And as he passed, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked Him, "Rabbi! Who sinned, he or his parents, that he was born blind? The Lord leaves the temple in order to tame the wrath of the Jews. He proceeds to heal the blind man, in order to soften their hardness of heart and stubbornness by this sign, although they did not take advantage of it, and at the same time to show them that He did not say in vain and out of self-praise: "Before Abraham was, I am" (John 8:58). It was fitting that He Himself approached the blind man, and not this one to Him. The disciples, noticing His attention to the blind man, asked: "Who sinned, he or his parents, that he was born blind?" For how could he have sinned before he was born? The Apostles probably did not share the pagan superstition that the soul, before uniting with the body, lives in the other world and descends into the body for sin, as if as a punishment. As fishermen, they could not hear anything of the sort, for such thoughts belonged to the sages. So, the question seems unreasonable, but not for the attentive. For know. The Apostles heard Christ say to the paralytic: "Behold, thou art healed, sin not, lest something worse happen to thee" (John 5:14). Now they see the blind man and are perplexed, and it is as if they say: "Let us suppose that he was paralyzed because of his sins, but what do you say about this?" Did he sin? But this cannot be said; because he is blind from birth. Or his parents? And this cannot be said, because a son is not punished for his father. Thus, the apostles in the present case are not so much asking as perplexed. The Lord, in order to resolve their perplexity, says: "Neither did he sin (for he had sinned before birth), nor did his parents." However, He says this without absolving them from their sins. For he did not simply say that his parents had not sinned, but added that "he was born blind." Although his parents sinned, this misery was not for this reason with him. It is unjust to lay the sins of fathers on children who are innocent of anything. This is also inspired by God through Ezekiel: "Let not this proverb be any more among you: "Fathers have eaten sour grapes, but the children's teeth are set on edge" (Ezekiel 18:1, 2). And through Moses He decreed by the law: "Let not a father die for his son" (Deuteronomy 24:16). But how, you will say, is it written: "Give the sins of your parents to the children to the third and fourth generation" (Exodus 34:7)? To this we can say, first, that this is not a universal sentence, not spoken of all, but only of those who came out of Egypt. Then look at the meaning of the sentence. It does not say that children are punished for sins committed by fathers, but that the punishments for the sin of fathers are passed on to children when children have committed the same sins. In order that those who came out of Egypt should not think that they would not be punished with the same punishment as their fathers, even though they had sinned worse than they, He said to them, "No, not so; The sins of the fathers, that is, the punishments, will be passed on to you, because you have not become better, but have committed the same sins, and even worse. If we see that children often die as a punishment for their parents, then we know that God takes them out of this life out of love for mankind, so that in life they do not become worse than their parents and do not live to the evil of their souls or even many others. But the abyss of God's destinies hid these cases in itself. And we will strive further.

Jesus answered, "Neither he nor his parents have sinned, but this is so that the works of God may be manifested in him." I must do the works of Him who sent Me while there is a day; the night comes when no one can do. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. Here is another difficulty again. Some will ask: How did He say this? For this would mean that a person deprived of light was offended in order that the works of God might be manifested in him? Could they not have appeared otherwise? "Tell me, what kind of injury does he suffer, tell me?" You'll say that he is devoid of light. And what harm is there from being deprived of sensual light? On the contrary, he is more beneficial. For together with the bodily sight he also saw the eyes of the soul. Blindness served him well, since through healing from it he came to know the true Sun of Righteousness. Thus, this blind man is not offended, but beneficial. - Further, anyone who studies the word of God should know that the particles "in order to" are often used in Scripture to designate not the cause, but the event itself. For example, in David it is said: "So that (yes) Thou art righteous in Thy judgment" (Psalm 50:6). David did not sin in order for God to be justified. But because of David's sin, God had to be justified.

