Some Scripture commentators have opined that Jesus’ identification of himself as “light for the world” is a reference to the parable of the cave in Plato’s Republic. (Jn 9:5)  These commentators believe that the author of John’s Gospel used a cultural reference familiar to the Gospel’s earliest readers in order to convince those readers to abandon pagan philosophy in favor of faith in the One, True God. 

In Plato’s parable, the natural state of human existence is described as living “in the dark” about the reality of the world.  According to Plato, human nature is born in an intellectual vacuum that separates all people from the truth.  In the absence of actual truth, human nature settles for perceived truth, but those perceptions are no more than mere shadows cast by sunlight shining on the wall of a dark cave. 

Plato was convinced that the Greek myths of gods and goddesses did not deserve the status of religious myth because they were falsehoods.  Those ancient myths of gods, goddesses, demi-gods, and heroes were used as explanations of natural phenomena, but Plato found them to be misleading.  Why, for example, do daffodils bloom briefly and only once a year?  The answer, according to the myth of Narcissus, is that beauty is both fleeting and precious.   

Plato rejected this appeal to conventional moralizing as an explanation of the life cycle of flowering plants; he preferred to understand natural processes, like the life cycle of plants and animals, to be manifestations of the rationality of the universe.  “Seeing” the truth about the world meant, for Plato, seeing the world as being guided by its own law, a rational law that governed all things predictably and equitably. 

Plato, of course, was completely mistaken.  There is nothing rational about the world.  In a sense, the ancient Greek myths of gods and goddesses whose jealousies and intrigues precipitated the events of history are closer to the truth than Plato’s philosophy; the world is governed by randomness and the dissipation of energy in the form of entropy.  There is nothing predictable or equitable about the world, but this realization about the nature of the world is entirely unhelpful because it provides no opportunity to learn the truth about human existence. 

There is a great deal that can be learned about human nature through rational investigation.  The medical and social sciences have shed light on many of the physical and emotional maladies that plague human life.  Such knowledge is very useful, but entirely incomplete.  Good physical and emotional health are pleasant and enjoyable, but they do not lead necessarily to faith in God.  The “light for the world” that illuminates the path to God is entirely distinct from the light of intellect, philosophy, or science.  The light that God offers is truth about how to relate to all other human beings in a way that communicates God’s Grace. 

The story of the miraculous healing in today’s Gospel reading does not intend to speak about medical facts.  The healing of the blind man is a prophetic sign that illustrates the need for, and possibility of, reconciliation.  The blind man was separated from society by his unfortunate condition; he was prevented from engaging in meaningful work and judged to be suffering punishment for sin. (Jn 9:34)  By restoring his sight, Jesus restored him to normal relationships with society and God. 

The miracle is a sign that exemplifies Jesus’ teaching about the necessity and possibility of living a whole and holy life.  Faith in Jesus makes one a whole and wholesome person.  This is not intellectual truth; it is experiential truth.  The truth of salvation is learned by living the new life of baptism – in the same way that the man born blind learned to live a new life in the light. 

It is very true that all people are born into darkness, the darkness of lack of knowledge of God.  This darkness is dispelled by neither intellect nor myth.  The rational truths that one can learn through careful observation of the world can teach only that the world is ruled by discord, disorder, and dissolution.   

The truth of salvation is found in healed and healing relationships.  It is truth illuminated by the light of Christ, and this is the light of Christ: that it is both necessary and possible to be reconciled to God and human society.