St John Chapter ix : Verses 23-34
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| Whereas I was blind, now I see. J-J Tissot. Brooklyn Museum. |
23 Therefore did his parents say: He is of age, ask himself.
24 They therefore called the man again that had been blind, and said to him: Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.
25 He said therefore to them: If he be a sinner, I know not: one thing I know, that whereas I was blind, now I see.
26 They said then to him: What did he to thee? How did he open thy eyes?
27 He answered them: I have told you already, and you have heard: why would you hear it again? will you also become his disciples?
28 They reviled him therefore, and said: Be thou his disciple; but we are the disciples of Moses.
29 We know that God spoke to Moses: but as to this man, we know not from whence he is.
30 The man answered, and said to them: Why, herein is a wonderful thing, that you know not from whence he is, and he hath opened my eyes.
31 Now we know that God doth not hear sinners: but if a man be a server of God, and doth his will, him he heareth.
32 From the beginning of the world it hath not been heard, that any man hath opened the eyes of one born blind.
33 Unless this man were of God, he could not do any thing.
34 They answered, and said to him: Thou wast wholly born in sins, and dost thou teach us? And they cast him out
23 διὰ τοῦτο οἱ γονεῖς αὐτοῦ εἶπαν ὅτι Ἡλικίαν ἔχει, αὐτὸν ⸀ἐπερωτήσατε.23 Propterea parentes ejus dixerunt : Quia aetatem habet, ipsum interrogate.24 Ἐφώνησαν οὖν ⸂τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἐκ δευτέρου⸃ ὃς ἦν τυφλὸς καὶ εἶπαν αὐτῷ· Δὸς δόξαν τῷ θεῷ· ἡμεῖς οἴδαμεν ὅτι ⸂οὗτος ὁ ἄνθρωπος⸃ ἁμαρτωλός ἐστιν.24 Vocaverunt ergo rursum hominem qui fuerat caecus, et dixerunt ei : Da gloriam Deo : nos scimus quia hic homo peccator est.25 ἀπεκρίθη οὖν ⸀ἐκεῖνος· Εἰ ἁμαρτωλός ἐστιν οὐκ οἶδα· ἓν οἶδα ὅτι τυφλὸς ὢν ἄρτι βλέπω.25 Dixit ergo eis ille : si peccator est, nescio; unum scio, quia caecus cum essem, modo video.26 εἶπον ⸂οὖν αὐτῷ⸃· Τί ἐποίησέν σοι; πῶς ἤνοιξέν σου τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς;26 Dixerunt ergo illi : Quid fecit tibi? quomodo aperuit tibi oculos?27 ἀπεκρίθη αὐτοῖς· Εἶπον ὑμῖν ἤδη καὶ οὐκ ἠκούσατε· τί πάλιν θέλετε ἀκούειν; μὴ καὶ ὑμεῖς θέλετε αὐτοῦ μαθηταὶ γενέσθαι;27 Respondit eis : Dixi vobis jam, et audistis : quod iterum vultis audire? numquid et vos vultis discipuli ejus fieri?28 ⸀ἐλοιδόρησαν αὐτὸν καὶ εἶπον· Σὺ ⸂μαθητὴς εἶ⸃ ἐκείνου, ἡμεῖς δὲ τοῦ Μωϋσέως ἐσμὲν μαθηταί·28 Maledixerunt ergo ei, et dixerunt : Tu discipulus illius sis : nos autem Moysi discipuli sumus.29 ἡμεῖς οἴδαμεν ὅτι Μωϋσεῖ λελάληκεν ὁ θεός, τοῦτον δὲ οὐκ οἴδαμεν πόθεν ἐστίν.29 Nos scimus quia Moysi locutus est Deus; hunc autem nescimus unde sit.30 ἀπεκρίθη ὁ ἄνθρωπος καὶ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς· Ἐν ⸂τούτῳ γὰρ τὸ⸃ θαυμαστόν ἐστιν ὅτι ὑμεῖς οὐκ οἴδατε πόθεν ἐστίν, καὶ ἤνοιξέν μου τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς.30 Respondit ille homo, et dixit eis : In hoc enim mirabile est quia vos nescitis unde sit, et aperuit meos oculos :31 ⸀οἴδαμεν ὅτι ⸂ἁμαρτωλῶν ὁ θεὸς⸃ οὐκ ἀκούει, ἀλλ’ ἐάν τις θεοσεβὴς ᾖ καὶ τὸ θέλημα αὐτοῦ ποιῇ τούτου ἀκούει.31 scimus autem quia peccatores Deus non audit : sed si quis Dei cultor est, et voluntatem ejus facit, hunc exaudit.32 ἐκ τοῦ αἰῶνος οὐκ ἠκούσθη ὅτι ἠνέῳξέν τις ὀφθαλμοὺς τυφλοῦ γεγεννημένου·32 A saeculo non est auditum quia quis aperuit oculos caeci nati.33 εἰ μὴ ἦν οὗτος παρὰ θεοῦ, οὐκ ἠδύνατο ποιεῖν οὐδέν.33 Nisi esset hic a Deo, non poterat facere quidquam.34 ἀπεκρίθησαν καὶ εἶπαν αὐτῷ· Ἐν ἁμαρτίαις σὺ ἐγεννήθης ὅλος, καὶ σὺ διδάσκεις ἡμᾶς; καὶ ἐξέβαλον αὐτὸν ἔξω.34 Responderunt, et dixerunt ei : In peccatis natus es totus, et tu doces nos? Et ejecerunt eum foras.
