Homily 56 — John 9, verses 1 to 5

“And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man who was blind from his birth. And his disciples asked him, saying, ‘Teacher, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’” [a]

“And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man who was blind from his birth.” Being full of love for humankind, caring for our salvation, and wanting to stop the mouths of the foolish, he leaves nothing undone on his own part, even when no one pays attention. The prophet knew this, and says, “So that you may be proved right when you speak, and be cleared when you are judged” (Psalm 51, verse 4). So here, when they would not accept his lofty sayings, but said that he had a demon and tried to kill him, he went out of the temple and healed the blind man. By his absence he calmed their rage; by working the miracle he softened their hardness and cruelty, and confirmed what he had said.

And the miracle he works was no common one, but one that happened then for the first time. “Since the world began,” says the man who was healed, “it was never heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind” (verse 32). Some, perhaps, have opened the eyes of the blind, but never of one born blind.

That he went to the work on purpose as he came out of the temple is clear from this: it was he who saw the blind man, not the blind man who came to him. And he looked at him so intently that even his disciples noticed it. This, at any rate, is what led them to question him. When they saw him looking so intently at the man, they asked him, “Who sinned, this man or his parents?”

A mistaken question! How could he sin before he was born? And if his parents had sinned, how would he have been punished for it? Then what led them to ask such a question? Earlier, when he healed the paralyzed man, he said, “See, you have been made well. Sin no more” (John 5, verse 14). So, having understood that that man was paralyzed because of sin, they said: “Well, that other man was paralyzed because of his sins. But what would you say about this man? Has he sinned? That is impossible to say, for he has been blind from his birth. Have his parents sinned? One cannot say this either, for the child does not suffer punishment for the father.”

When we see a child being mistreated, we exclaim, “What can one say to this? What has the child done?” — not asking a question, but because we are at a loss. In the same way the disciples spoke here, not so much asking for information as being at a loss. What, then, does Christ say?

Verse 3: “Neither has this man sinned, nor his parents.”

He does not say this to clear them of sins. He does not simply say, “Neither has this man sinned, nor his parents,” but adds, “that he should have been born blind — but that the Son of God should be glorified in him.” As if to say: “This man has sinned, and his parents too; but his blindness does not come from that.”

And in saying this he did not mean that, although this man was not in that case, others had been made blind for such a cause, the sins of their parents. It cannot be that when one person sins, another is punished. If we allow this, we must also allow that he sinned before he was born. So when he declared, “Neither has this man sinned,” he did not mean that it is possible to sin from one’s very birth and be punished for it; and in the same way, when he said, “nor his parents,” he did not mean that anyone may be punished for his parents’ sake.

He removes this notion by the mouth of Ezekiel: “As I live, says the Lord, this proverb that people use will be no more: ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge’” (Ezekiel 18, verses 3 and 2). And Moses says, “The father shall not die for the child, nor the child die for the father” (Deuteronomy 24, verse 16). And Scripture says of a certain king that for this very reason he did not do this thing, keeping the law of Moses.

But if someone argues, “Then how is it said, ‘Who visits the sins of the parents on the children to the third and fourth generation’?” (Deuteronomy 5, verse 9) we should answer that the statement is not universal, but was spoken with reference to certain people who came out of Egypt. Its meaning is something like this: “Since these who have come out of Egypt after signs and wonders have become worse than their forefathers, who saw none of these things, they will suffer,” it says, “the same that those others suffered, since they have dared the same crimes.” And that it was spoken of those men, anyone who pays attention to the passage will know more certainly. Why, then, was he born blind?

“That the glory of God should be made manifest,” he says.

Look, here again is another difficulty, if the glory of God could not have been shown without this man’s punishment. Certainly it is not said that it was impossible, for it was possible; what is said is, “that it might be made manifest even in this man.” “What?” someone says, “Did he suffer wrong for the glory of God?”

What wrong, tell me? What if God had never willed to bring him into being at all? But I say that he even gained by his blindness, since he received the sight of the eyes within. What good did the Jews get from their eyes? They brought the heavier punishment on themselves, being blinded even while they saw. And what harm did this man suffer from his blindness? Through it he received his sight. So just as the evils of the present life are not evils, neither are its good things good. Sin alone is an evil; blindness is not an evil. And he who had brought this man from not being into being also had the power to leave him as he was.

