Jeremiah 25:8-17

8 Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts: Because you have not obeyed my words, 9 I am going to send for all the tribes of the north, says the LORD, even for King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon, my servant, and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants, and against all these nations around; I will utterly destroy them, and make them an object of horror and of hissing, and an everlasting disgrace. 10 And I will banish from them the sound of mirth and the sound of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp. 11 This whole land shall become a ruin and a waste, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. 12 Then after seventy years are completed, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity, says the LORD, making the land an everlasting waste. 13 I will bring upon that land all the words that I have uttered against it, everything written in this book, which Jeremiah prophesied against all the nations. 14 For many nations and great kings shall make slaves of them also; and I will repay them according to their deeds and the work of their hands.

The Cup of God’s Wrath

15 For thus the LORD, the God of Israel, said to me: Take from my hand this cup of the wine of wrath, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it. 16 They shall drink and stagger and go out of their minds because of the sword that I am sending among them.

17 So I took the cup from the LORD’s hand, and made all the nations to whom the LORD sent me drink it: (Jeremiah 25:8-17, NRSV)

On March 27, 2007 (Tuesday in the week of the Fifth Sunday of Lent, Year One), comments were repeated with revision and supplement from March 15, 2005 (Tuesday in the week of the Fifth Sunday of Lent, Year One); they are repeated again here with editing and supplement:

Today’s reading is taken from a section of Jeremiah that Marvin A. Sweeney calls “Submission to Babylonia” (The Jewish Study Bible, 2004, on Jer. 25:1-29:32). One might suppose that theme had been well covered, but we move backward in time at this point. While there is reference to King Zedekiah (597-586 B.C.) in Jeremiah 24:8, chapter 25 is dated in 605 B.C.: “The word (rbaDAha, haddāvar) that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of King Jehoiakim son of Josiah of Judah (that was the first year of King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon)” (Jer. 25:1). Sweeney this as introducing “Jeremiah’s oracle [cf. ‘word’] calling upon Judah and the nations to submit to Babylonia. Both in terms of literary placement and message,” he adds, “this is the central chapter of Jeremiah” (ibid., on 25:1-38). This “word” is explained as the word “which the prophet Jeremiah spoke to all the people of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem” (v. 2). If we are not in fact returned to the beginning of Jeremiah’s ministry during the reign of Jehoiakim, we are at least given something of a review. “for twenty-three years, from the thirteenth year of King Josiah son of Amon of Judah, to this day, the word of the LORD (hvhy-rbaD4, d ^evar-YHWH) has come to me, and I have spoken persistently to you but you have not listened” (v. 3). The reference to “the thirteenth year of King Josiah” is to 627 B.C., the date given in 1:2, and often taken as a reference to the beginning of Jeremiah’s prophetic activity. However, Josiah was killed in battle by Pharaoh Neco in 609 B.C. (2 Kgs. 23:29), and it would appear that little in the book of Jeremiah would relate to the last eighteen years of Josiah’s life. William L. Holladay concedes that “commentators have almost unanimously assumed, and without question, that 627 B.C. is the date for the beginning of Jeremiah’s career as a prophet,” but for such reasons as “no oracles of Jeremiah which can be assigned with any confidence to the time of Josiah’s reign,” he holds a different view (Jeremiah: Spokesman out of Time, 1974, pp. 18-22).

What, then, are we to make of the date 627 B.C., the thirteenth year of Josiah, which we find in 1:2? Is it a mistake? No, I do not think so, and the clue is right in front of us, in 1:5:

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,

and before you were born I consecrated you;

I appointed you a prophet to the nations.

It was when he was a youth, true, that Jeremiah responded to the call from God, but beyond that he sense that God had always been knocking at the door of his life, even from the time before he was born. I suggest, then, quite simply, that the thirteenth year of Josiah is the date of Jeremiah’s birth, and that whenever anyone would ask Jeremiah when the word of the Lord had come to him, he would reply, with utter justification, ‘In the thirteenth year of Josiah,’ because ‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you . . .’ (ibid., pp. 21-22).

