manifest / visible

The ninth chapter of the Gospel According to John (NABRE) contains themes of light and darkness, seeing and blindness, and the interrelationship of those elements. Congenital blindness appears in the readings as a metaphor for the human condition, and Jesus’ healing of the blind man represents the healing he came to offer to us all.

In the midst of this exchange is a key question and answer. Jesus’ followers ask him whose sin caused this man to be born blind, and in the Gospel According to John 9:3 (NABRE), Jesus responds: “Neither he nor his parents sinned; it is so that the works of God might be made visible through him.” Some other translations have manifest instead of visible. The Greek word used in this passage, φανερός (phaneros), literally means visible or able to be seen, and that exact connotation is important to the text. This man was created unable to see specifically for the purpose that God could be seen. The significant contrast is important to catch in order to fully understand what the Evangelist John is suggesting.

In our fallen state, humanity normally is unable to see or to grasp God with our senses. One of the core problems in the Fourth Gospel is how we can come to accept God under these circumstances. The answer that Jesus keeps returning to is faith. Faith allows us to perceive and to grasp God outside of our human senses, but it also doesn’t come from nothing. Jesus came to provide someone in whom we can have faith so that we can again perceive God. Jesus, by his very presence, makes visible what was invisible. He is the light of the world.

you also may like our study of the book of Genesis
The first seven lessons of In the Beginning: The Book of Genesis, a 28-lesson Catholic Bible study with an imprimatur, provide an in-depth look at the very earliest biblical history—including the two accounts of Creation, events surrounding the Fall of Adam and Eve, the relationship between Cain and Abel, and the baptismal foreshadowing present in the account of Noah and the Flood. Remaining lessons look at lives of the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. Click here to view a sample of the first lesson.

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