Fr. Michael Williams

A number of years ago, the then England manager Glen Hoddle, made a comment that was to cost him his job as England coach. He said that people with disabilities were suffering as the result of sins from a former life. He believed they were suffering because of some past sin: God was punishing them for a past offence.

In today’s gospel the disciples of Jesus adopt a similar view. They presume that “the man who has been blind from birth” is suffering from the condition because of his sin, or the sin of his parents. The Pharisees hold the same view. The disciples and the Pharisees believe that the blind man has his affliction because of some sin having been committed.

But Jesus rejects this simplistic approach to the blind man’s affliction. Jesus tells his disciples, “Neither he nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that the works of God might be displayed in him”. Jesus sees this man’s suffering as an opportunity to show God’s power at work in the world. “At the start of the book of Genesis, God was faced with chaos. He didn’t waste his time describing the chaos, analysing it or discussing whose fault it was. Instead, he created light; and following the light a whole new world” (Wright). Jesus seeks a way to alleviate this man’s suffering and bring him some light. Jesus’ non-judgemental actions bring healing and light to those in living in chaos and darkness.

But the blind man’s healing has a deeper meaning to it, than simply a physical healing. The blind man is given his eyesight, but more importantly he now has spiritual eyes to see that Jesus is from God. He tells the Pharisees, “Ever since the world began it is unheard of for anyone to open the eyes of a man who was born blind; if this man were not from God, he couldn’t do a thing”. The blind man can see that Jesus is God’s servant, something that the Pharisees are blind to. They cannot see that Jesus is “the light of the world”, yet the blind man can. The blind man says to Jesus, “Lord I believe” and then he worships Jesus, but the Pharisees are blind to the facts of who Jesus is.

Like the man born blind, each one of us is called to make the journey from darkness to light. We are to move from our blindness into the light of Christ.

Let us pray, and make every effort, to enter more deeply into Christ, the Light of the World. Because he alone is the one who can bring light out of darkness; that can bring order out of chaos.