Daily Scripture Readings

Thursday (September 2, 2010)*

Daily Office Lectionary, The Book of Common Prayer, the Episcopal Church in the U.S.A., 1979; cf. The Revised Common Lectionary (RCL), Abingdon Press, 1992

Daily Lectionary, Book of Common Worship, the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A., 1993

Daily Lectionary, Book of Worship Inter-Lutheran Commission on Worship, c. 1978 (2002 printing) ‡

http://www.satucket.com/lectionary/index.htm

http://www.pcusa.org/lectionary

YOU MAY NEED TO COPY AND PASTE THESE URLs IN YOUR BROWSER

‡ Daily Lectionary, Evangelical Lutheran Worship, ELCA, 2006. In the Evangelical Lutheran Worship book of 2006, the Daily Lectionary (pp. 1121-1153) is revised to correlate with the Sunday Lectionary (the Revised Common Lectionary) on the three year cycle: Year A, Year B (now current), Year C. “The readings are chosen so that the days leading up to Sunday (Thursday through Saturday) prepare for the Sunday readings. The days flowing out from Sunday (Monday through Wednesday) reflect upon the Sunday readings” (p. 1121).

Unless otherwise indicated, the scripture texts quoted are from The New Revised Standard Version (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers), 1989.

Thursday

AM Psalm 37:1-18

PM Psalm 37:19-42

Job 16:16-22, 17:1, 13-16

Acts 13:1-12

John 9:1-17

Martyrs of New Guinea:

http://www.satucket.com/lectionary/Martyrs_New_Guinea.htm

Psalm 126

1 Chronicles 22:11-13; 1 Thessalonians 5:21b-24; Luke 12:4-12

Eucharistic Readings:

1 Cor. 3:18-23; Psalm 24:1-6;

Luke 5:1-11

Thursday

Morning: Psalms 116; 147:12-20

Job 16:16-22, 17:1, 13-16

Acts 13:1-12

John 9:1-17

Evening: Psalms 26; 130

Thursday

Morning Pss.: 143, 147:13-21

Job 1:1-22

Acts 8:26-40

John 6:16-27

Evening Pss.: 81, 116

 

Year C Daily Readings

Psalm 1

Genesis 39:1-23

Philippians 2:25-30

*Thursday in the week of the Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost, references for the week of the Sunday closest to August 31, Year Two

 

For the Lutheran Readings for today, and comments on them, see the Episcopal Readings in the file for August 19, 2010, two weeks ago. These traditions differ in relating readings to the weeks following Pentecost.

 

Episcopal and Presbyterian Readings:

 

Job 16:16-22; 17:1, 13-16

 

16 My face is red with weeping,

and deep darkness is on my eyelids,

17 though there is no violence in my hands,

and my prayer is pure.

 

18 “O earth, do not cover my blood;

let my outcry find no resting place.

19 Even now, in fact, my witness is in heaven,

and he that vouches for me is on high.

20 My friends scorn me;

my eye pours out tears to God,

21 that he would maintain the right of a mortal with God,

as one does for a neighbor.

22 For when a few years have come,

I shall go the way from which I shall not return. (Job 16:16-22, NRSV)

 

Job Prays for Relief

 

17:1 My spirit is broken, my days are extinct,

the grave is ready for me. (Job 17:1, NRSV)

 

13 If I look for Sheol as my house,

if I spread my couch in darkness,

14 if I say to the Pit, ‘You are my father,’

and to the worm, ‘My mother,’ or ‘My sister,’

15 where then is my hope?

Who will see my hope?

16 Will it go down to the bars of Sheol?

Shall we descend together into the dust?” (Job 17:13-16, NRSV)

 

The following comments are repeated here from September 4, 2008 (Thursday in the week of the Sunday closest to August 31, Year Two), when they were repeated from September 7, 2006 (Thursday in the week of the Sunday closest to August 31, Year Two):

 

The Daily Office readings pass over the second speech of Eliphaz (Job, chap. 15) to parts of Job’s response. This time, Eliphaz is less diplomatic. “Should the wise answer with windy knowledge, and fill themselves with the east wind [i.e. the hot wind from the desert]?” (Job 15:2; cf. the beginnings of Bildad, 8:2, and Zophar, 11:2). Eliphaz introduces new themes, but uses the same message. “The wicked [including Job] writhe in pain all their days,” he says, “through all the years that are laid up for the ruthless” (15:20). Mayer Gruber refers to 15:20-35 as “one of the longest descriptions by one of Job’s friends of the fate of the wicked; it is developed,” he says, “with great detail and certainty” (The Jewish Study Bible, 2004, p. 1525 on Job 15:20-35).

