52 "The Jews said unto him, Now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and thou sayest, If a man keep my word, he shall never taste of 53 death. Art thou greater than our father Abraham, which 54 is dead? and the prophets are dead; whom makest thou 55 thyself? Jesus answered, If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing; it is my Father that glorifieth me; of whom ye 56 say, that he is your God; and ye have not known him, but I know him; and if I should say, I know him not, I shall be like unto you, a liar; but I know him, and keep his word. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day; and he saw it, 57 and was glad. The Jews therefore said unto him, Thou art 58 not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before 59 Abraham was, I am. They took up stones therefore to cast at him; but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple. 1 And as he passed by, he saw a man blind from his birth. 2 And his disciples asked him, saying, Rabbi, who did sin, 3 this man, or his parents, that he should be born blind? Jesus answered, Neither did this man sin, nor his parents; 4 but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. 5 We must work the works of him that sent me, while it is 6 day; the night cometh, when no man can work. When I am in the world, I am the Light of the world. When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of 7 the spittle, and anointed his eyes with the clay, and said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam (which is by interpretation, Sent). He went away therefore, and washed, 8 and came seeing. The neighbors therefore, and they which 9 saw him aforetime, that he was a beggar, said, Is not this 10 he that sat and begged? Others said, It is he; others said, 11 No, but he is like him. He said, I am he. They said therefore unto him, How then were thine eyes opened? 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."
QUESTIONS.
Of what did the Jews regard the last statement of Jesus as proof?
By what course of reasoning did they prove his statement to be unreasonable?
How did they regard him in comparison with Abraham and the prophets?
On what ground did Jesus base his claim to greatness?
What did he say to them concerning his acquaintance with God?
In what statement did he declare his preeminence over Abraham?
How did the Jews show their failure to apprehend the real meaning of Jesus?
In what unequivocal terms did Jesus then declare his divinity? With what result?
How did Jesus save himself from their attack?
As he left the Jews, whom did Jesus meet?
What inquiry did the disciples make concerning this man?
Did Jesus regard the man's misfortune as the result of sin? What opportunity was afforded by this condition?
What did Jesus say concerning his work?
What did he declare himself to be?
What outward ceremony did Jesus then perform?
What did he command the man to do? What was the result of obedience to his directions?
What inquiry was made by those who had known of his former condition?
What did some of them say? What did others say? What did he say?
What question did they ask him?
What account did he give of the miracle?
For whom did they then inquire? What reply did the man make?
NOTES.
1. Jesus came to be the bearer of eternal life to13the world (John 6:51), but the very assertion of the purpose of his mission became to the darkened minds of the Jews evidence that he was possessed of "a demon." The Jews said, "Now we know that thou hast a devil," but their knowledge was not based upon faith, and so was not fact, but rather falsehood. They were being taught by a liar (chapter 8:44), and were believing a lie (2 Thess. 2:11); but those who are taught of God "may know" through faith that Christ's words are true (1 John 5:13, R. V.). As his words are life (John 6:63) and he is the Word, those who keep his words find him in them, and so find life (Prov. 8:35). What the Jews were thinking of as death was changed into sleep by the work of Christ for man. 1 Cor. 15:22. Death comes later to those who have not laid hold on "the life which is life indeed." 1 Tim. 6:19, R. V.
2. "If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing; it is my Father that glorifieth me." Verse 54, R. V. Christ glorified not himself (Heb. 5:5), but he desired glory, that he might shed it back again upon his Father, who gave it to him.
3. In verse 58 Jesus makes the plainest declaration of his divinity and preëxistence. He declares himself to be the I AM, as he did later in the presence of the high priest. Mark 14:61, 62. "He appropriated the incommunicable name of Jehovah."
4. The connection between the eighth and ninth chapters is very close, and should not be broken. The Jews were rich and increased with goods and had need of nothing, and so refused the treasures offered to them in Christ. He was driven from them, and so "passed by" them, but in doing so he found the blind beggar, and gave him light.
5. In his reply to the question of the disciples, Jesus "did not mean to suggest that there is no such thing as suffering for individual or hereditary sin. . . . It was our Lord's intention to warn the disciples against a curious and uncharitable scrutiny of any man's life to find the cause of his misfortunes. We have to do rather with the future than with the past; rather with the question how we can help the man out of his difficulties, than with the question how he got himself into them. . . . No matter what has caused the suffering, here it certainly is always with us, and what we have to do with it is to find in it material and opportunity for a work of God. . . . We can cause men to feel that God is thinking of them, and has sent help through us to them. . . . If men can be induced to believe in the love of their fellow men, they are well on the road to belief in the love of God." "It is true that sin brings suffering; but there is some suffering which is not the evidence of special wrongdoing. . . . Suffering is permitted for wise and good reasons, which we shall one day comprehend, and among them is this: That it may provide a platform on which the grace and power of God may manifest themselves, each new phase of evil leading to some new forthcoming of the heart of God. . . . If there is need for the works of God to be manifested, we must be at hand, and willing at all costs to manifest them. . . . The unique work of healing blindness and enriching beggary is confined to earth, and we must hasten to do all of this allotted to us before the nightfall."
6. Christ, who was the Light of heaven, was sent into the world that he might be "the Light of the world." So dense was the darkness in which men were living, and so glorious was the light which he came to manifest, that it was necessary to veil the light lest men should be destroyed by it. So he clothed his divinity with humanity. If this Light is received and followed as the "Light of life," our path will grow brighter (Prov. 4:18) until we shall be able to endure the vision of his perfect glory (John 17:24) in the world of light. As he is the Light of this world, so he will be of the heavenly city. Rev. 21:23.
7. "The waters of Siloam by their very name ['Sent'] were a perpetual reminder to the Jews of the water of life which God sent to them in the desert land of their wanderings, and a parable of the true water of life which he would send to them in the desert land of this world's evil. How impressively, as he washed his blindness away, must they have spoken to the blind man of the healing mercy which had been sent to him by the Stranger, with the result that his spiritual vision was likewise restored!"
Suggestions for Further Study.
In this lesson we have the plainest statements yet made of Christ's divinity ("My Father . . . is your God"), and his preëxistence ("Before Abraham was I am"), and also the strongest outbreak of unbelief yet noted. The greater the light rejected, the greater the darkness. See Matt. 6:23.
How did Abraham see Christ's day?
What lesson is taught in the fact that Jesus used some outward means in restoring sight to the blind?
What added force is given to this miracle by the statement that the man "was blind from his birth"?
Compare this miracle with the one recorded in 2 Kings 5:9-14. Note the similarities and the differences.
How is life only in Christ taught in this lesson?
The combination, "verily, verily," occurs repeatedly in this Gospel, but not once in any of the others. "Verily" is our word "amen." In Isaiah 65:16 God is called "the God of Amen" (R. V., margin). Compare 2 Cor. 1:20. What is the lesson taught?