So, you see, in the sentence "so that Thou art righteous" (Slavonic: as thou shalt be justified) the particle does not mean a cause, but an effect. You will find many such figures of speech in the Apostle's writings. For example, in the Epistle to the Romans: "What can be known about God is manifest to the Gentiles, so that they are unanswerable" (Slavonic: in order to be unanswerable) (Romans 1:19, 20). God gave knowledge to the Gentiles not so that they would be unaccountable when they sinned, but so that they would not sin. And because they sinned, because of this, knowledge made them unanswerable. And again: the law came after, "that transgression may abound" (Romans 5:20). Though the law was not given to increase sin, but to diminish; but since those who accepted the law did not want to reduce sin, the law served them to increase sin. For their sin became more important and grievous because they had the law, and yet they sinned. - So here, too, the expression "in order that the works of God may be revealed" indicates not the cause, but the effect. For through the healing of the blind man God was glorified. - Often another builder of a house will do one thing, and leave the other unfinished, so that he who does not believe that he has built the first part can prove by arranging what is unfinished that he is also an artist of what was previously built. In the same way, our God Jesus, in healing the injured members and bringing them to their natural (normal) state, shows that He is the Creator of the other members as well. - "That the glory of God may be revealed," says this about Himself, and not about the Father. For the glory of the Father was manifest, but it was necessary to manifest the glory of Jesus, and to the fact that He who created man in the beginning was He. And there is no doubt much glory in this, when it will be revealed that He Who is now man, in the beginning as God created man. - What He says about Himself, listen further. He adds, "I must do the works of Him who sent Me." I, he says, must manifest Myself and do works that can show that I do the same thing that the Father does. Look, He did not say that I should do the same works as the Father does, but the same ones that the Father does. I, he says, must do the very works that He who sent Me does. I must do them "while there is a day," as long as real life lasts, and people can believe in Me. Then "the night will come when no one can do," that is, to believe, for he calls faith a deed. So, in the age to come, no one can believe. - The present life is the day, because during it, as in the daytime, we can do; although the Apostle Paul calls it night, partly because those who do virtue or vice are not known here, and partly in comparison with the Light that will illumine the righteous. The age to come is night, because no one can do there; although the Apostle Paul calls it a day, because the righteous will appear in the light and the deeds of each one will be revealed. Thus, in the age to come, there is no faith, but all will obey, those who desire and those who do not. - "As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world," for by teaching and by the manifestation of miracles I enlighten souls. Wherefore even now it behoveth Me to enlighten the souls of many, through the healing of the blind man, and the illumination of the pupils in his eyes. As light, I must enlighten both sensually and spiritually.

And when he had said this, he spat on the ground, and made clay out of spittle, and anointed the eyes of the blind man with it, and said to him, "Go and wash in the pool of Siloam." He went and washed himself, and came back seeing. Having said this, Jesus did not stop at words, but added to them the deed. He spat on the ground, made clay out of spittle, and anointed the eyes of the blind man with clay, showing through clay that He also formed Adam's body from clay. The mere words that I had created Adam might have seemed tempting to the hearers, but when the words were confirmed by deeds, there was no cause for temptation. He makes his eyes out of mortality, using the same method of creation that He created Adam. Not only did He arrange His eyes and open them, but He gave them vision, which showed that He also breathed a soul into Adam. For without the action of the soul, the eye would never have seen, even though it had been arranged. He also used spittle to endow him with vision. Since He intended to send the blind man to Siloam, so that they would not attribute the miracle to the water of the spring, but would know that the eyes of the blind man were formed and opened by the power that came out of His mouth, for this purpose He spat on the ground and made clay out of the spittle of the mouth. Then, so that you do not think that the miracle depended on the earth, He commands you to wash yourself, so that the clay will completely fall behind. However, some say that this mortality did not fall away at all, but turned into eyes.

- Why did the Evangelist add an explanation of the name Siloam? In order that you may know that Christ healed the blind man here too, and that Siloam is the image of Christ. For Christ is both a spiritual Stone (1 Corinthians 10:4) and a spiritual Siloam; and as the brook of Siloam by its strange course represented something sudden and striking, so the coming of the Lord, hidden and unknown to the angels, by its power drowns all sin.

Then the neighbors, and those who had seen before that he was blind, said, "Is this not the one who sat and begged? Some said, "This is he," and others, "He resembles him." And he said, "It is I." Then they asked him, "How did your eyes open?" He answered and said, "The man called Jesus has made clay, anointed my eyes, and said to me, Go to the pool of Siloam and wash yourself." I went to wash my face and regained my sight. The neighbors, amazed at the extraordinariness of the miracle, did not believe it. Although his procession to Siloam with eyes anointed with clay was so that many would see him and then not deny ignorance, yet even now they do not believe. The Evangelist, not without intention, remarks that he was begging for alms, but in order to show the Lord's ineffable love for mankind in that He condescended to the poor as well, that He healed the poor with great care, and from this we would learn not to despise our lesser brethren. And the blind man, not ashamed of his former misery, not afraid of the people, openly says, "This is I," preaches the Benefactor, and says, "The man called Jesus." - He calls the Lord Man, because until now he knew nothing about Him, and what he has now learned, he confesses. How does he know that it is Jesus? From His conversation with His disciples. The disciples asked the Lord about him, and He answered them for quite a long time: "I must do the works of Him who sent Me; I am the light of the world." No one else taught this except Jesus alone, and He often used such speeches. It was from this that the blind man knew that it was Jesus. That He made the clay and anointed his eyes, He knew from the touch, and said. He kept silent about spitting, because he did not know, and as he did not know, he did not add. Apparently, this man was righteous.

