READ IT AGAIN
By Professor E M Blaiklock MA, D.Litt
XXXIII.
THE MAN BORN BLIND.
John 9.
Does the Lord's reply to His disciples in John 9:3
Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but it was so that the works of God might be displayed and illustrated in him” -
imply that a man was born blind in order that this miracle might be performed? No. The passage is wrongly punctuated. It should be remembered that the ancients wrote without punctuation marks and divisions between words and sentences. Con-sequently, misunderstandings have sometimes arisen.
There should be a full-stop in the middle of Verse Three, and no stop at its end. The reply will then run, "Neither did this man sin nor his parents. But, that the works of God may be made manifest in him, we must work the works of Him that sent me while it is day. The night cometh, when no man can work." In other words, faced with the spectacle of human pain, the Lord first rebuts the doctrine that has found so large place in Eastern thought, that all suffering is of our own making, and then stresses the Christian fact that all need is a call ta action in God's name with faith and urgency. The power that wrought the miracle was all His own. The promptitude with which He gave His help is an example we all can follow.