If Holladay is correct, we would find an instance of this understanding, if not a reply as such, in 25:3. The audience is told, “you have not listened” (v. 3, as cited above). And Jeremiah adds that the people have failed to heed the warnings of “all his servants the prophets” (v. 4), warnings against evil ways and “wrong doings” (v. 5) and idolatry (vv. 6-7). For these reasons, he says, “Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts: Because you have not obeyed my words, I am going to send for all the tribes of the north, says the LORD, even for King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon, my servant, and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants, and against all these nations around; I will utterly destroy them, and make them an object of horror and of hissing, and an everlasting disgrace” (vv. 8-9). According to Mark E. Biddle, “tribes of the north [is] a reinterpretation of 6:1” (NOAB, 3^rd ed., 2001, on Jer. 25:9). “It is here,” says Sweeney, “that the peoples of the north are first identified as Babylon. This fits the historical background of the chapter (see v. 1 n. [where he explains the date 605 B.C. as ‘the year that Nebuchadrezzar defeated Egypt at Carchemish and took control of Judah’]” (op. cit., on v. 9).

The description of the devastation caused by the Babylonian conquest continues. “And I will banish from them [i.e., the Judeans] the sound of mirth and the sound of gladness,” says the LORD, “the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp” (v. 10). The special celebrations of ordinary life will become impossible. “This whole land shall become a ruin and a waste,” says the LORD, “and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon” (v. 11). Then a sign of hope emerges–if you can call it that, for not many of the present generation would live to see it. “Then after seventy years are completed,” says the LORD, “I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity, says the LORD, making the land an everlasting waste” (v. 12). Biddle comments on the time reference here. “Seventy years (cf. 29:10). The period from 605 BCE until the defeat of Babylon by Cyrus the Persian in 539 BCE is sixty-six years. Seventy, however, is likely a symbolic number, representing the length of a lifetime (Ps. 90:10). The prophecy of seventy years was reinterpreted several times in later centuries (see Zech 1:12; 2 Chr. 36:21; Dan. 9:2, 24-27)” (ibid., on vv. 11-12).

In the continuation, the LORD says, “I will bring upon that land all the words that I have uttered against it, everything written in this book, which Jeremiah prophesied against all the nations. For many nations and great kings shall make slaves of them also; and I will repay them according to their deeds and the work of their hands” (vv. 13-14). Jack R. Lundbom sees a break between verses twelve and thirteen:

Jeremiah’s speech [vv. 3-5] and the first two divine oracles [vv. 6-7, 8-11] are datable to the fourth year of Jehoiakim, i.e., 605 B.C. Oracle III [vv. 12-14], because of v. 13, must date to after 594/3 B.C., when Jeremiah is said to have written the Babylon collection of oracles into a book. (Jeremiah 21-36, Anchor Bible, 21B, 2004, p. 253, on Jer. 25:1-14)

In his letter to the exiles in Babylon, Jeremiah repeats the promise that the exile will end after seventy years (29:10). The “tables will be turned,” so to speak, on the Babylonians: “For many nations and great kings shall make slaves of them also; and I will repay them according to their deeds and the work of their hands” (25:14).

The concluding verses (Jer. 24:15-17 refer to “this cup of the wine of wrath” (v. 15), “this wrath-filled cup of wine,” in Lundbom’s translation (ibid., pp. 254, 257). He sees this as the report of a vision. Jeremiah

saw Yahweh hosting a banquet for the nations, and . . . he [Jeremiah] was appointed the server of wine. Yahweh told him to take the cup from his hand, a cup filled with the divine wrath, and make the nations round the table drink it. All would become thoroughly drunk, retch, and go mad, after which they would fall victim to a sword Yahweh is sending upon them. (ibid., p. 267, on Jer. 25:15-29)

Jerusalem and the cities of Judah are first to receive the wine of wrath (v. 18), Pharaoh and his servants are next (v. 19), and many other nations follow (vv. 20-26). Jeremiah is to force the liquor on these “guests.” “Drink, be drunk and vomit,” he is to say, “fall and rise no more, because of the sword which I am sending among you” (v. 27). If they refuse, Jeremiah is to say, “Thus says the LORD of Hosts: You must drink! For behold, I begin to work evil at the city which is called by my name, and shall you go unpunished? You shall not go unpunished, for I am summoning a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth, says the LORD of Hosts” (vv. 28-29).