Then they said to him, "Where is he?" He answered, "I don't know." They took this former blind man to the Pharisees. And there was a sabbath when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. The Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. He said to them, "He has put clay in my eyes; And I washed my face and saw. Then some of the Pharisees said, "This man is not of God, because he does not keep the Sabbath." Others said: how can a sinful man work such miracles? And there was strife between them. Since the Lord, when He bestowed healing and performed miracles, usually hid Himself in His modesty, the blind man, when asked where Jesus is, says "I do not know," in order to be completely faithful to the truth. - They take him to the Pharisees in order to subject him to a more detailed and strict interrogation. - The Evangelist remarks that "there was a Sabbath" in order to show their malice, how they seize every opportunity against Christ: they accuse Him of breaking the Sabbath and thus attempt to obscure the miracle. Wherefore they do not ask him how thou didst receive thy sight, but how he opened thy eyes, slandering the Lord in all things, as He who acted on the Sabbath. The blind man himself is forced to remember that He made the frailty on the Sabbath. He, answering those who have already heard, does not mention the name of Jesus, nor what the Lord said to him, but only says: "He has put clay in my eyes, and I have washed and see." For it is probable that the Pharisees had heard from those who had brought the blind man to them, and perhaps they had slandered the Lord, and said, This is what Jesus does on the Sabbath. The courage of the blind man is worthy of remark, that he fearlessly speaks to the Pharisees. He was brought in so that, stricken with fear, he would reject the reality of healing, and he very clearly exclaimed: I see. - Of the Pharisees, some of them, not all, but more bold, said: "This man is not of God." And others said: how can a sinful person work such miracles? You see, under the influence of miracles, many are softened. These people are the Pharisees, the rulers, but as a result of this miracle, they are ashamed and somewhat protective. "And there was strife among them." This strife used to take place among the people, for some said that He deceived the people, and others that He was good (John 7:12, 43), and now it begins among the rulers. And so many Pharisees, separating themselves from the rest, defend the miracle. However, even after the separation, they speak for Christ very weakly and more doubtfully and double-minded than firmly. For listen to what they say: how can a sinful man work such miracles? Do you see how weakly they object? Look also at the cunning of the slanderers. They do not say that He is not of God, because He heals on the Sabbath, but that He does not keep the Sabbath; they constantly expose not a beneficence, but a violation of the day. Note also that the rulers are slower to do good than the people. The people had already been divided in opinion, and not all spoke against Christ, and the leaders came to this laudable division after the people. For it is good sometimes to divide, as the Lord also says: "I have come to bring a sword to the earth" (Matt. 10:34), that is, without a doubt, disagreement because of goodness and godliness.

Again they say to the blind man, "You, what will you say about Him, because He has opened your eyes?" He said, "He's a prophet." Then the Jews did not believe that he was blind and had received his sight, until they called the parents of this man who had received his sight and asked them, "Is this your son, of whom you say that he was born blind?" How does he see now? Who were those who asked, What wilt thou say of Him? They were among the prudent. For they said, How can a sinner do such things? In order not to appear vain defenders, they cite as a testimony the one who received the beneficence, as having experienced His power, in order to stop the mouths of slanderers. See how prudently they ask. They did not say, you what you would say about Him, because He made the Sabbath, because He did not keep the Sabbath, but they remind you of the miracle, "because He opened your eyes," as if inciting the healed man to tell the truth about Christ. They remind him and urge him: because He has opened your eyes. He is said to have done you good. Therefore, you must preach about Him. The blind man now confessed what he could, namely, that He was not a sinner, but of God, that He was a Prophet, although some say that He was not of God, because He did not keep the Sabbath. - Christ anointed with one finger, and He is considered a Sabbath violator. They themselves untie animals with all their hands in order to give them water, and consider themselves pious. - The hard-hearted and stubborn call upon his parents in order to put them in difficulty and thereby force them to reject the former blindness of their son. Since they could not stop their well-intentioned lips, they frightened their parents, in the hope of destroying the miracle. So they put them in the middle and interrogate them with fury and with even greater malice. They do not say, "Is this your son, who was once blind," but "of whom you speak," as if to say, "Whom you have made blind, and the fame of which you have spread everywhere," is utterly fictitious and false. But, O wicked Pharisees! What father would allow himself to lie like that about his child? On both sides they are pressed and forced to give up their son, on the one hand, by the expression "of whom you speak," and on the other, by the question, "How does he see now?" By the false testimony of the parents that their son had been blind before, they demean this miracle, that he later became sighted. They say: either what he sees now is false, or that he was blind. But it is true that he sees: therefore you have falsely divulged that he was formerly blind.

