Bible Commentaries

The Birth-mark

John 9:1

The text is "from his birth"; that is to say, from the very moment of his first breathing; something he brought into the world with him and which John 9:4

I. In studying our Lord's life we cannot but be struck with the fact that it was a life of work; that He Who came into this world, not only to redeem us, but to be our example, recognises both in word and deed the duty of labour. (1) The first lesson these words teach us John 9:4

Sharp, clear, and well defined, five characters stand out before us in this chapter.

I. In the first place, we have our blessed Lord Himself. He stands before us as a worker, as a model for all workers. (1) Mark His majesty. (2) His devotion to His work. His whole soul yearned to benefit His fellow-men, and therefore "I must work". (3) And then, thirdly, see His love. How glorious is the King of Israel today! How grandly majestic! How devotedly loyal to Him that sent Him! And how gently loving to the outcast and to the sad!

II. Very different is the next character in the chapter. His disciples! Oh, how far short they fall of the Master! As soon as they saw the blind man they turned to the Master and said, "Who did sin, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" They thought here was an excellent opportunity of getting some information on a very difficult subject. There is such a thing as religious curiosity. The devil says: Here is a blind John 9:4

Dr. Annesley, one of whose daughters was the mother of John Wesley, entered his pulpit for the last time, saying, "I must work while it is day," and died with ecstatic exclamations on his lips. "I have no doubt nor shadow of doubt—all is clear between God and my soul. He chains up Satan; he cannot trouble me. Come, dear Jesus! the nearer the more precious and the more welcome. What manner of love is this to a poor worm! I cannot express a thousandth part of what praise is due to Thee. We know what we do when we aim at praising God for His mercies. It is but little I can give, but Lord help me to give Thee my all. I will die praising Thee, and rejoice that there are others that can praise Thee better. I shall be satisfied with Thy likeness—satisfied, satisfied. Oh, my dearest Jesus, I come." The old register of St. Leonard"s, Shoreditch, for December, 1696 , has this entry: "Samuel Annesley was buried the seventh day, from Spittle Yard".

John 9:4

Compare the closing words of A Candid Examination of Theism, written by Mr. G. J. Romanes in1876 during his agnostic phase: "Forasmuch as I am far from being able to agree with those who affirm that the twilight doctrine of the "new faith" is a desirable substitute for the waning splendour or the "old," I am not ashamed to confess that with this virtual negation of God the universe to me has lost its soul of loveliness; and although from henceforth the precept to "work while it is day," will doubtless but gain an intensified force from the terribly intensified meaning of the words that "the night cometh when no man can work," yet when at times I think, as I must think at times, of the appalling contrast between the hallowed glory of that creed, which once was mine, and the lonely mystery of existence as now I find it, at such times I shall ever feel it impossible to avoid the sharpest pang of which my nature is susceptible."

John 9:4

I must home to work while it is called day; for the night cometh when no man can work. I put that text, many a year ago, on my dial-stone, but it often preached in vain.

—Sir Walter Scott.

John 9:4

At this time I observed upon the dial-plate of his watch a short Greek inscription, taken from the New Testament, νὺξ γὰρ ἔρχεται, being the first words of our Saviour's solemn admonition to the improvement of that time which it allowed us to prepare for eternity: "The night cometh when no man can work".

—Boswell's Life of Johnson.

John 9:4

In life we are strangled between two doors, of which the one is labelled Too Soon, the other Too Late.

—Barbey d"Aurevilly.

References.—IX:4—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xiii. No766 , and vol. xvi. No943. W. S. Perry, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lii. p214. R. Allen, The Words of Christ, p149. J. R. Miller, Preacher's Magazine, vol. xviii. p369. J. T. Bramston, Fratribus, p60. J. C. M. Bellew, Sermons, vol. i. pp63,73. R. Flint, Sermons and Addresses, p264. E. B. Pusey, Oxford Lent Sermons, 1868 , p69. J. Keble, Sermons for Lent to Passion-tide, p367. C. D. Bell, The Power of God, p184. T. Arnold, The Interpretation of Scripture, p164. J. J. Blunt, Plain Sermons (2Series), p142. W. J. E. Bennett, Sermons Preached at the London Mission, 1869 , p167. D. Fraser, Metaphors in the Gospels, p305. Expositor (6th Series), vol. vi. p442. A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture—St. John 9:25

Such was the answer returned by the man who had been blind from his birth to the Pharisees before whom the excited neighbours had dragged him to give an account of his cure.

The whole of this scene, the cure itself and the debate which followed it, is full of spiritual meaning.

