Translated by Qwen who notes: Here is a complete English translation of the commentary on John 9 attributed to St. Bruno of Segni (Bruno Astensis, c. 1045–1123), based on the Latin text provided. This text follows the medieval exegetical tradition, blending literal interpretation with rich allegorical and moral symbolism (particularly regarding the Incarnation and Baptism).
St. Bruno of Segni: Commentary on the Gospel of John, Chapter 9
Jn 9:1: "And Jesus passing by, saw a man who was blind from birth."
Jn 9:2: "And His disciples asked Him: Rabbi, who has sinned, this man or his parents, that he should be born blind?"
Our Savior Himself shows most clearly that His miracles signify something, since in performing them He does something which seems to lack reason. For if it signified nothing, what necessity was there in the illumination of this blind man to make clay, with which to anoint his eyes, when it would have been sufficient for Him merely to speak? For He Himself spoke and they were made; He commanded and they were created (Psalm 148:5).
Let us therefore seek the signification, and let us see what this blind man signifies. This blind man, blind from birth, seems to be the human race. But why from birth? Unless because from the first man. For when the devil persuaded the first man to eat the forbidden wood, saying: "Eat, and your eyes shall be opened" (Genesis 3:5), did he not show him to be blind? He was not yet blind, however, but by eating he was made blind. From this one blind man, all men are born blind. This blindness, moreover, is not of the body but of the soul. This blindness causes men not to know their Creator.^[1220]
Jn 9:3: "Jesus answered: Neither has this man sinned, nor his parents, that he should be born blind."
But let us hear what the Lord answered the disciples asking: "Neither has this man sinned," He says, "nor his parents, that he should be born blind because of this." Why then was he born blind? "That the works of God should be made manifest in him." For this man and his parents had sinned, but he was not born blind because of his own sins or theirs, but rather that the works of God might be made manifest in him.^[1221]
Jn 9:4: "I must work the works of Him that sent Me, while it is day. The night comes, when no man can work."
Jn 9:5: "As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world."
Therefore the Lord still works, because it is still day. For He worked through Himself, He worked through His disciples. He works now also. He will work until the end of the world through His faithful ones. Afterwards, however, the night will follow, in which no one will be able to work. Therefore, while we have time, let us work good to all men, especially to those who are of the household of the faith (Galatians 6:10).
And lest you think this day will end soon, hear what the Lord Himself says: "Behold, I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world" (Matthew 28:20). But He is the light of the world as long as He is in the world.^[1222] Therefore He is also now the light of the world, because He is now in the world. For if He is with us, He is in the world, because we also are in the world.
Jn 9:6: "When He had said these things, He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and spread the clay upon the eyes of the blind man."
Jn 9:7: "And He said to him: Go, wash in the pool of Siloe (which is interpreted, Sent). He went therefore, and washed, and came seeing."
Now what Siloe means, the Evangelist added, saying that it is interpreted "Sent." We have already said what this blind man signifies. Now let us see how and by what medicine the blind are enlightened. For the spittle, which naturally descends from the head, is the Divinity of Christ, whose head, as the Apostle says, is God (1 Corinthians 11:3). This fell upon the earth, it came into the Virgin, and was made clay, because the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14). This, therefore, is that medicine, that is, the Incarnation of the Son of God, by which the blind are enlightened.^[1223]
For those eyes are blind which are not touched by this clay. For those are touched by this clay who believe that Christ is God and man. It is not sufficient to touch the earth; it is not sufficient to touch the spittle. It is sufficient to touch and believe the clay which was made from both. Yet so, if he who touched the clay and believed Christ to be God and man, goes to the pool of Siloe, hastens to Baptism, and there is washed and regenerated. For unless one be born again of water and the Holy Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God (John 3:5). For both are necessary: to believe and to be baptized, nor does one avail without the other.
Moreover, it is not without mystery that Siloe is interpreted "Sent." For Baptism began in the Jordan, which was sent through the Apostles to regenerate men everywhere among the nations.^[1224]
Jn 9:8: "The neighbors therefore, and they who had seen him before that he was a beggar, said: Is not this he that sat and begged?"
Jn 9:9: "Some said: This is he. But others said: No, but he is like him. But he said: I am he."
Jn 9:10: "They said therefore to him: How were thy eyes opened?"
Jn 9:11: "He answered: That man that is called Jesus made clay, and anointed my eyes."
What is "He made clay" unless "The Word was made flesh"? He touched the eyes of our mind that we might see Him and understand the truth. **"And He said to me: Go to the pool of Siloe and wash; and I went, and washed, and saw."** Consider now how full of joy these words are, how much they overflow with exultation.
Jn 9:12: "They said therefore to him: Where is he? He said: I know not."
They asked concerning a man; concerning a man he answered. Therefore it is not incongruous that he says "I know not," because although he was now a Christian, he was not yet a prophet.
Jn 9:13: "They bring him to the Pharisees, who had been blind."
Jn 9:14: "Now it was the Sabbath when Jesus made the clay, and opened his eyes."