 

In response, Job rebukes his friends as “miserable comforters” (Job 16:2), to whom he could talk as they do if the situation were reversed (v. 4). He is “familiar with the tradition,” says Leong Seow, and “he could offer the same tokens of consolation to them if he were in their place and they in his” (NOAB, 3rd ed., augmented, 2007, on Job 16:1-5). Job continues to address the friends but to speak about God in the third person as the one attacking him. “He has torn me in his wrath, and hated me; / he has gnashed his teeth at me; / my adversary sharpens his eyes against me” (16:9). Seow notes that “descriptions of divine violence occur in psalms of lament (e.g. Ps. 38:1-8), but the intensity of Job’s account is unusual (cf. Lam. 3:1-20)” (ibid., on vv. 9-17).

 

Job concludes this account of God’s attacks, “he rushes at me like a warrior” (v. 14b), with the complaint, “My face is red with weeping, / and deep darkness is on my eyelids” (v. 16), and the claim of innocence, “though there is no violence in my hands, / and my prayer is pure” (v. 17). His plea that the earth not “cover” his blood (v. 18a) reminds us of the LORD’s words to Cain, “Listen; your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground” (Gen. 4:10). Gruber explains,

 

Job does not want his suffering to be forgotten or unrequited. The idea behind the phrase is the belief that the blood of the innocent cries out from the ground, as in the case of Abel (Gen. 4:10; see also Ezek. 24:7-8). In a ritual context, Lev. 17:13 states that if an animal or bird is hunted down, its blood must be poured out and covered with earth in order for it to be permitted as food. More recently, the verse has become associated with the Holocaust; it appears, for example, in an inscription in Warsaw marking the site where Jews were transported to Treblinka. (op. cit., p. 1526 on Job 16:18)

 

In spite of his sufferings, his losses, and strong feelings, Job now expresses a certain hope:

 

Even now, in fact, my witness (yd9fe, ‘‘dî) is in heaven,

and he that vouches for me [my advocate NIV; TNIV] is on high.

My friends scorn me [My intercessor is my friend NIV; TNIV];

My eye pours out tears to God,

that he would maintain the right of a mortal with God,

As one does for a neighbor. (Job 16:19-21 NRSV)

O my advocates (ycayl9m;, melîtsay), my fellows (yfAr2 , r‘‘~y),

Before God my eyes shed tears; (Job 16:20 NJPS1985,1999)

 

on behalf of a man [a human being TNIV] he pleads with God

As a man [one] pleads for his friend. (Job 16:21 NIV)

 

Let Him arbitrate between a man and God

As between a man and his fellow (Uhf2r2, r‘‘‘hû). (Job 16:21 NJPS)

 

In these verses Robert L. Alden finds “four terms describing the one Job hoped would come to his defense: ‘witness,’ ‘advocate,’ ‘intercessor,’ and ‘friend’” (Job, The New American Commentary, vol. 11, 1993, pp. 186-187 on Job 16:19 [and 20]). His text is the NIV which differs significantly from the NRSV (as indicated above). The word translated as “advocate” (NIV), “he that vouches for me” (NRSV), occurs only here in the Hebrew Bible (or only here “in all undisputed texts”) as indicate by the symbol † (William L. Holladay, A Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, 1971, 4th impression 1978, s.v.dheWA, Ñ~h‘d). Since it is in parallelism with yd9fe (‘‘dî ), “advocate” is perhaps a good translation. Holladay defines Cyl9me, m‘lîts (hiph. participle of Cyl, l-y-ts) as “spokesman (Isa. 43:27; Job 33:23; 2 Chron. 32:31) or “interpreter” (of foreign language Gen. 42:22), and, though not including Job 16:20, uses the dagger (†) to indicate that all undisputed instances are included (Holladay, s.v. Cyl, l-y-ts). So, whether there are four terms more or less synonymous with “witness,” or not, Job clearly seems to expect some support in his case against God. Alden provides something of a Christian interpretation:

 

All these terms can and do apply to human beings elsewhere in the Old Testament, but the prepositional phrases ‘in heaven’ and ‘on high’ push the interpreter to think in terms of a divine redeemer. From a New Testament perspective it is a simple matter to identify this person, but for Job he was unknown and undefined. The content of Job’s faith was rudimentary. The glass through which he looked was even darker than ours (1 Cor. 13:12). In Gen. 31:50 God is called a ‘witness’ (cf. Rom. 1:9; 1 Thess. 2:5). ‘Advocate’ translates the hapax Ñ~h‘d [i.e. once-occurring word, dheWA, as noted above], which is known from Aramaic and appears in Gen. 31:47, incorporated into the Aramaic name of Galeed, ‘Jegar Sahadutha.’ (op. cit., p. 187 on Job 16:19)

 

At this point, Alden defers to John Hartley: “As Hartley explains, the best candidate for this witness / advocate within Job’s limited knowledge was God himself: ‘Job appeals to God’s holy integrity in stating his earnest hope that God will testify to the truth of his claims of innocence, even though such testimony will seem to contradict God’s own actions’” (John Hartley, Job, NICOT, 1988, p. 246, cited by Alden, p. 187, n. 36).

 

In any case, Job expects death soon. “For when a few years have come, / I shall go the way from which I shall not return” (16:22). “My spirit is broken, my days are extinct, / the grave is ready for me” (17:1). The reading passes over further complaints by Job (17:2-12) and concludes with further thoughts of death. “If I look for Sheol as my house,” says Job, “if I spread my couch in darkness, / where then is my hope?” (17:13-15a). “Who will see my hope?” he asks. “Will it go down to the bars of Sheol? / Shall we descend together into the dust?” (vv. 15b-16). There is graphic imagery here, as noted by James L. Crenshaw:

 

The description of Sheol as a house gains force when one realizes that ossuaries were shaped like houses. The other images are readily comprehensible; in death one appears to be sleeping, and the lifeless body is soon inhabited by worms. Job’s fertile imagination portrays him as an intimate of the personified underworld and its denizens, personified worms. In such circumstances, he laments, hope has vanished. Hence the rhetorical question in v. 15 with its repetition of the word ‘hope’. The obvious answer to the questions in v. 16 is ‘no’. Hope will not accompany Job into Sheol, the land from which no one returns. (The Oxford Bible Commentary, 2001, pp. 341-342 on Job 16:1-17:16)

 

Acts 13:1-12

 

Barnabas and Saul Commissioned

 

            13:1 Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a member of the court of Herod the ruler, and Saul. 2 While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” 3 Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.

 

The Apostles Preach in Cyprus

 

            4 So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia; and from there they sailed to Cyprus. 5 When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. And they had John also to assist them. 6 When they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they met a certain magician, a Jewish false prophet, named Bar-Jesus. 7 He was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, an intelligent man, who summoned Barnabas and Saul and wanted to hear the word of God. 8 But the magician Elymas (for that is the translation of his name) opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul away from the faith. 9 But Saul, also known as Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him 10 and said, “You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord? 11 And now listen-the hand of the Lord is against you, and you will be blind for a while, unable to see the sun.” Immediately mist and darkness came over him, and he went about groping for someone to lead him by the hand. 12 When the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed, for he was astonished at the teaching about the Lord. (Acts 13:1-12, NRSV)

 

The following comments are repeated here with some editing from June 13, 2010 (the Sunday closest to June 15, Year Two), when comments were repeated from July 16, 2009 (Thursday in the week of the Sunday closest to July 13, Year One), when comments were repeated with editing and supplement from September 4, 2008 (Thursday in the week of the Sunday closest to August 31, Year Two), when comments were repeated from June 15, 2008 (the Sunday closest to June 15, Year Two), when comments were repeated with editing and supplement from July 19, 2007 (Thursday in the week of the Sunday closest to July 13, Year One), when comment were repeated from June 18, 2006 (the Sunday closest to June 15, Year Two), when they were combined and revised from June 13, 2004 (the Second Sunday after Pentecost, Year Two) in an email sent June 10, 2004 for June 11-13, 2004, and from July 14, 2005 (Thursday of the week of the Eighth Sunday after Pentecost, Year One).

