John: Chapter 9
And as he passed by, he saw a man blind from his birth. 2
And his disciples asked him, saying, Rabbi, who sinned,
this man, or his parents, that he should be born blind? 3
Jesus answered, Neither did this man sin, nor his parents:
but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. 4
We must work the works of him that sent me, while it is
day: the night cometh, when no man can work. 5 When I am in
the world, I am the light of the world. 6 When he had thus
spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the
spittle, and anointed his eyes with the clay, 7 and said
unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam (which is by
interpretation, Sent). He went away therefore, and washed,
and came seeing. 8 The neighbors therefore, and they that
saw him aforetime, that he was a beggar, said, Is not this
he that sat and begged? 9 Others said, It is he: others
said, No, but he is like him. He said, I am he. 10 They
said therefore unto him, How then were thine eyes opened?
11 He answered, The man that is called Jesus made clay, and
anointed mine eyes, and said unto me, Go to Siloam, and
wash: so I went away and washed, and I received sight. 12
And they said unto him, Where is he? He saith, I know not.
13 They bring to the Pharisees him that aforetime was
blind. 14 Now it was the sabbath on the day when Jesus made
the clay, and opened his eyes. 15 Again therefore the
Pharisees also asked him how he received his sight. And he
said unto them, He put clay upon mine eyes, and I washed,
and I see. 16 Some therefore of the Pharisees said, This
man is not from God, because he keepeth not the sabbath.
But others said, How can a man that is a sinner do such
signs? And there was a division among them. 17 They say
therefore unto the blind man again, What sayest thou of
him, in that he opened thine eyes? And he said, He is a
prophet. 18 The
Jews therefore did not believe concerning him, that he had
been blind, and had received his sight, until they called
the parents of him that had received his sight, 19 and
asked them, saying, Is this your son, who ye say was born
blind? How then doth he now see? 20 His parents answered
and said, We know that this is our son, and that he was
born blind: 21 but how he now seeth, we know not; or who
opened his eyes, we know not: ask him; he is of age; he
shall speak for himself. 22 These things said his parents,
because they feared the Jews: for the Jews had agreed
already, that if any man should confess him to be Christ,
he should be put out of the synagogue. 23 Therefore said
his parents, He is of age; ask him. 24 So they called a
second time the man that was blind, and said unto him, Give
glory to God: we know that this man is a sinner. 25 He
therefore answered, Whether he is a sinner, I know not: one
thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see. 26 They
said therefore unto him, What did he to thee? how opened he
thine eyes? 27 He answered them, I told you even now, and
ye did not hear; wherefore would ye hear it again? would ye
also become his disciples? 28 And they reviled him, and
said, Thou art his disciple; but we are disciples of Moses.
29 We know that God hath spoken unto Moses: but as for this
man, we know not whence he is. 30 The man answered and said
unto them, Why, herein is the marvel, that ye know not
whence he is, and yet he opened mine eyes. 31 We know that
God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of
God, and do his will, him he heareth. 32 Since the world
began it was never heard that any one opened the eyes of a
man born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he could
do nothing. 34 They answered and said unto him, Thou wast
altogether born in sins, and dost thou teach us? And they
cast him out.
35 Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and finding him,
he said, Dost thou believe on the Son of God? 36 He
answered and said, And who is he, Lord, that I may believe
on him? 37 Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen him,
and he it is that speaketh with thee. 38 And he said, Lord,
I believe. And he worshipped him. 39 And Jesus said, For
judgment came I into this world, that they that see not may
see; and that they that see may become blind. 40 Those of
the Pharisees who were with him heard these things, and
said unto him, Are we also blind? 41 Jesus said unto them.
If ye were blind, ye would have no sin: but now ye say, We
see: your sin remaineth.
THERE ARE SINS of omission and sins of commission. This text illustrates a sin of omission. The man born blind had not sinned, neither had his parents sinned.
In this whole chapter the Christ is declaring, "I am the light of the world." When our blind, stumbling thoughts awaken to the reality of the Christ, darkness falls away and we see clearly.
The inquiry "Who sinned, this man, or his parents, that he should be born blind?" indicates a previous incarnation of the man in the fleshly body, in which he might have sinned. Belief in successive incarnations of man was accepted by all the scriptural writers who were spiritually wise. The tents and tabernacles in which the Children of Israel lived in the wilderness are symbols of the fleshly body that men put on and off, again and again. Solomon's Temple is a symbol of the regenerated body of man; when man attains this body he will cease to die and
reincarnate. In order to build this indestructible body we must make manifest in ourselves the works of God. The Pharisees were very strict in their observance of the external ritual but had no knowledge of the inner spiritual law that expressed its perfection in health of body.
The sin of omission is even greater than the sin of commission. There is some hope for the one who is an active sinner; but what can we expect of one who makes no effort to do anything for himself, who simply drifts with the tide, or looks to others to do all things? Before he was healed, the blind man was a sinner of omission. He was a blind beggar, a person who had no perception of his own capacity, or no confidence in his power to rise superior to conditions in the material realm. When man fails to apprehend his mission and to do the work of bringing forth the good that is allotted to him, he remains in darkness. His blindness is that sin of omission which is present in every man who does not realize his place in the Godhead. If a man fails to do that which he is told from within is the right thing to do, he is sinning, and he will remain in darkness to just the degree that he sins.
The works of God that we are to make manifest are the perfect ideas of a perfect-man idea in Divine Mind. "Ye therefore shall be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect." We are to bring forth in ourselves the perfection of Being. If through neglect, laziness, or belief in inability we fail to do this, we fall under the judgment of the constantly operating law of life, which is inwardly urging us and in all the
visible and invisible forms of nature is commanding: "Go forward."
The world is full of people who are in this beggarly blind state. They sit by the wayside and wait for the workers to give them pennies and crusts, when they themselves might be the producers of their own good. The remedy for their situation is for them to deny material darkness, ignorance, and inability in themselves. By putting the clay upon the blind man's eyes Jesus illustrated how man makes opaque his understanding by affirming the power of material conditions to hamper and impede his spiritual and material growth. The washing away of this clay by the man himself shows that by our own volition and our own efforts we must deny away these seeming mountains of environing conditions.
The starting point of man's reformation is in the mind. He must begin to handle situations mentally at first; as he proceeds to do away with thought limitations, surrounding conditions will gradually change, and he will find himself "seeing" as a result of his efforts to do the will of the one supreme Mind.
When we begin to deny away the limitations of old material race thoughts and to affirm illumination from the Christ within us, we are sure to arouse the "Jews" and the "Pharisees" in our mental realm. They are our tendencies to cling to the letter of the word, to the forms of religion, and to deny the power of Spirit actually to illumine our mind and transform our entire being. If after we are awakened we are bold in the declaration of Truth, as this man
was when he was healed, we may experience much opposition from our old formal religious ideas. If we listen to them all, we may feel as though we were no longer in spiritual favor. But we need not fear; we shall become conscious of the Christ again, and He will reveal Himself to us. Then we shall worship Him truly.