Dr Kelly Fleming

The passage from John, chapter 9, about the blind man in Jerusalem brings to the surface several issues that are still stereotypically believed by some Christians today as well as the way society treats people who are disabled.

As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man who had been blind from birth. “Rabbi,” his disciples asked him, “why was this man born blind? Was it because of his own sins or his parent’s sins?” “It was not because of his sins or his parents’ sins,” Jesus answered. “This happened so the power of God could be seen in him. (Jn: 9:1-3)

It is often a misunderstanding that disability is caused by sin. People may justify their belief by saying that Jesus uses the phrase “your sins are forgiven” when He healed someone, which causes a person to come to the conclusion that sin, and disability go hand in hand. Jesus corrected His disciples here and said that the man was born blind “so that the power of God could be seen in him.” The man had faith, and much to offer to society but as we will shortly see, this man was ignored by society, by those in leadership as well as those who were common people.

This passage addresses four topics: 1) disabilities are not caused by sin, 2) the Sabbath, 3) Jesus as the “the light of the world” (Jn. 9:5), and 4) that the call of the Gospel is to do the tasks that are assigned to us by God (Jn. 9:4a). At first glance, the entire passage appears to be about the man being healed of his blindness on the Sabbath, but this is not at all what happened. We learn that Jesus is the Light of the world, the Light who came to earth to open people’s hearts and minds to the Gospel. The actual healing of the blind man is quite extraordinary in the method that Christ used to heal him.

Before the setting of the sun and the beginning of the Sabbath, Jesus spit on the ground and made mud which He spread over the man’s eyes. Then He told the man, “Go wash yourself in the pool of Siloam” (Siloam means “sent”). Then the man went and washed his eyes in the pool and he was able to see. (Jn. 9:6-7)

Why did Jesus make mud and place it on the man’s eyes? “The Holy Fathers of the Orthodox Church teach that the Blind Man was born without eyeballs. Our God and Savior fashioned them out of the earth like He fashioned man.” (Sunday of the Blind Man, May 27, 2022) St. John Chrysostom states: “This is the cause that He fashioned the eyes, not in a common manner, but in the way that He did.” (Chrysostom)

The neighbours and everyone who knew the man as simply a blind beggar did not believe this was the same man which led to some interesting events in the man’s life. They argued amongst themselves whether he was really the blind beggar or someone who looked like him. Finally, the man spoke up and said “Yes, I am the same one!” They asked, “Who healed you? What happened?” (Jn. 9:9b-10) The man recounted what Jesus had done and then the people asked him where they could find Jesus, but the man did not know.

By the time the man came back from the pool of Siloam, darkness had come, and it was the Sabbath. Thus began the debate about the fact that Jesus once again healed on the Sabbath, disobeying the laws of the Sabbath.

The people did not take into consideration the time lapse between Jesus putting the mud on the blind man’s eyes, then the man needing assistance to guide him to the pool of Siloam, which was some distance from where he met Jesus in Jerusalem. So, Jesus healed the man before the Sabbath and the man returned to the crowd of people at the synagogue after the Sabbath had begun. The debate over whether this man was indeed the blind beggar or not, occurred in the synagogue which is important to note as prior to that point, the man would not have attended the synagogue for prayers and study.

The people brought the man to the Pharisees, erroneously using the point that Jesus had healed on the man on the Sabbath. The Pharisees put the man through another round of interrogation as to exactly how he had gained his sight. As tradition states, the man was born without eyeballs, so how was it even possible for this man to become sighted? Again, the man patiently explained to the Pharisees exactly what had happened. He himself did not understand. All he knew was that he had been born blind and now he could see because of what Jesus did. The argument then engaged “around” the man.

He was no longer actively questioned or involved in the discussion to correct the errors of the people speaking around him who were arguing about the fact that Jesus had healed the man on the Sabbath. No one was listening to the man to begin with, so if he had interjected the fact that Jesus had put the mud on his eyes before the Sabbath, most likely no one heard him or would have paid attention to him. Eventually the Pharisees did question the man again in a demanding tone to ask him what his opinion was about Jesus. He responded: “I think he must be a prophet.” (Jn. 9:17b) This was obviously not the response the Pharisees wanted to hear so they did what so many others had done in the past, they completely ignored him.

They called in his parents to confirm that this was indeed their son who had been born blind. Knowing that the discussion was about the identity of Jesus and His work on the Sabbath, the parents wanted to remain neutral rather than jeopardize their own position in the community, so they said “We know this is or son and that he was born blind, but we don’t know how he can see or who healed him. Ask him. He is old enough to speak for himself.” (Jn. 9:20-21)

As the Pharisees were failing in their discussion which was no doubt becoming quite heated, they called the man over to them and again reprimanded him, telling him that the man Jesus was a sinner and that he should be giving glory to God for the healing instead of insisting that Jesus healed him. The man spoke boldly, telling them that he could not judge if Jesus was a sinner, but he could testify that he had been blind and after his encounter with Jesus, he could see.

By this time, the man was becoming exasperated and continued to speak up boldly to those in authority at the synagogue.

“Look!” the man exclaimed. “I told you once. Didn’t you listen? Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples, too?” Then they cursed him and said, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses! We know God spoke to Moses, but we don’t even know where this man comes from.” “Why, that’s very strange!” the man replied. “He healed my eyes, and yet you don’t know where he comes from? We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners, but he is ready to hear those who worship him and so do his will. Ever since the world began, no one can be able to open the eyes of someone born blind. If this man were not from God, he couldn’t have done it.” (Jn.27-33)

After having spoken up with such boldness to the Pharisees, he was promptly thrown out of the synagogue, who told the man that he was a sinner and had no right to preach to them.

When Jesus heard what had happened, he found the man and asked, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” The man answered, “Who is he, sir? I want to believe in him.” “You have seen him,” Jesus said, “and he is speaking to you!” “Yes, Lord, I believe!” the man said. And he worshiped Jesus. Then Jesus told him, “I entered this world to render judgment – to give sight to the blind and to show those who think they see that they are blind.” Some of the Pharisees who were standing nearby heard him and asked, “Are you saying we’re blind?” “If you were blind, you wouldn’t be guilty,” Jesus replied. “But you remain guilty because you claim you can see. (Jn. 9:35-41)

Christ’s interactions with the Pharisees highlights His teaching from verse 5 where He teaches that He is the Light of the world.

Who was this man? Why does he remain nameless in the Gospel. Church Tradition tells us that the man’s name was Celidonius (or Cedonius), in Greek, but also Cedon is used in the western tradition. It is believed that he was one of the early followers of Christ to go out among the nations to preach the Gospel. Church Tradition also states that St. Celidonius was the founder of the Church of Nîmes in Aix-en-Provence. (Celidonius)