 

This reading presents the beginning of Paul’s missionary journeys reported in the Book of Acts. Our information about Paul’s earlier activity, in the decade following his conversion, is sketchy. “Then after three years I did go up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas” (Gal. 1:18). “Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia” (Gal. 1:21), which might have included Tarsus (his home town) and / or Antioch. Then there was the “famine relief” visit to Jerusalem (Acts 11:27-29). But during this period Paul must have been gaining experience in Christian ministry, and, from the human point of view, proving himself in preparation for the divine appointment which emerges from the time of worship, prayer and fasting in the church at Antioch. As today’s reading begins, Luke tells us that “in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a member of the court of Herod the ruler [tetravarchV, tetrarch‘s], and Saul” (Acts 13:1). So the Christian community there was a multicultural group, including “Simeon who was called Niger” Acts 13:1). According to David A. Dorsey, Simeon’s “surname, Niger (Lat., ‘black’), suggests that he was an African” (Harper’s Bible Dictionary, rev. ed., 1996, s.v. Simeon 5). According to Beverly Roberts Gaventa, Manaen, called “a member of the court of Herod the ruler [was] a close friend of Herod Antipas. Herod Antipas is the ruler (or tetrarch; see text note b as distinct from Herod Agrippa I, the king (see 12:1; also Lk. 1:5)” (HarperCollins Study Bible, rev. ed., 2006, on Acts 13:1). “While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting,” says Luke, “the Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them’ ” (v. 2). Gaventa points out that the “initiative for the new mission, here as elsewhere in Acts, comes from the Spirit rather than from human beings” (ibid., on v. 2; cf. Christopher R. Matthews, NOAB, 3rd ed., augmented, 2007, on Acts 13:2). Gaventa adds that “this passage is distinctive in that only here does the Spirit direct the church collectively rather than individually (e.g., 8:29; 10:19-20; 21:11)” (loc. cit.). We note that Luke emphasizes the leading of the Holy Spirit in Jesus’ ministry also, for example, Lk. 4:1 (cf. Mk 1:12; Mt. 4:1); Lk. 4:14 (no ref. to “Holy Spirit” in Mk. 1:14a or Mt. 4:12); Lk. 4:18 (no parallel context); Lk. 10:21a, “At that same hour Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said . . .” (cf. “At that same time Jesus said . . .”, Mt. 11:25). “Then,” says Luke, “after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off” (Acts. 13:3). Gaventa says, “See 6:6, where prayer and the laying on of hands accompany the appointment of the Seven (see also 14:23)” (ibid., on v. 3). According to Matthews, “Laid . . . hands [was] a ritual of consecration and appointment; see Num. 8:10; 27:23; 1 Tim. 4:4; 2 Tim. 1:6 (13:3)” (op. cit., on Acts 6:6, to which he refers with his note on 13:3).

 

