The Man born Blind Homily (1)

The Healing of the man born blind.

1- John gives us a dramatic account of the an born blind and his cure by Jesus.

2- The question is what is Jesus doing. He is already in trouble with the Jewish authorities because he heals on the Sabbath but here He seems to really hit them with it.

3- Three aspects stand out. First he dismisses any idea that such a thing is a consequence of sin but rather a means whereby God can show His greatness and mercy,

Secondly He comes to claim this man as one of His disciples. There are accounts whereby a couple of places claim that this man became their bishop during the first century of the church.

Thirdly He exposes the hypocrisy of the pharisees and divides them for some are much more favourable to Him than others.

4- Let’s take the first point. We often still hear people say that something is a punishment for sin. This is often true in the sense that when a person who persists in sin God will often let him experience the consequences rather than protect him/her from them. But this is not punishment but an aspect of the mercy of God. In this life all God’s acts flow from His merciful love for us. He always seeks our good which, ultimately, is to receive the gift of Himself to us.

5- Secondly, this is a simple and uneducated man but he is prepared to stand up for the truth rather than deny it to please others.

When the pharisees say “give glory to God” it actually means “tell the truth”. They don’t want to believe him and threaten him with excommunication from the synagogue. This was a horrifying threat because it would make the man a pariah in his own community.

He, however, does not flinch. He sticks to the simple truth and declared Jesus to be a prophet. The pharisees then cast him out heaping abuse on him. This is the usual result when we confront those who don’t want to accept the truth and wont listen, just like our self-appointed virtue signalling woke elite.

Jesus then finds him and uses is common expression of Himself as the Son of Man and the formerly blind man acknowledges Him as his Lord and worships Him as God.

So this blind man has not only been given physical sight but now sees with the full light of the faith.

6-Thirdly Jesus

the extraordnary statement at the end that He has come into this world for judgement, that those who do not see will see and that those who do see will become blind.