But some say that this conjunction does not express purpose at all, but refers to what followed from the miracle. So it is when he says, “For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind” (verse 39); and yet it was not for this that he came, that those who saw might be made blind. And again Paul: “Because what can be known of God is made plain in them, that they may be without excuse” (Romans 1, verses 19 and 20); yet God did not show it to them for this, that they might be left without excuse, but that they might have a defense. And again in another place: “The law came in, that the offense might abound” (Romans 5, verse 20); yet it was not for this that it came in, but that sin might be checked. Do you see that everywhere the conjunction refers to what follows? [h]

An excellent master builder may build part of a house and leave the rest unfinished, so that by means of what remains he may prove to those who do not believe him that he is the builder of the whole. In the same way God joins together and completes our body, like a house fallen into decay: healing the withered hand, strengthening the paralyzed limbs, straightening the lame, cleansing the lepers, raising up the sick, making the crippled sound, calling the dead back from death, opening eyes that were closed, or adding them where before there were none. All these are defects that arise from the weakness of our nature, and by correcting them he showed his power.

But when he said, “That the glory of God might be made manifest,” he was speaking of himself, not of the Father; the Father’s glory was already manifest. They had heard that God made man by taking the dust of the earth; so Christ too made clay. To have said, “I am the one who took the dust of the earth and made man,” would have seemed a hard saying to his hearers; but once this was shown by the deed itself, it no longer stood in their way. So by taking earth and mixing it with saliva he brought his hidden glory to light. For it was no small glory that he should be recognized as the Master Builder of creation.

And after this the rest followed as well. From the part the whole was proved, since belief in the greater confirmed the lesser too. Man is more honorable than any created thing, and of our members the most honorable is the eye. This is why he fashioned the eyes, not in an ordinary way, but in the way he did. For though that member is small in size, it is more necessary than any other part of the body. Paul showed this when he said, “If the ear should say, ‘Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body,’ is it therefore not of the body?” (First Corinthians 12, verse 16).

Everything in us shows the wisdom of God, but the eye much more. It is the eye that guides the whole body; it gives beauty to all of it, it adorns the face, it is the light of all the limbs. What the sun is in the world, the eye is in the body. Put out the sun, and you destroy everything and throw it into confusion; put out the eyes, and the feet, the hands, the soul are useless. When these are disabled, even knowledge is gone, since it is by means of them that we know God. “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made” (Romans 1, verse 20). So the eye is a light not only to the body, but beyond the body to the soul as well. That is why it is set as though in a royal citadel, holding the higher place and presiding over the other senses. This, then, is what Christ forms.

Now, so that you would not think he needs material when he works, and so that you might learn that he had no need of clay at all (for he who brought the greater things into being when they did not yet exist would much more have made this without material) — so that you might learn, I say, that he did not do this out of necessity, but to show that he was the Creator in the beginning — once he had spread the clay on, he says, “Go, wash,” as if to say: “so that you may know that I do not need clay to create eyes, but that my glory may be made manifest by this.” To show that he was speaking of himself when he said, “That the glory of God may be made manifest,” he added:

Verse 4: “I must work the works of him who sent me.”

That is: “I must make myself manifest, and do the things that can show that I do the same things as the Father” — not “similar” things, but “the same,” an expression that marks a closer sameness, and is used of those who do not differ in the slightest. Who, then, after this will stand up against him, when he sees that he has the same power as the Father? For he did not only form or open eyes; he also gave the gift of sight, which proves that he also breathed in the soul. If the soul were not at work, the eye, however perfectly made, could never see anything. So he gave both the power that comes from the soul and the member itself, complete in every part — arteries and sinews and veins, and everything our body is made of.

“I must work while it is day.”

What do these words mean? To what conclusion do they lead? To an important one. What he says is something like this: “While it is day, while people can believe in me, while this life lasts, I must work.”

“The night is coming,” that is, the future, “when no one can work.”

He did not say, “when I cannot work,” but, “when no one can work” — that is, when there is no longer faith, or labors, or repentance. To show that he calls faith a “work”: when they say to him, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?” (John 6, verse 28), he replies, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” How, then, can no one work this work in the world to come? Because faith is not there; everyone, willing or unwilling, will submit. And so that no one would say that he acted as he did out of desire for honor, he shows that he did everything to spare those who had the power to believe “here” only, and who could no longer gain any good thing “there.”

