1 As he passed by, he saw a man who had been blind from birth. 2 Then his disciples asked him, saying, “Teacher, who sinned, this man or his parents, until he was born? Blindness? 3 Jesus answered, “Neither did this man, nor his parents, sin. But that the works of God might be made manifest in him. 4 I must work the works of him who sent me while it is day. The night comes 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 spit on the ground and made clay with the spittle and anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. 7 And he said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam,” which means “sent.” So he went and washed and came seeing.
8 Then the neighbors and those who had seen before that he was blind said, “Isn’t this the one who sat and begged?” 9 Others said, “This is him.” And others: “It resembles him.” But he said, “I am he.” 10 Then they said to him, “How were your eyes opened?” 11 He answered and said, “A man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to the pool of Siloam and wash. So I went and bathed and then I saw.” 12 Then they said to him, “Where is he?” He said: “I don’t know.”

13 Then they brought to the Pharisees someone who had previously been blind. 14 And it was the Sabbath day when Jesus made clay and opened his eyes. 15 Then the Pharisees asked him again how he received his sight, and he said to them, “He put clay on my eyes and I washed, and I see.” 16 Then some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, because he does not keep the Sabbath.” Others said, “How can a sinful man do such miracles?” And there was a rift between them. 17 They also said to the blind man, “What do you say about him because he opened your eyes?” He said: “He is a prophet!” 18 And the Jews did not believe him, that he had been blind and had received his sight, until they called the parents of him that had seen. 19 Then they asked them, saying, “Is this your son, whom you say was born blind?” How does he see now? 20 His parents answered them and said, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind. 21 But how he sees now we do not know. Or who opened his eyes, we do not know. He is of full age. Ask him, he is speaking for himself.” 22 This his parents said because they were afraid of the Jews. For the Jews had agreed that if anyone confessed that he was the Messiah, he would be put out of the synagogue. 23 Therefore his parents said, “He is of full age; ask him.”
24 Then they called the man who was blind a second time and said to him, “Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.” 25 Then he answered and said, Is he a sinner? I do not know. One thing I know: that I was blind, and now I see.” 26 Then they said to him again, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes? 27 He answered them, “I told you and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear too? Do you perhaps want to become his disciples? 28 Then they insulted him and said, “You are that man’s disciple, but we are Moses’ disciples.” 29 We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this man we do not know where he is from.” 30 The man answered and said to them, “This is amazing! You do not know where he is from, and he has opened my eyes. 31 And we know that God does not listen to sinners. But if anyone fears God and does His will, he will listen to him. 32 Since time immemorial it has not been heard that anyone opened the eyes of someone born blind. 33 “If this man had not been from God, he could have done nothing.” 34 They answered and said to him, “You were entirely born into sins, and you teach us.” So they took him out.
35 When Jesus heard that they had put him out, he found him and said to him, “Do you believe in the Son of God?” 36 He answered and said, “Who is he, Lord, that I may believe in him?” 37 Then Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking with you!” 38 Then he said, “Lord, I believe.” And he bowed down to him.

the explanation:

The Jews believed that disabilities and diseases were the penalty for sin. They went so far in this belief as to say that God forgives the sins of the fathers on the children (see Deuteronomy 5:9, and Exodus 20:5). Some Jewish scholars attributed the cause of the defect to the sin of the newborn itself while it was a fetus! However, what is also true is that the prophets indicated the coming of a new era in which every individual will pay the price for his sin: “In those days, it will no longer be said, ‘The fathers eat sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’” But everyone will die for his iniquity, and everyone who eats sour grapes will have his teeth set on edge” (Jeremiah 31:29-30). The Prophet Ezekiel repeats the same words on the lips of the Lord, who forbids mentioning this forbidden proverb, and the Lord adds emphatically: “The soul that sins will die” (18:1-4). The meaning of this statement is that every human being is responsible for his actions.

