The man born blind

By Engr. Carlos V. Cornejo

The man born blind in the Gospel of St. John is rich in spiritual lessons.  “As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth.  He spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. ‘Go,’ he told him, ‘Wash in the Pool of Siloam’ (this word means “Sent”). So, the man went and washed, and came home seeing.  His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, ‘Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?’ Some claimed that he was.  Others said, ‘No, he only looks like him.’ But he himself insisted, ‘I am.’

They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind.  Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man’s eyes was a Sabbath.  Therefore, the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. ‘He put mud on my eyes,’ the man replied, ‘and I washed, and now I see.’ Some of the Pharisees said, ‘This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.’  But others asked, ‘How can a sinner perform such signs?’ So, they were divided. Then they turned again to the blind man, ‘What have you to say about him? It was your eyes he opened.’  The man replied, ‘He is a prophet.’  To this they replied, ‘You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!’ And they threw him out.

Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, ‘Do you believe in the Son of Man?’ ‘Who is he, sir?’ the man asked. ‘Tell me so that I may believe in him.’

Jesus said, ‘You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.’ Then the man said, ‘Lord, I believe,’ and he worshiped him.  (John 9:1, 6-9, 13-17, 34-38)

In Scripture, physical blindness is a symbol of spiritual blindness.  It is a spiritual blindness caused by sin.  Sin causes our spiritual vision to be distorted such that what is not important becomes important and what is truly important becomes not important. Because of this blindness you and I can even be successful in this life, but feel lost deep inside.

The blind man in this story was blind since birth.  We too have been spiritually blind since birth because of Original Sin.  All of us were born in sin.  Although the eternal consequences of Original Sin have been erased in us through Baptism but its effects remain, especially our strong inclination to sin.  And Christ is the cure to this spiritual blindness for He said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”  (John 8:12) Christ came into this world to illumine eyes blinded by sin.  In the Gospel story, Christ did something unusual to cure the blindness of this man.  He made a mud paste by spitting on the ground and rub it on the man’s eyes.  According to St. Augustine the spit of Christ represents His divinity and the soil represents our humanity, which Christ took on.  The mixture becomes a kind of salve (or medicine).  The Latin word “salve” means health.  Christ has been referred to since the early days of Christianity as the “Salvator” or the healer or the savior of humanity.  The mud paste is Christ’s medicine for us through the Sacraments especially Baptism which washes away Original Sin and injects sanctifying grace or divine life into our souls.  Baptism is symbolized by the washing of the man’s eyes when he was told by Christ to wash in the pool of Siloam.  After Baptism that divine life in us can grow by receiving the rest of the Sacraments especially the Sacraments of Confession and Holy Eucharist on a regular basis.  The Sacrament of Confession washes our soul regularly much like keeping our bodies clean by taking a bath every day and the Holy Eucharist feeds our soul with spiritual food so that it can be nourished and be made to grow into full maturity.

Once the blind man was cured of his blindness and was now able to see, the crowd became divided trying to recognize him.  Some do recognize him as the man born blind, and others insist he just resembles the guy.  But the blind man says, “I am.”  Remember that the phrase “I am” refers to God’s name who said to Moses “I am, Who I am” (Exodus 3:14) or Yahweh in Hebrew.  Once we are cured of our spiritual blindness by Christ and has been transformed by Him through a deep spiritual conversion, some people around us would not be able to recognize us.  These people might be familiar of our old bad habits and our not so honorable actions in the past, but now they see that all of those are gone and are replaced with good ones.  They see a new person in us and could not recognize the old from the new.  St. Paul said, those who have been renewed in Christ is a new creation, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

But unfortunately, you could also be persecuted once you become a follower of Christ, which is represented by the opposition of the Pharisees when they discovered that Christ cured on the Sabbath and rejected the claim of the cured man that Christ is a prophet.  But Christ came back to console the blind man when he was thrown out of the temple and asked him if he believed in the Son of Man.  The blind man replied, “Lord, I believe” and worshiped him; which tells us that if we are a victim of persecution and discrimination in society for being a Christian, we have to seek God’s strength and help, and renew our commitment to Him in spite of the difficulties the opposition would throw at us.