Jesus heals the man born blind!

This is the sixth sign (miracle) that John alone narrates in his Gospel. The first was Jesus’ sign in Cana where he changed water into wine; the second was his healing of the official’s son at a distance; the third was his healing of the paralytic at the pool; the fourth was the multiplication of food; the fifth was Jesus’ walking on water. And of course, the seventh sign which completes the number to 7 is the raising of Lazarus from the dead. We will come back to the significance of the number 7 when we discuss the Sabbath below. In this story we first note that sickness was considered a curse from God brought about even to the 4th generation of children (cf. Exodus). Jesus first rejects this notion and says it’s to glorify God. Second note how the saliva of Christ (not the clay) made all the difference. He recreates the eye as he created man in Genesis. He is God. Through him all things were made. Even touching him or being touched by him was enough to bring life (cf. the son of the widow in Naeen who came back to life by Christ’s touch). If Christ’s saliva gives sight, how much more do we receive by taking his whole body and blood in the Eucharist. He asked the beggar to go wash in the pool of Siloam, (Sent): this is a symbol of Christ who is sent by the Father. The beggar came back seeing. And this raises questions by the neighbours who cannot believe their eyes. First: doubt (It is not him) Second: how (Then how are your eyes opened?). What compounds the reaction is that the healing was on a Sabbath. This moves the whole story to another and deeper level. Now whoever did this miracle must face judgment by the Jewish authorities. The Pharisees will have to judge Jesus but they first must question the victim of this “crime,” and so they hurry to question the beggar (vv. 13-15) and in doing that there is a division among them (v. 16) – Now who is the divider par excellence in history? Is not he the one called the Devil? You get now a bit of the significance of who is really standing against Christ. The problem is not only healing but also healing on a Sabbath. The 3rd commandment that Moses received on Mount Sinai forbids work on the Sabbath. The Sabbath must be kept for the Lord God. What is the significance of the Sabbath? It is the 7th day when God rested after he created all creatures. Literally we must rest like God on the seventh day of the week. But here is one interpretation of the meaning: The seventh day has not come yet! According to the scientific “Big Bang” theory, the universe has existed for about 13700 million years. The Church does not accept a literalist interpretation of Scripture. Seven is the number or symbol of perfection. When everything is perfect and God is glorified in all the elect and his kingdom is finally established then creation will have arrived at seven. Christ said earlier “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” In history, our Sabbath is now Sunday: the day when Christ rose from the dead, defeated death and opened heaven to us. The early Church moved the Lord’s Day to Sunday where the sacrifice of Christ is re-presented in the Eucharist and in memory of the Easter event. The parents of the beggar are called in to testify. Like us today, they deny the truth that Jesus opened their son’s eyes because they are afraid that the Jews will kick them out of the community and for fear that they will be excommunicated. Fear reigns! And the Pharisees now ask the beggar for the second time “Give God the praise; we know that this man is a sinner” (v. 24). “Give God the praise” means “tell the truth” (Cf. Sam 6). And they are challenged by the beggar “Whether he is a sinner I do not know; one thing I know, that though I was blind, now I see” (v. 25) His defiance becomes more persistent “Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God he could do nothing” (v. 32, 33) (This is true since the only healing of a blind person in the Old Testament is that of Tobit and he was not born blind). They shot back “You were born in utter sin and would you teach us?” So they excommunicate him from the Jewish synaguoge. In fact John wrote his Gospel in the nineties when the Jewish Council had already passed judgment against Christians in 85 AD and cursed them as heretics in its 18 benedictions. Now Jesus heard that they had cast him out and the Gospel says that Jesus “found him.” This miracle is unique because it shows that Christ looks for the sick ones and the ones in need. He goes after “the lost sheep” Not only that the beggar in the first place did not ask for Christ’s healing but also Christ looked for him after he was physically healed. His love for every one is great! “Do you believe in the Son of man?” Who is the Son of man? He is the one who appeared in front of the eternal and was given glory for ever (Cf. Daniel). The beggar –Man- now asks in an open dialogue “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” The answer is quite clear “You have seen him and it is he who speaks to you. He said: Lord I believe and he worshiped him” (vv. 36-38) Worship is an act reserved to God. You can see now how the beggar came to identify Christ as God himself. The story takes the reader gradually from “Rabbi” (v. 2) to ”Prophet” (v. 17) and then finally being “worshipped” (v. 37). “Jesus said, For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind” (v. 39) The Pharisees thought “Are we also blind?” And Jesus replied “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘we see,’ your guilt remains “ (v. 41) Evidently the healing of Christ is beyond the physical healing only – It goes deeper to the spiritual. He heals spiritual blindness too. The Pharisees self-righteousness is judged and humility is praised (Cf. Matt. 5). Blessed Mother Theresa said once “The most awful disease in America today is spiritual blindness” by George Farahat