 The disciples’ question is based on this belief, and it includes doubt about this divine justice, and blaming God as if He were the cause of the disability. What was Christ's answer? He said to them: “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God might be made manifest in him.” What we discover, first of all, in this conclusive answer is that the disability is not a direct result of a specific, circumstantial sin committed by the person with the disability or his parents. As for how the works of God appear in the blind man, this is what is explained to us by the meeting between Jesus and two of John’s disciples, whom the latter sent to ask Jesus: “Are you (the Messiah) the one who is coming, or is it another that we wait for?” So Jesus said to them: “Go and tell John what you heard and saw: the blind men.” They see, the lame walk together, the lepers are healed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor” (Luke 7:18-23). Therefore, the signs and wonders were signs indicating the coming of the Awaited Messiah and the beginning of a new era, and the healing works that Christ was performing were nothing but works aimed at the glory of God, as they were shining proof of the approach of the Kingdom of Heaven. From here, we can say that Jesus’ intention when he said, “so that the works of God might be revealed in him,” is not that God created him blind and unable to see in order to perform a miracle on him. Rather, what is meant is that healing the blind man and his subsequent becoming a new person is a form of glorifying God and declaring the Kingdom of Heaven.

The Bible tells us that at creation God made all things well (Genesis 1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25, 31), and that God continually worked to make all things well. But by choosing to turn away from God, man obscures God’s work from his existence and life. So everything that was good began to become distorted and disrupted, and this distortion began to intensify the more a person wallowed in sin. Disabilities, diseases, and calamities afflict a person because he exhausts all the energies that God has given him in order to block God from his life. Man builds a barrier through his sin, expels God from his life, and then takes God's blame. This is our mouthpiece when calamities befall us. We complain and blame God, and instead of putting our trust in Him, we say that He means to harm us, while God, as the Apostle James says, “does not tempt with evil” (James 1:13-18), and does not repay evil for evil.

“I must work the works of him who sent me while it is day,” that is, the works that make everything good. God did not usurp man's freedom and forcefully change him, but rather he became incarnated and began to leave divine traces with much fear, perhaps leading man to change. The light of Christ broke into the darkness of this world, but the darkness still repulses it because human sin is in itself a dark darkness. For sin to prevail means for night to prevail “when no one can work.” Therefore, the Lord Jesus said to Nicodemus: “This is the judgment, that light has come into the world, and people loved darkness more than light because their deeds were evil” (John 3:19).

The Lord Jesus made clay, that is, he reshaped the eyes. Making clay reminds us of creation when the Lord formed man from dust. It is mentioned in the Church’s tradition that the blind man was born without two eyeballs. This means that the Lord Jesus created two eyeballs for him. He did not restore his sight, but rather gave him sight as if he had recreated him anew.

The confusion that struck the blind man's acquaintances indicated that what happened was impossible, so some began to say that he resembled him. The story of healing is repeated several times in the text, with the evangelist indicating that it became the talk of the people, including the Pharisees, who were divided in opinion, “and a rift arose among them.” Jesus transgressed the law of the Sabbath by making clay, and this was according to the law a work. The Pharisees wanted to prove that the Lord Jesus “was not from God because he did not keep the Sabbath,” so they opened an investigation and summoned his parents. Then they returned and asked the blind man to narrate the event again.

“Give glory to God,” that is, speak words of truth before the final judgment is given. This is the meaning of this expression. The blind man is on trial because what he testifies about the Lord Jesus is not acceptable because the Pharisees know that Jesus is a sinner. They ask him to repeat the story, and this is one of the investigation procedures. They may find a contradiction in retelling the event, as the verse is miraculous and it is not easy to refute it if its authenticity is proven. However, if the two narratives contradict, this is evidence that the event is not true. The blind man did not fall into the trap, but rather confronted them that there was no room for accusing Jesus, as he said, “If this man had not been from God, he could not have done anything.”

“You were born entirely into sins.” Here the Pharisees return to confirm the belief that his disability was the penalty for sin. They remained in darkness and with their freedom blocked the light that makes it clear that God does not look at people from the perspective of their sin, but from the perspective of His transcendent love.

“Do you believe in the Son of God?” The miracle of healing conceals within it a decisive divine revelation. It is not enough for the result to be merely a change in appearance, but rather it must go beyond the apparent to the depth. There is no need for a miracle unless it brings about comprehensive change. Thus, the Lord Jesus continued the miracle until the end and searched for the blind man to give him the fruit, which is the belief that God is the light through which we see the light.

