The blind man of John 9 as a paradigmatic figure of the disciple in the Fourth Gospel

Abstract

This article seeks to compare Christian discipleship with Mosaic discipleship. The Pharisees, needing to survive, rejected the Christological revelation the Son of Man brought in order to make God known on earth. The study of discipleship in John 9 leads us to understand that ‘discipleship in Moses’ which seeks to please God by upholding the Law or Torah is no longer defensible. Discipleship in chapter 9 redefines the believer’s covenant relationship with God and demonstrates how it takes place in the person of Jesus (the envoy motif) and in his work (functional Christology) in order that the disciple may follow him into the light. The portrayal of the blind man as a role model of the disciple implicitly explains how Christology played a major role in an environment of conflict and ideology and how it relates discipleship to the devotion of Jesus as the plenary manifestation of God.