Homilies on the Gospel of John

“If you were blind, you should have no sin.”

Since they deemed the calamity a matter to be ashamed of, He turns this back upon their own head, telling them, that “this very thing would have rendered your punishment more tolerable”; cutting away on every side their human thoughts, and leading them to a notion high and marvelous.

“But now ye say, We see.”

As He says in that other place, “Of whom you said that He was your God”; so too here, “Now ye say that you see, but you see not.” He shows that what they deemed a great matter for praise, brought punishment upon them. He also comforted him who was blind from his birth, concerning his former maimed state, and then speaks concerning their blindness. For He directs His whole speech to this end, that they may not say, “We did not refuse to come to you owing to our blindness, but we turn away and avoid you as a deceiver.”

2. And not without a cause has the Evangelist mentioned, that they of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these things, and said, “Are we blind also?” but to remind you that these were the men who first withdrew from and then stoned Him, for they were persons who followed Him superficially, and who easily changed to the contrary opinion. How then does He prove that He is not a deceiver, but a Shepherd? By laying down the distinguishing marks both of the shepherd, and of him who is a deceiver and a spoiler, and from these affording them opportunity of searching into the truth of the matter. And first He shows who is a deceiver and a spoiler, calling him so from the Scriptures, and saying,