His parents answered and said to them, "We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; but how he sees now, we do not know, or who opened his eyes, we do not know; Ask yourself when you are of perfect age: let him speak of himself. Thus answered his parents, because they feared the Jews; for the Jews have already conspired that whoever acknowledges Him to be Christ shall be excommunicated from the synagogue. Wherefore his parents said, He is of perfect age; Ask yourself. The Pharisees asked the parents of the blind man three questions: 1) Is this their son? 2) Was he born blind? and (3) how did he become sighted? To the first two questions they answer in the affirmative, that this is their son and he was blind, and they do not answer about the method of healing because of ignorance. This happened, without a doubt, in order that the truth might be recognized more firmly, so that it might be testified to by the one who received the beneficence, and therefore the most reliable witness, as his parents say: he himself is of perfect age, he is not a child or an underage, so that he does not understand how he was healed. His parents answered this because they were afraid of the Pharisees. They were unsteady and faint-hearted than their son. And he became a fearless witness to the truth; he began to see well with his mental eyes.

So they called a man who was blind a second time, and said to him, Give glory to God; we know that That Man is a sinner. He answered and said to them, "Whether he is a sinner, I do not know; One thing I know is that I was blind, and now I see. And they asked him again, What has he done to thee? How did He open your eyes? He answered them, "I have already told you, and you have not listened; What else do you want to hear? or do you also want to become His disciples? And they rebuked him, and said, Thou art His disciple, and we are Moses' disciples. We know that God spoke to Moses; But we do not know whence He comes. Just as parents insisted on asking their son for them, so do the arrogant ones. They bring him, not to ask, but to impress upon him the accusation of the Healer. For the suggestion "give glory to God" means to confess that Jesus did nothing for you, and in not attributing anything good to Jesus is the glory of God! They say we know that He is a sinner. Why did you not rebuke Him when He called you to this, saying, "Which of you shall convict Me of sin" (John 8:46)? The blind man says, "Whether He is a sinner, I do not know, and now I do not experience it, nor do I affirm it." But I know very clearly that He performed a miracle on me. Therefore, let this matter be considered by itself and give an idea of Him. Then, when they again asked him what He had done to you, accusing the Saviour of having anointed you on the Sabbath, this man understood that they were asking not for the sake of clarification, but for the sake of accusation, and he answered them reproachfully, "I do not want to speak to you any more, because many times I have told you, and you have not listened." Then, which could have especially wounded them, he adds: Do you also want to become His disciples? Obviously, he himself wants to be His disciple. Joking and laughing at them, he says it calmly; and this shows a soul that is brave and undaunted, and not afraid of their fury. To his offense they say: "You are His disciple, and we are the disciples of Moses." And here they are clearly lying. For if they had been disciples of Moses, they would have been Christ's, as He Himself says to them: "If ye had believed Moses, ye would have believed me also" (John 5:46). They did not say, "We have heard," but, "We know" that God spoke to Moses, although their ancestors had told them about it. That which we have received by ear, they say, we know for sure, but He Whose miracles we have seen with our own eyes and Whose Divine and heavenly teaching we have heard for ourselves, is called a deceiver (John 7:12). You see to what madness their malice has driven them.

