Sunday of the Blind Man, John 9:1-38
Note the appellations applied to Jesus:
Disciples (vs. :2) call Jesus Rabbi.
The Blind man refers to Jesus as “The man called Jesus” (:11), “He is a prophet” (:17), “a worshiper of God” and doer of God’s will (:31), “from God” (:33), “Lord” (:38).
The Pharisees say of Jesus, “This man is not from God” (:16), “this man is a sinner” (24:), “we do not know where he comes from” = he is a stranger/foreigner (:29).
The crowd refers to Jesus as “the Christ” (:22).
Jesus refers to himself: ” the Son of man” (:35).
Note who who is blind in the lesson:
The man born blind (:1).
The disciples can’t see the cause of the man’s blindness (:2).
The neighbors can’t recognize the man born blind and who used to beg (:9).
The blind man cannot see where Jesus is (:12).
The Pharisees can’t see how the man could have gained his sight (:15).
The Jews can’t see how the healed man could have been the one born blind (:18).
The parents can’t see how their son is not still blind (:21).
The Pharisees cannot see how the man’s sight could have been given to him(:26).
The cured man can’t recognize the Son of Man(:36).
The man born blind’s full sight is given to him. [:37-38] Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who speaks to you.” He said, “Lord, I believe”; and he worshiped him.
[:39-41] Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind.” Some of the Pharisees near him heard this, and they said to him, “Are we also blind?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.
Note how the references to the man born blind change:
At the beginning of the Gospel lesson, he is “a man born blind”(:1) but at the end of this lesson he is referred to as a disciple (:28 ) and a believer (:38).
The neighbors see him as a beggar (:8).
He is called “the man who was formerly blind” (:13) and “the man who received his sight” (:18).
The Pharisees tell his parents: “your son, born blind” but the parents call him “our son who now sees” (:20).
The Pharisees see him as “a blind man” (:24) and “a man born in utter sin”(:34).
Fraternized 