Coptic Orthodox Answers

In the Father and Son, the Holy Spirit, One God. Amen.

Welcome to Coptic Orthodox Answers Deep Dive. We saw last time how Christ forgave the adulterous woman and after that, He went into a heated discussion with the Jews and He concluded the discussion by proclaiming His divinity once again, referring to Exodus 3 and saying that He is the I Am. And as they wanted to stone Him, Christ left and we're about to start chapter 9 today.

So, verse 1 says:

''

Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. 2 And His disciples asked Him, saying, ''Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?'' 3 Jesus answered, ''Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.'' '' (John 9:1-3)

The first point to take home is a point from St. Cyril who emphasizes the contrast between this man who was physically blind, yet spiritually, he could see that the person in front of him was able to heal him; he had faith... versus the Pharisees, in chapter 8, that were physically able to see, however, they were spiritually blind. And although Christ, the Messiah, the one that they have been waiting for is right in front of them, they could not see Him.

And this kind of contrast we see today, almost on a daily basis, between someone that wants to see what his eyes has able to see physically, yet God could be right in front of him and he could not see Him. God could do so many works around him, in his family, you know, in his life, in his work, whatever, it be God to be proclaiming Himself to him in one way another, but the person refuses to see. And often, it's because the person, not all the time, but often because the person, again, has his own agenda, wants to do his own thing. Like the Pharisees: they had their own agendas and therefore, they were not able to see the Messiah right in front of them.

But the kingdom of God is within. Obviously, this is much evidence for the presence of God, much evidence for Christianity, but at the end of the day, a true Christian sees from the eyes of the soul, right? The kingdom of God is within.

So, yes, with his might, he follows the evidence where it points. However, there's another step that is required: the step of faith. And although I might be physically blind, or in that sense, I physically don't see God because God is spirit, I'm able to touch Him. I'm able to experience Him from within. Again, but this goes hand in hand with the evidence, right? So

here, as Orthodox Christians, our faith is not blind, far from it, but it's complete, right?, with the inner eye, the eye of the soul.

Going back to Scripture, we see the disciples asking Christ who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind. And why do they ask that question? It's because at the time, in the Jewish understanding, all suffering was a result from sin and this is an obvious suffering; therefore, someone must have sinned: this man or his parents.

But Christ responds and says: no, neither this man nor his parents. And here, St. John Chrysostom and St. Cyril of Alexandria as well, they clarify that sin is not inherited in that way. St. John Chrysostom says:

''From this, at least, they came to question Him; for when they saw Him earnestly regarding the man, they asked Him, saying, Who did sin, this man, or his parents? A mistaken question, for how could he sin before he was born? [That's impossible, he says.] And how, if his parents had sinned, would he have been punished?'' (St. John Chrysostom, Commentary on the Gospel of John)

It would be unfair for God to punish someone, you know, on behalf of the sin of his parents. So, that was definitely not the case and that's what Christ clarified to the disciples. Now, notice verse 3, it says:

'' 3 Jesus answered, ''Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.'' '' (John 9:1-3)

So, Christ, here, wanted to change the mindset of the... of the disciples from blaming someone, someone has to be blamed for the suffering, to a mindset of finding opportunities; a mindset of healing; a mindset of service, of ministry. And Christ went and did something about it, right?

So here, the idea is not that this man was purposely born blind for Christ to be glorified. That's not the case. The man was blind, because there is a corruption in humanity and many things happen to many people. That... that suffering does exist, although it was not part of the original design. It's part of the fallen condition.

And when Christ comes and sees that man in that condition and suffering from this blindness, instead of blaming, He does something about it. And therefore, also, us, as Christians, we ought to walk in the footsteps of Christ and stop blaming others for things, but doing something about it. On this, St. Cyril says:

''The man was not born blind on account of his own sins or the sins of his parents; but since it has happened that he was so affected [notice the passive voice: since it has happened that he was so affected], it is possible that in him God may be glorified. For

when, by power from above, he shall be found free from the affliction which lies upon him and troubles him, who will not admire the Physician? Who will not recognize the power of the Healer shown forth in Him?'' (St. Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary of the Gospel of John)

So, in other words, the man happened to be born blind because of the corrupted human condition. Christ came, did something about it and healed him.

Moving on to verse 4:

'' 4 ''I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.'' '' (John 9:4-5)

So, at the time, obviously, they have no electricity. So, during the day, this is the time where they can actually do work. At night, they can't do work, right? So, there's a period where there is work; another period where there's no work. So, Christ uses that understanding and applies it to His own life, knowing that He's about to die in the flesh on the cross very soon, right? And once He dies in the flesh on the cross, He will not be able to do work, Him personally, physically here on earth. That is considered the night in that sense, right?

So, saying: now, since I am in the world, right?, it is still day and therefore, I can do the work. So, I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day. So, He uses that parallel between day and night to His own life. So, while I'm here on earth still, I ought to do the work. The night is coming when no one can work, when I'm not gonna be here anymore. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world and that's one of the seven I AM's, right? We said in the Gospel of John there's seven I AM's.

And in the same way, Christ said that He is the bread of life and He associated that saying with the multiplication of bread when He fed the five thousand, you know, with the five loaves and two fish. Here, He says: I am the light of the world. I am to bring direction, to bring healing in the world. And with that saying, He's about to do the miracle of healing the man who was born blind.

Moving on to verse 6:

'' 6 When He had said these things, He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. 7 And He said to him, ''Go, wash in the pool of Siloam'' (which is translated, Sent). So he went and washed, and came back seeing.'' (John 9:6-7)

So, at the time, the Jews, they considered saliva to have a healing property. So here, Christ uses the ground, spits on it with the healing property of the saliva, makes clay and anoints

the eyes of the blind man. So, Christ wants to send a message that I'm about to heal this man. I am the Healer, capital H. I am the true physician, right? That's the first message He wants to send.

