HW: The man born blind — a contemporary reading of John 9:1-41

A reflection on John 9:1-41, written and spoken by Kieran J. O'Mahony OSA. 

Gentle piano music to close the meditation

Transcript

John’s Lane
D08 F8NW
15 March 2026
Man born blind (John 9:1-41)

Welcome
One of the ways we get to know ourselves better is to observe how we react under pressure. And there is no lack of opportunity in work, families, friendships, and what we may call the “events” of life. Pressure is a good test of character: what it does to us and how we deal with it and with others, in the whole process. Pressure is not confined to family or work or career. It can also happen that our faith can be under pressure, from outside and from inside. There too, how we react in that context is worth observing and considering. 

Topic
Our long Gospel today can help us in ways that might surprise us.

Steps
Before looking the story directly, a general remark about John’s Gospel may help. Unlike in Matthew, Mark and Luke, in the Fourth Gospel, there are no parables. This is a surprise, because parables seem to be so typical of Jesus. In place of the parables, this gospel offers what we may call long parable-like stories or tableaux — very engaging, multi-dimensional and deep. As in last Sunday’s Gospel of the Samaritan Woman and also in today’s, these narratives are quest stories: someone is on the path of spiritual awakening, a journey is undertaken and, eventually, the main character comes to encounter Jesus in faith.

It also may help to remember that these evolved symbolic narratives are addressed to situations and contexts at the time of writing. Our Gospel provides a clear example: at the time of writing, Christ-believers had been already excluded from the synagogue. This did not happen during Jesus’ own lifetime and ministry. But evidently it did later in the first century.

Keeping all that in mind, the Gospel today feels like the script of a drama: multiple scenes, with conflict, tensions and contrasts. Unusually, for a Gospel story, Jesus is physically absent in the middle scenes, but very present at the opening and closing. It is a story of interrogations, marking an intensification of faith. The interrogations are climactic: the neighbours, the pharisees, the man’s parents, the man himself (more than once). You may have felt the way of the character of the blind man “grows” as the story goes on. For him, the foundational experience of healing is a personal biographical fact which cannot be denied — he comes back to it again and again. In the words of Amazing Grace: I once was blind but now I see.  He even gets a bit stroppy with the interrogators querying their continued curiosity and asking if they actually would like to become followers of Jesus as well!! What is evident is that, under pressure, his character gets stronger and more courageous. Eventually, Jesus finds him again and the man comes to a profound moment of faith.

This drama contrasts with another drama also in the Gospel of John. Earlier, in chapter 5, there is the story of the man who was sick for 38 years. The similarities are evident: Jesus approaches him and heals him; there is also a pool; then follows an interrogation, because (again) it was a Sabbath day. There is one outstanding difference: the man in chapter 5, identifies Jesus and, in a way, betrays him to his enemies.
In primary school, at least in my day, we were often told in our essays to compare and contrast. The Gospel of John invites us to compare and contrast two stories of faith under pressure: under pressure, the man in chapter 5 crumbles; under pressure the man in chapter 9 grows ever stronger and more convinced.

These contrasting outcomes can speak to us today. Being a Christ-believer today is a challenge — it always was but even more so in our day. There is a wider pressure in society, as secularisation proceeds. Faith is often treated as outdated obscurantism in inhibiting “modernity” in different dimensions — social, scientific and so forth. There can be pressure from within the community of faith. The grim and repelling mistakes of the institution were and continue to be undermining. As a direct result, many have indeed walked away. Not only that, but that handing of the faith was often not accompanied by a grown-up grasp of what we believe and why. Many feel unable to talk about their faith and reflect on it intelligently with others. Furthermore, on our personal journey of faith, questions can arise as we face various crises of life. And so on.

Conclusion
To come back to where we started: how have I been as a person of faith under considerable pressure from different fronts? I could be like the man in John chapter five, who effectively crumbles under pressure. Or, I could be like the man in John chapter nine for whom pressure acts as a kind catalyst for growth. 

One thing is central for the journey of the man born blind: he is unable to deny his personal experience of healing through his encounter with Christ. All I know is I once was blind but now I see. It is likely that a corner stone of our faith is also some such foundational experience. It would be very good for us all if we could name that experience and own it as we go forward in faith. In this way, we may be able to fulfil the words in the first letter of Peter: always be ready to give an account of the hope that is in you…in the first place, to ourselves and only then, perhaps, to others.