The man who had received his sight answered and said to them, "This is not surprising, that you do not know where He comes from, but He has opened my eyes." But we know that God does not listen to sinners; but whoever honors God and does His will listens to him. From eternity it has not been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. If He were not of God, He could not do anything. You, says the Jews, reject my Healer, because you do not know where He comes from. And I say that He is all the more worthy of wonder, because, not being one of the nobles and glorious among you, He can do such deeds as clearly testify that He possesses some higher power and does not need any human help. - Then, since before some of them also said: "How can a sinful man work such miracles?" he also takes up this condemnation of them and reminds them of their own words. We all know, he says, that God does not listen to sinners, but listens to him who honors Him and does His will. Notice from this how he not only puts away sins from the Lord, but also presents Him as a great saint of God and doing everything according to His will, when he says: "If anyone honors God and does His will." Further, knowing that they want to obscure the miracle, he preaches with full understanding about the beneficence. If He had not been of God, He would not have performed such a miracle as no one has done since eternity. If, perhaps, the eyes of the blind were opened, but not spoiled from birth, but from some disease. But what has now been accomplished is an unheard-of thing. So, obviously, the one who performed such a miracle is more than a man. - Some people go into cold and subtle questioning. How is it said that God does not listen to sinners? He is a lover of mankind. What, they say, is meant here by the words: God does not listen to sinners? Such a question should not be answered. However, it must be said that these words - God does not listen to sinners - express the idea that God does not give sinners the power to work miracles. For the Spirit of God will not dwell in a body that is burdened with sins. Those who sincerely and from the heart ask for forgiveness of sins, God hears not as sinners, but as repentants. For at the same time as they ask forgiveness for themselves, they have already passed from the ranks of sinners to the ranks of penitents. Therefore it is rightly said that God does not listen to sinners. He does not allow sinners to work miracles. For even if they should ever ask for anything of the kind, how would He give what He asked for those whom He hates because they arrogate to themselves that which is quite unseemly to them? And if He listens to those who ask forgiveness, He listens not as sinners, but as penitents. "Take note. Having said, "If any man honour God," he added, "and does his will." For many worship God, but do not do the will of God. And there must be both at the same time: both worship of God and the fulfillment of the will of God, in other words, faith and works, or, as the Apostle Paul put it, faith and a good conscience (1 Tim. 1:5), in short; contemplation and activity. For faith is truly alive when it also has God-pleasing deeds, from which comes a good conscience, just as a vicious conscience comes from evil deeds. And again, works are alive when they have faith, and in separation from one another they are dead, as it is said: faith without works is dead (James 2:26), and works without faith. Consider, perhaps, the boldness that truth gives to a poor man, who is not at all remarkable, and he denounces the great and glorious among the Jews. So great is the power of truth, while falsehood is very timid and bold.

