spittle, and anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay," showing through the clay that it was He who also formed Adam's body from clay. Words alone — that it was I who created Adam — might have seemed scandalous to the hearers, but when words are confirmed by deed, there remained no further cause for scandal. He fashions eyes from clay, employing the same mode of creation by which He also created Adam. He not only fashioned the eyes and opened them, but endowed them with sight, and this showed that He also breathed the soul into Adam. For without the activity of the soul, the eye would never see, even if it were properly formed. He also used spittle for the bestowal of sight. Since He intended to send the blind man to Siloam, lest they attribute the miracle to the water of the pool, but rather recognize that it was the power proceeding from His mouth that formed the blind man's eyes and opened them — for this reason He spat on the ground and from the spittle of His mouth made clay. Then, lest you think that the miracle depended on the earth, He commands him to wash, so that the clay might come off entirely. However, some say that the clay did not come off at all, but was transformed into eyes.
Jn. 9:7. And He said to him: Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, which means: Sent. He went and washed, and came back seeing.
He commands the blind man to go to Siloam partly so that the degree of his faith and obedience might be revealed, for he did not reason that there was no need to go to Siloam or to wash if the clay and spittle could make him fully sighted, but obeyed the One who commanded; partly so as to stop the mouths of the foolish Jews, for naturally many watched him as he walked with eyes smeared with clay and looked at him attentively, so that they could not afterward say "it is he" or "it is not he"; and finally, so that by sending him to Siloam He might bear witness concerning Himself that He is not alien to the Law and the Old Testament.
Why did the Evangelist add the explanation of the name Siloam? So that you would know that here too it was Christ who healed the blind man, and that Siloam is a type of Christ. For Christ is both the spiritual Rock (1 Cor. 10:4) and the spiritual Siloam; and just as the stream of Siloam by its strange flow presented something sudden and striking, so too the coming of the Lord, hidden and unknowable to the angels, by its power drowns every sin.
Jn. 9:8. Then the neighbors and those who had seen before that he was blind said: Is this not the one who sat and begged?
The neighbors, struck by the extraordinariness of the miracle, did not believe. Although his procession to Siloam with eyes anointed with clay was for the very purpose that many would see him and afterwards would not deny it by claiming ignorance, nevertheless, even now they do not believe.
The Evangelist does not remark without purpose that he was asking for alms, but to show the ineffable love of the Lord for mankind in that He condescended even to the poor, that He healed even beggars with great care, and from this we too would learn not to despise our lesser brethren.
Jn. 9:9. Some said: it is he, while others said: he resembles him. But he said: it is I.
And the blind man, not ashamed of his former wretchedness, not fearing the crowd, openly says: "It is I."
Jn. 9:10. Then they asked him: how were your eyes opened?
Jn. 9:11. He answered and said: A Man called Jesus made clay, anointed my eyes, and said to me: Go to the pool of Siloam and wash. I went and washed and received my sight.
He proclaims the Benefactor and says: "A man called Jesus." He calls the Lord a Man, because up to that point he still knew nothing about Him, and what he has now learned, that he confesses.
From where then does he know that this is Jesus? From His conversation with the disciples. The disciples asked the Lord about him. He answered them at considerable length: "I must work the works of Him who sent Me; I am the light of the world." No one else taught this way except Jesus alone, and He used such words often. From this the blind man learned that it was Jesus.
That He made clay and anointed his eyes, he knew from the touch and said so. About the spitting he said nothing, because he did not know, and since he did not know, he did not add it. Evidently, this man was righteous.
Jn. 9:12. They said to him then: Where is He? He answered: I do not know.
Since the Lord, when granting healing and performing a miracle, usually concealed Himself out of His modesty, the blind man, when asked where Jesus was, says "I do not know," so as to be completely faithful to the truth.
Jn. 9:13. They brought this formerly blind man to the Pharisees.
They lead him to the Pharisees, in order to subject him to a more detailed and rigorous interrogation.
Jn. 9:14. It was the Sabbath when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes.
The Evangelist notes that "it was the Sabbath" in order to show their malice, how they seize upon every occasion against Christ: they accuse Him of violating the Sabbath and thereby attempt to overshadow the miracle. Therefore they do not ask him "how did you receive your sight," but rather "how did He open your eyes," — in everything slandering the Lord as One who had worked on the Sabbath.
Jn. 9:15. The Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. He said to them: He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.
They compel the blind man himself to recall that He made the clay precisely on the Sabbath. He, answering those who had already heard, mentions neither the name of Jesus nor what the Lord said to him, but only says: "He put clay on my eyes, and I washed and I see." For the Pharisees had probably heard beforehand from those who brought the blind man to them, and perhaps slandered the Lord and said: "See what Jesus does on the Sabbath." The boldness of the blind man is worthy of note, that he speaks fearlessly with the Pharisees. They brought him so that he, struck with fear, would deny the reality of the healing, but he very clearly proclaims: "I see."
Jn. 9:16. Then some of the Pharisees said: This Man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath. Others said: How can a sinful man perform such miracles? And there was a division among them.
Some of the Pharisees, not all, but the more audacious ones, said: "This Man is not from God." But others said: "How can a sinful man perform such miracles?" Do you see how under the influence of miracles many are softened? These people are Pharisees, rulers, and yet, as a result of this miracle, they are put to shame and offer some degree of defense.
"And there was a division among them." This division had previously occurred among the people, for "some said, He deceives the people, while others said, He is good" (Jn. 7:12, 43), but now it begins also among the rulers.
And behold, many Pharisees, having separated from the rest, defend the miracle. However, even after separating, they speak in favor of Christ very weakly, and more doubtfully and half-heartedly than firmly. For listen to what they say: "How can a sinful man perform such miracles?" Do you see how weakly they object?
Look also at the cunning of the slanderers. They do not say that He is not from God because He heals on the Sabbath, but that He "does not keep the Sabbath"; they constantly put forward not the good deed, but the violation of the day.
Note also that the rulers were slower to do good than the people. The people had already earlier been divided in their opinions, and not all spoke against Christ, while the rulers only after the people came to this commendable division. For sometimes division is even a good thing, as the Lord Himself says: "I came to bring a sword upon the earth" (Matt. 10:34), that is, undoubtedly, disagreement for the sake of good and piety.
Jn. 9:17. Again they say to the blind man: what do you say about Him, because He opened your eyes?