The second message is that He is co-creator, because here, with this action, spitting on the ground, right?, Christ is linking His actions with Genesis 2:7, right?, when God formed man out of the dust of the ground, right? So here, He's saying that I am forming, I am shaping his eyeballs in that understanding. So He is co-creator and that's the second message He wants to send.

So, a side note on the pool of Siloam. It was about 13 000 feet to the south of where they were and it was fed by a spring from the Kidron Valley. And the water was sent via a conduit from that spring to the pool and that's why the pool was called Sent, because the water was sent from the spring from the Kidron Valley all the way to the pool.

But more importantly, we cannot ignore the man's obedience, how he did not ask questions. He just went ahead and washed his eyes and received his sight. St. John Chrysostom emphasizes on that obedience and he says how disobedience is sin, obviously, and sin leads to darkness. Now, this man, through his obedience, he went from darkness to light, from blindness, you know, to be able to see. And therefore, we... again, we ought to obey.

And when we obey, we obey God's commandments. And God's commandments, their objective is for us to be united with Him. In other words, God is truth; therefore, He says lying is a sin, because lying is something outside of Him, contrary to Him. And therefore, it disconnects us from Him. God is love. So, He says, well, hatred is, therefore, a sin. It's something outside of Me, contrary to Me, disconnects you to Me, along as... along with judging, along with, you know, gossiping. Like, you name it. You get the point.

So, the point of God's commandments is to keep us united in Him who is the source of light, right? I am the light of the world. And therefore, when we obey, we remain in that light, we remain united to Him, and therefore, we are enlightened, right?, whether spiritually, physically or even psychologically.

Now, in this passage, there are many subtle references to baptism. The first one is the word anointing. So, the word anointing is reserved only when we use oil. But God did not put oil on the eyes of the blind man; He put clay. Here is a reference to what the 1 st century Church used to do, right?, when they had oil of μυρóν (myron), which we call today the sacrament of chrismation or the myron is used in the sacrament of chrismation I should say. In 2 Corinthians, it says:

'' 21 Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, 22 who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.'' (2 Corinthians 1:21-22)

So, in the Christian Orthodox understanding, we receive the Holy Spirit in baptism and the Holy Spirit is sealed in us through chrismation, through the holy oil of myron. So here, these are references to the receiving of the Holy Spirit. And when we receive the Holy Spirit, we become enlightened. We start seeing, not only physically in this case, but spiritually. St. John is setting subtle messages about baptism in that passage.

Also, there seems to be a play on the word sent: the pool is called Sent and St. John emphasizes over and over again in his Gospel that the Son was sent by the Father. So, the play on words is that this water in the pool of Siloam is the water of Christ. It has the healing power of Christ. And when this man went and washed himself with this water that has the power of healing of Christ Himself, he was able to see; he was illuminated. And that's why, again, in the Christian Church, we call baptism the sacrament of illumination. We start seeing properly. And based on this, God says I am the light of the world.

In addition to this, there's a beautiful contemplation. When this man received healing, he was able to see for the first time. And what did he see? He saw a reflection of himself in the water. So, once we are baptised and then become sons and daughters of God, right?, we see our true selves, because the image of Christ within us that was deformed is now brought back to its original design.

And again, we become sons and daughters of Christ, which happens in the sacrament of baptism. And in this case, this man believed and worshipped Christ as God, as we shall see probably the next time. But how beautiful is it when he looks at himself and he realizes this is my true self! My personality is flourishing. I am who I ought to be. I found my purpose. All of these things are found in God and they are applied in our lives first and foremost in the sacrament of baptism and in the shedding of tears, or in other words, in repentance.

And that's why, in the Coptic Orthodox Church, during the Lent period, right?, this reading is read on the 6 th Sunday of Lent. Because at that time, people were about... the catechumens were about to be baptised and the people already baptised are offering repentance. So, it was a message of baptism for the catechumens. It was also a message of repentance to those who already baptised.

Moving on to verse 8:

'' 8 Therefore the neighbors and those who previously had seen that he was blind said, ''Is not this he who sat and begged?'' 9 Some said, ''This is he.'' Others said, ''He is like him.'' He said, ''I am he.'' 10 Therefore they said to him, ''How were your eyes opened?'' 11 He answered and said, ''A Man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, 'Go to the pool of Siloam and wash.' So I went and washed, and I received sight.'' 12 Then they said to him, ''Where is He?'' He said, ''I do not know.'' (John 9:8-12)

It is worth concluding with a couple of contemplative points here. The first one is that the man became different, right? Here, in this passage, they could not recognize him. Some said Is this he? Is it not he? and he had to say Yes, I am he, right? And this usually happens with a new Christian. The Christian becomes very different, thinks differently, acts differently, becomes literally a new creation. And the people are not able to understand. Is that the same person? Why is he acting this way? Sometimes they even physically just look slightly different. You can see God's grace on them.

The second point is that the man used to be blind. So, he used to be confined, right? He wanted to live life, but he was not able to. He had to be led by people, right? He had to have, you know, major assistance in his life, you know. He would even have trouble doing the most basic things, like, you know, eating, drinking, you know, preparing food for himself. Yet now, he's going around. He's free. He's living life as it is meant to be lived. And truly, true life is found in Christ once we are illuminated by Christ.

Remember: Know your faith, live your faith, and teach your faith. And glory be to God forever and ever. Amen.

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Remember: Know your faith, live your faith, and teach your faith.