Season of Kaitha
Third Sunday: John 9:1-38
INTRODUCTION
Here is a chapter-long narration of an
extra-ordinary miracle Jesus performed. No one had healed a person born
blind until that time. John the Evangelist presented this miracle to
manifest Jesus’ glory. The miracle caused a controversy among the Jews
because Jesus did it on a Sabbath. Because of the Sabbath violation, the
Pharisees considered Jesus as a sinner. Others asked how a sinner could
perform such a miracle. When questioned, the blind man’s parents took a
neutral position and did not defend Jesus. The blind man, besides
gaining physical sight, also gradually gained spiritual vision. We are
all born spiritually blind. Let us seek the help of Jesus, the Light of
the World, to enlighten us and guide us to the eternal bliss.
BIBLE TEXT
The Man Born Blind
(John 9:1) As Jesus
walked along, he saw a man who had been blind from birth. (2) His
disciples asked him, “Master, why was this man born blind? Because of
his own sins or those of his parents?” (3) Jesus answered, “Neither his
own sins nor those of his parents; he was born blind so that God’s work
might be revealed in him. (4) While it is day we must do the work of the
One who sent me; for the night will come when no one can work. (5) As
long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” (6) As Jesus
said this, he spat on the ground and made clay with the spittle and
rubbed it on the eyes of the blind man. (7) Then he said, “Go and wash
in the Pool of Siloam.” (This name means sent.) So he went and washed
and came back able to see. (8) His neighbors and all the people who used
to see him begging said, “Is not this the man who used to sit here and
beg?” (9) Some said, “It is the one.” Others said, “No, but he looks
like him.” But the man himself said, “I am the one.” (10) Then they
asked, “How is it that your eyes were opened?” (11) And he answered,
“The man called Jesus made clay and put it on my eyes and said to me:
‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went, and washed, and then I could see.”
(12) They asked, “Where is he?” The man answered, “I do not know.”
(13) The people brought to the Pharisees the
man who had been blind. (14) Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made
clay and opened his eyes. (15) So the Pharisees asked him again, “How
did you recover your sight?” And he said once more, “He put clay on my
eyes, and I washed, and now I see.” (16) Some of the Pharisees said,
“This man is not from God, for he works on the Sabbath;” but others
wondered, “How can a sinner perform such miraculous signs?” So they were
divided (17) and they questioned the blind man again, “What do you think
of this man who opened your eyes?” And he answered, “He is a prophet.”
(18) After all this, the Jews refused to believe that the man had been
blind and had recovered his sight; so they called his parents (19) and
asked them, “Is this your son? You say that he was born blind, how is it
that he now sees?” (20) The parents answered, “We know he is our son and
we know he was born blind; (21) but how it is that he now sees, we do
not know, neither do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him, he is old
enough. Let him speak for himself.” (22) The parents said this because
they feared the Jews who had already agreed that whoever confessed Jesus
to be the Messiah was to be put out of the synagogue. (23) That is why
his parents said, “He is old enough, ask him.” (24) So a second time the
Pharisees called the man who had been blind, and they said to him, “Give
God the praise, we know that this man is a sinner.” (25) He replied, “I
do not know whether he is a sinner or not; I only know that I was blind
and now I see.” (26) They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did
he open your eyes?” (27) He replied, “I have told you already and you
would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to
become his disciples?” (28) Then they started abusing him. “You are that
fellow’s disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. (29) We know that God
has spoken to Moses, but as for this man we do not know where he comes
from.” (30) The man replied, “It is amazing that you do not know where
the man comes from, and yet he has opened my eyes! (31) We know that God
does not listen to sinners, but if anyone honors God and does his will,
God listens to him. (32) Never since the world began has it been heard
that anyone opened the eyes of a person who was born blind. (33) If this
man were not from God, he could do nothing.” (34) They answered him,
“You were born a sinner and you teach us!” And they threw him out.
(35) Jesus heard that they had driven him
out. He found him and said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” (36) He
answered, “Who is he, sir? Tell me, so I can believe in him!” (37) Jesus
said, “You have seen him and he is speaking to you.” (38) He said,
“Lord, I believe,” and fell on his knees in worship.
INTERPRETATION
(John 9:1) As Jesus walked along, he
saw a man who had been blind from birth.
Because of the dispute with Jesus on
Theological issues, the Jews picked up stones to throw at him. That was
an assassination attempt. Since it was not his hour for self-sacrifice,
he left the Temple area hiding himself from the public (John 8:59). On
his way out, Jesus met a blind beggar. The beggars wait at the Temple
gate (Acts 3:2) seeking alms from the worshippers. Since this man was
blind, he did not notice Jesus. He saw the beggar because, unlike
others, Jesus had compassion to the suffering people, and he reached out
to help him.