Who were those asking "what do you say about Him?" They were from among the prudent ones, for they were saying: "How can a sinner do such things?" So as not to appear to be defending Him without cause, they bring forth as witness the very one who received the benefit, as one who had experienced His power firsthand, in order to shut the mouths of slanderers. See how prudently they ask. They did not say "what do you say about Him, because He made clay, because He did not keep the Sabbath," but they recall the miracle — "because He opened your eyes" — as if urging the healed man to speak the real truth about Christ. They remind him and encourage him: "Because He opened your eyes." "He," they say, "bestowed His grace upon you. Therefore you ought to proclaim about Him."
Jn. 9:17. He said: this is a prophet.
The blind man now confessed what he could, namely: that He is not a sinner, but from God, that He is a Prophet, although some say that He is not from God because He does not keep the Sabbath.
Christ anointed with clay using a single finger, and they consider Him a violator of the Sabbath. Yet they themselves untie animals with their whole hand in order to water them, and consider themselves pious.
Jn. 9:18. Then the Jews did not believe that he had been blind and received his sight, until they called the parents of him who had received his sight.
The hard-hearted and obstinate ones summon his parents with the purpose of putting them in a difficult position and thereby compelling them to deny their son's former blindness. Since they could not silence well-meaning mouths, they intimidate the parents, hoping to discredit the miracle. And so, they place them in the middle and interrogate them with fury and even greater malice.
Jn. 9:19. And they asked them: Is this your son, of whom you say that he was born blind? How then does he now see?
They do not say "is this your son, who was once blind," but rather "of whom you say," as if speaking thus: "whom you made out to be blind and spread the rumor of this everywhere, entirely fabricated and false." But, O impious Pharisees! What father would allow himself to lie so about his own child?
They press them from two sides and compel them to renounce their son: on one side with the expression "of whom you speak," and on the other with the question "how does he now see?" Do you see? By the supposedly false testimony of the parents that their son had formerly been blind, they diminish this miracle — that he subsequently received his sight. They say: "Either the fact that he sees now is false, or the fact that he was blind is false. But that he can see is true; therefore, you have falsely spread the claim that he was formerly blind."
Jn. 9:20. His parents answered them and said: we know that this is our son and that he was born blind,
Jn. 9:21. But by what means he now sees, we do not know; or who has opened his eyes, we do not know. He is of age; ask him. He shall speak for himself.
The Pharisees posed three questions to the parents of the blind man: 1) is this their son? 2) was he born blind? and 3) how did he come to see? To the first two questions they answer affirmatively, that this is their son and that he was blind, but concerning the manner of healing they do not answer, owing to ignorance. This happened, without doubt, so that the truth might be established more firmly, so that it might be attested by the very one who received the benefit and therefore the most credible witness, as his parents themselves say: "He is of full age, he is not a child or a minor who would not understand how he was healed."
Jn. 9:22. His parents answered thus because they feared the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that whoever acknowledged Him as the Christ would be put out of the synagogue.
Jn. 9:23. Therefore his parents said: He is of age; ask him yourselves.
The parents answered thus because they feared the Pharisees. They were unsteady and more fainthearted than their son. But he was becoming a fearless witness of the truth; he had begun to see well with the eyes of his mind also.
Jn. 9:24. So they called a second time the man who had been blind, and said to him: Give glory to God; we know that that Man is a sinner.
As the parents insisted that their son should be asked, so the arrogant ones do. They bring him, but not in order to question him, rather to suggest to him an accusation against the Healer. For the suggestion "give glory to God" means: confess that Jesus did nothing for you; and in attributing nothing good to Jesus, they place the glory of God!
We know, they say, that He is a sinner. Why then did you not convict Him, when He challenged you to do so, saying "Which of you convicts Me of sin" (Jn. 8:46)?
Jn. 9:25. He answered them: Whether He is a sinner, I do not know; one thing I know, that I was blind, and now I see.
The blind man says: "Whether He is a sinner, I do not know, and I am not now examining this, nor do I affirm it. But I know very clearly that He performed a miracle upon me." So let this matter be considered on its own and give an understanding of Him.
Jn. 9:26. They asked him again: what did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?
Jn. 9:27. He answered them: I already told you, and you did not listen; what more do you want to hear? Do you also want to become His disciples?
Then, when they again asked him "what did He do to you," placing blame on the Savior for having performed the anointing with clay on the Sabbath, this man understood that they were asking not for the sake of inquiry but for accusation, and answered them with reproach: "I do not wish to speak with you any longer, for I have told you many times, and you did not listen."
Then, what could especially sting them, he adds: "Do you also want to become His disciples?" Clearly, he himself desires to be His disciple. Jesting and laughing at them, he says this calmly; and this shows a bold and fearless soul, not afraid of their fury.
Jn. 9:28. And they reviled him and said: You are His disciple, but we are Moses' disciples.
To His reproach they say: "You are His disciple, but we are disciples of Moses." And here too they clearly lie. For if they were disciples of Moses, they would also be disciples of Christ, as He Himself says to them: "If you believed Moses, you would believe Me" (Jn. 5:46).
Jn. 9:29. We know that God spoke with Moses; but as for this man, we do not know where He is from.
They did not say "we have heard," but rather "we know that God spoke with Moses," even though this was passed down to them by their ancestors. About what they received by hearsay, they say "we know for certain," yet the One whose miracles they saw with their own eyes, and whose Divine and heavenly teaching they heard themselves, they call a deceiver (Jn. 7:12). Do you see to what madness their malice drove them?
Jn. 9:30. The man who had received his sight answered and said to them: this is a marvelous thing, that you do not know where He is from, and yet He opened my eyes.
"You," he says, "Jews, reject my Healer because you supposedly do not know where He is from. But I say that He is all the more worthy of admiration because, not being among the notable and distinguished people among you, He can accomplish such deeds that clearly testify that He possesses some higher power and has no need of any human assistance."
Jn. 9:31. But we know that God does not listen to sinners; but whoever honors God and does His will, Him He listens to.
Then, since previously some of them had said: "How can a sinful man perform such miracles," he too takes up this condemnation of theirs and reminds them of their own words. "We all know," he says, "that God does not listen to sinners, but listens to the one who honors Him and does His will." Note from this how he not only removes sins from the Lord, but also presents Him as a great pleaser of God and one who does everything according to His will, when he says: "If anyone honors God and does His will."