Luke tells us that Barnabas and Saul, “being sent out by the Holy Spirit . . . went down to Seleucia” (Acts 13:4a), “Seleucia Pieria,” that is, says Matthews, “Antioch’s seaport, about 20 km (12 mi) west at the mouth of the Orontes River” (ibid., on v. 4), “and from there they sailed to Cyprus” (v. 4b). Upon sailing to Cyprus, they arrived at Salamis (v. 5a), an “important port and former capital city at the eastern end of Cyprus” (ibid., on v. 5). Upon arriving, “they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews” (v. 5b); so the first reported ministry of Barnabas (a native of Cyprus, Acts 4:36) and Saul takes place in Barnabas’ homeland, the Island of Cyprus. At this time, “they had John also to assist them” (v. 5c), John Mark, that is (12:12). The next reported ministry, “when they had gone through the whole island,” takes place at Paphos (13:6a), according to Matthews, the “capital of Cyprus, located in the extreme west” (ibid., on v. 6). At this point Barnabas and Saul encounter the first reported opposition, as “they met a certain magician, a Jewish false prophet, named Bar-Jesus” (v. 6b). They have come to preach about Jesus Christ, and, ironically, says Matthews, this false prophet’s name, Bar-Jesus, means “son of Jesus [or Joshua]” (ibid.). This person “was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus,” whom Luke describes as “an intelligent man, who summoned Barnabas and Saul and wanted to hear the word of God” (v. 7). A “proconsul” was a provincial governor appointed by the Roman senate, often an honorary appointment for a term of a year (cf. “Gallio . . . proconsul of Achaia,” 18:12). According to Richard P. Seller, “Major provinces without armies, such as Achaea, [were] supervised by senatorial proconsuls chosen in the Senate. Judea from 6 CE was one of those lesser provinces administered by equestrians (initially army officers called prefects, then imperial agents with the title of procurator)” (“Roman Empire,” in Bruce M. Metzger and Michael D Coogan, edd., The Oxford Companion to the Bible, 1993, p. 659). The Roman empire controlled troubled areas like Judea with military governors, prefects (e.g. Pilate, A.D. 26-36), or, after the death of Herod Agrippa I, procurators (e.g. Cuspius Fadus, A.D. 44-45 or 46). As Josephus reports, on the death of Agrippa,

 

He left issue by his wife Cypros, three daughters–Bernice, Mariamme, and Drusilla–and one son, Agrippa. As the last was a minor [17 years old], Claudius again reduced the kingdoms [i.e., the Jewish kingdoms] to a province and sent as procurators, first Cuspius Fadus, and then Tiberius Alexander, who by abstaining from all interference with the customs of the country kept the nation at peace. (War, II, 220 or 2.11.6, trans. H. “St. J. Thackeray, Loeb Classical Library, Josephus II, 1927, reprint 1989, pp. 408-409; cf. the translation by William Whiston, on the Wesley Center Online, at http://wesley.nnu.edu/biblical_studies/josephus/war-2.htm; accessed September 2, 2010; you may have to copy and paste the URL in your browser.)

 

Matthews calls “Sergius Paulus, another Roman official favorable to Christianity” (op. cit., on 13:7). Elsewhere, he says, in reference to Cornelius, that “Luke may want to show that Roman citizenship was compatible with Christianity” (on 10:1, with ref. to 13:7; 16:37-38; 18:14-15; 22:25-29; 23:27-30; 25:8).

 

Luke tells us that Elymas, the magician interfered: he “opposed them [Barnabas and Saul] and tried to turn the proconsul away from the faith” (13:8). At this point Saul takes the initiative–henceforth referred to by his Greek name, “Paul” (vv. 13, 16, 42, 43, etc.)–and rebukes the magician. “But Saul, also known as Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him and said, ‘You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord?’ ” (vv. 9-10). According to Paul, this Elymas/Bar-Jesus reverses the message of John the Baptist, “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight” (Mk. 1:2b, citing Is. 40:3; cf. Mt. 3:3; Lk. 3:4). Paul rebukes the magician: “And now listen,” he says, “the hand of the Lord is against you, and you will be blind for a while, unable to see the sun” (v. 11a; cf. Paul’s [Saul’s] own experience, 9:8-9). The rebuke has quick results: “Immediately mist and darkness came over him, and he went about groping for someone to lead him by the hand” (v. 11b). Matthews says, “Compare Peter’s rebuke of Simon (8:20-24). But there is a positive result: “When the proconsul saw what had happened,” says Luke, “he believed, for he was astonished at the teaching about the Lord” (v. 12). We probably cannot assume the same for the magician Bar-Jesus.

 

Luke thus tells us how Paul and Barnabas met with significant success in the first territory visited on the first missionary journey. Tomorrow’s reading, the continuation in Acts, moves to the mainland of Asia Minor, “to Perga in Pamphylia” (v. 13).