Annotations
24. They therefore called the man again that had been blind, and said to him: Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner. To give God the glory, is a form of obtestation or oath among the Jews (see Josh. vii. 19). Confess that this man is a sinner, and so wilt thou by this confession of the truth give glory to God, who is the chief and eternal truth. “To give glory to God” (says the Gloss) “is to speak the truth as in the presence of God.” They wished to persuade him under the pretext of religion (says S. Chrysostom), to deny that he was cured by Christ, or if he were, it was by magic and sleight of hand. “Deny,” says the Interlinear Gloss, “the benefit thou hast received by Christ. But this were to blaspheme, and not to give glory to God.”
25. He said therefore to them: If he be a sinner, I know not: one thing I know, that whereas I was blind, now I see. “He answers prudently and cautiously, neither laying himself open to the charge, nor yet concealing the truth,” says the Interlinear Gloss. But S. Chrysostom objects, “How was it that just before he called Him a Prophet, and now he says, ‘Whether he be a sinner I know not?’ ” He does not say this by way of assertion, or through fear, but because he wished Jesus to be acquitted of the charges by the evidence of the fact. “I do not wish to argue the point with you. But I know for certain, that though once blind, now I see.”
26. They said then to him: What did he to thee? How did he open thy eyes? Just like hounds, says S. Chrysostom, who track their prey now here, now there. Wherefore would ye hear it again? “Ye do not wish to learn, but merely to cavil,” says S. Chrysostom.
27. He answered them: I have told you already, and you have heard: why would you hear it again? will you also become his disciples? “As I now see and envy not,” says the Gloss, “nay, I profess myself to be Jesus’ disciple, even so I wish you to become His disciples also.” “He speaks thus,” says S. Augustine, “as indignant at the hardness of the Jews, and as having been restored to sight, not enduring those who were blind (in heart).” Note here the heroic constancy and nobleness of the blind man in defending Jesus before the Pharisees, His sworn enemies. And hence he deserved to be taken up and exalted by Christ.
28. They reviled him therefore, and said: Be thou his disciple; but we are the disciples of Moses. They cursed him, saying, Be thou accursed, or at all events heaped maledictions and reproaches upon him. But their curse was without effect, and was turned by Christ into a blessing. 👉For it is an honour to the godly, to be cursed by the wicked. Whence S. Augustine says, “It is a curse if thou look into the heart of the speakers, but not if thou weighest the words themselves. May such a curse be on us, and on our children.”
29. We know that God spoke to Moses: but as to this man, we know not from whence he is.
But we know not this man whence he is, whether sent by God, as was Moses, or by the devil. So Euthymius.
30. The man answered, and said to them: Why, herein is a wonderful thing, that you know not from whence he is, and he hath opened my eyes. It was your business, as doctors and learned in the Law, to know that Jesus, who works so many miracles, must have been sent by God only. For it is God who works miracles by Him. “He brings in everywhere the miracle of his recovery of sight,” says S. Chrysostom, “because they could not gainsay that, but were convinced thereby.”
31. Now we know that God doth not hear sinners: but if a man be a server of God, and doth his will, him he heareth. How can this be? For 👉if sinners penitently ask pardon God vouchsafes it, and frequently bestows on sinners temporal blessings, and spiritual blessings also, if they ask for them. But I reply (1.) God ordinarily does not hear sinners; sinners, I mean, persisting in their sin. Yet sometimes, though rarely, He hears even them. So Jansen. This is plain from Scripture (see Ps. LVIII. 1, 2; Prov. xxviiii. 9; Ps. XLIX. 16; Mal. ii. 2). But of the just it is said, “The eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and His ears are open to their prayers” (Ps. XXXIII. 16). And, “The eyes of the Lord are on them that fear Him” (Ecclus. xv. 20).