Some indulge in cold and subtle disputation. "How," they say, "is it said that God does not hear sinners? He is the Lover of mankind. What, then, do the words 'God does not hear sinners' mean here?" Such a question would not even deserve an answer. Nevertheless, it must be said that by these words — "God does not hear sinners" — the thought expressed is that God does not grant sinners the power to work miracles. For the Spirit of God will not dwell in a body burdened with sins. But those who sincerely and from the heart ask forgiveness of their sins, God hears not as sinners but as penitents. For at the very moment they ask forgiveness, they have already passed from the ranks of sinners into the ranks of the penitent. Therefore it is rightly said that God does not hear sinners. He does not grant sinners the grace to work miracles either. For even if they were ever to ask for something of the sort, how would He grant what is asked to those whom He hates for the very reason that they lay claim to what is entirely unfitting for them? And if He hears those who ask forgiveness, He hears them not as sinners but as penitents.
Note. Having said "if anyone honors God," he added "and does His will." For many honor God but do not fulfill the will of God. But both must be present together: both the honoring of God and the fulfillment of God's will — that is, faith and works, or, as the Apostle Paul expressed it, faith and a good conscience (1 Tim. 1:5) — in short, contemplation and action. For faith is truly alive when it is accompanied by God-pleasing works, from which comes a good conscience, just as from evil works comes a corrupt conscience. And again, works are alive when they are accompanied by faith, but separated from one another they are dead, as it is said: "Faith without works is dead" (James 2:26), and works without faith likewise.
Notice, if you will, what boldness truth gives to a poor, entirely unremarkable man, and he rebukes the great and glorious among the Jews. So great is the power of truth, whereas falsehood is very timid and lacking in boldness.
Jn. 9:32. From the ages it has not been heard that anyone opened the eyes of one born blind.
Jn. 9:33. If He were not from God, He could do nothing.
Furthermore, knowing that they want to obscure the miracle, he preaches about the benefaction with full understanding. If He were not from God, He would not have performed such a miracle, the likes of which no one has ever performed. If, perhaps, the eyes of the blind were opened, it was not eyes damaged from birth, but from some illness. But what has now taken place is an unheard-of thing. Therefore, it is evident that the one who performed such a miracle is more than a man.
Jn. 9:34. They answered and said to him: You were altogether born in sins, and do you teach us?
So long as they hoped that this man would say something to their liking, they summoned and questioned him, and not just once. But when from his answers they learned that he did not think as they did, but was inclined toward the truth, they revile him as one born in sins. Quite senselessly they reproach him with his blindness and suppose that, as being exceedingly sinful even before his birth, he was condemned to be born blind — which is without foundation.
Jn. 9:34. And they cast him out.
As sons of falsehood, they cast him, the confessor of truth, out of the temple. But this served for his benefit. They cast him out of the temple, and the Lord of the temple immediately found him. They dishonored him for his opinion in favor of Christ, and he was deemed worthy to know the Son of God.
Jn. 9:35. Jesus, having heard that they had cast him out, and finding him, said to him: Do you believe in the Son of God?
"Jesus," it says, "found him, like a judge of contests who receives a wrestler who is greatly exhausted and crowned." And what does He say? Do you believe in the Son of God? Why does He ask about this, when the man had argued so much with the Jews and said so much on His behalf? He does this not out of ignorance, but out of a desire to teach the blind man knowledge about Himself. Previously, the man had never seen Him at all, nor did he see Him after his healing, because the Jews, those most vicious dogs, were dragging him here and there. Now He asks him so that, in response to his question about who the Son of God is, He might most fittingly point to Himself. At the same time, He also shows him that He highly values his faith, speaking as if to say: "So many people have insulted Me, but I do not hold it against them in the least. I care about one thing only — faith."
Jn. 9:36. He answered and said: Lord, who is He, that I may believe in Him?
Jn. 9:37. Jesus said to him: You have both seen Him, and He it is who speaks with you.
"Lord, who is the Son of God?" he asks with love. Jesus answers: "He is the One whom you have seen and who is speaking with you." He did not say "It is I who healed you, who told you: go, wash," but speaks first in a veiled and unclear way, "you have seen Him," and then more clearly, "and He is speaking with you." The Lord, it seems, said "you have seen Him" intentionally, precisely in order to remind him of his healing and of the fact that he received the ability to see from Him.
Jn. 9:38. Lord, he said, I believe! And he worshiped Him.
And he immediately believes and in deed reveals a faith that is fervent and true, worships and by action confirms the word, that he glorifies Him as God because the law commands to worship God alone (Deut. 6:13).
Note, if you will, that this miracle was also accomplished in a spiritual sense. Blind was every man in general from birth, that is, from subjection to birth, with which corruption is joined, for from the time we were condemned to death and to multiplication through passionate birth, from that time a kind of thick cloud spread over our mental eyes, and perhaps that "garment of skin" which Holy Scripture mentions (Gen. 3:21).
Blind was, in particular, the pagan people. And they were blind from birth. For example, the Greeks, because they deified what is born and corruptible, became blind, according to the saying: "Their foolish heart was darkened" (Rom. 1:21). Likewise the wise men (magi) of Persia spent their lives in discussions about birth and birthdays.
This blind man, that is, every person in general, or the Gentiles in particular, Jesus "saw." Since the blind man could not see the Creator, He, out of the compassion of His mercy, Himself "visited us, the Dayspring from on high" (Luke 1:78). How did He see him? "Passing by," that is, not while being in heaven and, in the words of the prophet, bowing down "from heaven and looking upon all the sons of men" (Ps. 13:2), but having appeared on earth. And in another sense: "passing by" He saw the Gentiles, that is, He did not come to them primarily. For He came "to the lost sheep of the house of Israel" (Matt. 15:24), and then, as if in passing, He also looked upon the Gentiles, sitting in the darkness of complete ignorance.
How does He heal blindness? By spitting on the ground and making clay. For whoever believes that the Word descended into the holy Virgin like a drop falling upon the earth, that person will anoint his spiritual eyes with clay made from spittle and earth, that is, with the one Christ, composed of Divinity — of which the drop and the spittle serve as a sign (symbol) — and Humanity, of which the earth serves as a sign, from which is the body of the Lord.
Will the healing stop at faith? No; one must also go to Siloam, the fountain of baptism, and be baptized into the One who was Sent, that is, Christ. For all of us who were spiritually baptized were baptized into Christ. And whoever is baptized will after this be subjected to temptations as well. Perhaps for the sake of Christ who healed him, he will be "brought before kings and governors" (Luke 21:12). Therefore one must be firm and stand unwavering in confession; not deny out of fear, but, if need be, become both excommunicated and cast out of the synagogue, according to what was said: "you will be hated by all for My name's sake" (Matt. 24:9), and "they will put you out of the synagogues" (Jn. 16:2).
