Eyes Opened to the Light of God—Lectionary Reflection for Lent 4A (John 9)
John
9:1-41 New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
9 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?” 3 Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. 4 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.” 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. 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.”
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.”
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.”
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?” 27 He 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.
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. 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.
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The
story of the healing of the man born blind will be familiar to many. As is
often true in the Gospel of John, this is not only a healing story. It is also
the foundation for a teaching moment. In John’s Gospel miracles serve as signs
of God’s work in the world. While the Synoptics envision the coming of God’s
realm to be out in the future, for John the kingdom of God is present now. In
his miracles, Jesus reveals the presence of the eschaton in the here and now.
In this reading, the central message involves Jesus’ declaration that he is the
“Light of the World” and the inability of religious leaders to see the light
due to their being in darkness. The central character in this conversation is a
man who was born blind, but whose sight is restored on the Sabbath. The
question posed to us has to do with whether we can see the light or if we live
in spiritual darkness.
I
titled an earlier reflection on this passage “Spiritual Blindness.” What that
is in essence the core issue, I’ve been chastened of late concerning the use of
disability in negative ways. Thus, I’ve been seeking to be more self-aware as
to how I might fall into patterns of turning to stereotypical depictions of
disability. That is easy to do here as one of the central questions has to do
with the relationship of the man’s disability to some form of sin. The
assumption of the day was that disability was a sign of a divine curse. Surely,
we don’t believe that today, and yet it’s easy to simply spiritualize disability
and maintain the stereotype. So, with that in mind, I will enter the
conversation with this passage.
The
story begins with Jesus walking through the city of Jerusalem near the Pool of
Siloam. He encounters a man who, according to John, was born blind. The
disciples ask Jesus what caused this man’s blindness. Was it his sin or that of
his parents? The assumption here is that disability is rooted in sin. It is an
act of judgment. Jesus offers a different interpretation. This man’s blindness
has nothing to do with anyone’s sin. Instead, his blindness (whatever its
cause) serves as an opportunity for God’s power to be revealed (a sign of God’s
realm). By revealing God’s power, Jesus gets a teaching moment about spiritual
blindness. The message is that there is more than one kind of blindness. It can
be physical (as in this case) or spiritual.
As you
can tell, this is a challenging text. Amy Kenny, in her book My Body Is Not
a Prayer Request suggests that the disciples acted in a way similar to many
folks when it comes to disability. They’re uncomfortable with it. They want to
know the cause, but they remain disconnected from the man, who doesn’t even
have a name. In their eyes, his identity is subsumed in his disability. On the
other hand, Kenny suggests that Jesus engages with the man (though he still
doesn’t get a name—she rectifies this by giving him the name Zach). However,
“Jesus inverts their idea of blindness by showing the disciples that disability
becomes a place of encounter with the glory of God.” She goes on to say that
the man’s “disability helps reveal the Light of the Word to people who think of
themselves as holier than disabled people. Disability is no longer a symbol of
sin but one of being open to revelation. Disability unveils God’s work to the
community, if only people are willing to receive it” [Kenny, My Body Is nota Prayer Request, pp. 6-7].
This is a lengthy passage that continues into John 10. It’s easy to get lost in
the weeds, but the point isn’t the healing but the presence of God’s glory and
our ability to perceive it. This is where the idea of spiritual blindness comes
into play. Sometimes we get so focused on rules that we miss the light of God. In
this case, the religious authorities are so focused on being sticklers about
sabbath rules that they fail to see what God is doing in their midst. To be
clear, Jesus is not rejecting the Sabbath, he’s just prioritizing human need
above rules designed to benefit the people.
So, while the light of God is present in our midst, can we see it? Now,
it needs to be pointed out that the man born blind does not seek healing, so in
the minds of the authorities, there is no hurry. They’re not opposed to the man
being healed. They just don’t believe this is the day for it. So, why break the
rules?
The man
born blind, who is never named, is both the protagonist and how Jesus reveals
something about God. As John tells the story, Jesus sees in his disciples'
question an opportunity to reveal something about his identity, a sign of God’s
presence in his life and ministry. Note that Jesus declares here that “as long
as I am in the world, I am the light of the world” (Jn 9: 5). After this, he
spits on some dirt, turns it into mud, and applies it to the man’s eyes,
telling him to go and wash his eyes (now covered with mud) in the Pool of
Siloam. He does as he is told, and returns to where he had encountered Jesus, being
able to see. What is intriguing here, and is something I think I’ve missed
before, is that Jesus doesn’t ask the man if he wants to be healed of his
blindness. He just applies mud and tells him to wash out his eyes. This seems a
bit presumptuous, but it works. As for the man’s neighbors and other observers,
they are amazed that this man who had spent his life begging could now see.