That is why he did what he did, though the blind man did not come to him. For the man was worthy to be healed: had he seen, he would have believed and come to Christ; had he heard from anyone that Christ was present, he would not have been careless even then. This is clear from what follows — from his courage, from his very faith. For he might well have reasoned with himself and said: “What is this? He made clay, and anointed my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go, wash.’ Couldn’t he have healed me, and then sent me to Siloam? I have often washed there with many others and gained no good from it. If he had any power, he would have healed me while he was here.”

That is just how Naaman spoke about Elisha. He too, when he was told to go and wash in the Jordan, did not believe, and this when such a report had gone abroad about Elisha (Second Kings 5, verse 11). But the blind man did not disbelieve, or argue back, or reason with himself, “What is this? Should he have put clay on me? That is more likely to blind a man further. Who ever recovered his sight that way?” He used no such reasonings. Do you see his steadfast faith and zeal?

“The night is coming.” Next he shows that even after the crucifixion he would care for the ungodly and bring many to himself. For “it is still day.” But after that he cuts them off completely; and declaring this, he says:

Verse 5: “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

As he also said to others, “Believe while the light is with you” (John 12, verse 36). Why, then, did Paul call this life “night” and that other life “day”? He was not opposing Christ, but saying the same thing, if not in words then in sense. For he too says, “The night is far gone; the day is at hand” (Romans 13, verse 12). He calls the present time “night” because of those who sit in darkness, or because he is comparing it with that day which is to come. Christ calls the future “night” because there sin has no power to work; but Paul calls the present life night because those who go on in wickedness and unbelief are in darkness. [m]

So, speaking to the faithful, he said, “The night is far gone; the day is at hand,” since they were to enjoy that light; and he calls the old life night. “Let us put away,” he says, “the works of darkness.” Do you see that he tells them it is “night”? That is why he says, “Let us walk decently, as in the day,” so that we may enjoy that light. For if this light is so good, think what that one will be. As much as sunlight is brighter than the flame of a lamp, so much and far more is that light better than this one. And to show this, Christ says that “the sun will be darkened”: because of the surpassing brightness of that light, not even the sun will be seen.

If, then, to have well-lit and airy houses here, we spend immense sums, building and toiling, think how we ought to spend our very bodies, so that glorious houses may be built for us in the heavens, where that light beyond words is. Here there are quarrels and disputes about boundaries and walls; there, there will be nothing of the kind — no envy, no malice, no one to argue with us about settling boundaries. This dwelling we must certainly leave, but that one stays with us forever. This one must decay with time and is exposed to countless kinds of damage; that one must last forever without growing old. A poor man cannot build this one; but that other he may build with two small coins, as the widow did.

That is why I choke with grief: when so many blessings are set before us, we are lazy and despise them. We make every effort to have splendid houses here, but how to gain in heaven even a little place of rest, we do not care, we do not think. Tell me, where would you want to have your house here? In the wilderness, or in one of the smaller towns? I think not; but in one of the most royal and grand cities, where there is more trade and greater splendor. But I will lead you into a city “whose builder and maker is God.” There I urge you to lay your foundations and build, at less cost and with less labor. That house the hands of the poor build, and it is truly “building,” just as the buildings put up here are the work of utter folly.

If someone were to bring you into the land of Persia to see what is there and then come back, and were then to tell you to build houses there, would you not condemn him for great folly, for telling you to spend at the wrong time and place? How, then, can you do this very thing on the earth, which you will shortly leave? Someone says: “But I will leave it to my children.” Yet they too will leave it soon after you — often, in fact, even before you — and their successors the same. And even here it grieves you to see that your heirs do not keep their possessions; but there you need fear nothing of the kind. The possession stays unmoved: yours, your children’s, and their descendants’, if they imitate the same goodness.

Christ takes that building in hand. Whoever builds it has no need to appoint caretakers, or to give it thought, or to worry. When God has undertaken the work, what need is there of thought? He brings everything together and raises the house. And this is not the only wonderful thing; he also builds it the way you would like it — or rather, even beyond what you would like, beyond what you desire. For he is the most excellent of craftsmen, and cares greatly for your good.

If you are poor and want to build this house, it brings you no envy and stirs up no malice against you. None of those who know how to envy look on it, only the angels, who know how to rejoice in your blessings. No one will be able to encroach on it, for none of those who are sick with such passions live near it. For neighbors there you have the saints: Peter and Paul with their company, all the prophets, the martyrs, the multitude of angels and of archangels. For the sake of all these things, then, let us empty out our goods on the poor, so that we may obtain those dwellings. May we all obtain them, through the grace and love for humankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom and with whom be glory to the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and always, and forever and ever. Amen.