If people who are hostile to the truth drive out the one who confesses it and remove him from what is holy and precious to them, that is, from wealth and glory, then Jesus will find him, and when he is dishonored by his enemies, he will be especially honored by Christ with knowledge and a more thorough faith. For then he will worship Christ most of all as the Man who is seen and as the true Son of God. For the Son of God is not one person and the Son of Mary another, as Nestorius impiously blasphemed, but One and the Same is Son of God and Son of Man. Look. When the man who was once blind asked, "Who is the Son of God, that I may believe in Him?" the Lord answered, "It is He whom you have seen and who is speaking with you." And who was speaking, if not He who was born of Mary? Yet He is also the Son of God — not one and another. Therefore holy Mary is truly the Theotokos. For She gave birth to the Son of God who became flesh, undivided and One in two natures, who is Christ the Lord.
Jn. 9:39. And Jesus said: I came into this world for judgment, so that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.
The Lord saw that the Pharisees drew more harm than benefit for themselves from the miracle, and through this became worthy of greater condemnation, and therefore He says: "As it appears and as it turns out in practice, I came for judgment, that is, for greater punishment, so that those who do not see might see, and those who see, such as the Pharisees, might become blind in the eyes of their soul. For behold, the one blind from birth sees both with his soul and with his body, while those who consider themselves seeing have become blind in mind." Here He speaks of keenness of sight and blindness of a twofold kind.
Jn. 9:40. Having heard this, some of the Pharisees who were with Him said to Him: Are we also blind?
The Pharisees, always grasping at the sensible, thought that He was speaking of sensible blindness, and said: "Are we blind also?" They were ashamed of this bodily blindness alone.
Jn. 9:41. Jesus said to them: If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, "We see," therefore your sin remains.
But the Lord wanted to show them that it is better to be blind in body than to be unbelieving, and said: "If you were blind, you would have no sin." For if you were blind by necessity, by nature, forgiveness could have been granted to you for the unbelief with which you are infected. But now you say that you see, and yet, having been eyewitnesses of the miracle upon the blind man, you still remain in unbelief, and therefore are unworthy of forgiveness. For your sin remains indelible, and you will be punished all the more because you do not come to faith despite evident miracles.
These words, "if you were blind, you would have no sin," can also be understood in this way. You ask about bodily blindness, which alone you are ashamed of. But I speak of the blindness of your soul, that "if you were blind," that is, ignorant of Scripture, then "you would not have so heavy a sin upon you," for you would be sinning out of ignorance. But now you say that you see, and you present yourselves as learned and experienced in the law, and therefore you condemn yourselves and have upon you a greater sin, because you sin knowingly.
Jn. 9:1. And as He passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth.
The Lord departs from the temple in order to somewhat temper the wrath of the Jews. He proceeds to heal the blind man so that by this sign He might soften their hard-heartedness and obstinacy, although they did not profit from it, and at the same time to show them that it was not in vain or out of self-glorification that He said, "Before Abraham was, I am" (Jn. 8:58). It is fitting that He Himself approached the blind man, and not the blind man to Him.
Jn. 9:2. His disciples asked Him: Rabbi! Who sinned, he or his parents, that he was born blind?
The disciples, having noticed His attention to the blind man, ask: "Who sinned, he or his parents, that he was born blind?" This question seems strange. For how could he have sinned before his birth? The apostles probably did not share the pagan superstition that the soul, before its union with the body, lives in another world and descends into the body as a punishment for sin. Being fishermen, they could not have heard any such thing, for such ideas belonged to the philosophers.
So, the question seems unreasonable, but not to one who is attentive. For know this: the Apostles had heard Christ say to the paralytic, "Behold, you have been made well; sin no more, lest something worse happen to you" (Jn. 5:14). Now they see the blind man and are perplexed, and they speak as if to say, "Let us grant that the paralytic was afflicted for his sins, but what will You say about this man? Did he sin? But this cannot be said, because he has been blind from birth. Or did his parents sin? Neither can this be said, because a son is not punished for his father." So then, the Apostles in the present case are not so much asking as they are expressing perplexity.
Jn. 9:3. Jesus answered: neither he nor his parents sinned,
The Lord, in resolution of their perplexity, says: "Neither did he sin (for how could he have sinned before birth), nor his parents." However, He says this not to absolve them of sins. For He did not simply say that his parents did not sin, but added that "he was born blind." Although his parents did sin, it was not for that reason that this affliction befell him. To lay the sins of fathers upon children who are in no way guilty is unjust.
This is also what God conveys through Ezekiel: "Let this proverb no longer be used among you: 'The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge'" (Ezek. 18:1–2). And through Moses He established as law: "The fathers shall not be put to death for the children" (Deut. 24:16).
"But how is it," you will say, "that it is written: 'Visiting the sins of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation' (Exod. 34:7)?" To this one can say, first, that this is not a universal sentence, spoken not about all people, but only about those who came out of Egypt. Then look also at the meaning of the sentence. It does not say that children are punished for sins committed by the fathers, but that the punishments for the sins of the fathers pass also to the children when the children committed the same sins. Lest those who came out of Egypt should think that they would not be punished with the same punishment as their fathers, even though they sinned worse than them, He says to them: "No, not so. The sins of the fathers, that is, the punishments, will pass also to you, because you have not become better, but have committed the same sins, and even worse ones." If we see that not infrequently children also die as a punishment to the parents, we know that God takes them from this life out of His love for mankind, so that in life they would not become worse than their parents and would not live to the harm of their own soul or even of many others. But the abyss of God's judgments has hidden these cases within itself. And let us press on further.
Jn. 9:3. but this is so that the works of God might be revealed in him.
Here is yet another difficulty. Someone might ask: "How did He say this? For this would mean that a man, deprived of sight, was wronged so that the works of God might be revealed in him? Could they not have been revealed in some other way?"
What injury, tell me, O man, does he suffer? "This one," you will say, "that he was deprived of sight." And what harm is there in being deprived of sensible light? On the contrary, he was more greatly benefited. For together with bodily sight, he also saw clearly with the eyes of the soul. Blindness served him for good, since through his healing from it he came to know the true Sun of Righteousness. Therefore, this blind man was not injured, but benefited.
