John 9:1-41

The gospel text for this Sunday is the entire ninth chapter of the Gospel of John. That’s a very long reading and there is a lot to think about in those 41 verses, so this week I’m going to combine the reading of the text with my observations instead of our usual practice of standing for the reading of the text followed by the preaching a more conventional sermon.

Before I begin, though, there is a difficulty in the text that we need to clarify.  In the Gospel of John, Jesus is often confronted or antagonized by a group identified as “the Jews.”  The Greek word here is Ioudaioi, and it refers to a particular group of self-appointed conservative Judeans who saw themselves as the guardians of the temple, the Torah, and Jewish traditions.  It’s important to remember that almost every character in the Gospel of John, including and especially Jesus, is Jewish. When the writer of John uses “the Jews” to describe those who are challenging Jesus, we are not supposed to think this means the Jewish people as a whole; it is only this one pious and prickly group that is being referred to.   I hate it that this even needs to be said, but, unfortunately, we live in a time when anti-Semitism is once again on the rise and historically these references to “the Jews” in the Gospel of John have been used to feed inexcusable bigotry and animosity.  The writer of John was a Jew.  The disciples were Jews.  Jesus was a Jew, and Jesus loved his people, the Jews—even those particular Ioudaioi who were a thorn in his side.

Chapter nine of John tells us the story of Jesus healing the man born blind.  In the Gospel of John, unlike the synoptic gospels, Jesus makes four or maybe five separate trips to Jerusalem.  This story is takes place during his third trip which starts in chapter seven when Jesus travels to Jerusalem in secret to celebrate Succoth, the Feast of the Tabernacles.  His presence doesn’t remain a secret for very long.  Throughout chapters seven and eight, while he teaches in the courtyards of the temple he has several heated disputes with his antagonists and it is clear that they are looking for an excuse to kill him.  And that’s where things stand when we come to the beginning of chapter nine.

John 9:1   As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. ² His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

When something tragic happens or when we see or experience misfortune, there is something in us that wants to know why.  We want to know who or what is responsible.  Random unfortunate things happened in life in ancient times just as they happen today and when there was no immediately discernable cause or observable reason to pin the blame on someone or some circumstance, people figured that God must be responsible.  Some people still think that way today.  And since God is good and wouldn’t do anything hurtful without a very good reason, then those who think God has created the unfortunate state of affairs as a punishment circle back around to blaming the victim or victims.  

In the minds of the disciples, in their frame of reference from their culture, if a person was born blind or with some other disability, it had to be because God wanted them to be disabled or, if their thinking is a little more nuanced, it happened because someone’s sin interfered with God’s good design and intentions.  That’s why the disciples asked Jesus, “Whose sin caused this man to be born blind?  His sin or his parents?”

This was the common understanding in their world, but it was a pretty unhealthy and unhelpful way to think about God and, frankly, about life.  Understandable, but not helpful.  Jesus wants to change their perspective.  He wants them to understand that God is not in the business of inflicting suffering and that disabilities are not the result of someone’s moral failure. 

In his book When Bad Things Happen to Good People, Rabbi Harold Kushner said, “God does not cause our misfortunes. Some are caused by bad luck, some are caused by bad people, and some are simply an inevitable consequence of our being human and being mortal, living in a world of inflexible natural laws. The painful things that happen to us are not punishments for our misbehavior, nor are they in any way part of some grand design on God’s part. Because the tragedy is not God’s will, we need not feel hurt or betrayed by God when tragedy strikes. We can turn to Him for help in overcoming it, precisely because we can tell ourselves that God is as outraged by it as we are.”

So, back to the Gospel text:

² His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” ³ Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned.”

And this is where we come to a translation problem.  In verse 3, the NRSV has Jesus saying, “He was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him.  We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work.”  Some translations read, “This happened so that God’s works might be revealed…” But here’s the problem: the words “he was born blind” or “this happened” are not in the Greek text.  They are an insertion that makes it sound like the man’s blindness was predestined by God just so Jesus could come along and demonstrate God’s power.  It reads like God set up this poor blind man as a stage prop.

But that is not what the original text says.   So what does it say?  What does it sound like if we follow the actual Greek text and re-work the punctuation, which, by the way, was also added by translators and was not part of the original text?  

It reads like this: “Neither this man nor his parents sinned.  So that the works God might be revealed in him, we must work the works of the One who sent me while it is day.  Night is coming when no one can work.”  That’s what the original text actually says.  The Contemporary English Version paraphrases it pretty nicely this way:  “Because of his blindness, you will see God work a miracle for him.”  There is no implication in the text that God made this poor man blind as some kind of punishment or for any other reason.  On the contrary, through Jesus, God is going to give him his sight.  God’s works will be revealed in him.

Back to the text:  ⁴ Jesus said, “We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. ⁵ As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

The theological theme of light and darkness is a thread that runs through the Gospel of John from the very beginning.  John 1:4 tells us, “In him was life and the life was the light of all people.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.”  In John 3:19 we read, “And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.”  In John 8:12, just one chapter before Jesus encounters the man born blind, Jesus says, “I am the light of the world.  Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.”

This theme of light and darkness is personified in the man born blind, a person who has literally lived his life in the dark.  In this gospel, light and darkness symbolize belief and unbelief and when Jesus gives sight to the blind man as the story unfolds we see him move from the darkness of unbelief to the light and life of belief.

We continue with the text:

⁵ As long as I am in the world,” said Jesus, “I am the light of the world.  ⁶ When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man’s eyes,  ⁷ saying to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see.