 

John 9:1-17

 

A Man Born Blind Receives Sight

 

            9:1 As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3 Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. 4 We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 6 When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man’s eyes, 7 saying to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see. 8 The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar began to ask, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” 9 Some were saying, “It is he.” Others were saying, “No, but it is someone like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.” 10 But they kept asking him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” 11 He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ Then I went and washed and received my sight.” 12 They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.”

 

The Pharisees Investigate the Healing

 

            13 They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. 14 Now it was a sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. 15 Then the Pharisees also began to ask him how he had received his sight. He said to them, “He put mud on my eyes. Then I washed, and now I see.” 16 Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not observe the sabbath.” But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?” And they were divided. 17 So they said again to the blind man, “What do you say about him? It was your eyes he opened.” He said, “He is a prophet.” (John 9:1-17, NRSV)

 

The following comments are based on relevant comments on John 9:1-12, 35-38 of January 4, 2010 (Monday in the week of the Second Sunday after Christmas, ref. for Jan. 4, Year Two), and on earlier comments, for example, comments on the full chapter of March 30 and 31, 2009 (Monday and Tuesday in the week of the Fifth Sunday of Lent, Year One); also the reading of September 4 and 5, 2008 (Thursday and Friday in the week of the Sunday closest to August 31, Year Two)a , and earlier comments as indicated there.

 

Jesus heals the man who was “blind from birth” (Jn. 9:1) after the discussion which followed Jesus proclamation, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life” (8:12)–related to the candle-lighting ceremony of the Festival of Tabernacles, of which it was said, “there was not a courtyard in Jerusalem which was not lit up” (Mishnah, Sukkah, as cited on March 2, 2005)–and before the Festival of Dedication (Jn. 10:22) which celebrated the rededication of the temple in 164 B.C. (1 Macc. 4:36-51; 2 Macc. 10:1-9), in which the relighting of the lamps on the lampstand was important (1 Macc. 4:50)–and to this day candles are lit for each night of the eight-day celebration. 2 Maccabees notes a connection between the Festival of Booths and the Festival of Dedication (Hanukkah, celebrating the rededication of the temple):

 

They celebrated it for eight days with rejoicing, in the manner of the festival of booths, remembering how not long before, during the festival of booths, they had been wandering in the mountains and caves like wild animals. (2 Macc. 10:6, NRSV)

 

So there is a kind of irony in John’s arrangement, sandwiching the account of the healing of the blind man (chap. 9) between the Festival of Booths (chap. 7) with its light ceremony (cf. chap. 8) and the Festival of Dedication (chap. 10) with a similar emphasis on lights. The man who was blind from birth had lived in darkness all his life, but Jesus “opened his eyes” (Jn. 9:13; cf. vv. 8, 21, 26, 30). The Pharisees, however, who refused to believe in Jesus, were left in spiritual blindness (vv. 39-41).

 

While Jesus and the disciples are walking in Jerusalem, they see “a man blind from birth (Jn. 9:1), which leads to a question from the disciples. “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” (v. 2). Jesus replies, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him” (v. 3). “He was born blind [is] not actually in the Greek text of Jesus’ reply,” says David K. Rensberger, revised by Harold W. Attridge (HarperCollins Study Bible, rev. ed., 2006, on Jn. 9:3). The phrase is absent from the Authorized (King James) Version. For the NRSV, “he was born blind” explains the result clause, “so that God’s works might be revealed in him.” Compare “but this happened [clearly the man’s blindness] so that the works of God might be displayed in him” (Jn. 9:3b TNIV). The disciples assume, but Jesus rejects, the explanation that the blindness is punishment for sin. For many then, according to Obery M. Hendricks, Jr., “Suffering was attributed to sin, either of the parents (Ex. 20:5) or of the man before birth (Gen. Rab. [an ancient Rabbinical interpretation of Genesis] 63: [39c] on Gen. 25:22; Wis. 8:19-20). Jesus denies this explanation and shifts attention from cause to purpose; this is an opportunity for God to act” (NOAB, 3rd ed., augmented, 2007, on Jn. 9:1-3). Jesus adds, “We must work the works ( ejrgavzesqai ta; e[rga, ergazesthai ta erga) of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world” (vv. 4-5). Jesus frequently refers to his mission as that of the one sent from God, or to aspects of it such as the miracle-signs, as “the works ( e[rga, erga) that the Father has given me to complete, the very works ( e[rga, erga) that I am doing, testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me” (5:36; cf. 4:34; 5:17, 20; 7:1, 21; 10:25, 32, 33, 37, 38; 14:10, 22, 12, 13; 15:24; 17:4). Rensberger and Attridge, referring to “night . . . when no one can work,” say, “On one level, this refers to the end of Jesus’ own life (v. 5), but the use of we (v. 4) extends it to Jesus’ followers, who do even greater works than he (14:12) in the time available to them. See also 11:9-10; 12:35-36” (op. cit., on vv. 4-5).

