"but we are Moses' disciples. We know that
God spake unto Moses: as for this fellow, we know not from whence he
is." They were enraged that this unlettered mendicant should answer so
boldly in their scholarly presence; but the man was more than a match
for all of them. His rejoinder was maddening because it flouted their
vaunted wisdom, and withal was unanswerable. "Why herein is a marvellous
thing," said he, "that ye know not from whence he is, and yet he hath
opened mine eyes. Now we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any
man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth. Since
the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one
that was born blind. If this man were not of God, he could do nothing."

For such an affront from a layman there was no precedent in all the lore
of rabbis or scribes. "Thou wast altogether born in sins, and dost thou
teach us?" was their denunciatory though weak and inadequate rejoinder.
Unable to cope with the sometime sightless beggar in argument or
demonstration, they could at least exercize their official authority,
however unjustly, by excommunicating him; and this they promptly did.
"Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when he had found him, he
said unto him, Dost thou believe on the Son of God? he answered and
said, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him? And Jesus said unto
him, Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee. And
he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him."

In commenting upon the matter Jesus was heard to say that one purpose of
His coming into the world was "that they which see not might see; and
that they which see might be made blind." Some of the Pharisees caught
the remark, and asked in pride: "Are we blind also?" The Lord's reply
was a condemnation: "If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye
say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth."

SHEPHERD AND SHEEPHERDER.[873]

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into
the sheep fold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and
a robber. But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the
sheep." With these words Jesus prefaced one of His most impressive
discourses. The mention of shepherd and sheep must have brought to the
minds of His hearers many of the oft-quoted passages from prophets and
psalms.[874] The figure is an effective one, and all the more so when we
consider the circumstances