They weren’t sure he was the same man, but he insisted that he was the man. As
for how this happened, all he knew was that there was this man named Jesus who
took mud, applied it to his eyes, and told him to wash off the mud. Now he
could see. As for where Jesus was, he couldn’t say.
It’s at
this point that the religious leaders step in to conduct an inquiry. They speak
to both the man who had been blind before Jesus healed him and his parents.
First of all, they want to know who healed him. Secondly, did he think the man
who healed him was a prophet? The man being questioned responds that he doesn’t
know the identity of the man who healed him. In other words, Jesus didn’t
identify himself to the man. As for whether the man is a prophet—in other
words, whether he acts on behalf of God—the man assumes that this act of
healing came from God. It’s a blessing, so surely it is an act of God. When
that answer doesn’t fit what they hoped to hear, they question the man’s
disability. Perhaps he's only pretending to be blind. That theory falls apart
when the parents are brought in. They confirm that he had always been blind,
but they didn’t know who had healed him. Besides, the man was an adult so let
him speak for himself. John suggests that they were leery of answering because
they understood that if they confessed Jesus as Messiah they would be kicked
out of the synagogue (this rationale reflects a later concern when the synagogues
were being divided over Jesus).
Unable
to get the answer they wanted from the parents, the religious leaders turn back
to the man. They try to get him to declare that Jesus is a sinner, something he
wouldn’t agree to. His inquisitors try to coerce testimony from him, but he’s
too quick for them. They insist Jesus is a sinner, but the formerly blind man tells
them that whether or not Jesus is a sinner, he can’t say. All he knows is that
“though I was blind, now I see.”
Keeping
in mind the challenge posed by Amy Kenny that we not use disability in
stereotypical ways, how might we read this passage spiritually? The underlying
issue is living in spiritual darkness—not being able to see what God is up to
in the world. In this story a previously blind man has his sight restored.
Where once he could not see, now he can see. The larger story has to do with
those who have spiritual authority in the community and fail to see what God is
doing in their midst. They miss the sign. In their mind, Jesus is a sinner.
That determination is based on their belief that God couldn’t be listening to
Jesus because he’s not playing by their rules. How often is that true for us?
In the
story, the man who had previously been blind, when questioned about how his
sight had been restored, assumes that this must be from God. How could Jesus do
something so wonderful if what he was doing didn’t come from God? The question
then concerns Jesus’ earlier claim to be the light of the world and the
relationship of that claim to this sign. The issue concerns who can discern
God’s presence (God’s glory) in the world. The religious leaders have deemed
Jesus a sinner, as one cursed by God, so how can he be the one who reveals
God’s presence? As for the man who stood before them, in his responses, affirming
that Jesus must be acting on behalf of God, he must be silenced. After all, his
blindness must be a sign that he had been cursed by God, so how could he teach
theology to those who perceived themselves as the arbiters of righteousness?
Thus, he would have to be evicted from the synagogue. That is, they deemed him
to be a heretic. Regarding the way in which John casts the Pharisees, we need to be careful that we don't cast aspersions on them. Too often they become villains in the story, and that picture gets placed on Jews as well.
Our
reading concludes with Jesus revealing himself to the man, whom the religious
authorities had excommunicated. Jesus asks this man who now stands
outside the established religious realm if he believes in the Son of Man. The
man, who had not seen Jesus with his own eyes to that point, asks Jesus who
this Son of Man is so he could believe in him. When Jesus points to
himself, the man believes and “worshiped him.” Thus, in confessing his belief
that Jesus is the Son of Man, he is declaring that he, unlike the religious leaders,
has seen the light. In the realm of eschatological and apocalyptic thinking,
the Son of Man is the one who comes in judgment, thus in this case the formerly
blind man faces this judge and is welcomed by him. Having had his eyes
opened he recognizes that he stands in the presence of God (revealed in the
person of Jesus), and thus finds it necessary to express his wonder in worship.
That is, he gives glory to God by recognizing that in Jesus God’s light shines into
the world.
The
passage poses the question to us: do we see the light of God present in Jesus
or do we remain in darkness? What might be the blind spots in our own lives
where we fail to see God at work and perhaps even hinder that work? While the
man in this story didn’t ask Jesus to heal him, he seems grateful for that
healing. As for us, is there a need for healing in our lives? Is there a need,
that is, for God to open our eyes to the things of God?
So, we
sing:
Open our eyes, Lord,
we want to see Jesus,
to reach out and touch him,
and say that we love him.
Open our ears, Lord,
and help us to listen.
Open our eyes, Lord,
we want to see Jesus.
(Bob
Cull)
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