(2.) Secondly, and more befittingly to the case in point, He hears not sinners, so as to work miracles to establish their sanctity as He did by Jesus, to testify that He was the Messiah. So Maldonatus on this passage. (See also Suarez, tom. ii. de Relig., lib. de Orat. cap. xxv.) “God heareth not sinners if they pray with an evil intention,” as e.g., to confirm their hypocrisy or lies.
(3.) S. Augustine (De Bapt. contr. Don. iii. 20) replies that this blind man spoke only generally, being still a catechumen, and not yet sufficiently instructed in the Faith. For generally it is not true, nor the view of Scripture, which in this place only states what was said by the blind man.
Hear S. Augustine, “He speaks as one not yet anointed (i.e., a catechumen). For God does hear sinners also. For else the publican would say in vain, ‘God be merciful to me, a sinner,’ from which confession he obtained justification, as this blind man obtained enlightenment.”
From this passage S. Cyprian (Ep. 64 and 80) and the Donatists who followed his teaching inferred that Baptism by an heretical minister was invalid, and ought to be repeated; because a heretic is a great sinner whom God hears not. But quite wrongly. For in like manner, Baptism administered by a Catholic Priest living in sin would be void, and would require to be repeated. I say therefore that the efficacy of the Sacrament is one thing, the efficacy of prayer is another. For a sacrament derives its efficacy ex opere operato, but prayer ex opere operantis, from the sanctity and character of him who prays. And therefore if a sinner (a heretic, e.g.) baptizes, this sacrament is valid, and derives its efficacy from the institution of Christ, who confers grace by the Sacrament. For Christ is the original author of Baptism, who baptizes by His ministers as by instruments. Besides, though God hears not the prayers of a sinner, as a private person, yet He hears the prayers of the same person, in his public capacity, because he is a minister of the Church. For the Church is holy, as having Christ as its holy Head, and as having many faithful and holy members, to whose prayers God hearkens.
32. From the beginning of the world it hath not been heard, that any man hath opened the eyes of one born blind. Granted that Moses and the Prophets wrought many miracles, yet they never restored sight to one who was born blind. Jesus who has restored my sight must needs be a greater Prophet than they. He retorted the words of the Pharisees on themselves, “Ye prefer Moses to Christ, but I prefer Christ. Ye choose to be Moses’ disciples, I am Christ’s.”
33. Unless this man were of God, he could not do any thing, i.e., for curing my blindness. “He says this freely, stedfastly, and truly” (S. Augustine), “for to enlighten the blind is supernatural work, and specially belongs to God.”
34. They answered, and said to him: Thou wast wholly born in sins, and dost thou teach us? In sins, both in mind and body, for thou wast born blind by reason of thy sin. For they held the tenet of Pythagoras that the soul existed before the body, and that it was in consequence of its sins thrust down into a deformed (i.e., a blind) body. So Cyril, Leontius, and others. Maldonatus explains, “Thou hast done nothing but sin from thy birth.” So S. Chrysostom and Theophylact. And dost thou teach us? Thou blind sinner, wilt thou teach us who have our sight, and are wise and righteous?
And they cast him out: And they cast him out of the private house in which they were, as not deserving to be disputed with by such just teachers, says Maldonatus. Or out of the temple, as says S. Chrysostom, and consequently out of the synagogue, adds Leontius. That is, they excommunicated him. “But the Lord of the temple found him,” says Chrysostom, “and took him up.” Both statements are credible: that they drove him out of the house, and also excommunicated him, for this latter they had decided to do. As if they said, “Begone, thou apostate, and go to thine own Jesus.” But this leads us to suppose that all this took place in the House of Judgment, a public place (see on verse 31). And that he was expelled from the synagogue appears more plainly from our Lord’s own words in the next chapter, I am the door.
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SUB tuum præsidium confugimus, Sancta Dei Genitrix. Nostras deprecationes ne despicias in necessitatibus, sed a periculis cunctis libera nos semper, Virgo gloriosa et benedicta. Amen.
The Vladimirskaya Icon. >12th century.
Totus tuus ego sum
Et omnia mea tua sunt;
Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam.
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