answered and said to them: “For in this is a wonderful thing, that you know not from whence He is, and He hath opened my eyes. From the beginning of the world it hath not been heard that any man hath opened the eyes of one born blind. Unless this man were of God[1], He could not do anything.” Then they, being angry, said to him: “Thou wast wholly born in sins[2]; and dost thou teach us?” Thereupon they cast him out[3].
But Jesus met him and said to him: “Dost thou believe in the Son of God?” He answered: “Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?” Jesus replied: “Thou hast both seen Him, and it is He who talketh with thee.” Then the man said: “I believe, Lord!” and falling down he adored Him.
COMMENTARY.
Our Lord's testimony to His own Divinity. Jesus revealed Himself to the man born blind, as the Son of God: “He who is talking to thee is He — the Son of God.” Moreover, when the man fell down before Him and worshipped Him as God, Jesus suffered him to do it. Jesus is, then, the true Son of God, to whom divine worship is due.
Proof of our Lord's Divinity. Jesus said He was the Son of God, and He proved the truth of His words by a stupendous miracle. His enemies examined this miracle judicially, and hoped to disprove its existence, by entrapping the man with cross-questionings into some contradiction of his own words, which would have shown that the whole thing was a deception. But they could not succeed in their design, and the wonderful deed could not be denied by any one.
The prophecy of Isaias was literally fulfilled by our Lord’s cure of this man born blind, as well as by those of the deaf and dumb man, and of the man infirm for thirty-eight years, and also by many other cures: “Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened, and the ears of
- ↑ Of God. Unless He were sent by God, He could not perform such an unheard-of miracle. This reply put the whole Sanhedrim to shame, and as they could not answer the man’s reasoning, they were filled with rage and took refuge in abuse.
- ↑ Born in sins. How dare you, a sinner (because punished for your sins from your very birth) teach us just men?
- ↑ Cast him out. Of the synagogue. This was a sign of his exclusion from all spiritual intercourse with Israel. No doubt this brutal conduct wounded the good man. But Jesus comforted and rewarded him by fully revealing to him who He was.
