John 9:5

As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. Just as therefore the day is nothing other than the presence of light on the earth, so this day is nothing other than the presence of Christ in the world: …

1308 He gives the reason for what he has just said, saying, as long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. This is like saying: If you want to know what is that day and what is that night …

"As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world," for by teaching and the manifestation of miracles I enlighten souls. Therefore now too I must enlighten the souls of many through the healing of the blind man and the …

I am the light of the world - I teach men inwardly by my Spirit, and outwardly by my preaching, what is the will of God; and I show them, by my example, how they must do it.

Thirdly, He was pleased to lay himself under the strongest obligations to do the business he was sent about: I must work. He engaged his heart, in the covenant of redemption, to draw near, and approach to God as Mediator, Jer. xxx. Shall we be willing to be loose, when Christ was willing to be bound?

We partake of the sun's light, and so we may of Christ's grace, without money and without price. Secondly, A good example of usefulness in the world. What Christ saith of himself, he saith of his disciples: You are lights in the world, and, if so, Let your light shine.

As long as I am in the world,.... Which had been now two or three and thirty years; but was not to be much longer. I am the light of the world; See Gill on Joh 8:12. Though doubtless he said this with some view to the cure he was about to perform, it being agreeable to his character and work, while he was in the world.

As long as I am in the world ... - As the sun is the natural light of the world, even while it sinks away to the west, so am I, although my days are drawing to a close, the light of the spiritual world. What a sublime description is this!

The chapter we now begin records one of the few great works of Christ which John has reported. It tell us how our Lord gave sight to a man who had been "blind from his birth." Here, as elsewhere in this Gospel, we find the circumstances of the miracle narrated with peculiar fullness, minuteness, and particularity. Here too, as elsewhere, we find the narrative rich in spiritual lessons. We should observe, first, in this passage, how much sorrow sin has brought into the world. A sorrowful case is brought before us.

"As before the raising of Lazarus (Joh 11:25), He announces Himself as the Resurrection and the Life, so now He sets Himself forth as the source of the archetypal spiritual light, of which the natural, now about to be conferred, is only a derivation and symbol" [ALFORD].

The chapter we now begin records one of the few great works of Christ which John has reported. It tell us how our Lord gave sight to a man who had been "blind from his birth." Here, as elsewhere in this Gospel, we find the circumstances of the miracle narrated with peculiar fullness, minuteness, and particularity. Here too, as elsewhere, we find the narrative rich in spiritual lessons. We should observe, first, in this passage, how much sorrow sin has brought into the world. A sorrowful case is brought before us. We are told of a man "who was blind from his birth." A more serious affliction can hardly be conceived. Of all the bodily crosses that can be laid on man, without taking away life, none perhaps is greater than the loss of sight. It cuts us off from some of the greatest enjoyments of life. It shuts us up within a narrow world of our own. It makes us painfully helpless and dependent on others. In fact, until men lose their eyesight, they never fully realize its value. Now blindness, like every other bodily infirmity, is one of the fruits of sin. If Adam had never fallen, we cannot doubt that people would never have been blind, or deaf, or mute. The many ills that flesh is heir to, the countless pains, and diseases, and physical defects to which we are all liable, came in when the curse came upon the earth. "By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin." (Rom. 5:12.) Let us learn to hate sin with a godly hatred, as the root of more than half of our cares and sorrows. Let us fight against it, mortify it, crucify it, and abhor it both in ourselves and others. There cannot be a clearer proof that man is a fallen creature than the fact that he can love sin and take pleasure in it. We should observe, secondly, in this passage, what a solemn lesson Christ gives us about the use of opportunities.

OUR Savior had been dealing with the Jews and the Pharisees who had bitterly opposed and even taken up stones to cast at Him. He felt much more at home when He could fix His eyes upon poor necessitous beings and bless them with healing and salvation.

OUR Savior had been dealing with the Jews and the Pharisees who had bitterly opposed and even taken up stones to cast at Him. He felt much more at home when He could fix His eyes upon poor necessitous beings and bless them with healing and salvation. It is the lot of some of us to be often in controversy with the carnal professors of the present day— and it is a great relief to us to get away from them and their stones—and find out individual sinners and preach to them, in the name of God, the Gospel which spiritually opens the eyes of the blind! At the gate of the Temple sat a blind beggar who must have been a notable character, for he was possessed of remarkable shrewdness and mother wit. From having long been there, he must have been well known to all who regularly frequented the Temple and to the wider circle of those who came from far to the great yearly gatherings. This man could not see Jesus, but, what was better, Jesus could see him. We read in the opening of the chapter—"As Jesus passed by, He saw a man which was blind from his birth." Many other blind men there were in Israel, but Jesus saw this man with a special eye. I think I see the Savior standing still and looking at him, taking stock of him, listening to his quaint speeches, noting what kind of man he is and exhibiting special interest in him. This morning there is one in the Tabernacle who cannot see Jesus, for he has no spiritual eyes, but I am convinced that my Master is now looking at him, searching him from head to foot and reading him with discerning eyes. He is considering what He will make of him, by-and-by, for He has the great and gracious intent that He will take this sinner, who is spiritually like the blind beggar, and enlighten him and give him to behold His Glory! I suppose that the blind beggar of the Temple hardly valued sight, for he had been blind from his birth.

I am the light of the world - Like the sun, it is my business to dispense light and heat every where; and to neglect no opportunity that may offer to enlighten and save the bodies and souls of men. See Joh 8:12.