John 9:1-12 (NRSV)
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Chapter 9As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. Verse 2His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" Verse 3Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God's works might be revealed in him. Verse 4We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. Verse 5As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world." Verse 6When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man's eyes, Verse 7saying to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see.
Verse 8The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar began to ask, "Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?" Verse 9Some were saying, "It is he." Others were saying, "No, but it is someone like him." He kept saying, "I am the man." Verse 10But they kept asking him, "Then how were your eyes opened?" Verse 11He answered, "The man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and said to me, 'Go to Siloam and wash.' Then I went and washed and received my sight." Verse 12They said to him, "Where is he?" He said, "I do not know."
Devotion
John’s gospel weaves themes of seeing and light like an organ fugue. For John, seeing is to perceive, to understand, to “see” with one’s mind. Yet without light even perfect eyes are blind. John’s witness portrays two kinds of blindness. There are those unable to see, those who refuse to see. The man born blind takes Jesus at his word. Even in his blindness he is better able to see Jesus as God’s light than the sighted Pharisees. Joyous day! The blind man sees and God’s light is revealed!
Prayer
Glorious eternal Light, heal our blindness and give us sight! Amen.