They answered and said to him, "Thou art all born in sins, and dost thou teach us?" And they threw him out. And when Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and found him, he said to him, Do you believe in the Son of God? He answered and said, "But who is he, Lord, that I should believe in Him?" Jesus said to him, "And you have seen him, and he has spoken to you." And he said, I believe, O Lord! And he worshipped Him. As long as they hoped that this man would speak to please them, he was summoned and questioned, and more than once. But when they learn from the answers that he does not think alike with them, but is disposed to the truth, they humiliate him as born in sins. It is completely unreasonable to blaspheme him for blindness, and to think that he, as a very sinful man even before his birth, was condemned to be born blind, which is unfounded. "Like sons of lies, they drive him, the confessor of the truth, out of the temple. But it served him well. They drove him out of the temple, and the Lord of the temple immediately found him. They dishonored him for his opinion in favor of Christ, and he was vouchsafed to know the Son of God. Jesus, it is said, found him, like the ascetic who receives a wrestler who is greatly exhausted and crowned. And what does he say? Do you believe in the Son of God? Why does he ask about this, when he argued so much with the Jews, spoke so much for Him? He does this not out of ignorance, but out of a desire to teach the blind man the knowledge of Himself. He had not seen Him at all before, and he had not seen Him after His healing, because the Jews, those worst dogs, dragged Him hither and thither. Now He asks him in order to point to Himself in response to his question about who the Son of God is. At the same time, He shows him that He highly values his faith, saying, as it were, "So many people have offended Me, but I do not impute it to them in the least." I care about one thing - about faith. Lord, who is this Son of God? - he asks lovingly. Jesus answers, "He is the one whom you have seen and who speaks to you." He did not say, It is I who healed you, who said to you, Go, wash yourself; but at first he speaks secretly and obscurely: and thou hast seen him, and then more clearly: and he also speaks to thee. The Lord seems to have said with intention: "Thou hast seen Him," precisely to remind him of his healing and that he had received from Him the ability to see. And immediately he believes, and in deed he manifests a fervent and true faith, he worships and confirms the word by his deeds, that he glorifies Him as God, because the law commands that only God should be worshipped (Deuteronomy 6:13). "Note, perhaps, that this miracle took place in the spiritual sense as well. In general, every person was blind from birth, that is, from subjection to birth, with which corruption is associated, for since we are condemned to death and to multiplication through passionate birth, from then on, as it were, a thick cloud has spread over our mental eyes, and, perhaps, that leather garment of which the Holy Scriptures mention (Gen. 3:3). 21). In particular, the pagan people were blind. And he was blind from birth. For example, the Greeks, because they deified the begotten and the perishable, became blind, according to the saying: "Their foolish heart is darkened" (Romans 1:21). In the same way, the Persian sages (magicians) spent their lives talking about birth and birthdays. - Jesus "saw" this blind man, that is, every person in general, or, in particular, pagans. As the blind man could not see the Creator, He, out of the grace of mercy, Himself visited us, the East from above (Luke 1:78). How did he see it? "Passing by," that is, not being in heaven, and, in the words of the prophet, bowing down from heaven and looking upon all the sons of men (Psalm 13:2; 2:3), but appearing on earth. And in another sense: "passing by" he saw the pagans, that is, he did not come to them predominantly. For He came to the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Matt. 15:24), and then, as if in passing, He looked at the Gentiles sitting in the darkness of complete ignorance. - How does it cure blindness? Spitting on the ground and making a shaving. For whoever believes that the Word descended into the holy Virgin as a drop dripping on the ground, will anoint his mental eyes with the clay of spittle and earth, that is, the one Christ, consisting of the Divinity, whose sign (symbol) is the drop and the spittle, and Humanity, the sign of which is the earth, from which the body of the Lord is. Will healing stop at faith? No; one must go also to Siloam, the source of baptism, and be baptized into the One who was sent, that is, Christ. For all of us who have been spiritually baptized have been baptized into Christ. And whoever is baptized will be subjected to temptations after this. Perhaps for the sake of Christ who healed him they will bring him before kings and rulers (Luke 21:12). Therefore, it is necessary to be firm and unyielding in confession; not to renounce out of fear, but, if necessary, to become both excommunicated and expelled from the synagogue, according to what is said: "Ye shall be hated by all men for My name's sake, and ye shall be cast out of the synagogues" (Matt. 24:9; Jn. 16:2). If people who are hostile to the truth both drive out the confessor of it, and remove him from what is holy and precious to them, that is, from riches and glory, then Jesus will find him, and when he is dishonored by his enemies, then he will be especially honored by Christ with knowledge and the most thorough faith. For then he will worship Christ most of all as a visible Man and as the true Son of God. For there is no other Son of God and another Son of Mary, as Nestorius impiously blasphemed, but one and the same Son of God and Man. Vide. When he who was once blind asked, "Who is the Son of God, that I should believe in Him?" then the Lord answered, "He is He Whom you have seen, and Who speaks to you." Who spoke but He who was born of Mary? And He is also the Son of God, but not another and different. That is why St. Mary is truly the Mother of God. For She gave birth to the Son of God, made flesh, indivisible, and One in two natures, Who is Christ the Lord.

And Jesus said, I have come into this world for judgment, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind. And when some of the Pharisees who were with him heard this, they said to him, "Are we also blind? Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would not have sin on you; but as you say that you see, the sin remains upon you. The Lord saw that the Pharisees derived more harm than good for themselves from the miracle, and through this they became worthy of greater condemnation, and therefore He says: "As it seems and as it turns out in deed, I have come to judgment, that is, for a greater punishment, so that those who do not see may see, and those who see, such as the Pharisees, may become blind with the eyes of the soul. For he who does not see from birth sees both in soul and body, but those who consider themselves to see have become blind in mind. Here He speaks of vigilance and blindness of two kinds. The Pharisees, who always grasped at sensual things, thought that He was speaking of sensual blindness, and said, "Are we also blind? They were ashamed of this bodily blindness alone. And the Lord wanted to show them that it is better to be blind in the body than unbelievers, and He said, "If you were blind, you would have no sin." For if you were by necessity, by nature, blind, you could be forgiven for the unbelief with which you are infected. But now you say that you see, and yet, having witnessed the miracle of the blind man, you still remain in unbelief, and therefore are not worthy of forgiveness. For your sin remains indelible, and you will be punished all the more because you do not come to faith in obvious miracles. These words, if you were blind, you would have no sin, can be understood in this way. You ask about bodily blindness, of which alone you are ashamed. And I say of your spiritual blindness, that if you were blind, that is, ignorant of the Scriptures, you would not have such a grievous sin upon you, for you would sin out of ignorance. And now you say that you see, and pretend to be prudent and experienced in the law, therefore you condemn yourselves and have a greater sin upon you, because you sin consciously.

CHAPTER TEN