Therefore they who wish to be enlightened, let them keep the Sabbath from sin, and let them have rest from servile work. For the Church keeps such a Sabbath from the time she knew and saw the Lord.
Jn 9:15: "Again therefore the Pharisees asked him how he had seen. But he said to them: He put clay upon my eyes, and I washed, and I see."
Jn 9:16: "Therefore some of the Pharisees said: This man is not of God, who keeps not the Sabbath. But others said: How can a man that is a sinner do such signs? And there was a schism among them."
Not yet were those enlightened who understood the observance of the Sabbath in this way. Not yet had they touched the clay; not yet had they come to the washing. But these [the latter group] were already in some way approaching the light and beginning to see.
Jn 9:17: "They say therefore to the blind man again: What sayest thou of him that hath opened thy eyes? And he said: He is a prophet."
Indeed he spoke well, but he could have spoken better unless he had feared. For the Lord Himself showed Himself to be a prophet, saying: "A prophet is not without honor, save in his own country" (Matthew 13:57).
Jn 9:18: "The Jews therefore did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind, and had received his sight, until they called the parents of him that had received his sight."
Jn 9:19: "And they asked them, saying: Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?"
Jn 9:20: "His parents answered them, and said: We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind."
Jn 9:21: "But how he now sees, we know not; or who has opened his eyes, we know not. Ask him: he is of age; let him speak for himself."
Jn 9:22: "These things his parents said, because they feared the Jews. For the Jews had already conspired together, that if any man should confess him to be Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue."
Jn 9:23: "Therefore his parents said: He is of age; ask him."
The Evangelist explains why they said this: "These things his parents said, because they feared the Jews."
Jn 9:24: "They therefore called the man again that had been blind, and said to him: Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner."
What is "Give glory to God"? Deny that this man is Christ; deny that you are a Christian.^[1225] But this is not to give but to take away glory from God.
Jn 9:25: "He said therefore to them: If he be a sinner, I know not. One thing I know: that whereas I was blind, now I see."
"I know not his sins," he says; "I do not accuse him of sins. One thing I know, that I say and preach: I was blind, and at His command I now see."
Jn 9:26: "They said therefore to him: What did he to thee? How did he open thy eyes?"
Jn 9:27: "He answered them: I have told you already, and you have heard. Why would you hear it again? Will you also become his disciples?"
He was indignant because they forced him to say the same words so many times. "If I knew that you also wished to become His disciples, just as I am, I would not refuse to say the same things again and again, and still many times more."
Jn 9:28: "And they reviled him, and said: Be thou his disciple; but we are disciples of Moses."
Blessed are those upon whom such a curse falls. Would that this curse might come upon us also!^[1226]
Jn 9:29: "We know that God spoke to Moses; but as for this man, we know not from whence he is."
Jn 9:30: "The man answered, and said to them: Why, herein is a marvelous thing, that you know not from whence he is, and he has opened my eyes."
Where then is your wisdom? Where is the doctrine which you preach? Why do you read the Law if you do not understand? You say this man is a sinner. It is unheard of and unusual that sinners work such things.
Jn 9:31: "Now we know that God does not hear sinners. But if a man be a lover of God, and does His will, him He hears."
It is not to be wondered at if one still rude and newly enlightened speaks something ignorantly against the doctrine of the Church.^[1227] Nor is it true that God does not hear sinners.
Jn 9:32 From the beginning of the world it hath not been heard, that any man hath opened the eyes of one born blind.
Jn 9:33 Unless this man were of God, he could not do anything.
It is not heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. Unless this man were from God, he could not do anything.
Jn 9:34: "They answered, and said to him: You were wholly born in sins, and do you teach us? And they cast him out."
Because he had been born blind, they thought him a greater sinner than the rest. Even the disciples of Christ could feel this, who asking the Lord said: "Who has sinned, this man or his parents, that he should be born blind?"
"And they cast him out." It profited him much that they cast him out, because cast out he merited to see and know Jesus. For the Jews cannot see Jesus unless they first go out from the Synagogue.
Jn 9:35: "Jesus heard that they had cast him out. And when He had found him, He said to him: Dost thou believe in the Son of God?"
Jn 9:36: "He answered, and said: Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?"
He does not doubt about the essence, but asks about the person. For not yet did he know Him personally, whom nevertheless he believed to be the Son of God.
Jn 9:37: "And Jesus said to him: Thou hast both seen Him; and He it is that talks with thee."
Jn 9:38: "And he said: I believe, Lord. And falling down, he adored Him."
Jn 9:39: "And Jesus said: For judgment I am come into this world; that they who see not, may see; and they who see, may become blind."
By these words He showed what this illumination of the blind man signified. "For judgment," He says, "I have come into this world." Into what judgment? Of justification and damnation. The foolish are justified, the wise are damned. These are illuminated, those are blinded. These follow the light, and those are plunged into darkness.^[1228]
Jn 9:40: "And some of the Pharisees, who were with Him, heard: and they said to Him: Are we blind also?"