The basic teaching that we extract from the verse about the healing of the blind man - and every verse in the Gospel of John has a teaching and a conclusion - is contained in the verse: “Then Jesus said: I came into this world to pronounce judgment: that those who do not see may see and those who see may become blind.” And when the Pharisees asked him if they were blind, He answered them: “If you were blind, you would not have sinned, but now you say that we see, so your sin remains.” Perhaps the best comment we can give on Christ’s words is what Saint Ephrem the Syrian (+373) said: “Jesus anointed the eyes of the blind man so that the people would purify the blindness of their hearts. Jesus painted the eyes of the blind man and asked him to wash in the pool of Siloam. Since the blind man could not see, he asked the crowds to lead him to where he should wash, and they asked him why? So he told them what Jesus had done to him, so they led him to see how he would see. Those who saw the material light were actually led by a blind man who saw the light of the spirit. And the blind man who did not see was led by those who saw externally but were blind in spirit (...) By healing this blind man, Christ gained many blind men by healing them from the blindness of their hearts.”

Jesus' goal in the healings he accomplished is not only for the person to return healthy and sound in the body, but rather his first and fundamental goal is to heal the soul from evil and sin. Jesus warned the paralytic after healing him, saying: “See, you have recovered. Do not sin again, lest something worse happen to you” (John 5:14). The worst thing is that his entire body will go to eternal destruction. What benefit will a person have from the health of his body if it does not lead him to repentance and enter into the mystery of God?

Meditation on the Gospel by Father Nikephoros Theotox:

The Gospel chapter that is being read today contains two surprising things. The first is to open the eyes of a newborn born blind from his mother’s womb. The second is the Pharisees’ rejection of this miracle. The miracle was wrought by the power of Christ. As for the rule of the Pharisees, its source was the disease of envy. The Savior enlightened the blind, and envy closed the eyes of the seeing. So open your minds, O Christians, to see that psychological desires darken man’s insight as much as God enlightens his mind. And you should know that some people in this world are afflicted with adversity in order for God Almighty to be glorified through them...

“While Jesus was passing by, he saw a man who had been blind from birth, and his disciples asked him, saying, ‘Who sinned, this man or his parents?’ It is no secret that this issue is difficult to comprehend, because if the blind man was born blind from his mother’s womb, then when he sinned, he was born blind as retribution for his sin. Before he was born, he was not in the world of existence, and therefore it was not possible for him to make a mistake. However, with regard to the Greeks, who believed in reincarnation, that is, they believed that the human soul after death enters another body to be cleansed of its sins. Based on this opinion, some believed that the blind man had healthy eyes when he was born the first time, but he sinned in his first body, so when He was born again blind to be punished and purified from his previous sins.

However, the Bashir’s saying also “the mother of his parents” appears inconsistent with that coming from the mouths of the apostles. Because they had learned from the Holy Bible that God does not punish anyone for the sins of his parents, but rather everyone is punished for his own sins, as God said through the mouth of the prophet Ezekiel, “The soul that sins will die” (18:4). There is no doubt that the apostles posed this question to the Savior, according to the opinion of the Pharisees. Based on the common proverb among the Jews that we referred to earlier: “The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge” (Ezekiel 18:2). Many of the Jews believed in this proverb, even though God Almighty had assured them with an oath through the prophet Ezekiel that they could never see its fulfillment in reality, as He said: “As I live, says the Lord, you will no longer have this proverb in Israel” (18:3). .

“Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God might be made manifest in him.” With this brief answer, our all-wise Savior undermined the ideas of the Greeks and Pharisees. But the question arises: How did God’s works appear in him? The power of God was revealed in him, who transformed his darkness into light. For he had two physical eyes with which he saw what was in the world, and two spiritual eyes with which he recognized the Creator of the universe. Therefore, the blindness of his physical eyes became a reason for the illumination of his spiritual eyes.

About my parish bulletin
Sunday, May 24, 1998 / Issue 21
Sunday, June 5, 1994, Issue 23
And Sunday, May 16, 1999 / Issue 20