The Gospel According to John – 2017.03.26
The Blind Man Healed
The
blind man went off and washed himself, and came away with his sight restored
As
Jesus went along, he saw a man who had been blind from birth. His disciples
asked him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, for him to have been
born blind?’ ‘Neither he nor his parents sinned,’ Jesus answered ‘he was born
blind so that the works of God might be displayed in him.
‘As
long as the day lasts
I
must carry out the work of the one who sent me;
the
night will soon be here when no one can work.
As
long as I am in the world
I am
the light of the world.’
Having
said this, he spat on the ground, made a paste with the spittle, put this over
the eyes of the blind man, and said to him, ‘Go and wash in the Pool of Siloam’
(a name that means ‘sent’). So the blind man went off and washed himself, and
came away with his sight restored.
His
neighbours and people who earlier had seen him begging said, ‘Isn’t this the
man who used to sit and beg?’ Some said, ‘Yes, it is the same one.’ Others
said, ‘No, he only looks like him.’ The man himself said, ‘I am the man.’ So
they said to him, ‘Then how do your eyes come to be open?’ ‘The man called
Jesus’ he answered ‘made a paste, daubed my eyes with it and said to me, “Go
and wash at Siloam”; so I went, and when I washed I could see.’ They asked,
‘Where is he?’ ‘I don’t know’ he answered.
They
brought the man who had been blind to the Pharisees. It had been a sabbath day
when Jesus made the paste and opened the man’s eyes, so when the Pharisees
asked him how he had come to see, he said, ‘He put a paste on my eyes, and I
washed, and I can see.’ Then some of the Pharisees said, ‘This man cannot be
from God: he does not keep the sabbath.’ Others said, ‘How could a sinner
produce signs like this?’ And there was disagreement among them. So they spoke
to the blind man again, ‘What have you to say about him yourself, now that he
has opened your eyes?’ ‘He is a prophet’ replied the man. However, the Jews
would not believe that the man had been blind and had gained his sight, without
first sending for his parents and asking them, ‘Is this man really your son who
you say was born blind? If so, how is it that he is now able to see?’ His
parents answered, ‘We know he is our son and we know he was born blind, but we
do not know how it is that he can see now, or who opened his eyes. He is old
enough: let him speak for himself.’ His parents spoke like this out of fear of
the Jews, who had already agreed to expel from the synagogue anyone who should
acknowledge Jesus as the Christ. This was why his parents said, ‘He is old
enough; ask him.’
So
the Jews again sent for the man and said to him, ‘Give glory to God! For our
part, we know that this man is a sinner.’ The man answered, ‘I don’t know if he
is a sinner; I only know that I was blind and now I can see.’ They said to him,
‘What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?’ He replied, ‘I have told
you once and you wouldn’t listen. Why do you want to hear it all again? Do you
want to become his disciples too?’ At this they hurled abuse at him: ‘You can
be his disciple,’ they said ‘we are disciples of Moses: we know that God spoke
to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.’ The man
replied, ‘Now here is an astonishing thing! He has opened my eyes, and you
don’t know where he comes from! We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners, but
God does listen to men who are devout and do his will. Ever since the world
began it is unheard of for anyone to open the eyes of a man who was born blind;
if this man were not from God, he couldn’t do a thing.’ ‘Are you trying to
teach us,’ they replied ‘and you a sinner through and through, since you were
born!’ And they drove him away.
Jesus
heard they had driven him away, and when he found him he said to him, ‘Do you
believe in the Son of Man?’ ‘Sir,’ the man replied ‘tell me who he is so that I
may believe in him.’ Jesus said, ‘You are looking at him; he is speaking to
you.’ The man said, ‘Lord, I believe’, and worshipped him.
Jesus
said:
‘It
is for judgement
that
I have come into this world,
so
that those without sight may see
and
those with sight turn blind.’
Hearing
this, some Pharisees who were present said to him, ‘We are not blind, surely?’
Jesus replied:
‘Blind?
If you were,
you
would not be guilty,
but
since you say, “We see,”
your guilt remains.’
The Lighted Way
The intrigue in John casts pall over the
best parts of the Gospel.
When the good news of the way is
interwoven with internecine conflicts, legalisms, partisanship, its brightness
is diminished.
We do best when keep the preaching of
Jesus to this:
The way lit, I am the way, and the light
of the world.
In the lighted way the blind will see,
even those who have lived in perpetual darkness.
The Gospel is hope.
Any part of the Gospel that detracts from
that hope, is preaching that does not originate in the Jesus. It is not a part
of the lighted way.
Reject it.
4th Sunday of Lent