I. As to the Cure.—It was avowedly wrought with a spiritual object, intended to be typical, prophetic, for our Lord prefaced it with that great utterance which went far beyond the immediate case, "I am the Light of the World," and He followed it up by not less significant words, "For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind". The spiritual, not the physical, was uppermost in His mind. The bestowal of sight was indeed to the man a priceless boon, but the immediate boon, the gift of a faculty hitherto withheld, was, after all, secondary and subordinate. It was the token of a deeper benefit, the sign and token of a greater illumination, to proclaim to the world the reality of that virtue which can come forth from Christ alone to pour light divine on the darkened soul. In that John 9:35

What is it to believe on the Son of God? It just consists in hearing God's testimony, receiving God's gift, and living on Him from day to day.

I. Seeing that God's Word bears testimony to His Son Jesus Christ, receive that testimony: for "he that hath received His testimony hath set to his seal that God is true" ( John 3:33). Now, what is the testimony? See 1 John 5:10-11 : "He that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of His Son. And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son."

II. The next matter is to receive Him as the gift of God.

III. Then go on from day to day living on Christ, whom you have received, and in whom you have believed, confiding to Him all your troubles, leaning on Him in all your difficulties, coming to Him in every time of need, trusting in Him always.

IV. Now faith in the Son of God cannot be too simple, definite, individual, and childlike. People make great mistakes on this subject. (1) To believe that you love the Lord Jesus Christ very much is not to believe on the Son of God. (2) To believe that Christ died for you personally is not to believe on the Son of God. (3) There are those who argue thus: "I cannot see clearly in the Bible that I have an interest in Christ". To believe in your interest in Christ is one thing, to believe on. the Son of God on the warrant of God's testimony is quite another. It is as you believe on the Son of God you will come into the enjoyment of realising your interest in Him. It is by believing the fact of His interest in me I come to realise that I have an interest in Him.

—Marcus Rainsford, The Fullness of God, p193.

Dost Thou Believe?

John 9:35

This is a very grave and solemn question, which it would be well for every man to answer for Himself. It was asked of the man that was born blind, whose eyes our Lord had opened miraculously. The answer of the man was in the form of another question: "Who is John 9:39

We have, in our Lord's interview with this sturdy blind John 9:39

That is the comment which presents itself to Jesus, as He thinks over this episode of the healing of the blind man. While the blind man had reached belief, the Pharisees had become hardened in unbelief. Christ's words still remain true, and have a meaning for us now.

I. The Pharisees and the man whom they cast out may alike be taken as exemplifying at the present day the strange paradox of Jesus, which still holds good about blindness and sight in things spiritual, that those who see not eventually see, while those who see are made blind. It still remains true that in respect of our reception or rejection of His message our Lord came into this world for judgment. Christ's object in coming was not to judge but to save. But though judgment was not a motive, it was a necessary result of His coming. Do not let us suppose that we can altogether escape responsibility for our beliefs on the ground of the difficulty which we feel about the evidence. Christ says, "If thou canst believe". He does not wish us to force ourselves to believe against the protests of our reason. It is with the heart that man believeth unto righteousness. The contrite heart, the purified affections, the spirit of unselfishness, the struggle against evil, the consecration of the will, the longing for goodness and God—these are the gifts which we must have before we can attain true spiritual insight. The judgment, as He describes it, turns entirely on the distinction between loving good and loving evil.

II. It is not difficult nowadays to find examples of both these classes of people. (1) There are still people who in some respects resemble the Pharisees. Like the Pharisees they feel a pride in their intellectual superiority to the average man. Like the Pharisees, they say, We see. But is it uncharitable to suggest that in some respects they are all the while really blind? Blind because the organ of the spiritual vision has become impaired in them. (2) What a contrast it is to turn to the opposite type of character, which begins by not seeing and eventually comes to see. Still there are in the world simple, humble-minded natures, the little children whom our Saviour bids us resemble, the babes to whom the Father reveals those things which He has hidden from the wise and prudent.

—H. G. Woods (Master of the Temple), Church Family Newspaper, vol. xv. p492.

References.—IX:39.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxx. No1798. W. R. Inge, All Saints" Sermons, 1905-1907 , p1. Expositor (5th Series), vol. vi. p328.

John 9:41

"Spain sleeps on," says Buckle, "untroubled, unheeding, impassive, receiving no impressions from the rest of the world, and making no impressions upon it. There she lies.... And what is the worst symptom of all; she is satisfied with her own condition. Though she is the most backward country in Europe, she believes herself to be the foremost-References.—IX:41.—Expositor (5th Series), vol. vi. p230. X:1-10.—Expositor (6th Series), vol. vi. p33. X:1-16.—Ibid. vol. i. p466; ibid. vol. xi. p60. X:1-18.—Ibid. vol. iii. p471.