Augustinus, In Joannis Evangelium tractatus XXXVI-XLV

He signified his seed by saying, Put your hand under my thigh. He signified his Lord by adding, and swear by the God of heaven.

17. The Jews in anger answered: You are not yet fifty years old, and you have seen Abraham! And the Lord: Amen, amen I say to you; before Abraham was made, I am. Weigh the words and recognize the mystery. Before Abraham was made. Understand that "was made" pertains to human making, but "I am" to the divine substance. "Was made", because Abraham is a creature. He did not say, Before Abraham was, I was; but, Before Abraham was made, who would not have been made except through Me, I am. Nor did He say this, Before Abraham was made, I was made; for In the beginning God made heaven and earth (Gen. 1:1): for in the beginning was the Word (John 1:1). Before Abraham was made, I am. Recognize the Creator, distinguish the creature. He Who was speaking had been made the seed of Abraham; and that Abraham might be made, He Himself was before Abraham.

18. Hereupon, as though at a most open insult to Abraham, they were stirred more fiercely. For the Lord Christ seemed to them to have blasphemed, because He said, Before Abraham was made, I am. They took up stones, therefore, to cast at Him. Where should such hardness run, if not to its like? But Jesus, as man, as in the form of a servant, as lowly, as One about to suffer, as One about to die, as One about to redeem us by His blood: not as He Who is, not as the Word in the beginning, and the Word with God. For when they took up stones to throw at Him, what great thing would it have been that the earth should at once gape open and swallow them, and that instead of stones they should find the underworld? It would not have been great for God: but patience was rather to be commended than power to be put forth. He hid Himself, therefore, from them, lest He be stoned. As man He fled from stones: but woe to those from whose stony hearts God flees!

Tractate 44. From what is written, And passing by He saw a man blind from birth; as far as this, But now you say, We see: your sin remains. Chapter 9.

1. A long reading has been recited concerning the man whom the Lord Jesus enlightened, who was born blind: if we should try to treat the whole of it according to its dignity, as far as we are able, considering each point, a day would not suffice. Therefore I ask and admonish your Charity that in those things which are plain you do not look for our discourse: for it would be too long to dwell on each point. Briefly, then, I commend to you the mystery of this blind man enlightened. For the things which our Lord Jesus Christ did, astonishing and wonderful, are both works and words: works, because they were done; words, because they are signs. If, then, we consider what this thing that was done signifies, this blind man is the human race: for this blindness befell the first man through sin, from whom we all have drawn our origin, not only of death but also of iniquity. For if blindness is unbelief, and enlightenment faith, whom did Christ find faithful when He came? Since the Apostle, born in the nation of the Prophets, says: We too were once by nature children of wrath, even as the rest (Eph. 2:3). If children of wrath, children of vengeance, children of punishment, children of Gehenna.

How "by nature", unless because, when the first man sinned, vice grew in as nature? If vice grew in as nature, then according to the mind every man is born blind. For if he sees, he has no need of a guide; if he has need of a guide and an enlightener, he is therefore blind from birth.

2. The Lord came: what did He do? He commended a great mystery. He spat on the ground, from His saliva He made clay: because the Word was made flesh (John 1:14). And He anointed the eyes of the blind man. He had been anointed, and still did not see. He sent him to the pool which is called Siloam. Now it fell to the Evangelist to commend to us the name of this pool; and he says, Which is interpreted Sent. You already recognize who the One sent is: for unless He had been sent, none of us would have been released from iniquity. So he washed his eyes in that pool which is interpreted Sent; he was baptized in Christ. If, then, when He in a manner baptized him in Himself, He then enlightened him, when He anointed him, perhaps He made him a catechumen. The depth of so great a sacrament can indeed be expounded and treated in one way and another: but let this suffice for your Charity; you have heard a great mystery. Ask a man, Are you a Christian? He answers you, I am not, if he is a pagan or a Jew. But if he says, I am, you still ask him, A catechumen, or one of the faithful? If he answers, A catechumen, he is anointed, not yet washed. But anointed from what? Ask, and he answers; ask him in whom he believes: by the very fact that he is a catechumen, he says, In Christ. See, I am now speaking both to the faithful and to the catechumens. What did I say about the spittle and the clay? That the Word was made flesh. This the catechumens too hear: but that with which they have been anointed is not enough for them; let them hasten to the font, if they seek light.

