Homilies on the Gospel of John

“Neither has this man sinned, nor his parents.”

This He says not as acquitting them of sins, for He says not simply, “Neither has this man sinned, nor his parents,” but adds, “that he should have been born blind — but that the Son of God should be glorified in him.” “For both this man has sinned and his parents, but his blindness proceeds not from that.” And this He said, not signifying that though this man indeed was not in such case, yet that others had been made blind from such a cause, the sins of their parents, since it cannot be that when one sins another should be punished. For if we allow this, we must also allow that he sinned before his birth. As therefore when He declared, “neither has this man sinned,” He said not that it is possible to sin from one's very birth, and be punished for it; so when He said, “nor his parents,” He said not that one may be punished for his parents' sake. This supposition He re moves by the mouth of Ezekiel; “As I live says the Lord, this proverb shall not be, that is used, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge.” And Moses says, “The father shall not die for the child, neither shall the child die for the father.” And of a certain king Scripture says, that for this very reason he did not this thing, observing the law of Moses. But if any one argue, “How then is it said, 'Who visits the sins of the parents upon the children unto the third and fourth generation'?”; we should make this answer, that the assertion is not universal, but that it is spoken with reference to certain who came out of Egypt. And its meaning is of this kind; “Since these who have come out of Egypt, after signs and wonders, have become worse than their forefathers who saw none of these things, they shall suffer,” It says, “the same that those others suffered, since they have dared the same crimes.” And that it was spoken of those men, any one who will give attention to the passage will more certainly know. Wherefore then was he born blind?

“That the glory of God should be made manifest,” He says.

Lo, here again is another difficulty, if without this man's punishment, it was not possible that the glory of God should be shown. Certainly it is not said that it was impossible, for it was possible, but, “that it might be manifested even in this man.” “What,” says some one, “did he suffer wrong for the glory of God?” What wrong, tell me? For what if God had never willed to produce him at all? But I assert that he even received benefit from his blindness: since he recovered the sight of the eyes within. What were the Jews profited by their eyes? They incurred the heavier punishment, being blinded even while they saw. And what injury had this man by his blindness? For by means of it he recovered sight. As then the evils of the present life are not evils, so neither are the good things good; sin alone is an evil, but blindness is not an evil. And He who had brought this man from not being into being, had also power to leave him as he was.

2. But some say, that this conjunction is not at all expressive of cause, but relates to the consequence of the miracle; as when He says, “For judgment I have come into this world, that they which see not might see, and that they which see might be made blind”; and yet it was not for this He came, that those who saw might be made blind. And again Paul, “Because that which may be known of God is manifested in them, that they may be without excuse”; yet He showed it not unto them for this, that they might be deprived of excuse, but that they might obtain excuse. And again in another place, “The Law entered, that the offense might abound”; yet it was not for this that it entered, but that sin might be checked. Do you see everywhere that the conjunction relates to the consequence? For as some excellent architect may build part of a house, and leave the rest unfinished, so that to those who believe not he may prove, by means of that remnant, that he is author of the whole; so also God joins together and completes our body, as it were a house decayed, healing the withered hand, bracing the palsied limbs, straightening the lame, cleansing the lepers, raising up the sick, making sound the crippled, recalling the dead from death, opening the eyes that were closed, or adding them where before they were not; all which things, being blemishes arising from the infirmity of our nature, He by correcting showed His power.

But when He said, “That the glory of God might be manifested,” He spoke of Himself, not of the Father; His glory was already manifest. For since they had heard that God made man, taking the dust of the earth, so also Christ made clay. To have said, “I am He who took the dust of the earth, and made man,” would have seemed a hard thing to His hearers; but this when shown by actual working, no longer stood in their way. So that He by taking earth, and mixing it with spittle, showed forth His hidden glory; for no small glory was it that He should be deemed the Architect of the creation.

And after this the rest also followed; from the part, the whole was proved, since the belief of the greater also confirmed the less. For man is more honorable than any created thing, and of our members the most honorable is the eye. This is the cause that He fashioned the eyes, not in a common manner, but in the way that He did. For though that member be small in size, yet it is more necessary than any part of the body. And this Paul showed when he said, “If the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?” For all indeed that is in us is a manifestation of the wisdom of God, but much more the eye; this it is that guides the whole body, this gives beauty to it all, this adorns the countenance, this is the light of all the limbs. What the sun is in the world, that the eye is in the body; quench the sun, and you destroy and confound all things; quench the eyes, and the feet, the hands, the soul, are useless. When these are disabled, even knowledge is gone, since by means of these we know God. “For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made.” Wherefore the eye is not only a light to the body, but beyond the body to the soul also. On which account it is established as in a royal fortress, obtaining the higher condition, and presiding over the other senses. This then Christ forms.

And that you may not deem that He needs matter when He works, and that you may learn that He had not need at all of clay, (for He who brought into being the greater existences when as yet they were not, would much more have made this without matter,) that I say you may learn that He did not this through necessity, but to show that He was the Creator at the beginning, when He had spread on the clay He says, “Go, wash,” “that you may know that I need not clay to create eyes, but that My glory may be manifested hereby.” For to show that He spoke of Himself when He said, “That the glory of God may be manifested,” He added,