“I am the light of the world”
While on this earth, our whole existence is in the darkness of sin and death. The blindness of the man in today’s Gospel is a symbol of the blindness present in all of us. The light that Jesus comes to give us is not ours by right, but is God’s free gift through Jesus Christ
Jesus tells us, “I came into this world for judgment, so that those of you who do not see might see, and those who do see might become blind.” He is transcending the actions of that day, by lifting the lowly and casting down the mighty. He speaks of those that know they are wandering in darkness looking for the light of Christ, contrasted with those who think they know and already have the light of truth but are the ones who are truly blind. “What makes their case hopeless is their smug complacency.” [1]
Why did Jesus say, “Night is coming when no one can work”? Jesus is referencing his own work as the Light of the world. He knows the hour of his passion and death is fast approaching, and he must be the light for the world. How does this relate to us? We must carry the light of Jesus Christ to the world. Our life is very short, and we are sent to do his work. Pope Paul VI in his Homily at the Feast of the Mother of God in 1976 warned the Church: “Time is precious, time passes. Time is a phase of experiment with regard to our decisive and definitive fate. Our future and eternal destiny depends on the proof we give of faithfulness to our duties. Time is a gift from God; it is a question posed by God's love to our free will and, it can be said, a fateful answer. We must be sparing of time, in order to use it well, in the intense activity of our life of work, love and suffering. Idleness or boredom has no place in the life of a Christian! Rest, yes, when necessary, but always with a view to vigilance, which only on the last day will open to a light on which the sun will never set.”
Why were the Pharisees angry with Jesus? The Pharisees were upset with Jesus because he was performing a miracle on the Sabbath. However, this created a division among them because some Pharisees recognize that Jesus could not perform a miracle by the power of God if he wasn’t at least close to God himself. As we know now Jesus was fully God and could do whatever he wanted.
Why didn’t the Pharisees believe the man who was blind? It’s easy for us to be skeptical when someone comes to us and tells us an amazing story. We think of the saying, “If it’s too good to be true, it probably is.” Just like us, the Pharisees had a hard time believing that this was the same man who was a blind beggar. They went to seek the truth. The problem occurred once they had received all the truthful evidence from Jesus and they still chose to reject it. How many times do we seek answers from God and when we find the answers, we choose to reject them? Let us not be like the Pharisees in that once we find our answers in God, the Truth, we turn and reject it.
Why did the Pharisees call on the man’s parents? The Pharisees simply did not believe that the man could have been born blind and then be healed by this miraculous act. When they questioned his parents they told the Pharisees to talk to their son instead. Why? As it says in the Gospel, it was because they were afraid of being excommunicated from the synagogue. [2] Instead of being joyful that their son could see, the parents were chained with fear. The fear of the parents was more crippling than the blindness of the son. How does fear cripple us? Because of fear, the parents could not follow Christ, yet their blind son did choose to follow Christ. “Let us throw off the chains that prevent us from following him. Who can throw off these shackles without the aid of the one addressed in these words: you have broken my chains? Another psalm says of him: The Lord frees those in chains, the Lord raises up the downcast.” [3]
Why did the Pharisees question the man who was once blind again? The Pharisees were hoping to destroy the man’s character and credibility. When we are blinded with arrogance and haughtiness we can miss the forest for the trees. We often find this destruction in our political system when one side tries to demonize the other and divide people into opposing camps. In the Gospel readings, the Pharisees were trying to belittle the man by saying he was against God because he was a disciple of Jesus and not of Moses. Yet, if we stay close to Jesus like the man born blind, he will be able to give us the words to overcome the fiercest attacks against us. In the Gospel, the once blind man articulately defends his faith against the Pharisees. He argues: “we know that God does not listen to sinners, but if one is devout and does his will, he listens to him. It is unheard of that anyone ever opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, would he be able to do anything.” The Pharisees upon hearing the truth throw him out because they are not able to answer his questions.
Before we say how horrible the Pharisees are treating this man, we should ask ourselves: how do I treat my brothers and sisters in Christ when they are rebuking me? Do we take ourselves too seriously or think we’re “holier” than one another? How do I treat people who instruct me in truth?
Why did Jesus say that the Pharisees were still “blind”? They were still blind in their faith because even after all that Jesus did, including this miracle of restoring sight to the blind man, they still questioned and did not believe that Jesus was Lord.
What should we do when we are blinded with our sin? We should first go to confession to remove the blindness from our eyes. We should go into the confessional and say the words, “Lord, have mercy on me a sinner.” Second, once our eyes have been healed from their blindness of sin, we need to change our lives to reflect that cleanness. When healed, the man born blind proclaims Jesus as Lord and begins to worship him. In the same way, when we are healed of our sin we need to proclaim Jesus as our Lord and praise him at all times in our words and actions.
Lastly, we should take heart in the words of our Responsorial Psalm today, “Even though I walk in the dark valley I fear no evil; for you are at my side” [4] When we are troubled and wandering in this dark world we have Jesus to cling to and the safety of our baptismal claim in God’s inheritance.
[1] St. Jerome Biblical Commentary pg. 444
[2] Jn 9:22
[3] From a treatise on John by Saint Augustin, bishop
[4] Psalm 23:4