The Gospel of John echoes the book of Genesis in several ways, and a number of early Church Fathers saw Jesus’ act of mixing the mud as a repetition of God creating humans from the dust of the ground in Genesis.  Irenaeus, Basil the Great and John Chrysostom went so far as to say that the man Jesus healed had been born without eyes and that when Jesus spread the mud on his eyes he was actually creating new eyes for him.  That detail is not in the Gospel text of course, but it is a tradition that is almost as old as the Gospel of John, itself. 

So how did people respond when they saw that their neighbor had been miraculously given his sight?

⁸ The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar began to ask, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” ⁹ Some were saying, “It is he.” Others were saying, “No, but it is someone like him.” He kept saying, “I am he.” ¹⁰ But they kept asking him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” ¹¹ He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ Then I went and washed and received my sight.” ¹² They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.”

The neighbors, the people who passed by this man every day had a hard time believing that he had been given his sight.  It was the kind of thing that just didn’t happen in the world as they understood it. Their response reminds me of an old Calvin and Hobbs cartoon from years ago where Calvin says, “It’s not denial.  I’m just selective about the reality I accept.”

13   They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. ¹⁴ Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. ¹⁵ Then the Pharisees also began to ask him how he had received his sight. He said to them, “He put mud on my eyes. Then I washed, and now I see.” ¹⁶ Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not observe the Sabbath.” Others said, “How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?” And they were divided. ¹⁷ So they said again to the blind man, “What do you say about him? It was your eyes he opened.” He said, “He is a prophet.”^*

What, exactly, was the problem the Pharisees had with Jesus healing the blind man on the Sabbath?  In this particular instance it wasn’t the healing so much as how Jesus did it.  In Exodus 35:2 the Torah says that the people are to refrain from creative work on the Sabbath.  But because the Torah does not spell out exactly what qualifies as creative work, the Sages had developed a list of 39 creative acts that were forbidden on the Sabbath.  Number 10 on that list was kneading dough, which had been expanded to include working with clay.  So when Jesus made mud to heal the blind man’s eyes, they saw it as a violation of Sabbath law.  But they also were not ready to believe that the blind man had been given his sight, or even that he had really been blind in the first place.

Back to the text:

18   The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight ¹⁹ and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” ²⁰ His parents answered, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind, ²¹ but we do not know how it is that now he sees, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.” ²² His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus to be the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. ²³ Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”

Fear has been an undercurrent of this story since the blind man received his sight but this is the first time it is named.  The man’s neighbors are anxious because to acknowledge the miracle would mean that they would have to reevaluate who they think Jesus is and also, no small thing, how the universe works and how God works.  The Pharisees are anxious for the same reason, so they not only try to deny the miracle but to disqualify the miracle worker, Jesus.  The man’s parents are nervous for all the same reasons, but also because the Pharisees could bar them from the synagogue.  And that is no small thing.  

According to the Jewish Encyclopedia, there were 394 synagogues in Jerusalem in the early first century.  These synagogues were places for religious study and debate but they also functioned as community centers and economic centers.  Business deals were hammered out in the synagogue.  Workers were hired in the synagogue.  Marriages were contracted.  The synagogue was the center of community life and being thrown out or banned could be both economically and socially disastrous. 

So fear, anxiety, makes everyone except Jesus and the formerly blind man reluctant to acknowledge the extraordinary thing that God has done in their midst.  Before we get judgmental, though, it’s important to remember that everything that happens in the gospels happens with the oppressive might of Rome in the background.  Everything Jesus does has to break through the atmosphere of fear that the Romans relied on to enforce the peace.

24   So for the second time they called the man who had been blind, and they said to him, “Give glory to God! We know that this man is a sinner.” ²⁵ He answered, “I do not know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” ²⁶ They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” ²⁷He answered them, “I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?” ²⁸ Then they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. ²⁹ We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.” ³⁰ The man answered, “Here is an astonishing thing! You do not know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. ³¹ We know that God does not listen to sinners, but he does listen to one who worships him and obeys his will. ³² Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. ³³ If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” ³⁴ They answered him, “You were born entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us?” And they drove him out.

In their anger, frustration and fear, the Pharisees resort to demonizing the formerly blind man.  Without facts or justification they move him to the category of “sinner,” even insisting that he was born “entirely in sins.”  If he’s a sinner, they don’t need to deal with him except to exclude him.  They excommunicate him from the community.  

³⁵   Jesus heard that they had driven him out, and when he found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” ³⁶ He answered, “And who is he, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him.” ³⁷ Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he.” ³⁸ He said, “Lord, I believe.” And he worshiped him.

The Gospel has taken us from blindness to sight, from darkness to light, from unbelief to belief.  Throughout this story the Gospel has shown us that the ones who are really blind are those who choose not to see the goodness of God at work.  And now the story of the man who received his sight concludes with one last word of judgment.  “And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.”

³⁹ Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment, so that those who do not see may see and those who do see may become blind.” ⁴⁰ Some of the Pharisees who were with him heard this and said to him, “Surely we are not blind, are we?”  ⁴¹ Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.

That is how this chapter ends, but there is one more thing for us to see here. Throughout this story, John never tells us the name of this man that Jesus healed.  He is called a sinner.  He is referred to as a beggar.  But most often he is referred to as the man born blind or the blind man or he who had been blind.  He is identified by his disability.  

That’s a thing we still do far too often to those among us who live with disabilities. We see them, we identify them in terms of the disability instead of as whole persons in their own right.  We see the challenge they live with instead of all the other traits that make them who they are.

The man Jesus healed was more than just a man born blind.  He had a name. And the church, thank God, has remembered his name even though it wasn’t recorded in the Gospel of John where his story is told.  His name was Celidonius which means “little swallow.”  According to the tradition of the Eastern Church, Celidonius stayed with Jesus and became a disciple after he was given his sight.  Years later he is said to have established the first Christian church at Nimes in Gaul and he is remembered in both the Roman and Eastern Churches as Saint Celidonius.