BIBLE STUDY #36
FOURTH SUNDAY OF LENT
April 3, 2011

Gospel John 9:1-41

As Jesus passed by he saw a man blind from birth.
His disciples asked him,
“Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents,
that he was born blind?”
Jesus answered,
“Neither he nor his parents sinned;
it is so that the works of God might be made visible through him.
We have to do the works of the one who sent me while it is day.
Night is coming when no one can work.
While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
When he had said this, he spat on the ground
and made clay with the saliva,
and smeared the clay on his eyes,
and said to him,
“Go wash in the Pool of Siloam” —which means Sent—.
So he went and washed, and came back able to see.

His neighbors and those who had seen him earlier as a beggar said,
“Isn’t this the one who used to sit and beg?”
Some said, “It is, “
but others said, “No, he just looks like him.”
He said, “I am.”
So they said to him, “How were your eyes opened?”
He replied,
“The man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes
and told me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’
So I went there and washed and was able to see.”
And they said to him, “Where is he?”
He said, “I don’t know.”

They brought the one who was once blind to the Pharisees.
Now Jesus had made clay and opened his eyes on a Sabbath.
So then the Pharisees also asked him how he was able to see.
He said to them,
“He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and now I can see.”
So some of the Pharisees said,
“This man is not from God,
because he does not keep the Sabbath.”
But others said,
“How can a sinful man do such signs?”
And there was a division among them.
So they said to the blind man again,
“What do you have to say about him,
since he opened your eyes?”
He said, “He is a prophet.”

Now the Jews did not believe
that he had been blind and gained his sight
until they summoned the parents of the one who had gained his sight.
They asked them,
“Is this your son, who you say was born blind?
How does he now see?”
His parents answered and said,
“We know that this is our son and that he was born blind.
We do not know how he sees now,
nor do we know who opened his eyes.
Ask him, he is of age;
he can speak for himself.”
His parents said this because they were afraid
of the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed
that if anyone acknowledged him as the Christ,
he would be expelled from the synagogue.
For this reason his parents said,
“He is of age; question him.”

So a second time they called the man who had been blind
and said to him, “Give God the praise!
We know that this man is a sinner.”
He replied,
“If he is a sinner, I do not know.
One thing I do know is that I was blind and now I see.”
So they said to him,
“What did he do to you?
How did he open your eyes?”
He answered them,
“I told you already and you did not listen.
Why do you want to hear it again?
Do you want to become his disciples, too?”
They ridiculed him and said,
“You are that man’s disciple;
we are disciples of Moses!
We know that God spoke to Moses,
but we do not know where this one is from.”
The man answered and said to them,
“This is what is so amazing,
that you do not know where he is from, yet he opened my eyes.
We know that God does not listen to sinners,
but if one is devout and does his will, he listens to him.
It is unheard of that anyone ever opened the eyes of a person born blind.
If this man were not from God,
he would not be able to do anything.”
They answered and said to him,
“You were born totally in sin,
and are you trying to teach us?”
Then they threw him out.

When Jesus heard that they had thrown him out,
he found him and said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”
He answered and said,
“Who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?”
Jesus said to him,
“You have seen him,
the one speaking with you is he.”
He said,
“I do believe, Lord,” and he worshiped him.
Then Jesus said,
“I came into this world for judgment,
so that those who do not see might see,
and those who do see might become blind.”

Some of the Pharisees who were with him heard this
and said to him, “Surely we are not also blind, are we?”
Jesus said to them,
“If you were blind, you would have no sin;
but now you are saying, ‘We see,’ so your sin remains.

The Gospel of the Lord

Reflection

As I was reading this gospel, I wondered what it would be like to be blind. While people with all sorts of disabilities have been able to integrate into society, being blind would mean not being able to drive, so I would need transportation to get anywhere; not being able to read, so I am limited to Braille and audio books, tapes, etc (how many of them are there?); not being able to see the beauty of nature, but only to experience it through my other senses; and being limited in the possibilities of marriage and family. These are only a few of the difficulties; I imagine there are many more.

Imagine what it would be like to be blind 2,000 years ago. Most people were poor and lived from day to day. There were no type of social services for the poor; the rich always have the advantages of money to help their family members in need. There was little, if any, opportunity for education or to learn a skill so as to help support the family. If you couldn’t work, the possibility of marriage was probably zero. The only thing you could do was beg for money, and there was plenty of competition for that.