Furthermore, everyone who occupies himself with the word of God must know that the particles "in order that" are often used in Scripture to denote not the cause, but the event itself. For example, David says: "So that You are righteous in Your verdict" (Ps. 50:6). David did not sin in order that God might be justified. But as a consequence of David's sin, it came about that God was justified. For when God had bestowed upon David so many gifts of which he was unworthy, and he transgressed the commandment of God, committed murder and adultery, and used his royal power to offend God, what conclusion followed from this, if not that God, judging and reproving David, was justified and appeared as the victor over the condemned king, because he had transgressed the law of the One from whom he had received the kingdom, and transgressed precisely because he was king? Had he been an ordinary man, he could not so easily have committed two such great crimes. So you see, in the phrase "so that You are righteous" (the Slavonic "that You might be justified"), the particle denotes not the cause, but the consequence.
You will find many such turns of speech in the Apostle as well. For example, in the Epistle to the Romans: "What can be known about God is plain to the Gentiles, so that they are without excuse" (Rom. 1:19–20). God gave the Gentiles knowledge not so that, by sinning, they would be without excuse, but so that they would not sin. But since they did sin, this knowledge consequently rendered them without excuse. And again: "The law came in besides," "that the trespass might abound" (Rom. 5:20). Although the law was not given so that sin would increase, but so that it would decrease, yet since those who received the law did not wish to diminish sin, the law served to increase their sin. For their sin became more serious and graver because they had the law and nevertheless sinned.
So also here, by the expression "that the works of God might be revealed" is indicated not the cause, but the consequence. For through the healing of the blind man, God was glorified.
Often a builder of a house will complete one part and leave another unfinished, so that to one who does not believe that he constructed the first part, he can prove through the completion of the unfinished portion that he is the same craftsman who built what came before. So too our God Jesus, healing damaged members and restoring them to their natural (normal) condition, shows that He is also the Creator of the other members.
"That the glory of God might be revealed," He says this about Himself, not about the Father. For the glory of the Father was already manifest, but the glory of Jesus needed to be revealed, namely that He who made man in the beginning is He. And in this, without doubt, there is no small glory, when it is disclosed that He who has now appeared as Man, in the beginning as God created man. That He speaks about Himself, listen to what follows.
Jn. 9:4. I must do the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work.
He adds: "I must do the works of Him who sent Me." "I," He says, "must reveal Myself and perform works that can show that I accomplish the same things that the Father does." Notice, He did not say that I must do works such as the Father does, but the very same ones that the Father does. "I," He says, "must do the very same works that He who sent Me does."
I must do them "while it is day," while the present life lasts and people can believe in Me. Then "the night comes, when no one can work," that is, believe, for He calls faith a work. Thus, in the age to come no one can believe.
The present life is a day, because during it, as in the daytime, we are able to act; although the Apostle Paul also calls it night, partly because here those who practice virtue or vice are unknown, and partly in comparison with the Light that will illumine the righteous. The age to come is a night, because there no one can act; although the Apostle Paul also calls it day, because the righteous will appear in light and the deeds of each will be revealed. Thus, in the age to come there is no faith, but all will submit, willing and unwilling.
Jn. 9:5. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.
"As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world," for by teaching and the manifestation of miracles I enlighten souls. Therefore now too I must enlighten the souls of many through the healing of the blind man and the illumination of the pupils of his eyes. As the light, I must enlighten both physically and spiritually.
Jn. 9:6. Having said this, He spat on the ground, made clay from the spittle, and anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay,
Having said this, Jesus did not stop at words alone, but joined action to them as well. "He spat on the ground, made clay from the spittle, and anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay," showing through the clay that it was He who also formed Adam's body from clay. Words alone — that it was I who created Adam — might have seemed scandalous to the hearers, but when words are confirmed by deed, there remained no further cause for scandal. He fashions eyes from clay, employing the same mode of creation by which He also created Adam. He not only fashioned the eyes and opened them, but endowed them with sight, and this showed that He also breathed the soul into Adam. For without the activity of the soul, the eye would never see, even if it were properly formed. He also used spittle for the bestowal of sight. Since He intended to send the blind man to Siloam, lest they attribute the miracle to the water of the pool, but rather recognize that it was the power proceeding from His mouth that formed the blind man's eyes and opened them — for this reason He spat on the ground and from the spittle of His mouth made clay. Then, lest you think that the miracle depended on the earth, He commands him to wash, so that the clay might come off entirely. However, some say that the clay did not come off at all, but was transformed into eyes.
Jn. 9:7. And He said to him: Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, which means: Sent. He went and washed, and came back seeing.
He commands the blind man to go to Siloam partly so that the degree of his faith and obedience might be revealed, for he did not reason that there was no need to go to Siloam or to wash if the clay and spittle could make him fully sighted, but obeyed the One who commanded; partly so as to stop the mouths of the foolish Jews, for naturally many watched him as he walked with eyes smeared with clay and looked at him attentively, so that they could not afterward say "it is he" or "it is not he"; and finally, so that by sending him to Siloam He might bear witness concerning Himself that He is not alien to the Law and the Old Testament.
Why did the Evangelist add the explanation of the name Siloam? So that you would know that here too it was Christ who healed the blind man, and that Siloam is a type of Christ. For Christ is both the spiritual Rock (1 Cor. 10:4) and the spiritual Siloam; and just as the stream of Siloam by its strange flow presented something sudden and striking, so too the coming of the Lord, hidden and unknowable to the angels, by its power drowns every sin.
Jn. 9:8. Then the neighbors and those who had seen before that he was blind said: Is this not the one who sat and begged?
The neighbors, struck by the extraordinariness of the miracle, did not believe. Although his procession to Siloam with eyes anointed with clay was for the very purpose that many would see him and afterwards would not deny it by claiming ignorance, nevertheless, even now they do not believe.
The Evangelist does not remark without purpose that he was asking for alms, but to show the ineffable love of the Lord for mankind in that He condescended even to the poor, that He healed even beggars with great care, and from this we too would learn not to despise our lesser brethren.
Jn. 9:9. Some said: it is he, while others said: he resembles him. But he said: it is I.
And the blind man, not ashamed of his former wretchedness, not fearing the crowd, openly says: "It is I."
Jn. 9:10. Then they asked him: how were your eyes opened?
Jn. 9:11. He answered and said: A Man called Jesus made clay, anointed my eyes, and said to me: Go to the pool of Siloam and wash. I went and washed and received my sight.