Jn 9:41: "Jesus said to them: If you were blind, you should not have sin. But now you say: We see. Your sin remains."
"If those who see become blind," they say, "do you say that we also, because we see, are blind?"
"Therefore He says sin remains, that you may see." For if you were blind among yourselves, that is, if you understood yourselves to be blind, you would not have sin, because you would seek the light.
Footnotes
1219 Genesis 3:5: "In whatever day you shall eat of it, your eyes shall be opened."
1220 Augustine, Tractate 44 on John: "If therefore we consider what this signifies that was done, this blind man is the human race. For this blindness happened in the first man through sin, and through sin from whom we all have drawn our origin, not only of death but also of iniquity."
1221 Chrysostom also noticed this, Homily 56 on John: "He does not say this to indicate them to be entirely free from sins. For he did not say simply 'Neither has this man sinned, nor his parents,' he added 'that he should be born blind,' etc. For this man and his parents sinned, but the blindness did not come from thence."
1222 Bede on this place: "It is certain the Lord commemorated an expressed and defined day here, Himself, that is, the light of the world. 'As long as,' He says, 'I am in this world, I am the light of the world.' Therefore He works. But as long as He is in the world? Do we think, brothers, Him to have been here then and now not to be here? What is that He says to the disciples ascending into heaven: 'Behold I am with you,' etc."
1223 Augustine, Tractate 44 on John: "The Lord came, what did He do? He commended a great mystery. He spat on the earth, etc., because the Word was made flesh; He sent him to the pool which is called Siloe. Moreover, it pertained to the Evangelist to commend to us the name of this pool, and he said that it is interpreted 'Sent.' Now you know who is the Sent, unless He had been sent, none of us would have been released from iniquity. Therefore he washed his eyes in that pool which is interpreted Sent, he was baptized in Christ, etc." Bede has the same words. See annotations to Mark Chapter 7.
1224 Ambrose, Book 2, Epistle 80, n. 4: "Go and wash in Siloam, etc. What is this reason? Great, if I mistake not. For he sees more whom Jesus touches. Note at once His divinity and sanctification. As if light touched and poured in luminescence, as if a priest through the figure of Baptism he fulfilled the mysteries of spiritual grace. He spat that you might notice that the interiors of Christ are light. And truly he sees who is cleansed in the interiors of Christ. His spittle washes, His word washes. Moreover, what else does making clay and anointing the eyes of the blind signify unless that you might understand that He restored health to man anointed with clay, who figured man from clay, and that this flesh of our clay through the sacrament of Baptism receives the light of eternal life? Approach you also to Siloam, that is, to Him who was sent by the Father, come to Baptism, etc." See also Irenaeus, Tertullian, Ambrose, Nyssen on Baptism, Augustine, Cyril and other Fathers who recognize here the sacrament of Baptism.
1225 Gregory, Book 11 on Kings, Chapter 11: "What is it to say 'Give glory to God' unless not to attribute the praises of your cure to Him, because He is not God? And because He is asserted to be a sinner, not only is He denied to be God, but also a just man." Chrysostom, Homily 58: "'Give glory to God,' that is, confess that He did nothing."
1226 Ambrose, Allusion: "The curse of them is a blessing. 'Be you,' they say, 'His disciple.' Then they profit when they think they harm."
1227 Augustine, Book 1 against the Epistle of Parmenian, c. 8, n. 17: "What is written in the Gospel 'God does not hear sinners,' etc., was not said by the Lord, but by him who indeed now had the eyes of his body restored, but the eyes of his heart were not yet opened, whence he still thought the Lord Himself a prophet. Moreover the Lord, when the Pharisee and the publican were praying in one temple, says the publican confessing his sins was more justified than the Pharisee boasting his merits." And Tractate 44 on John, n. 13: "Still anointed he speaks. For God hears sinners also. If indeed God did not hear sinners, in vain that publican, etc." See Sermon 135, n. 6 and Sermon 136, n. 2. Toletus notes a grave difficulty in understanding this sentence: "God does not hear sinners," Annotation 9. Concerning that matter see Jansenius, Concordance Chapter 78, and Interpreters. See St. Thomas, 2-2, q. 83, a. 16, Suarez, Vol. II on Religion, Book 1, c. 25, and other Theologians.
1228 Chrysostom, Homily 59, n. 1: "Moreover 'for judgment' is for great punishment, showing that those who think themselves to be damned and who pronounce themselves a sinner, themselves are liable to sin... It is not the cruelty of God but mercy that one nation perish that all may be saved... That part of the Jews not see that the whole world may receive. Whence also the Lord Himself in the Gospel turned the sacrament of the blind man from birth who had received eyes to a tropology and says: 'For judgment I have come into the world,' etc." Augustine, Tractate 44: "What is 'that they who see not, may see'? Those who do not see themselves and seek a physician that they may see. What is 'that they who see, may become blind'? Those who think they see and do not seek a physician that they may remain in their blindness. Therefore He called this distinction judgment."
CONTINUE
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