On top of all that, because he was blind, he was considered a sinner. Jesus disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Being a sinner, he would have been excluded from public worship in the synagogue and Temple. John is trying to describe a person who is as down and out as one can be. He is so lowly he doesn’t even have a name. Things couldn’t be worse for this blind man.

Jesus tells us that illnesses and disabilities are not caused by sin, contrary to popular belief. He is using the blindness of this man to show us about faith and about himself.

In the Old Testament, “opening the eyes of the blind’ also refers to faith in God (see Isaiah 42:7). Jesus tells us he is the light of the world, and we’ll see how this plays out with the blind man and with his opponents.

Without even asking him (why would he object), Jesus cures this man of his blindness. What does this really mean? Jesus cures him in all possible ways. Being sighted, he could learn a trade other than begging; he then has the possibility of supporting a family, which means he could get married and have children; he can be restored to public worship in the Synagogue and Temple; and, most importantly, it tells us something about Jesus. John is trying to tell us that if Jesus healed the body, he is also healing the soul through forgiveness of sin, and who can do that but God? John is alluding to Jesus divinity. The cured man ‘sees’ he becomes a man of faith in Jesus: he has the eyes of faith.

Look at the progression of this man’s attitude toward Jesus. First, he is ‘the man called Jesus’; then he calls Jesus ‘a prophet’; then he is a ‘man from God’; finally, he calls him ‘Lord’ and worships Jesus, a recognition of Jesus divinity.

Through his healing by Jesus, through the healed man’s interactions with his neighbors, and then his 2 confrontations with the Pharisees this formerly blind man travels the road of faith to acknowledging Jesus as Lord.

The washing in the waters of Siloam reminds us of the waters of baptism. We are washed clean in these waters, and as life goes on, our eyes become more and more opened to the reality of Jesus; as life progresses, Jesus hopefully becomes more and more important to us; and it is finally that experience of the risen Jesus healing us that brings us to our knees, worshipping Jesus as our Lord and Savior.

This healed man is also willing to witness to others about Jesus. His first witness is to his neighbors, who just want to know how he was healed. “The man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and told me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash’. So I went there and washed and was able to see.” At this point, Jesus is just a man.

His second witness is to the Pharisees. The Pharisees said that Jesus is not from God, because he doesn’t keep the Sabbath (Jesus cured this man on the Sabbath). When asked how this can happen, the cured man said that Jesus is a prophet. His understanding of Jesus has grown, and he is willing to testify to what he believes.

His third witness is when the Pharisees call him in a second time, and he is much bolder. Upon being questioned about the circumstances of his healing, he responds “I told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples, too?” The more he witnesses about Jesus, the stronger his faith becomes.

Isn’t that interesting? The more he witnesses, the stronger his faith becomes. It seems to me that one good way to grow in our faith is to tell others about Jesus. Didn’t Jesus say that he would be with us to guide us in our evangelization? Religious education teachers, confirmation teachers, and those who work in RCIA know this: they benefit as much as the people they are teaching. This is a good reason to be a teacher, I think.

In opposition to Jesus, we have the Pharisees. They have eyesight, but they are really blind. They refuse to even consider Jesus in any role other than sinner. The first time the Pharisees question cured man, he refers to Jesus as a prophet. Then they question the parents, who confirm that their son was born blind, but were afraid of the Pharisees, so they said, “Ask him, he is of age; he can speak for himself.” Then, they call the cured man back a second time, and he refuses to back down: “If this man were not from God,
he would not be able to do anything.” He says that since he healed him, the man must be from God, since God doesn’t listen to sinners. The Pharisees refuse to give in to the cured man’s logic or his faith.

Confronted with the reality of this healing, the Pharisees refuse to believe. They think that they ‘see’, but not really, they are really blind. Whenever we refuse to be open to the power of the Spirit in our lives, we are like the Pharisees and we miss Jesus right in our midst. We are blind to what God wants us to do and be.

The Lord wants to keep healing us of our sins, but won’t force himself on us. We need to be humble enough to know that we need Jesus’ help. Jesus says, “I came into this world for judgment, so that those who do not see might see, and those who do see might become blind.”

Recognizing our own blindness, we turn to Jesus and begin to see. Insisting that we see, we become blind. Which one are you?



Fr. Phil