 

The healing is reported by John. “When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man’s eyes, saying to him, ‘Go, wash in the pool of Siloam’ (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see” (vv. 6-7). “The pool of Siloam,” say Rensberger and Attridge, “was fed by the waters of the spring Gihon running beneath the city of Jerusalem through a tunnel built by King Hezekiah (see 2 Kings 20:20; 2 Chr. 32:30; Isa. 22:11). Remains of the pool have been discovered recently in Jerusalem” (ibid., on v. 7). Hendricks says, “The pool of Siloam (see 7:37-39n.; Isa. 8:6; Neh. 3:15) was in the southeast corner of the city. [It] symbolizes Jesus as ‘sent’ from God to give light” (op. cit., on v. 7). In his earlier note, he says, “For seven days water was carried in a golden pitcher from the Pool of Siloam to the Temple as a reminder of the water from the rock in the desert (Num. 2l0:2-13) and as a symbol of hope for the coming messianic deliverance (Isa. 12:3)” (ibid., on 7:37-39).

 

As for Jesus directions to the man to wash in the pool and his return, a lapse of time, not stated, is perhaps implied. The healing produces some uncertainty mixed with wonder among the neighbors. They ask, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” (v. 8). To their uncertainty–“Some were saying, ‘It is he.’ Others were saying, ‘No, but it is someone like him’”–he keeps insisting, “I am the man” (v. 9). But their questions persist as well. “But they kept asking ( e[legon, elegon, imperfect tense implying continued or repeated action) him, ‘Then how were your eyes opened?’ ” (v. 10). So the healed blind man describes the process, crediting “the man called Jesus” (v. 11), and the crowd asks “Where is he?” to which the man replies, “I do not know” (v. 12).

 

Next we are told that “They [presumably, the neighbors, v. 8] brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind” (v. 13). Hendricks interprets “they,” as “neighbors and friends” (ibid., on vv. 13-14). Given the outcome, some friends! The Evangelist John anticipates the Pharisees’ concern when he reminds us, “it was a sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes” (v. 14). “The Pharisees,” says Hendricks, “considered making mud to be work, a violation of sabbath laws; cf. 5:9-18; 7:23” (ibid.).

 

So the Pharisees’ question the healed blind man, asking “how he had received his sight,” to which he answers, “He put mud on my eyes. Then I washed, and now I see” (v. 15). This response leads to some division among the questioners: “Some of the Pharisees said, ‘This man is not from God, for he does not observe the sabbath.’ But others said, ‘How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?’ And they were divided” (v. 16). The Pharisees persist in their questions. “So they said again to the blind man, ‘What do you say about him? It was your eyes he opened.’ He said, ‘He is a prophet’” (v. 17). To the blind man,” says Hendricks, “the healing is proof that Jesus is sent from God” (ibid., on v. 17).

 

The Pharisees’ interrogation continues in tomorrow’s lesson, first with the blind man’s parents (Jn. 9:18-23), and then with the healed blind man (vv. 24-34); and a concluding paragraph (vv. 35-41).

 

As noted above, for the Lutheran Readings for today, and comments on them, see the Episcopal Readings in the file for August 19, 2010, two weeks ago. These traditions differ in relating readings to the weeks following Pentecost.

 

Ronald D. Worden, Ph.D.

rdworden@hgst.edu

deanworden@comcast.net