John 9:15Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

But observe rather how the blind man is not troubled. When his neighbors questioned him and he answered without being in any danger, it was no great thing to speak the truth.

The wonderful thing is that even now, when he is in great fear, he does not deny anything and says nothing inconsistent with his earlier words.

What, then, did the Pharisees do, or rather, what did the others with them do?

They brought him, thinking that he would deny it. But they heard the opposite, what they did not want, and learned the whole matter more precisely.

This happened to them with all the miracles. We shall show this more clearly later.

The received biblical text has the words "how he had received sight," while "how were your eyes opened" appears in v. 26.

The Jews summon the former blind man, who had received sight. They set him before the Sanhedrin and say to him: "Tell us how you received sight, who opened your eyes, and how He did this."

They asked all this not in order to learn the truth from him, but to frighten the one being questioned by their interrogation.

Often, by the very manner of questioning, a teacher instructs the one questioned either to answer or to keep silent. The same happens in court.

If one begins to say to the witness, "Do you really know the matter? Were you present? From where did you receive your information?" then the very form of the question shows that he should answer negatively.

So also they ask, "Who opened your eyes? How did you receive sight?"

But he thinks less about their threat than about preserving the truth, and answers, "A Man called Jesus made clay, anointed my eyes, and said to me, Go to the pool of Siloam and wash. So I went, washed, and received sight" (Jn 9:11).

He did not know the truth, but he acknowledged the benefit. He did not yet know the dignity of the Benefactor.

"A certain Man made clay, anointed my eyes, and I see."

Clearly, they were very eager to hear that He made “clay” and anointed “my eyes.” In this, as they foolishly supposed, lay the whole transgression of the law. Pointing to the violation of the ordinances from above, they thought they were entirely justified in becoming indignant and demanding punishment for the Lawbreaker.

“But he said to them: He put clay upon my eyes, and I washed, and I see.” They greedily receive the account of the miracle as a kind of food for envy. They hastily seize a pretext for their anger against Him.

The formerly blind man recounts what happened in the simplest way. He speaks very artlessly, as though hymning the Physician in brief confessions, for he is partly struck by the nature of the deed.

It seems that he reasoned thus: by anointing with clay as an extraordinary medicine, He miraculously made him see. Yet, in my opinion, he spoke with special expressiveness, and because of bitter thoughts: He made “clay” and anointed “my eyes.”

We may suppose that he speaks as though saying this: I know myself that I am speaking before haters, yet I will not conceal the truth. I will repay my Benefactor with gratitude. I will not give myself over to improper silence.

I will honor with confession the Physician who did not use a complicated method of healing. He did not remove the disease by iron and cutting. He did not bring benefit by medicinal compounds. He did not make use of common remedies.

Rather, He used extraordinary and new methods: He made “clay” and anointed “my eyes, and I washed, and I see.”

With all justice one must marvel that this man skillfully applied to his words, as a kind of crown, the phrase “I see.” Therefore, as regards the breadth of contemplation and the art of the words, the saying being interpreted has this meaning: “I see,” and He made “clay” and anointed “my eyes.”

Pleasantness is not alien to contemplation, and our word, that is, the ecclesial word, does not reject it as something unlawful. The one who says such things truly preserves the power of his Healer free from slander, though he was dragged before the judgment of the priests because he had received mercy from Christ.

By this he speaks as though saying: I will not show the power of Him who healed me to be vain. I will not reject grace, for I already possess what I have long desired.

I myself, he says, was blind from birth and had this affliction in my mother’s womb. Having been anointed with clay, I received healing and “I see.”

That is, I do not merely seem to have open eyes while hiding darkness in the depths. I truly look. In sight I now have what formerly existed only in hearing.

Behold, the brilliant light of the sun shines upon me. Behold, the beauty of new and wondrous sights embraces my gaze. Now, at last, I have known Jerusalem, and I “see” in it the divine and radiant temple.

I truly behold in its midst the honorable altar. If I find myself outside the gates, I can look around all Judea and know what a mountain is and what a plant is.

When the time inclines toward evening, the beauty of the heavenly wonders will not be hidden from my eyes, nor the bright choir of the stars, nor the golden light of the moon. Through this I shall marvel at the skill of the Builder. From the beauty of created things, I too shall know the Creator, Wis 13:5.

Rather, He, being without sin, kept it. For the Sabbath in the spiritual sense is to have no sin.

Finally, brethren, when God commanded the Sabbath, He proclaimed, "You shall do no servile work" (cf. Lev 23:8).

These are the words of God Who commanded the Sabbath: "You shall do no servile work."

Recall from the earlier readings what servile work is, and hear the Lord: "Everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin" (Jn 8:34).

But those who could not see and were not anointed, as I said, observed the Sabbath bodily and defiled it spiritually.

Others said, "How can a sinful man do such signs?" Behold, they are not anointed. "And there was a division among them." The day separated light from darkness.

Having explained nothing by their argument, they turned to the man born blind and asked what he thought about Jesus. He answered that he regarded Him as a prophet.

"Ah," the Pharisees objected, "this is a fraud! This blind man was never blind at all. Call his parents!"

The parents appeared. Yet the parents also, first, acknowledged him as their son, and second, confirmed that he had been born blind.

As to how he had received sight, they refused to testify. This was not because they did not know, but because of fear of the Jews.

The healed man himself, however, never ceased firmly and courageously to bear witness to the truth, no matter how the Pharisees tried to draw him to their side in judging Jesus.

At last, he did not even fear to expose the malicious blindness of the Pharisees, who said that they did not know "where He is from."

"Why, this is marvelous," the firm confessor of Christ remarked, "that you do not know where He is from, and yet He opened my eyes, which is undoubtedly the work of God."

The judges could not endure such a bold and sharp rebuke, and they cast the former blind man out of the assembly.

Taking into account how many other miracles Jesus had performed, they came to the conviction that Jesus was the true Messiah.

"What do you say about Him?" the prejudiced asked the blind man. "He is a prophet," he answered.

Without fear, and with a free soul, he reveals the conviction of simple, sound reason.

He is a prophet, he said. He is a man sent by God, because only with the power of God can such a deed be done as the healing of a man born blind.

Or, as we shall see below (v. 18), it might give them a means of concealing the miracle itself. They could suppose that the man brought before the synagogue was not the one known to everyone as blind.

First of all, the Pharisees seek a legal occasion for accusing the Lord. They take testimony from the man who received sight, hoping to find in his words the proofs they needed.

But the man who received sight answers them briefly. As we shall see below, with complete good sense he puts them to shame, boldly proving that what was done to him is the work of God.

Even after his first answer, however, a division arises among the Pharisees.

The more honest souls, not blinded by malice, declare that a sinful man could not work such miracles. Therefore, they incline to acknowledge the Wonderworker as a holy man sent from God.

But admitting such thoughts did not accord with the aims of the irreconcilable party. They understood very well that the next step would necessarily be the acknowledgment of the Lord Jesus as the Christ.

Therefore, this portion of the embittered Pharisees relies on the failure to observe the Sabbath rest. They argue, "This Man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath."

"And there was a division among them."

But the Lord Himself always indicated this: "Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division" (Lk 12:51).

And Symeon the God-receiver, moved by the Spirit of God, said concerning the infant Jesus: "Behold, this Child is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign spoken against" (Lk 2:34).

The last two words are translated, "as an object of contradiction."