ye hear it again? will ye also be his disciples? Then they 28 reviled him, and said, Thou art his disciple; but we are Moses' disciples. We know that God spake unto Moses; as for this 29 fellow, we know not from whence he is. The man answered 30 and said unto them, Why, herein is a marvellous thing, that ye know not from whence he is, and yet he hath opened mine eyes. Now we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be 31 a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth. Since 32 the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind. If this man were not of God, he 33 could do nothing. They answered and said unto him, Thou wast 34 altogether born in sins, and dost thou teach us? And they cast him out. fied by the dangers hanging over his head, until, at last, provoked by their repeated and wearisome interrogations, he loses his patience, and puts the ironical and irritating question, whether they wish to be this man's followers. 28, 29. With rising anger against one, who so fearlessly withstood their injustice, and rebuked their unbelief, they broke out into new taunts and censures against him, and professed their adherence to Moses. We know that God spake unto Moses, &c. In this passage, as well as elsewhere, occurs one of the current objections of the Jews to the gospel, that it was a new religion, a subversion of their ancient and venerable Law, which they regarded as the everlasting covenant of God with his people, not as "the shadow of good things to come," "the schoolmaster" to prepare them for a better system. The Pharisees, therefore, spurn with contempt the idea, that this new teacher was to compete with or supplant their lawgiver of a thousand years. 30-33. Still undaunted by their menaces, and exhibiting a surprising courage in stemming alone the torrent of their overwhelming ridicule and denunciation,-convincing evi dence, that a miracle had been wrought, and the man's mind deeply stirred, he proceeds, in a passage of the soundest reasoning, worthy of the attention of some modern thinkers, to argue, that the power of working miracles was an evidence of the divine authority of Jesus. While this Gospel contains fewer recitals of miracles than the others, it dwells often on the support they afforded that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God. Chap. xx. 31.-Since the world began was it not heard, &c. In 1728, Dr. Cheselden, of England, first couched the eyes of a boy, aged fourteen, who was born blind, and gave him his sight. But, as has been said, what has been effected since the time of Christ by skill and science in surgery, can have nothing in common with the miraculous agency exerted in a case like the present. He could do nothing, i. e. like the act in question. 34. Thou wast altogether born in sins. A phrase indicating similar views with those of the disciples, ver. 2. And they cast him out. Or, excommunicated him from the synagogue. The Sanhedrim is provoked to this severe measure by the resolute conduct of the man, in maintain 35 Jesus heard that they had cast him out: and when he had found him, he said unto him, Dost thou believe on the Son of God? 36 He answered and said, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on 37 him? And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen him, and 38 it is he that talketh with thee. And he said, Lord, I believe. 39 And he worshipped him. And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world; that they which see not might see, and that 40 they which see, might be made blind. - And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, 41 Are we blind also? Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth. ing the fact of the miracle, and thus vindicating the cause of Jesus, as a true teacher from God. 35-38. Jesus, having heard of his expulsion, which, among the Jews, possessed a similar weight of terror, as the formidable penalty of excommunication in the Roman Catholic church, takes pains to find the man, to encourage, guide, and sympathize with him. Dost thou believe on the Son of God? This narrative harmonizes with the plan of John's Gospel, as laid down in chap. xx. 31. — Who is he, Lord, &c. As the man did not receive his sight until he had washed in the pool of Siloam, he had not seen Jesus, nor, as it appears, heard his discourses, but was convinced simply by his own cure, of his just claims as a teacher of divine authority. Thou hast both seen him, &c. It is remarkable, that Jesus declared himself as the Messiah to the woman of Samaria, to his disciples, and now to this man, while he made no such explicit announcement to the Jews at large. The reason, no doubt, was, that he would not subject himself to the tumult incident upon making such a profession to the mass of the people. Worshipped him. Paid him obeisance; probably by prostrating himself on the ground, according to the eastern manner. 