The Gospel According to John Chapter 9
Originally posted Tuesday, April 15, 2008
General Comment: The greater
part of this chapter involves Jesus' Sabbath day healing of a man who has
been blind from birth. The structure is very similar to Jesus' Sabbath healing
of the crippled man at the pool of Bethsaida (5:1-18) with the familiar and heated reaction of the Pharisees who
are disturbed that work has been done in violation of their narrow
understanding of the Law. There is a significant difference between the two
stories. In the latter the healed man and his parents play
a major role in developing John's negative image of the Pharisees who
represent the rabbinical leadership of his own time. The story as a whole
serves the purpose of emphasizing Jesus as the Son of Man, the one who comes
into the world for judgment.
We should keep in
mind John's understanding that judgment and eternal life are two sides of the
same coin. They are both possible outcomes of a present
choice. Jesus is Judge (Son of Man) in that his presence
requires that choice: to believe or not to believe. That choice is the
judgment. One is judged either as one who already possesses eternal life
or is under condemnation. The Greek word for judgment is
"krisis." We all know what a crisis is. A crisis generally creates
the need for making a choice. This is how it is used by John. There is only
one positive choice which resolves the crisis: to believe in Jesus as
the one whom God has sent to bring life. That is, above all else, John's
creedal faith. For the church community the moment of crisis occurs
whenever the Gospel is preached. It is in the setting of proclaiming the Gospel
message of Jesus that the need to choose is presented. In the early
twentieth century and in the heat of World War l, German theologians began
writing about - and preaching, Crisis Theology. They saw the world in crisis.
One of them, Rudolph Bultmann, in a sermon at Marburg said he had been to the
front lines and had seen Hell. It was, he said, God's judgment on an evil
generation. War, no matter the noble causes professed by all sides, is evidence
enough of the fallen nature of humanity. In a dangerous age such a theology as
John has proposed is worthy of our attention. Christians are called to be peace
makers not just prayers for peace.
John Chapter 9:1-34 A Man Born Blind
Jesus and the
disciples pass a man who has been blind since birth. They question whether the
blindness was caused by the man's sin or his parents', an explanation still
current in Jesus' time (Exod. 20:5).
According to the Mishnah it is possible that the cause could be the sin of the
womb. Jesus' response is not to the question of who sinned but rather for
what purpose is this man blind from birth. In this case the purpose is so God's
(and so Jesus') works might be seen in the man's healing. The premise of
this idea is found in God's treatment of Pharaoh's hard
heartedness in Exodus as a means through which God's work could be
revealed (Exod. 9:16). The
giving of sight to this man will not only show how God's works are fulfilled in
Jesus act of healing but will be a demonstration of what Jesus said in the last
day of Tabernacles, "I am the light of the world." The light of the
world brings light (spiritual sight) to the spiritually blind. To
"see" is to believe.
Jesus uses the play
on the light/dark dualism to stress the urgency of his and the disciples' need
to "work the works" of God. The night is coming (his suffering)
and his time is short. In some sense this may be how John understands the
man's blindness. It is the critical time when Jesus' ministry is nearing an end
and demonstrations of God at work in him are critical.
Jesus gives sight to
the man by using the healing properties of saliva mixed into dirt to make mud
which he spread on the man's eyes (see
MK 7:32-33; 8:22-25). He instructs him to go wash in the pool of Siloam
(Shiloah). The pool was located just southeast of Jerusalem near the Kidron
Valley. The water from the spring-fed pool was used in
the Tabernacles' water ritual. The priests would process from the
Temple Sanctuary to the pool singing the Psalms along the way. With a
silver pitcher they would collect water, return to the Sanctuary and in an
elaborate ceremony pour the water on the Great altar. The water would flow down
through the foundation of the Temple to the earth beneath as the priests
offer prayers for rain for the coming planting season. It was in
this setting that Jesus stood and proclaimed, "Let anyone who is thirsty
come to me and let the one who believes in me drink." According to
Rabbinical writings, the pool was said to have "waters of
purification" and probably was used for that purpose by those making
a pilgrimage to the Temple, especially for Passover.
The scene shifts to
an extended examination of this man who now can see, first by his
neighbors and then by the Pharisees. This is one of the most well developed
dialogues in John and provides interesting comic relief at the end. The entire
scene is best appreciated by visualizing the characters and their actions. The
neighbors see the man who used to beg to survive but can't agree on
whether or not it is really him. When pressed for details he relates what
Jesus did but he does not know who Jesus is or where he is.
For some
inexplicable reason (to advance the plot line?) the neighbors take the man to
the Pharisees and they pick up the investigation but in a more serious
tone. They ask the same questions as the neighbors, and get the same answers.
In a rare instance of disagreement the Pharisees are divided in their opinion.
Some said Jesus is not (sent) from God because he has worked on the Sabbath
(kneaded the saliva and dirt to make mud) which was not lawful to do. Others
were not so sure, for how could a sinner do such a sign (miracle) as this.
Amazingly, the divided
Pharisees turn to the once-blind-man to ask his opinion about Jesus! "He
is a prophet." he answers. The non-plused Pharisees take another tack;
they call in the parents and examine them. They verify he is their son but give
no other information, telling the Pharisees to talk with the man since he is of
age. John remarks that the parents, who had apparently come to believe that
Jesus was the Messiah, were afraid of the "Jews" who would expel
them from the Synagogue for such a belief. This is more a concern of John's
community than it is for Jesus' time. Formal excommunication was used at the
end of the first century to expel Jewish Christians from the Synagogue -
and cut them off from all participation in any Jewish rites.
The Pharisees have
had no success so far and recall the formerly blind man in an attempt to save
face by shifting the attention away from Jesus the sinner who can't possibly be
from God. The ploy doesn't work. The man keeps the upper hand, the
Pharisees become angrier with each remark he makes until he becomes their
teacher and in their embarrassment and exasperation they "drove
him out."
John Chapter 9:35-41 Spiritual Blindness
Like a good Aesop's
fable, the coda for this amazing story provides the lesson. Jesus, having found
the man, asks him if he believes in the Son of Man. With Jesus' prompting the
man acknowledges Jesus as the Son of Man and believes and worships him. The man
who was blind now (spiritually) "sees" Jesus as the light of the
world. The Pharisees do not "see." They have refused to believe
(see) in the one who came into the world to give the choice.
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