He proclaims the Benefactor and says: "A man called Jesus." He calls the Lord a Man, because up to that point he still knew nothing about Him, and what he has now learned, that he confesses.
From where then does he know that this is Jesus? From His conversation with the disciples. The disciples asked the Lord about him. He answered them at considerable length: "I must work the works of Him who sent Me; I am the light of the world." No one else taught this way except Jesus alone, and He used such words often. From this the blind man learned that it was Jesus.
That He made clay and anointed his eyes, he knew from the touch and said so. About the spitting he said nothing, because he did not know, and since he did not know, he did not add it. Evidently, this man was righteous.
Jn. 9:12. They said to him then: Where is He? He answered: I do not know.
Since the Lord, when granting healing and performing a miracle, usually concealed Himself out of His modesty, the blind man, when asked where Jesus was, says "I do not know," so as to be completely faithful to the truth.
Jn. 9:13. They brought this formerly blind man to the Pharisees.
They lead him to the Pharisees, in order to subject him to a more detailed and rigorous interrogation.
Jn. 9:14. It was the Sabbath when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes.
The Evangelist notes that "it was the Sabbath" in order to show their malice, how they seize upon every occasion against Christ: they accuse Him of violating the Sabbath and thereby attempt to overshadow the miracle. Therefore they do not ask him "how did you receive your sight," but rather "how did He open your eyes," — in everything slandering the Lord as One who had worked on the Sabbath.
Jn. 9:15. The Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. He said to them: He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.
They compel the blind man himself to recall that He made the clay precisely on the Sabbath. He, answering those who had already heard, mentions neither the name of Jesus nor what the Lord said to him, but only says: "He put clay on my eyes, and I washed and I see." For the Pharisees had probably heard beforehand from those who brought the blind man to them, and perhaps slandered the Lord and said: "See what Jesus does on the Sabbath." The boldness of the blind man is worthy of note, that he speaks fearlessly with the Pharisees. They brought him so that he, struck with fear, would deny the reality of the healing, but he very clearly proclaims: "I see."
Jn. 9:16. Then some of the Pharisees said: This Man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath. Others said: How can a sinful man perform such miracles? And there was a division among them.
Some of the Pharisees, not all, but the more audacious ones, said: "This Man is not from God." But others said: "How can a sinful man perform such miracles?" Do you see how under the influence of miracles many are softened? These people are Pharisees, rulers, and yet, as a result of this miracle, they are put to shame and offer some degree of defense.
"And there was a division among them." This division had previously occurred among the people, for "some said, He deceives the people, while others said, He is good" (Jn. 7:12, 43), but now it begins also among the rulers.
And behold, many Pharisees, having separated from the rest, defend the miracle. However, even after separating, they speak in favor of Christ very weakly, and more doubtfully and half-heartedly than firmly. For listen to what they say: "How can a sinful man perform such miracles?" Do you see how weakly they object?
Look also at the cunning of the slanderers. They do not say that He is not from God because He heals on the Sabbath, but that He "does not keep the Sabbath"; they constantly put forward not the good deed, but the violation of the day.
Note also that the rulers were slower to do good than the people. The people had already earlier been divided in their opinions, and not all spoke against Christ, while the rulers only after the people came to this commendable division. For sometimes division is even a good thing, as the Lord Himself says: "I came to bring a sword upon the earth" (Matt. 10:34), that is, undoubtedly, disagreement for the sake of good and piety.
Jn. 9:17. Again they say to the blind man: what do you say about Him, because He opened your eyes?
Who were those asking "what do you say about Him?" They were from among the prudent ones, for they were saying: "How can a sinner do such things?" So as not to appear to be defending Him without cause, they bring forth as witness the very one who received the benefit, as one who had experienced His power firsthand, in order to shut the mouths of slanderers. See how prudently they ask. They did not say "what do you say about Him, because He made clay, because He did not keep the Sabbath," but they recall the miracle — "because He opened your eyes" — as if urging the healed man to speak the real truth about Christ. They remind him and encourage him: "Because He opened your eyes." "He," they say, "bestowed His grace upon you. Therefore you ought to proclaim about Him."
Jn. 9:17. He said: this is a prophet.
The blind man now confessed what he could, namely: that He is not a sinner, but from God, that He is a Prophet, although some say that He is not from God because He does not keep the Sabbath.
Christ anointed with clay using a single finger, and they consider Him a violator of the Sabbath. Yet they themselves untie animals with their whole hand in order to water them, and consider themselves pious.
Jn. 9:18. Then the Jews did not believe that he had been blind and received his sight, until they called the parents of him who had received his sight.
The hard-hearted and obstinate ones summon his parents with the purpose of putting them in a difficult position and thereby compelling them to deny their son's former blindness. Since they could not silence well-meaning mouths, they intimidate the parents, hoping to discredit the miracle. And so, they place them in the middle and interrogate them with fury and even greater malice.
Jn. 9:19. And they asked them: Is this your son, of whom you say that he was born blind? How then does he now see?
They do not say "is this your son, who was once blind," but rather "of whom you say," as if speaking thus: "whom you made out to be blind and spread the rumor of this everywhere, entirely fabricated and false." But, O impious Pharisees! What father would allow himself to lie so about his own child?
They press them from two sides and compel them to renounce their son: on one side with the expression "of whom you speak," and on the other with the question "how does he now see?" Do you see? By the supposedly false testimony of the parents that their son had formerly been blind, they diminish this miracle — that he subsequently received his sight. They say: "Either the fact that he sees now is false, or the fact that he was blind is false. But that he can see is true; therefore, you have falsely spread the claim that he was formerly blind."
Jn. 9:20. His parents answered them and said: we know that this is our son and that he was born blind,
Jn. 9:21. But by what means he now sees, we do not know; or who has opened his eyes, we do not know. He is of age; ask him. He shall speak for himself.
The Pharisees posed three questions to the parents of the blind man: 1) is this their son? 2) was he born blind? and 3) how did he come to see? To the first two questions they answer affirmatively, that this is their son and that he was blind, but concerning the manner of healing they do not answer, owing to ignorance. This happened, without doubt, so that the truth might be established more firmly, so that it might be attested by the very one who received the benefit and therefore the most credible witness, as his parents themselves say: "He is of full age, he is not a child or a minor who would not understand how he was healed."
Jn. 9:22. His parents answered thus because they feared the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that whoever acknowledged Him as the Christ would be put out of the synagogue.