Romans 10:1-13

10:1 Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. 2 I can testify that they have a zeal for God, but it is not enlightened. 3 For, being ignorant of the righteousness that comes from God, and seeking to establish their own, they have not submitted to God’s righteousness. 4 For Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.

Salvation Is for All

5 Moses writes concerning the righteousness that comes from the law, that “the person who does these things will live by them.” 6 But the righteousness that comes from faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ “ (that is, to bring Christ down) 7 “or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ “ (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 8 But what does it say?

“The word is near you,

on your lips and in your heart”

(that is, the word of faith that we proclaim);9 because if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.10 For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved. 11 The scripture says, “No one who believes in him will be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him. 13 For, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Romans 10:1-13, NRSV)

On July 11, 2008 (Friday in the week of the Sunday closest to July 6, Year Two), comments were repeated with some editing from March 27, 2007 (Tuesday in the week of the Second Sunday of Lent, Year One), when comments were repeated from July 14, 2006 (Friday in the week of the Sunday closest to July 6, Year Two), when they were combined and revised from July 9, 2004 in an email sent July 8, 2004, for July 8-9, and from March 15, 2005 (Tuesday of the week of the Fifth Sunday of Lent, Year One). They are repeated again here:

Paul remains concerned for his fellow Israelites, for the salvation of Israel: “my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved” (Rom. 10:1; cf. 9:2-3). Although “they have a zeal for God,” says Paul, he adds that “it is not enlightened” (v. 2). He explains: “For, being ignorant of the righteousness that comes from God, and seeking to establish their own, they have not submitted to God’s righteousness” (v. 3). “In Paul’s view,” says Neil Elliott, “Israel was ignorant in failing to submit to God’s righteousness, i.e., the righteousness offered through the ‘faith of Jesus Christ’ ” (NOAB, 3^rd ed., 2001, on Rom. 10:3). He explains the phrase, “faith of Jesus Christ” by reference to his earlier note on 3:22, “the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ ( dia; pivstewV  jIhsou: Cristou:, dia pisteōs Iēsou Christou)”: “The alternative translation in note a, the faith of Jesus Christ [a different interpretation of the genitive case, ‘of Jesus Christ’], is increasingly preferred. It conforms this phrase to identically structured in 3:3 (‘the faithfulness of God’) and 4:12, 16 (‘the faith of . . .Abraham’) and reflects the importance for Paul of Jesus’ faithful obedience (5:19; Phil. 2:8)” (ibid., on 3:22; cf. Ben Witherington III, with Darlene Hyatt, Paul’s Letter to the Romans; A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary. 2004, p. 101, on Rom. 3:22). Paul concludes his paragraph by saying, “For Christ is the end (tevlovV, telos) of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes” (10:4). According to Elliott, “the end of the law almost certainly means its goal, not its termination (3:31; 7:12, 16, 22; 9:30-32)” (on v. 4). The word tevlovV, (telos, ‘end’) is defined as “a point of time marking the end of a duration, end, termination, cessation” for Romans 9:4 (Bauer-Danker-Arndt-Gingrich [BDAG, s.v. tevlovV, telos, meaning no. (1) ), but a cross-reference points to meaning no. (3): “the goal toward which a movement is being directed, end, goal, outcome,” indicated for Mt. 26:58, Js. 5:11 and other New Testament references (Ibid., on meaning no. (3) ).

“How did the most religious of all peoples come to reject their own Messiah?” That was Paul’s question, as framed by C. K. Barrett (The Epistle to the Romans, Harper’s New Testament Commentaries, 1957, p. 195, on Romans 10:1-13). Paul’s answer, already given (ibid.), is found in 9:31-32: “Israel, who did strive for the righteousness that is based on the law, did not succeed in fulfilling that law. Why not? Because they did not strive for it on the basis of faith, but as if it were based on works.” “I can testify,” says Paul, “that they have a zeal for God, but it is not enlightened. “R. Judah b. Tema said : Be bold as a leopard, and light as an eagle, and swift as a gazelle, and strong as a lion to do the will of thy Father which is in heaven” (Mishnah, Aboth [trans., R. Travers Herford; ed. R. H. Charles] 5:23, http://tcoto.klaxo.net/apo/pseudo/pirke-aboth.htm, accessed again March 30, 2009). Barrett cites this saying and says, “the words of Judah b. Tema . . .

