1 Samuel 16.1-13; Ephesians 5.8-14; John 9

ALAS, we start sinning very soon. Even though one’s mother’s womb — unlike, say, Brighton at the weekend — does not offer a wide range of opportunities for wrongdoing, there have always been those who have said that we set about sinning from the moment we are conceived.

One rabbinic text taught that when a pregnant woman worships in a heathen temple, the foetus also commits idolatry. The reason why such a farfetched notion gained a hearing was that it appeared to offer an explanation for congenital abnormalities or defects — for blindness from birth, for example. On this view, such afflictions could be seen as the punishment that the new-born had already brought upon themselves.

Another reason given for babies being born with disabilities was that they had been punished because of what their parents did. This unpleasant doctrine — that God visits the iniquity of one generation on the next — is there in our Old Testament (Exodus 20.5; 34.7), and, although it was condemned by the prophets (Jeremiah 31.29-20; Ezekiel 18.1-4), there were plenty at the time of Jesus who still believed it.

Such ideas are in the minds of the disciples when they ask Jesus about the man blind from birth. (It is less likely that they entertain the idea that the man’s blindness was his karma, the consequence of his misdeeds in a previous incarnation.)

The premise of the disciples’ question is ours, too, as we contemplate innocent suffering. It is that someone has some explaining to do. The fact of such suffering is the weightiest objection to belief in a God who is good. The moral problem lies not in the amount of suffering, not in “the starving millions”, but in the starving individual — not in the multitude of children who die in torment, but in the one child who does.

The late Derek Skeet was a poet and teacher. He taught children from a tough estate in a part of Cambridge unvisited by tourists. He wondered why so many of them had had such an unfair start in life. He wondered, but not for long.

Instead, he turned to the ninth chapter of John’s Gospel. He had his own paraphrase of the opening exchange between Jesus and his disciples. “Why suffering?” they ask. “So that you will do something about it,” says Jesus — which is what Derek did.

We recall the context. Jesus has just escaped from the Temple, where they had tried to lynch him. Having left his home in heaven, he now forsakes his house on earth. Outside — they are all outside, those whom our blessed Lord seeks out — is the blind man, the embodiment of suffering humanity.

John believes that the mission of Jesus to this one man, and to all whom he represents, is not to offer explanations, but to do what must be done. This is no time for a philosophical discussion. The daylight is fading. The darkness is gathering. Explanations can wait.

Jesus restores the blind man’s sight. What Jesus does — as throughout John’s Gospel — is an enacted commentary on who he claims to be. He is “the light of the world”. But his light only deepens the darkness of those who reject him.

The latter are represented in our story by the clergymen who live by the letter of the law, who believe that the way to please God is to keep the rules. (How fair John is being to the Pharisees of Jesus’s day, or to those whom he so problematically refers to as “the Jews” is another matter.)

They recognise that Jesus is threatening their power base. Too craven to vent their anger on Jesus, they turn it on the man born blind and his family. It is an instructive example of how clergy can be bullies.

“One thing I know,” he says. “I was blind. Now I see.” John’s irony, lost on many who preach from this text, is that of course he does not see — not yet, at least. It is only later, when he, too, has been “driven out”, that he recognises Jesus for who he is. Only then does he “see”. Only “outside” does the fog lift.

So we have the three great themes of this chapter. First, the Christian response to the problem of suffering. It is, in the very little time left, to do something about it.

Secondly, Christ is the bearer of light to the benighted, not all of whom will welcome that light.

Thirdly, John tells us that Jesus comes into this world “for judgement” (John 9.39). He comes “so that those who do not see might see, and so that those who do see might not see”. The paradox is to shock us into thought. We must decide for ourselves what to make of this man who speaks to us so strangely. That will be our own judgement — in more senses than one.

