The Pulpit Commentary — John — Volume 2 — Section 4

le,tion of Pnnlua, "Chl'ist must h11ved11,ylight light. The spiritunl world ■lands rovel\lcd for n ,lelicate op,,ration,'' is too puerile to fully to Christ's own gnzo. But mnnklnd deser.c refnte,tion. The suggestion of the hBtes the light, loves darkness on these Gr<'!'k Fn1hers (Ohrysostom, Thcophylact, ml\ttere mther thau the light. There ie a C'to.), who here dnlw e, distiuC't.ion betwe<'n radical fundamental change thnt must come the work 0f this world e,ud the work 0f the over men, or they will never aee. This futnrc world, between work done before evil, this terrible calamity th11t hBS bofo.llan nnd after his Passion, representing the work rnBn, will vitiRte all the provision of rneroy. of his earthly ministry 118 done in the day, There rnnst be n new beginning, a new nnd thnt of the Spirit as work done in the birth, 11, work of God wrought in men, ns night, is singularly unfortunnte. Our Lord well ns a sublime revelation made to men, is merely adopting the phrase as a custom- or the whole mission of the Obrist would be ary imn!,>e for life and death. DC'ath puts incomplete. nn end to all humnn activity on earth, even Ver. 6.-When he had said these things, to Christ's own, as e, hum1m Friend nnd he spat on the ground, and made clay of the Teacher. Kumerons nttempts h.we been spittle, and with the I ola.y thereof anointed made to suppose aome emphatic contrast be- his (the) eyes (of the blind man). The pre- tween the lifetime of Christ and the period cise meaning and motive of the process here that should follow his Pnssion. They all described hllS been a source of great per- foil, because Christ's own activity resumes plexity to the commentRtors. We see the.t, another form bv his resurrection n.nd the on other occasionq, onr Lord used his own gift of his Spirit. The night of death, saliva as o. mee.ns of cure (Mark vii. 33; BCcompanied by the cessation of active viii. 23). Thoma find3 in the spittle the lnbour, is the general idea.. The day's work symbol of the impurity of the man thus must be done in the day. The probation dealt with (Isa. l. 5, 6), but somewhat in- invol rnd in the bare fact of its limitation, nnd consistently compares the "clay " with the in this case i!B rapidly e,pproaching consum- "collyrium" of Rev. iii. 17-19, and the mation, is the main thought, without press- "a.nsfluss des Logos." On some occl\sions ing the imagery too far. By saying, .. We Jesus touched the diseased or deficient must work, n etc., he gave a lPSSon and an organ, put his hand on the leper, and his example for a.ll time. The • Pirke Abotb,' fingers in the ears of the deaf mute. On "The Sayings of the Fathers," record the other occasions, a.gain, he healed with his words of R. Tryphon, "The day is short, and word only, and even from a distance, those the task is great, and the workmen a.re who. in the freeness •nnd royalty of hie love, sluggish, and the rewo.rd is much, and the he elected to relieve from their sufferings. Muster of the lionse is urgent." He was moved, doubtless, in every case by Yer. 5.-While--or, 1Dhemoet1er-I am in the specie.I condition and temperament of the world, I am the Light of the world. He the objects of his compnssion. The use of ilad said (eh. viii 12), •· I e.m the Light of the these means was probably intended to evoke world : he the.t followeth me sh.e.ll not walk the nascent faith that predisposed him to in da.rknes11." He was BUblimely conscious receive healing, to stir the mind of the of his power to do for the moral world what sufferer into some conscious relation with the sun was doing for the physical world. himself throngh those other powers of tactile He was the Occasion of its life, the Condition sensitiveness which were in all similar C1tses of its activity, the Means of its instruction, singularly acute. Moreover, the virtue of the Source of all its beauty, its joy, and its saliva. in cases of blindness was well under- progress. The e-r,iv, which is translated stood. Lightfoot gives some curious proof quamdiu in the Vnlga.te, and "so long as" of this, and To.citus (' Hist.,' iv. 81) nnd in the Auth~rized Version, means strictly Suetonins (' Vesp.,' eh. vii.) both record the "whensoever," and refers to the entire healing of a blind man by the Emperor period of his a.cti vity (see eh. i. 5). But Vespasian by the use of jejuna sali'lla, while the sun of this world cannot open the Pliny ('Hist.Nat.,' xxviii. 7) speaks of the eye11 of the blind, and wastes his radiance on same remedy for the diseases of the eye. their sightless sockets, so, unless Christ were "Clay" also is spoken of as being sanative more than the sun, and could give the power by a phy8ician by name Berenua Samonicua as well as the Qpportunity of seeing, he 1 The a.b-roii is introduced here by Tre- would never have done the work of him that sent him. The fact that he is the gelles, Tisohendorf (8th edit.), Westcott and Ligilt lee.J.s him to remind the disciples that Hort, and R.T., and so rea.d by Moulton and he is tile true Source of eyesight a.s well as MP-yer, on the authority of K, A, B, o•, L, of the conditions of vision. Light enough 1, 33, and numerous cursives; anil D reads for all the world shines into the darkness, a.vr,;, with ail-rou after l,4>8a>.µ01's, with the but the darkness comprehendeth it not. This Gothio and &thiopio Versions. Godet Jewish people are surrounded by fioodB of reject.II both emendation,. Ofl, IX, 1-U.] THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. JOHN. 5