are no more than characteristic of Judaism at its best. No nation had given itself to God with such devoted and courageous zeal as Israel; yet it was also true that the eternal decree which had determined Israel’s unbelief could be traced in sins and errors for which Israel was responsible–an interplay of predestination and human responsibility characteristic of the Bible, and not to be disposed of in the interests of simplicity on one side or the other. (op. cit., p. 196, on Rom. 10:2)

Earlier, when Paul quoted Malachi (Rom. 9:13, citing Mal. 1:2-3), the issue for Malachi was the status of Israel and Edom as nations in the fifth century B.C., not that of the persons Jacob and Esau, who lived a millennium earlier. For Paul it was an example illustrating an abstract principle, God’s sovereignty and his right to choose. Douglas J. Moo’s attempt to make the issue in chapter nine the personal salvation of Jacob and/or Esau (Romans: The NIV Application Commentary, 1996, pp. 305-307, on Rom. 9:6-13) in the interest of a “generally (though not consistently) Calvinistic . . . soteriology” (p. 308) remains unconvincing. But the issue does become personal salvation in chapter ten.

By saying, “Moses writes concerning the righteousness that comes from the law, that ‘the person who does these things will live”(v. 5, citing Lev. 18:5), Paul supports his claim that salvation is for all. His interpretation of texts from Leviticus and Deuteronomy, is compared with the Old Testament texts in the following table:

Rabbi J. H. Hertz comments on this passage from Deuteronomy: “God’s commandment is not too hard nor distant; but nigh, clear, and practicable. Sheer life and death, good and evil, are set before Israel. Obedience means blessing; disobedience, destruction” (Pentateuch & Haftorahs, 2^nd ed., 24^th printing, 1981, on Deut. 30:11-14). But when Paul quotes Deuteronomy saying, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascended into heaven?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ down)” (Rom. 10:6), and adds, “or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead)” (v. 7), he substitutes Christ for “this commandment that I am commanding you today” (Deut:30:11); when Moses continues, “It [i.e., the commandment] is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will go up to heaven for us, and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?” (v. 12), the same substitution applies. T. W. Manson agrees: “Paul reinterprets Dt. 30:11-14 so that Christ takes the place of the ‘commandment’ or ‘word’ of God.” In Deuteronomy, Moses continues, “No, the word (rb1D!h1, haddāvar) is very near to you; it is in your mouth and in your heart for you to observe” (Deut. 30:14). The “word” in the Deuteronomy text, as indicated above, means the commandment. For Paul, it is “the word of faith that we proclaim;” it is “near you, / on your lips and in your heart” (Rom. 10:8).

Rabbi Hertz comments on Deuteronomy 30:14: “The word of God is on the lips of fathers and children, teachers and taught. Man can carry the Torah, unlike the Sanctuary, everywhere with him. ‘When thou walkest, it shall lead thee, when thou liest down, it shall watch over thee; and when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee’ (Prov. vi, 22).” And he adds, “R. Jose the son of Kisma applied those words to the Torah, thus: when thou walkest, it shall lead thee–in this world; when thou liest down, it shall watch over thee–in the grave; and when thou wakest, it shall talk with thee–in the world to come” (ibid., p. 882, on Deut. 30:14). According to G. A. Smith, as cited here by Rabbi Hertz, in the words “that thou mayest do it [Deut. 30:14 JPS 1917], Moses does not say it is easy, ‘but more justly and finely, that it carries with it the conscience and provocation to its fulfilment by man’ ” (Ibid.).