Text of readings

1 Samuel 16.1-13

1The LORD said to Samuel, ‘How long will you grieve over Saul? I have rejected him from being king over Israel. Fill your horn with oil and set out; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons.’ 2Samuel said, ‘How can I go? If Saul hears of it, he will kill me.’ And the LORD said, ‘Take a heifer with you, and say, “I have come to sacrifice to the LORD.” 3Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do; and you shall anoint for me the one whom I name to you.’ 4Samuel did what the LORD commanded, and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet him trembling, and said, ‘Do you come peaceably?’ 5He said, ‘Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the LORD; sanctify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice.’ And he sanctified Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.

6When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, ‘Surely the Lord’s anointed is now before the LORD.’ 7But the LORD said to Samuel, ‘Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the LORD does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.’ 8Then Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. He said, ‘Neither has the LORD chosen this one.’ 9Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, ‘Neither has the LORD chosen this one.’ 10Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel, and Samuel said to Jesse, ‘The LORD has not chosen any of these.’ 11Samuel said to Jesse, ‘Are all your sons here?’ And he said, ‘There remains yet the youngest, but he is keeping the sheep.’ And Samuel said to Jesse, ‘Send and bring him; for we will not sit down until he comes here.’ 12He sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and had beautiful eyes, and was handsome. The LORD said, ‘Rise and anoint him; for this is the one.’ 13Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the presence of his brothers; and the spirit of the LORD came mightily upon David from that day forward. Samuel then set out and went to Ramah.

Ephesians 5.8-14

8Once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Live as children of light - 9for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true. 10Try to find out what is pleasing to the Lord. 11Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. 12For it is shameful even to mention what such people do secretly; 13but everything exposed by the light becomes visible, 14for everything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, ‘Sleeper, awake! Rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.’

John 9.1-41

1As Jesus walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2His disciples asked him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’ 3Jesus answered, ‘Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. 4We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. 5As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.’ 6When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man’s eyes, 7saying to him, ‘Go, wash in the pool of Siloam’ (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see. 8The neighbours and those who had seen him before as a beggar began to ask, ‘Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?’ 9Some were saying, ‘It is he.’ Others were saying, ‘No, but it is someone like him.’ He kept saying, ‘I am the man.’ 10But they kept asking him, ‘Then how were your eyes opened?’ 11He answered, ‘The man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and said to me, “Go to Siloam and wash.”Then I went and washed and received my sight.’ 12They said to him, ‘Where is he?’ He said, ‘I do not know.’

13They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. 14Now it was a sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. 15Then the Pharisees also began to ask him how he had received his sight. He said to them, ‘He put mud on my eyes. Then I washed, and now I see.’ 16Some of the Pharisees said, ‘This man is not from God, for he does not observe the sabbath.’ But others said, ‘How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?’ And they were divided. 17So they said again to the blind man, ‘What do you say about him? It was your eyes he opened.’ He said, ‘He is a prophet.’

18The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight 19and asked them, ‘Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?’ 20His parents answered, ‘We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; 21but we do not know how it is that now he sees, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.’ 22His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus to be the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. 23Therefore his parents said, ‘He is of age; ask him.’

24So for the second time they called the man who had been blind, and they said to him, ‘Give glory to God! We know that this man is a sinner.’ 25He answered, ‘I do not know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.’ 26They said to him, ‘What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?’ 27He answered them, ‘I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?’ 28Then they reviled him, saying, ‘You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. 29We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.’ 30The man answered, ‘Here is an astonishing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. 31We know that God does not listen to sinners, but he does listen to one who worships him and obeys his will. 32Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. 33If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.’ 34They answered him, ‘You were born entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us?’ And they drove him out.

35Jesus heard that they had driven him out, and when he found him, he said, ‘Do you believe in the Son of Man?’ 36He answered, ‘And who is he, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him.’ 37Jesus said to him, ‘You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he.’ 38He said, ‘Lord, I believe.’ And he worshipped him. 39Jesus said, ‘I came into this world for judgement so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind.’ 40Some of the Pharisees near him heard this and said to him, ‘Surely we are not blind, are we?’ 41Jesus said to them, ‘If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, “We see”, your sin remains.