39. For judgment I am come, &c. i. e. to put men's characters to the proof, whether they will receive or reject me. While he was conversing with the man, some Pharisees gathered around them, and he takes occasion to utter a just rebuke against their wilful blindness. That they which see, &c. The word that is here what grammarians call consequential, not causal; that is, it would be the effect, not that it was the object, of his coming to make the seeing blind, and the blind seeing. The cure of the blind man naturally suggested this imagery, as descriptive of those who believed in him, and those who rejected him. 40, 41. Are we blind also? Or, are even we blind? This question implies an entire incredulity to the fact, that they were blind, and requires, in their view, the strongest negative answer. For so great were their pride and self-ignorance, that they were ready to say, "No doubt we are the people, and wisdom shall die with us." — If ye were blind, &c. A clear and impressive statement of that law of moral obligation, under which we, as well as the ancient Pharisees, live; viz. that increased light imposes increased responsibleness, and that only unavoidable ignorance can excuse men for neglect CHAPTER X. The Instructions of Jesus continued. He attends the Feast of the Dedication. VERILY, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth of duty. If the Pharisees had not possessed the opportunity of coming to the light, and welcoming Jesus as the Messiah, they would have been excusable; but with the enjoyment of all their privileges, and their high professions of wisdom, they were left without excuse in their unbelief. Furthermore, "if mankind are morally blind by nature, how can they sin? If their not being disposed to receive the truth is owing to the moral taint derived from Adam, can they be held responsible for not having the disposition? Is it their fault, or Adam's?" (1.) Calamity is not always a proof of wickedness. Ver. 3. Blindness, and other evils, are not without their beneficent aim in the providence of God. (2.) The lesson of vigilance, in our work in life, is impressively taught us, in the words of our Saviour's own most tender and delicate sense of accountableness. Ver. 4. (3.) The impotence of human laws, and civil or religious persecution in preventing the spread of truth, is demonstrated in ver. 22, compared with ver. 38; for "as well might men attempt to stop the progress of the river which rolls its mighty waters to the ocean, or to arrest the great luminary of day in its course in the heavens," as to chain the human mind to error by such instruments of force and cruelty. (4.) No means of usefulness are to be discarded, ver. 33, 38; for God can raise up the blind beggar in the streets to be a more powerful advocate of truth, and a more cordial believer in his Son, than all the haughty doctors of the law. "See here a blind man, and unlearned, judging up some other way, the same more rightly of divine things than the whole learned council of the Pharisees; whence we learn, that we are not always to be led by the authority of councils, popes, or bishops; and that 'tis not absurd for laymen sometimes to vary from their opinions; their overseers being sometimes guilty of great oversights." WHITBY. (5.) We are reminded, ver. 31, that "the effectual fervent prayer of the righteous man availeth much," but that God does not answer the prayers which come only from the lips, not from the heart and life. (6.) Wilful ignorance cannot excuse a man's unbelief. Ver. 41. The poor, untaught heathen, who has never heard the gracious name of Christ spoken in his ears, has better ground to hope for the mercy of God, than the presumptuous and professedly wise skeptic of Christian countries, who has heard only to neglect, and learned only to despise, the words of eternal life. CHAPTER X. 1. Jesus continues the discourse, which was commenced in the foregoing chapter. He that entereth not by the door, &c. Sir Isaac Newton remarks, that "Jesus, being near the temple, where sheep were kept in folds, to be sold for the sacrifices, spoke many things parabolically of sheep, of the shepherd, and of the door to the sheepfold, and discovers that he alluded to the sheepfolds which were to be hired in the market-place, by speaking of such folds as a thief could not enter by the door, nor the shepherd himself open, but a porter opened to the shepherd." See note 2 is a thief and a robber. But he that entereth in by the door, is 3 the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and 4 leadeth them out. And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him for they know his 5 voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from 6 him for they know not the voice of strangers. This para ble spake Jesus unto them: but they understood not what things 7 they were which he spake unto them. Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the on chap. ii. 15.-A thief and a robber. Under these terms, our Lord alludes to the scribes and Pharisees, the professed teachers and shepherds of the people, but who entered the fold clandestinely, and led the flock astray. Individual expressions are not to be urged too far, but the whole passage should be construed as a free and figurative comparison, between Christ's high claims to be regarded as a divine teacher, and the false pretensions of the impostors of the day. 2-5. Jesus here describes himself under beautiful imagery, portraying a true shepherd. The various items of this description can be easily verified by a reference to the pastoral customs of the east. Ps. xxiii.; Is. xl. 11.-The porter. Or, door-keeper, the under-shepherd, who was stationed to guard the door of the fold during the night, or when the shepherd was absent, and who protected the flock from depredators.- Calleth his own sheep by name, &c. Such is the custom of shepherds in various countries, especially in the east. They give names to their sheep, as names of endearment are sometimes given to domestic animals among us, and, instead of driving them, call the flock after them, whenever they wish to conduct it from one place to another. They are said to know all the different ones, which belong to them, and to feel for them an affec- "As the good shepherd leads his sheep And while a-fold by night they sleep, So the True Shepherd, Christ, our souls doth guide, 6. Parable. Or, rather, figurative language. This evangelist never uses the word which is translated parable, in the other Gospels. Because his hearers did not understand his illustrations, Jesus proceeds in the next verses to amplify and explain them more distinctly. 7,8. I am the door. See chap. xiv. 6, where he calls himself the Way. He repeats what he had said before, under a new figure, and with sheep. All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: 8 but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door: by me if any 9 man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and 10 to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd: the 11 good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. But he that is a hire- 12 ling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth; and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep. The hireling fleeth, be- 13 cause he is a hireling, and careth not for the sheep. I am the 14 good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. That they might have life, &c. Not the fleshly, but the spiritual, life. And of the spiritual life, there glimmers in all bosoms, even the most corrupt, some faint spark, which Jesus would, by his gospel, fan, and enliven, and increase, until the whole soul should glow with love. The phrase have it more abundantly, beautifully describes, therefore, the pro an additional idea. He was the Door of entrance into the fold of God, into the kingdom of heaven. All who entered must enter through him; no other door was opened.-All that ever came before me, &c. General terms, which are not to be taken according to the letter, but the spirit, of the sense; not meaning, of course, Moses and the prophets, for they were true shepherds in their day; nor sub-gressive and expansive nature of the sequent false Messiahs, like Theudas, and Judas of Galilee, for they had not yet appeared; but probably the scribes and Pharisees, whom he else where and often rebuked as false and hypocritical teachers. Mat. xv. 14; Luke xi. 52. But the sheep did not hear them. But with all their arts, they have not stolen away my flock. By the sheep, throughout this passage, is apparently meant the true and faithful portion of the community. 9, 10. If any man. In the Greek, if any one, referring to sheep, for the figure is still kept up; but to render the original word by any man, destroys it. Num. xxvii. 17; Acts i. 21. ·Cometh not, but for to steal, &c. The false teacher cares more for the fleece, than for the flock; meanwhile, "The hungry sheep look up and are not fed." spiritual life, with which he came to inspire the sensual, selfish heart of man. His disciple was not only to have life, but to have it increasingly flowing in through his soul in ever deeper, purer currents. 11-14. I am the good shepherd. He now identifies himself with the good shepherd, described in ver. 2-4. Giveth. Or, exposeth his 'life, in allusion to Jesus sacrificing his life to give greater power and efficacy to his Gospel. The hireling fleeth, &c. The whole passage teems with pastoral images, taken from the east. The good shepherd is not only different from the thieves and robbers, but also from the mercenary hireling, who thinks more of his hire, than of his duty to the endangered flock. — Know my sheep, and am known of mine. Hebrew idioms, to express, "love my sheep, and am loved of mine." |