Jn. 9:23. Therefore his parents said: He is of age; ask him yourselves.
The parents answered thus because they feared the Pharisees. They were unsteady and more fainthearted than their son. But he was becoming a fearless witness of the truth; he had begun to see well with the eyes of his mind also.
Jn. 9:24. So they called a second time the man who had been blind, and said to him: Give glory to God; we know that that Man is a sinner.
As the parents insisted that their son should be asked, so the arrogant ones do. They bring him, but not in order to question him, rather to suggest to him an accusation against the Healer. For the suggestion "give glory to God" means: confess that Jesus did nothing for you; and in attributing nothing good to Jesus, they place the glory of God!
We know, they say, that He is a sinner. Why then did you not convict Him, when He challenged you to do so, saying "Which of you convicts Me of sin" (Jn. 8:46)?
Jn. 9:25. He answered them: Whether He is a sinner, I do not know; one thing I know, that I was blind, and now I see.
The blind man says: "Whether He is a sinner, I do not know, and I am not now examining this, nor do I affirm it. But I know very clearly that He performed a miracle upon me." So let this matter be considered on its own and give an understanding of Him.
Jn. 9:26. They asked him again: what did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?
Jn. 9:27. He answered them: I already told you, and you did not listen; what more do you want to hear? Do you also want to become His disciples?
Then, when they again asked him "what did He do to you," placing blame on the Savior for having performed the anointing with clay on the Sabbath, this man understood that they were asking not for the sake of inquiry but for accusation, and answered them with reproach: "I do not wish to speak with you any longer, for I have told you many times, and you did not listen."
Then, what could especially sting them, he adds: "Do you also want to become His disciples?" Clearly, he himself desires to be His disciple. Jesting and laughing at them, he says this calmly; and this shows a bold and fearless soul, not afraid of their fury.
Jn. 9:28. And they reviled him and said: You are His disciple, but we are Moses' disciples.
To His reproach they say: "You are His disciple, but we are disciples of Moses." And here too they clearly lie. For if they were disciples of Moses, they would also be disciples of Christ, as He Himself says to them: "If you believed Moses, you would believe Me" (Jn. 5:46).
Jn. 9:29. We know that God spoke with Moses; but as for this man, we do not know where He is from.
They did not say "we have heard," but rather "we know that God spoke with Moses," even though this was passed down to them by their ancestors. About what they received by hearsay, they say "we know for certain," yet the One whose miracles they saw with their own eyes, and whose Divine and heavenly teaching they heard themselves, they call a deceiver (Jn. 7:12). Do you see to what madness their malice drove them?
Jn. 9:30. The man who had received his sight answered and said to them: this is a marvelous thing, that you do not know where He is from, and yet He opened my eyes.
"You," he says, "Jews, reject my Healer because you supposedly do not know where He is from. But I say that He is all the more worthy of admiration because, not being among the notable and distinguished people among you, He can accomplish such deeds that clearly testify that He possesses some higher power and has no need of any human assistance."
Jn. 9:31. But we know that God does not listen to sinners; but whoever honors God and does His will, Him He listens to.
Then, since previously some of them had said: "How can a sinful man perform such miracles," he too takes up this condemnation of theirs and reminds them of their own words. "We all know," he says, "that God does not listen to sinners, but listens to the one who honors Him and does His will." Note from this how he not only removes sins from the Lord, but also presents Him as a great pleaser of God and one who does everything according to His will, when he says: "If anyone honors God and does His will."
Some indulge in cold and subtle disputation. "How," they say, "is it said that God does not hear sinners? He is the Lover of mankind. What, then, do the words 'God does not hear sinners' mean here?" Such a question would not even deserve an answer. Nevertheless, it must be said that by these words — "God does not hear sinners" — the thought expressed is that God does not grant sinners the power to work miracles. For the Spirit of God will not dwell in a body burdened with sins. But those who sincerely and from the heart ask forgiveness of their sins, God hears not as sinners but as penitents. For at the very moment they ask forgiveness, they have already passed from the ranks of sinners into the ranks of the penitent. Therefore it is rightly said that God does not hear sinners. He does not grant sinners the grace to work miracles either. For even if they were ever to ask for something of the sort, how would He grant what is asked to those whom He hates for the very reason that they lay claim to what is entirely unfitting for them? And if He hears those who ask forgiveness, He hears them not as sinners but as penitents.
Note. Having said "if anyone honors God," he added "and does His will." For many honor God but do not fulfill the will of God. But both must be present together: both the honoring of God and the fulfillment of God's will — that is, faith and works, or, as the Apostle Paul expressed it, faith and a good conscience (1 Tim. 1:5) — in short, contemplation and action. For faith is truly alive when it is accompanied by God-pleasing works, from which comes a good conscience, just as from evil works comes a corrupt conscience. And again, works are alive when they are accompanied by faith, but separated from one another they are dead, as it is said: "Faith without works is dead" (James 2:26), and works without faith likewise.
Notice, if you will, what boldness truth gives to a poor, entirely unremarkable man, and he rebukes the great and glorious among the Jews. So great is the power of truth, whereas falsehood is very timid and lacking in boldness.
Jn. 9:32. From the ages it has not been heard that anyone opened the eyes of one born blind.
Jn. 9:33. If He were not from God, He could do nothing.
Furthermore, knowing that they want to obscure the miracle, he preaches about the benefaction with full understanding. If He were not from God, He would not have performed such a miracle, the likes of which no one has ever performed. If, perhaps, the eyes of the blind were opened, it was not eyes damaged from birth, but from some illness. But what has now taken place is an unheard-of thing. Therefore, it is evident that the one who performed such a miracle is more than a man.
Jn. 9:34. They answered and said to him: You were altogether born in sins, and do you teach us?
So long as they hoped that this man would say something to their liking, they summoned and questioned him, and not just once. But when from his answers they learned that he did not think as they did, but was inclined toward the truth, they revile him as one born in sins. Quite senselessly they reproach him with his blindness and suppose that, as being exceedingly sinful even before his birth, he was condemned to be born blind — which is without foundation.
Jn. 9:34. And they cast him out.
As sons of falsehood, they cast him, the confessor of truth, out of the temple. But this served for his benefit. They cast him out of the temple, and the Lord of the temple immediately found him. They dishonored him for his opinion in favor of Christ, and he was deemed worthy to know the Son of God.
Jn. 9:35. Jesus, having heard that they had cast him out, and finding him, said to him: Do you believe in the Son of God?