3. Now, then, because of certain questions in this very reading, let us run through the words of the Lord and of the whole reading itself rather than treat them at length. Going out, He saw a man blind: not blind in just any way, but from birth. And His disciples asked Him: Rabbi. You know that Rabbi means teacher. They called Him Teacher, because they desired to learn: for they put a question to the Lord as to a teacher, Who sinned, this man, or his parents, that he should be born blind? Jesus answered: Neither has this man sinned, nor his parents, that he should be born blind. What is it that He said? If no man is without sin, were the parents of this blind man without sin? Had he himself either been born without original sin, or added nothing by living? Or, because he had his eyes closed, were his concupiscences not at all awake? How many evils the blind commit! From what evil does an evil mind abstain, even with the eyes closed? He could not see, but he knew how to think, and perhaps to desire something which, being blind, he could not carry out, but which could be judged in the heart by the searcher of the heart. If, then, both his parents had sin and this man had sin, why did the Lord say, Neither has this man sinned, nor his parents, unless with respect to the matter about which He was asked, that he should be born blind? For his parents had sin

his, but it was not by that sin itself that it came about that he was born blind. If, then, it was not by the sin of his parents that it came about that he was born blind, why was he born blind? Hear the Master teaching: He seeks one who believes, so as to make him one who understands. He Himself tells the reason why that blind man was born: Neither has this man sinned, He says, nor his parents: but that the works of God may be made manifest in him.

4. Then what follows? I must work the works of Him Who sent Me. Behold, here is that Sent One in whom the blind man washed his face. And see what He said: I must work the works of Him Who sent Me, while it is day. Remember how He gives all the glory to Him from Whom He is: for that One has a Son Who is from Him, He Himself has none from whom He is. But why didst Thou say, Lord, while it is day? Hear why. The night comes when no one can work. Not even Thou, Lord? Will that night be of such power that not even Thou canst work in it, Whose work the night is? For I think, Lord Jesus, nay, I do not think, but I believe and affirm that Thou wast there when God said, Let there be light; and light was made (Gen. 1:3). For if He made it by the Word, He made it through Thee: and therefore it was said, All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made (John 1:3). God divided between the light and the darkness; the light He called day, and the darkness He called night (Gen. 1:4–5).

5. What is that night such that, when it has come, no one will be able to work? Hear what the day is, and then you will understand what the night is. From where are we to hear what this day is? Let Him Himself say: As long as I am in this world, I am the light of the world. Behold, He Himself is the day. Let the blind man wash his eyes in the day, that he may see the day. As long, He says, as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. So I do not know what night it will be when Christ will not be there; therefore no one will be able to work. It remains to inquire, my brothers (bear patiently with me as I inquire): with you I seek, with you I shall find from Him of Whom I seek. It is agreed, it is plainly stated and settled, that in this place the Lord called Himself the day, that is, the light of the world: As long, He says, as I am in this world, I am the light of the world. Therefore He Himself works. But how long is He in this world? Do we think, brothers, that He was here then, and is not here now? If, then, we think this, then that fearful night, in which no one can work, came about after the Lord's ascension: if that night came about after the Lord's ascension, how did the Apostles accomplish such great works? Was it that night when the Holy Spirit, coming and filling all who were in one place, gave them to speak in the tongues of all nations (Acts 2:1–6)? Was it night when that lame man was made whole at the word of Peter, nay rather at the word of the Lord dwelling in Peter (Acts 3:6–8)? Was it night when, as the disciples passed by, the sick were laid out with their beds, that they might be touched even by the shadow of those passing by (Acts 5:15)? Yet the Lord, when He was here, made no one whole by His shadow as He passed: but He Himself had said to the disciples, Greater things than these you will do (John 14:12). The Lord had indeed said, Greater things than these you will do: but let flesh and blood not exalt itself; let it hear Him saying, Without Me you can do nothing (John 15:5).

