Elightenment - Week 12

John 9


Note: The study related to these questions may be found at Catholic Exchange. Please go to their site for the complete material concerning this study. Unless otherwise noted, on scriptural references are from the Revised Standard Version (RSV). Below are my thoughts on the questions presented for the given study (Please see disclaimer at bottom).

Read John 9:1-41

1. The question the disciples ask Jesus in verse 2 is based upon a presupposition. What is the assumption behind the question?
(a) The presupposition that the blind man is suffering due to either his sin or the sin of his parents is based on the assumption that suffering is of no merit, or worse, a curse from God.

2. Read Isaiah 53:3-6. What light does Isaiah shed on the question the disciples ask Jesus in verse 2?
(a) From the Book of the Prophet Isaiah:

3: He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4: Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 5: But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that made us whole, and with his stripes we are healed. 6: All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Is 53:3-6)
This shows that it is not God who afflicted Christ in His suffering but rather each one of us who sin.

3. Read Ezekiel 18:1-4. How do these verses in Ezekiel relate to verses 2-3 in today's reading?
(a) From the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel:
1: The word of the LORD came to me again: 2: "What do you mean by repeating this proverb concerning the land of Israel, `The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge'? 3: As I live, says the Lord GOD, this proverb shall no more be used by you in Israel. 4: Behold, all souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sins shall die. (Ez 18:1-4)
These verses relate how it is through the Son of God that "sins shall die".

4. In verse 3 Christ explains that the blind man suffers not because of sin, but so the works of God might be made manifest in him. Read Catechism nos. 1508 and 1521. What does Christ mean when He says that a person suffers so that the works of God might be made manifest in him?
(a) From the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
The Holy Spirit gives to some a special charism of healing so as to make manifest the power of the grace of the risen Lord. But even the most intense prayers do not always obtain the healing of all illnesses. Thus St. Paul must learn from the Lord that "my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness," and that the sufferings to be endured can mean that "in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his Body, that is, the Church." (CCC, 1508)
Union with the passion of Christ. By the grace of this sacrament the sick person receives the strength and the gift of uniting himself more closely to Christ's Passion: in a certain way he is consecrated to bear fruit by configuration to the Savior's redemptive Passion. Suffering, a consequence of original sin, acquires a new meaning; it becomes a participation in the saving work of Jesus. (CCC, 1521)
It is an opportunity for each of us to help ease the suffering of another. We, being the Body of Christ, are called to follow the example of Christ.

5. Return to John 8:12-13. What theme from these verses is repeated in verse 5 of today's reading? What is the significance of Jesus' actually giving a man physical sight, especially through the means of rubbing clay on his eyes? (Hint: Read Genesis 2:7 and Catechism nos. 1084 and 1131).
(a) From the Gospel of John:
12: Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." 13: The Pharisees then said to him, "You are bearing witness to yourself; your testimony is not true." (John 8:12-13)
The theme that Jesus is "the light of the world". (b) From the Book of Genesis:
then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. (Gen 2:7)
From the Catechism of the Catholic Church
"Seated at the right hand of the Father" and pouring out the Holy Spirit on his Body which is the Church, Christ now acts through the sacraments he instituted to communicate his grace. The sacraments are perceptible signs (words and actions) accessible to our human nature. By the action of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit they make present efficaciously the grace that they signify. (CCC, 1084)
The sacraments are efficacious signs of grace, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, by which divine life is dispensed to us. The visible rites by which the sacraments are celebrated signify and make present the graces proper to each sacrament. They bear fruit in those who receive them with the required dispositions. (CCC, 1131)


6. Refer back to John 7:37-39, as well as to Exodus 17: 6, Numbers 10:10-13 and Ezekiel 47:1-12. What connection do these verses have to JesusE telling the blind man to "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam (which means Sent)"?
(a)

7. Read verse 16 and then verse 24. What preoccupation do the Pharisees have with questioning the blind man so rigorously? What is it that the Pharisees fail to see?
(a)

8. What is so revealing about the Pharisees insistence on asking the blind man over and over again what happened, especially considering he gives them the same account every time?
(a)

9. Read sequentially verses 11, 17, 35 and 38. What difference do you notice in each verse? What is the importance of these distinctions?
(a)

10. What do verses 20-23 reveal to us?
(a)

Disclaimer: I do not wish to present myself as an expert in either theology, history, or scriptural interpretation. I am merely someone who is attempting to answer the call of Christ. The ultimate authority and interpreter of scripture is our Holy Catholic Church. If at any point I deviate from the teachings of the Church, please correct me, alfredo@nevarez.net, as this is my shortcoming and in no way meant to be an expression of my views superceding those of the Church founded by Jesus Christ.

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 Alfredo Nevarez
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