According to T. W. Manson, in verses 6 to 10 “Paul reinterprets Dt. 30:11-14 so that Christ takes the place of the ‘commandment’ or ‘word’ of God.” Manson adds, “What Christ brings is appropriated by those who accept and acknowledge him as Lord” (Peake’s Commentary on the Bible, 1962, reprinted 1972, sec. 824i, p. 948, on Rom. 10:6-10). Barrett explains Paul’s use of these Old Testament texts (op. cit., pp.198-199, on Rom. 10:5):

In this passage, the Deuteronomic writer claims that the law is not too difficult to fulfil. Like the author of Leviticus (see v. 5), he to speaks of ‘doing’, and adds that there is no reason why the law should not be done. In point of fact, it is doubtful whether he did think of the law in a strictly ‘nomistic’ [= legalistic?] way. Deuteronomy is full of the notion that God’s relations with his people rest upon grace. Paul, however, strikes out a fresh interpretation of the passage which seems to have no Jewish parallel, though it is worth noting that in I Bar. iii. 29 f. the words of Deuteronomy are taken to apply to ‘Wisdom’. So here, Paul supposes that they refer to Christ, though he takes the speaker to be the righteousness of God (v. 6), here described as the righteousness which has its root in faith.

As noted above, Paul speaks here about personal salvation. His prayer for the Jews is “that they may be saved” (10:1). Verses nine to thirteen state some conditions: “if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (v. 9). That’s the way it works, says Paul. “For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved” (v. 10). It is the same for the Jew and the Greek (v. 12). Two quotations from the Septuagint are used to demonstrate this point. “No one who believes in him will be put to shame” (v. 11; cf. 9:33) is cited from Isaiah 28:16 LXX, “he that believeth on him shall not be put to shame” (“in the style of the English Revised Version” [ERV], 1881, as used by Robert G. Bratcher, Old Testament Quotations in the New Testament, 3^rd ed., 1987, p. 43); Hebrew text (as in the ERV): “he that believeth shall not make haste.” “For, ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved’” (Rom. 10:13). “Then everyone who calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved” (Joel 2:32 [3:5 in Hebrew]). Bratcher cites the ERV: “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Joel 3:5 LXX); “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be delivered” (Joel 3:5 Hebrew text). The Septuagint translates Fl2m0!y9 (yimmālët, “get oneself to safety,” “be delivered”) with swqhvsetai / sōthësetai (“shall be saved”).

John 9:18-41

18 The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight 19 and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” 20 His parents answered, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; 21 but we do not know how it is that now he sees, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.” 22 His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus to be the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. 23 Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”

24 So for the second time they called the man who had been blind, and they said to him, “Give glory to God! We know that this man is a sinner.” 25 He answered, “I do not know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” 26 They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” 27 He answered them, “I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?” 28 Then they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. 29 We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.” 30 The man answered, “Here is an astonishing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. 31 We know that God does not listen to sinners, but he does listen to one who worships him and obeys his will. 32 Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” 34 They answered him, “You were born entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us?” And they drove him out.

Spiritual Blindness

35 Jesus heard that they had driven him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” 36 He answered, “And who is he, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him.” 37 Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he.” 38 He said, “Lord, I believe.” And he worshiped him. 39 Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind.” 40 Some of the Pharisees near him heard this and said to him, “Surely we are not blind, are we?” 41 Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, ‘We see.’ your sin remains. (John 9:18-41, NRSV)

On September 5, 2008 (Friday in the week of the Sunday closest to August 31, Year Two), comments were repeated with some editing and supplement from March 27, 2007 (Tuesday in the week of the Fifth Sunday of Lent, Year One), when comments were repeated from March 15, 2005 (Tuesday of the week of the Fifth Sunday in Lent, Year One), comments that were repeated from February 14, 2006 (Tuesday in the week of the Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany, Year Two), and from September 8, 2006 (Friday in the week of the Sunday closest to August 31, Year Two); they are repeated again here:

The Jews, who “did not believe that he [the healed blind man] had been blind and had received his sight” (Jn. 9:18), interrogate the parents (vv. 19-23). “Is this your son,” they ask, “who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” (v. 19). The parents confirm his blindness from birth. “We know that this is our son,” they say, “and that he was born blind” (v. 20). But they profess no knowledge of how he now sees, adding, “but we do not know how it is that now he sees, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself” (v. 21). John explains: “His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus to be the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue” (v. 22; cf. 12:42; 16:2). According to John, that is why (dia; tou:to, dia touto) his parents said, “He is of age; ask him” (v. 23). Obery M. Hendricks, Jr. suggests that John’s telling the story “seems to reflect the author’s concern–or experience–that those in positions of religious control in his own setting might force Christian believers from community fellowship” (NOAB, 3rd ed., 2001, on Jn. 9:34). That may well be the case, but it need not imply that John has changed the story in a significant way. Harold W. Attridge holds a view similar to that of Hendricks. Attridge says, “Jewish Christians were not put out of the synagogue until after Jesus’ lifetime, perhaps the 80s CE” (HarperCollins Study Bible, rev. ed., 2006, on Jn. 92). At best, that is an argument from silence–a rather weak form of argument. The parents may have feared such a consequence. In any case, it may well be that the beloved disciple has told and retold this story, as admonition, perhaps, or encouragement to Jewish Christian believers within the Johannine community who had experienced, or might experience, excommunication from synagogues.

So the Jews confront the healed blind man “for the second time . . . “Give glory to God!” they tell him. “We know that this man is a sinner” (v. 24). “Give glory to God,” says Hendricks, is “a technical phrase adjuring the man to tell the truth (Josh. 7:19).” And Hendricks explains, “one who broke the sabbath must be a sinner” (op. cit., on Jn. 9:24). But the healed blind man is unwilling to call Jesus a sinner. “I do not know whether he is a sinner,” he says. “One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see” (v. 25). Their questions persist. ““What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” (v. 26). The healed blind man responds by chiding them. ““I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?” (v. 27; cf. v. 15). Their conversation takes on a hard edge, as “they reviled him, saying, ‘You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from’ ” (vv. 28-29). The contrast between Moses and Jesus reminds the reader of the comparison of the “manna in the wilderness” (6:31) and Jesus as “the bread of life” (6:31), the “bread that came down from heaven” (6:41). Their persistent questions reveal an intention not to believe which, for the healed blind man is astonishing: “Here is an astonishing thing!” he exclaims. “You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes” (v. 30). “God does not listen to sinners,” he says, “but he does listen to the one who worships him and obeys his will” (v. 31). He adds that what Jesus has done–healed his blindness–is totally unprecedented. “Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing” (vv. 32-33). We can paraphrase their response as, “How dare you presume to teach us?” “You who were born entirely in sins,” they say, “and are you trying to teach us” (v. 34a), and they expelled him [from the Synagogue] (v. 34b).

From this confrontation the scene shifts. When “Jesus heard that they had driven him out,” he finds the healed blind man and says, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” (v. 35; cf. 1:51; 3:14-15; 6:37, 53; 8:28). His answer is clearly affirmative, “Lord, I believe,” and he follows with “worship” (v. 38). Jesus responds by setting up the contrast between the blind man who now sees, and the spiritual blindness of those who fail to believe. He says, “I came into this world for judgment so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind” (v. 39; cf. 3:19; 5:22, 24, 30; 8:16; 12:30; 16:8, 11). John tells us that “some of the Pharisees near [Jesus] heard this and said to him, ‘Surely we are not blind, are we?” (v. 40). Their question, introduced by the negative particle mhv (mē, rather than ouj, ou), shows that they expect a negative response, “No, of course you are not blind!” But Jesus instead provides the answer that, in their heart of hearts, they expected. “If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains” (v. 41).

In the NRSV, quotation marks indicate that Jesus’ response extends from 9:41 through 10:5 (so many recent translations, e.g. NEB, RSV, NIV, TNIV, NKJV, New Living Bible), thus making the “thieves and bandits” (10:8; cf. vv. 1, 10) of the Parable (or analogy) of the Good Shepherd (10:1-18), tomorrow’s reading, a reference to these Pharisees (9:40). Quotation marks, that were not used in the ancient manuscripts, are inserted in the translated text at the discretion of modern translators and editors. Several versions not cited above lack quotation marks; thus, there appears to be a general consensus that in John’s narrative the thieves and bandits of the parable represent the Pharisees who challenged the healed blind man. According to Hendricks, “the Pharisees’ refusal to admit spiritual blindness demonstrates their sin” (op. cit., on v. 41). Lord, open our eyes, that we may see!

Ronald D. Worden, Ph.D.

rdworden@hgst.edu

deanworden@comcast.net