6. What then? What shall we say of that night? When

will be, when no one will be able to work? That night will belong to the ungodly: that night will belong to those to whom it will be said at the end, Depart into the eternal fire, which is prepared for the devil and his angels. But it has been called night, not flame, not fire. Hear that it is also night. Of a certain servant He says, Bind his hands and feet, and cast him into the outer darkness (Matt. 22:13). Let a man therefore work while he lives, lest he be overtaken by that night, where no one can work. Now is the time for faith to work through love: and if we work now, this is the day, this is Christ. Hear Him promising, and do not suppose Him absent. He Himself said, Behold, I am with you. How long? Let there be no anxiety in us who are living: if it were possible, by this very utterance we would make even our descendants who are yet to be most secure. Behold, He says, I am with you even to the consummation of the age (Matt. 28:20). This day, which is filled out by the circuit of this sun, has few hours; the day of the presence of Christ extends even to the consummation of the age. But after the resurrection of the living and the dead, when He has said to those placed at the right hand, Come, blessed of My Father, receive the kingdom, and has said to those placed at the left, Depart into the eternal fire, which is prepared for the devil and his angels (Matt. 25:34, 41): there will be the night where no one can work, but only receive what he has worked. One is the time of working, another the time of receiving: for the Lord will render to each according to his works (Matt. 16:27). While you live, act, if you are going to act: for then there will be a mighty night, which will envelop the ungodly. But even now every unbeliever, when he dies, is received into that night: there is no working of anything there. In that night the rich man was burning, and was seeking a drop of water from the finger of the poor man: he was in pain, he was in anguish, he was confessing, and no help was given him; and he tried to do good. For he said to Abraham: Father Abraham, send Lazarus to my brothers, that he may tell them what is done here, lest they too come into this place of torments (Luke 16:24–28). O unhappy man! when you were living, then was the time for working; now you are already in the night, in which no one can work.

7. "When He had said these things, He spat on the ground, and made clay from the spittle, and smeared the clay upon his eyes, and said to him: Go, and wash in the pool of Siloe" (which is interpreted Sent). "He went therefore, and washed, and came seeing." Since these things are plain, let us pass on.

8. "So the neighbours, and those who had seen him before, that he was a beggar, were saying: Is this not he who used to sit and beg? Some were saying, It is he: others, By no means, but he is like him." His opened eyes had changed his face. "He was saying, I am he." A grateful voice, lest it be condemned as ungrateful. "They were saying therefore to him: How were your eyes opened? He answered: That man who is called Jesus made clay, and anointed my eyes, and said to me, Go to the pool of Siloe, and wash. And I went, and washed, and saw." Behold, he has become a herald of grace; behold, he preaches the gospel, he confesses, seeing. That blind man was confessing, and the heart of the ungodly was being broken; for they did not have in their heart what he now had in his face. They said to him: Where is he who opened your eyes? He said: I do not know. In these words his mind was still like one anointed

but not yet seeing. Let us suppose it so, brothers, as though he had that anointing in his mind. He preaches, and does not know Whom he preaches.

9. "They bring to the Pharisees him who had been blind. Now it was the sabbath when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. Again therefore the Pharisees asked him how he had come to see. And he said to them: He put clay upon my eyes, and I washed, and I see. Some of the Pharisees therefore said." Not all, but some: for some were already being anointed. What then did they say, neither seeing nor anointed? This man is not from God, who does not keep the sabbath. Rather, He Himself was keeping it, Who was without sin. For the spiritual sabbath is this: to have no sin. Indeed, brothers, God admonishes us of this when He commends the sabbath: You shall do no servile work (Lev. 23:8). These are the words of God commending the sabbath: You shall do no servile work. Now ask the earlier readings what servile work is (Tract. 20, n. 2); and hear the Lord: Everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin (John 8:34). But these men, neither seeing, as I said, nor anointed, kept the sabbath carnally and violated it spiritually. Others said: How can a man who is a sinner do these signs? See, these are anointed. And there was a division among them. That Day had divided between the light and the darkness. They say therefore to the blind man again: What do you say of Him Who opened your eyes? What do you feel about Him? What do you think? What do you judge? They were seeking how they might slander the man, so that he might be driven out of the synagogue, but found by Christ. But he steadfastly expressed what he felt. For he says: That He is a prophet. Still only anointed in heart, he does not yet confess the Son of God, and yet he does not lie. For the Lord Himself says of Himself: A prophet is not without honour, except in his own country (Matt. 13:57).

