The Works of God Might Be Made Manifest
A Reflection on John 9:1-38
At that time, as Jesus passed by, he saw a man blind from his birth. And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be made manifest in him. We must work the works of him who sent me, while it is day; night comes, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” As he said this, he spat on the ground and made clay of the spittle and anointed the man’s eyes with the clay, saying to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing. The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar, said, “Is not this the man who used to sit and beg?” Some said, “It is he”; others said, “No, but he is like him.” He said, “I am the man.” They said to him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” He answered, “The man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash’; so I went and washed and received my sight.” They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.”
They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. Now it was a sabbath day when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. The Pharisees again asked him how he had received his sight. And he said to them, “He put clay on my eyes and I washed, and I see.” Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the sabbath.” But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” There was a division among them. So they again said to the blind man, “What do you say about him, since he has opened your eyes?” He said, “He is a prophet.”
The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight, until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight, and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” His parents answered, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; but how he now sees we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age, he will speak for himself.” His parents said this because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess him to be Christ he was to be put out of the synagogue. Therefore his parents said, “He is of age, ask him.”
So for the 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 answered, “Whether he is a sinner, I do not know; one thing I know, that though I was blind, now I see.” They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” He answered them, “I have told you already and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you too want to become his disciples?” And they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.” The man answered, “Why, this is a marvel! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. 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.” They answered him, “You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?” And they cast him out.
Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of man?” He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who speaks to you.” He said, “Lord, I believe”; and he worshiped him.
John 9:1-38
Christ is Risen!
Today, in the Gospel, we hear of a man born blind who comes into contact with Christ. The reading addresses the concepts of sickness and sin and, once again, reveals how Christ’s very presence transfigures the consequences of sin, as seen in sickness and in every distortion or infirmity. What was once impure becomes pure, and we see this on full display in the calling of the man born blind.
When His disciples see the state of the man, they ask Christ who it was that sinned to leave him in this condition — the man himself or his parents. What this questioning reveals to us is a systematic understanding of sin and its effects. Illness is understood as a consequence of sin, and the disciples of our Lord are asking whose sin caused this man to be born blind, following this same reasoning.
Yet our Lord, in His wisdom, shows us a different dimension to sin and its consequences when He states:
“It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be made manifest in him. We must work the works of Him who sent me, while it is day; night comes, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
What Christ tells us here is that it does not matter who sinned to cause sin to afflict this man, for there is not always a one-to-one relationship between our missing the mark and the distortion that follows. We are all sinners in our own way, and our actions of deviating from God cause distortion in our world. The consequences of this distortion are not always the direct result of our personal actions, yet the reality of sin permeates our lives.
Yet where is the emphasis placed by Christ? We see that it is placed on the works of God that renew the effects of sin. This highlights that Christ uses sin and its effects to offer us hope and renewal, inspiring us all to trust in His divine love and plan for our salvation.
Thus Christ spits into the dirt, showing Him breathing life into the soil as He did in the beginning of creation. He renews the blind man’s eyes by anointing him with the dust from which he was created, and then He has him wash to show His transfigurative power through baptism. In these actions, we see the fulfillment of all that was spoken in the creation narrative in Genesis, for in the presence of Christ, there is a renewed creation.
The man is healed on the Sabbath, which we might think would be celebrated, since he had been blind his whole life. Yet some of the Pharisees criticize this action as work. Once again, we see the damage that can be done when we systematize the acts of God. Systematic thinking is not bad in itself; I find it quite useful. Yet what we need to allow is for the God-factor to enter into our equations.
When we rely solely on reason and overlook God’s mystery, we risk losing confidence in His divine plan. Trusting in divine mystery deepens our faith and understanding, encouraging us to remain humble and assured in God’s greater wisdom, for He is wisdom’s very source.
It is for this reason that, in his wisdom, the young man replies to their questioning:
“Whether he is a sinner, I do not know; one thing I know, that though I was blind, now I see.”
The point is not the supposed sin of Christ — as ludicrous as that accusation is — nor the sin of the man or of his parents. The point is what God has done in the face of sin’s consequences: this man was blind, and now he sees.
The man is questioned further, and he replies:
“I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you too want to become his disciples?”
The Pharisees reply that they are disciples of Moses, missing the fact that Moses himself was a prophet of God. They fixate on the rule and miss what God is trying to reveal to them through His commandments.
They do not know where Christ has come from, and once again, in his profound love for Christ and gratitude for all that has been done for him, the once-blind man states:
“Why, this is a marvel! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, God listens to him. 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.”
The once-blind man sees clearly that all that has been done to him is from God. Yes, he was once physically blind, yet now, through the new eyes he has been given, he truly sees. In his new sight and proclamation of the good that Christ has done for him, we see that he is cast out by his people. He is exiled for his profound belief, yet in his isolation, he is given the greatest gift of all.
Christ finds this man in his exile, and He asks:
“Do you believe in the Son of Man?”
The wisdom of this man is on display once again, for he does not presume to know who this Son of Man is; rather, he asks:
“And who is He, sir, that I may believe in Him?”
To this, Jesus tells him:
“You have seen Him, and it is He who speaks to you.”
To which the man proclaims:
“Lord, I believe,”
and he worshiped Him.
See the great faith of this man, for he humbly asks Christ to reveal Himself, and in receiving this revelation, the man honors Him as Lord and bows down to worship Him as God.
In this whole story, we see the profound love that God has for us on full display. We see the faith we need in order to be truly renewed in God’s presence, and, most profoundly, we see that God enters into our sin in order to give us new life.
Examples of faith, such as this man’s, give us the strength we need to see that such faith is possible for us as well. I often struggle to find guidance in moments of difficulty as I strive toward our Lord. Yet it is in walking with others that I am constantly called to see what I too often miss on my own. God offers His mercy to us all, and the proof of this fact is found both in the beautiful lives we live and in walking alongside the beauty of the lives of others.
The examples of others rejuvenate our faith, for the light we share with one another leads all of us to the loving and saving presence of our Lord, who is in our midst whenever two or more are gathered in His name.
In isolation, our Lord meets us, just as He meets us in communion, for in His meeting us where we are — overcome by sin and its effects — we see that He opens the door to true communion with Him in every aspect of our lives. In relation to others, to ourselves, and to the rest of creation, we see that communion with our Lord is what truly rejuvenates us, for sin — a breaking of communion with God — is what brought us into the condition in which we now find ourselves.
Rather than punishing or abandoning us, we believe in a God who meets us in our sin so that He may make the works of God manifest in our lives. Thus, sin is not merely a debt to be paid; it is a reality to be offered to God. We offer Him what lies heavy upon our hearts, and He returns to us all that we need for life in Him.
Such a loving God is the God we believe in, who offers us what we need, whether we believe ourselves worthy of it or not. This leaves us with the call to cooperate with the loving will of our Lord, as this once-blind man did, for in doing so, we see that He is always providing all that we need.
He breathed His life into us in the beginning, and He renews us with the same clay from which He fashioned us, washing away sin and its effects in baptism. What God is so great as our God, who offers us His salvation whether we think, systematically, that we should receive it or not?
Thus, we are called to seek all that God offers us in every moment so that we may receive the renewal He offers. In faith, we follow after Him even when we do not fully grasp who He is or what He is actively doing for us. And ultimately, when we see signs and moments of His love in our lives, we too are called to profess Him as our Lord and fall down before Him in worship, glorifying our great God who has such rich mercy and love for us all.
Truly the Lord is Risen!
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