Sunday of the Man Born Blind (Acts 16:16–34; Jn. 9:1–38)

The simplicity of faith contends with cunning unbelief. Faith, coming to the man born blind who had received his sight, enlightened the eyes of his mind, and he sees truth clearly. Observe how logical his reasoning is. They ask him: what do you say about the One who gave you sight? ”He is a prophet” (Jn. 9:17), he answered—that is, a messenger of God invested with miraculous power. An irrefutably sound conclusion! But bookish learning is unwilling to acknowledge this soundness and seeks to evade its consequences. Since it cannot do so, it turns to unlearned simplicity with its insinuation: ”Give glory to God; we know that this man is a sinner” (Jn. 9:24). The simplicity of faith cannot reconcile these two ideas—being a sinner and performing miracles—and states this openly: ”Whether He is a sinner, I do not know; one thing I know: I was blind, and now I see” (Jn. 9:25). What can be said against such ignorance? But the logic of unbelievers is stubborn, and despite all the evidence it is not ashamed to claim that it does not know where the one who opened the eyes of the blind man comes from. ”This is what is remarkable,” says the sound logic of faith, ”that you do not know where He is from, and yet He opened my eyes. But we know that God does not listen to sinners; but if anyone is God-fearing and does His will, He listens to that person. From eternity it has not been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, He could do nothing” (Jn. 9:30–33). After this, it would seem that nothing remained but to bow before the force of such a conclusion. But bookish learning cannot bear the sound logic of faith and drove it out… Go now and prove the truth of faith to those whose minds have been corrupted by stubbornness in unbelief. Unbelievers of every age are people of the same pattern.