10. "The Jews therefore did not believe of him that he had been blind and had come to see, until they called the parents of him who had come to see": that is, of him who had been blind and had come to see. "And they asked them, saying: Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see? His parents answered them and said: We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; but how he now sees we do not know; or who opened his eyes, we do not know. And they said: Ask him; he is of age, let him speak for himself." He is indeed our son, but we would rightly be compelled to speak for an infant, because he could not speak for himself: he has long been speaking, now he sees; we have known him blind from birth, we have long known him speaking, now we see him seeing: ask him, that you may be instructed; why do you slander us? These things his parents said because they feared the Jews. For the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess Him to be the Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue. It was no longer an evil to be put out of the synagogue. They were expelling, but Christ was receiving. Therefore his parents said: He is of age, ask him.

11. They therefore called again the man who had been blind, and said to him: Give glory to God. What is, Give glory

to God? Deny what you have received. This is plainly not to give glory to God, but rather to blaspheme God. Give, they say, glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner. So he said: If he is a sinner, I do not know; one thing I know, that whereas I was blind, now I see. So they said: What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes? And he, now indignant at the hardness of the Jews, and seeing where he had been blind, not bearing the blind, answered them: I have told you already, and you heard; why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become His disciples? What does "Do you also" mean, if not "because I already am"? Do you also want to? I see now, but I do not begrudge it.

12. They reviled him, and said: You be His disciple. May such a curse be upon us, and upon our children. For it is a curse if you examine the heart, not if you weigh the words. But we are disciples of Moses: we know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where He is from. Would that you knew that God spoke to Moses; you would know that God was preached through Moses. For you have the Lord saying: If you believed Moses, you would believe Me also; for he wrote of Me (John 5:46). Do you thus follow the servant, and turn your back against the Lord? But you do not even follow the servant; for through him you would be led to the Lord.

13. The man answered and said to them: Herein is a wonderful thing, that you do not know where He is from, and He opened my eyes. But we know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshipper of God and does His will, him He hears. He is still speaking as one only anointed. For God does hear sinners too. For if God did not hear sinners, in vain would that Publican, lowering his eyes to the ground and beating his breast, have said: Lord, be merciful to me a sinner. And that confession merited justification, as this blind man merited illumination. Since the world began it has not been heard that anyone opened the eyes of one born blind. If this man were not from God, He could do nothing. Freely, steadfastly, truthfully. For these things that were done by the Lord, by whom would they be done if not by God? Or when would such things be done by the disciples, unless the Lord dwelt in them?

14. They answered and said to him: You were born wholly in sins. What does "wholly" mean? With eyes closed. But He who opened the eyes saves the whole as well: He will give resurrection at the right hand, who gave illumination in the face. You were wholly born in sins, and do you teach us? And they cast him out. They themselves made him a teacher, they themselves questioned him so many times in order to learn, and ungratefully they threw out the one who taught them.

15. But, as I said a while ago, brethren, they drive out, the Lord takes in: for it was rather because he was expelled that he was made a Christian. Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and when He had found him He said to him: Do you believe in the Son of God? Now He washes the face of the heart. He answered and said, as one still only anointed: Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him? And Jesus said to him: You have both seen Him, and it is He who is speaking with you. He is the One Sent; this man was washing his face in Siloam, which is interpreted Sent. At last, with the face of his heart now washed and his conscience cleansed, recognizing Him not as son of man only, which he had believed before, but now