John 9:41 — Community Reflections

JOHN 9:41 — KING JAMES VERSION 0

“Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.”

Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth — Jesus's response reveals the paradox of the Pharisees' condition: if they were truly blind (ignorant), they would have no responsibility for sin. But they claim to see ('we see'), to have knowledge, understanding, and authority. Their sin is not ignorance but willful refusal of truth—the claim to see while rejecting the light. 'Therefore your sin remaineth'—their sin is not forgiven because it is not acknowledged. They stand in judgment: convicted by their own claim to knowledge, they are bound by their refusal of truth. The Gospel ends on this note of tragic judgment: those who see themselves as sighted are actually blind; those who acknowledge blindness receive sight.

Church Fathers on John 9:41

Those who suffer for the truth’s sake, and confession of Christ, come to greatest honor; as we see in the instance of the blind man. For the Jews cast him out of the temple, and the Lord of the temple found him; and received him as the judge cloth the wrestler after his labors, and crowned him: Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when He had found him, He said to him, Do you believe in the Son of God? The Evangelist makes it plain that Jesus came in order to say this…
Chrysostom · 4th century

If any mere confession whatsoever of Christ were the perfection of faith, it would have been said, Do you believe in Christ? But inasmuch as all heretics would have had this name in their mouths, confessing Christ, and yet denying the Son, that which is two of Christ alone, is required of our faith, viz. that we should believe in the Son of God. But what avails it to believe on the Son of God as being a creature, when we are required to have faith in Christ, not as a creature…
Hilary of Poitiers · 4th century

This He says to remind him of his cure, which had given him the power to see. And observe, He that speaks is born of Mary, and the son is the Son of God, not two different Persons, according to the error of Nestorius: And it is He that talks with you.
Theophylact · 11th century

Read all 14 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain

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