"Jesus," it says, "found him, like a judge of contests who receives a wrestler who is greatly exhausted and crowned." And what does He say? Do you believe in the Son of God? Why does He ask about this, when the man had argued so much with the Jews and said so much on His behalf? He does this not out of ignorance, but out of a desire to teach the blind man knowledge about Himself. Previously, the man had never seen Him at all, nor did he see Him after his healing, because the Jews, those most vicious dogs, were dragging him here and there. Now He asks him so that, in response to his question about who the Son of God is, He might most fittingly point to Himself. At the same time, He also shows him that He highly values his faith, speaking as if to say: "So many people have insulted Me, but I do not hold it against them in the least. I care about one thing only — faith."
Jn. 9:36. He answered and said: Lord, who is He, that I may believe in Him?
Jn. 9:37. Jesus said to him: You have both seen Him, and He it is who speaks with you.
"Lord, who is the Son of God?" he asks with love. Jesus answers: "He is the One whom you have seen and who is speaking with you." He did not say "It is I who healed you, who told you: go, wash," but speaks first in a veiled and unclear way, "you have seen Him," and then more clearly, "and He is speaking with you." The Lord, it seems, said "you have seen Him" intentionally, precisely in order to remind him of his healing and of the fact that he received the ability to see from Him.
Jn. 9:38. Lord, he said, I believe! And he worshiped Him.
And he immediately believes and in deed reveals a faith that is fervent and true, worships and by action confirms the word, that he glorifies Him as God because the law commands to worship God alone (Deut. 6:13).
Note, if you will, that this miracle was also accomplished in a spiritual sense. Blind was every man in general from birth, that is, from subjection to birth, with which corruption is joined, for from the time we were condemned to death and to multiplication through passionate birth, from that time a kind of thick cloud spread over our mental eyes, and perhaps that "garment of skin" which Holy Scripture mentions (Gen. 3:21).
Blind was, in particular, the pagan people. And they were blind from birth. For example, the Greeks, because they deified what is born and corruptible, became blind, according to the saying: "Their foolish heart was darkened" (Rom. 1:21). Likewise the wise men (magi) of Persia spent their lives in discussions about birth and birthdays.
This blind man, that is, every person in general, or the Gentiles in particular, Jesus "saw." Since the blind man could not see the Creator, He, out of the compassion of His mercy, Himself "visited us, the Dayspring from on high" (Luke 1:78). How did He see him? "Passing by," that is, not while being in heaven and, in the words of the prophet, bowing down "from heaven and looking upon all the sons of men" (Ps. 13:2), but having appeared on earth. And in another sense: "passing by" He saw the Gentiles, that is, He did not come to them primarily. For He came "to the lost sheep of the house of Israel" (Matt. 15:24), and then, as if in passing, He also looked upon the Gentiles, sitting in the darkness of complete ignorance.
How does He heal blindness? By spitting on the ground and making clay. For whoever believes that the Word descended into the holy Virgin like a drop falling upon the earth, that person will anoint his spiritual eyes with clay made from spittle and earth, that is, with the one Christ, composed of Divinity — of which the drop and the spittle serve as a sign (symbol) — and Humanity, of which the earth serves as a sign, from which is the body of the Lord.
Will the healing stop at faith? No; one must also go to Siloam, the fountain of baptism, and be baptized into the One who was Sent, that is, Christ. For all of us who were spiritually baptized were baptized into Christ. And whoever is baptized will after this be subjected to temptations as well. Perhaps for the sake of Christ who healed him, he will be "brought before kings and governors" (Luke 21:12). Therefore one must be firm and stand unwavering in confession; not deny out of fear, but, if need be, become both excommunicated and cast out of the synagogue, according to what was said: "you will be hated by all for My name's sake" (Matt. 24:9), and "they will put you out of the synagogues" (Jn. 16:2).
If people who are hostile to the truth drive out the one who confesses it and remove him from what is holy and precious to them, that is, from wealth and glory, then Jesus will find him, and when he is dishonored by his enemies, he will be especially honored by Christ with knowledge and a more thorough faith. For then he will worship Christ most of all as the Man who is seen and as the true Son of God. For the Son of God is not one person and the Son of Mary another, as Nestorius impiously blasphemed, but One and the Same is Son of God and Son of Man. Look. When the man who was once blind asked, "Who is the Son of God, that I may believe in Him?" the Lord answered, "It is He whom you have seen and who is speaking with you." And who was speaking, if not He who was born of Mary? Yet He is also the Son of God — not one and another. Therefore holy Mary is truly the Theotokos. For She gave birth to the Son of God who became flesh, undivided and One in two natures, who is Christ the Lord.
Jn. 9:39. And Jesus said: I came into this world for judgment, so that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.
The Lord saw that the Pharisees drew more harm than benefit for themselves from the miracle, and through this became worthy of greater condemnation, and therefore He says: "As it appears and as it turns out in practice, I came for judgment, that is, for greater punishment, so that those who do not see might see, and those who see, such as the Pharisees, might become blind in the eyes of their soul. For behold, the one blind from birth sees both with his soul and with his body, while those who consider themselves seeing have become blind in mind." Here He speaks of keenness of sight and blindness of a twofold kind.
Jn. 9:40. Having heard this, some of the Pharisees who were with Him said to Him: Are we also blind?
The Pharisees, always grasping at the sensible, thought that He was speaking of sensible blindness, and said: "Are we blind also?" They were ashamed of this bodily blindness alone.
Jn. 9:41. Jesus said to them: If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, "We see," therefore your sin remains.
But the Lord wanted to show them that it is better to be blind in body than to be unbelieving, and said: "If you were blind, you would have no sin." For if you were blind by necessity, by nature, forgiveness could have been granted to you for the unbelief with which you are infected. But now you say that you see, and yet, having been eyewitnesses of the miracle upon the blind man, you still remain in unbelief, and therefore are unworthy of forgiveness. For your sin remains indelible, and you will be punished all the more because you do not come to faith despite evident miracles.
These words, "if you were blind, you would have no sin," can also be understood in this way. You ask about bodily blindness, which alone you are ashamed of. But I speak of the blindness of your soul, that "if you were blind," that is, ignorant of Scripture, then "you would not have so heavy a sin upon you," for you would be sinning out of ignorance. But now you say that you see, and you present yourselves as learned and experienced in the law, and therefore you condemn yourselves and have upon you a greater sin, because you sin knowingly.