The specialty of this miracle is that, out of
the six miracles for the blind recorded in the gospels, this is the only
person who was born blind. Others were blind because of sickness or
accident that happened after their birth. This person had never seen
light, nor seen any person, or anything in the world. He had no
education and had not known about Jesus. No one had given sight to a
person born blind. “Never since the world began has it been heard that
anyone opened the eyes of a person who was born blind.” (John 9: 32).
Jesus opening the eyes of a blind person was a proof that he was the
Messiah to come. Isaiah had predicted: “Then the eyes of the blind will
be opened and the ears of the deaf unsealed.” (Isaiah 35:5).
(2) His disciples asked him, “Master,
why was this man born blind? Because of his own sins or those of his
parents?”
The disciples, who were travelling with
Jesus, noticed that Jesus was paying empathetic attention to the blind.
Along with the widespread belief, they could view the blind only as a
sinner who deserved no compassion. The Jews
believed that sin caused sickness. Jesus confirmed this viewpoint when
he healed the sick person at the pool of Bethesda saying, “Now you are
well; do not sin again, lest something worse happen to you.” (John
5:14). Sickness could also happen as a punishment for the sins of
parents or ancestors. “You shall not bow down to them (idols) or serve
them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God; punishing the children
for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those
who hate me.” (Exodus 20:5). Exodus 34:7 and Number 14:18 repeat the
punishment for sins to generations. Therefore, the disciples raised the
question to Jesus when they saw this blind person. They presented only
two choices to opt from: his sin or the sins of his parents. Since he
was born blind, it could not be his sin. The answer they expected was
the sins of his parents or ancestors.
(3) Jesus answered, “Neither his own
sins nor those of his parents; he was born blind so that God’s work
might be revealed in him.”
Jesus gave an unexpected answer to the
disciples. Though sin and sickness came into the world because of the
fall of first parents, Jesus considered that person’s blindness as God’s
tool to manifest His glory. The Evangelist John gives importance to
God’s glory manifested in Jesus’ ministry. The Book of Job refutes the
suffering of the innocent people who face severe sickness or calamities.
Job was “a blameless and upright man who feared God and shunned evil.”
(Job 1:1) Still, he went through severe suffering. Because of Job’s
fidelity to God and patience, he regained his lost glory. The reverse
message is that the gains of a rich man are not because of his merits or
of his parents, but because of God’s generosity. God entrusts the
resources to take care of the less fortunate.
(4) While it is day we must do the work
of the One who sent me; for the night will come when no one can work.
Jesus included his disciples by using “we” to
do the works of God who sent Jesus. There was only a limited time for
them to do the work. Night was symbolic of losing the opportunity to
work because of death or disability to work. We shall not lose every
minute to do good for the glory of God because there awaits a deadline
when we must finish our work and report to God how we used our time and
resources.
(5) As long as I am in the world, I am
the light of the world.
God created the light on the first day of
creation before He created the sun, moon, and stars on the fourth day.
God has always been the source of light. Jesus who originated from the
Father came down as the light of the world. Besides giving physical
light to few blind people, he gave spiritual light to many and continues
to do the same. Jesus guides us who are spiritually blind to the genuine
source of light.
(6) As Jesus said this, he spat on the
ground and made clay with the spittle and rubbed it on the eyes of the
blind man.
Treatment with saliva
and soil was an old medical practice because people believed in the
curing effect of them. Jesus used his saliva also on other occasions.
When some people brought a deaf and mute man to Jesus, he touched that
man’s tongue with spittle (Mark 7:32-33). He healed another blind man at
Bethsaida by using spittle on his eyes (Mark 8: 22-23).
Jesus did not need to use the spitted mud or
washing in the lake for healing. However, he used some practice of the
time to manifest the divine healing by human means. Though God can heal
us, we shall use the natural or scientific means of healing that God has
provided. Using the clay reminds us how God created the first man using
clay. The blind man experienced the compassion of Jesus by his healing
touch with the clay made of saliva.
(7) Then he said, “Go and wash in the
Pool of Siloam.” (This name means sent.) So he went and washed and came
back able to see.
Siloam
means sent. Jesus, whom God sent to the world, sent the blind man
to the pool of “Sent” to express his faith in the sender. We have a
similar instance when Prophet Elisha healed
Naaman. Elisha asked Naaman to go to River Jordan and wash seven
times to heal from his leprosy. That was a test of Naaman’s faith (2
Kings 5:10–14). God expects our cooperation and compliance with the
Lord’s commandments when we seek His favors. Jesus asked us to forgive
others as a condition for God to forgive us.
People considered water as an agent for
physical treatment. Jews considered water in the pool of Siloam as holy
because priests carried that water in procession to the Temple and
poured on the altar on the Feast of Tabernacle. The pool was also used
to clean the sheep for Temple sacrifices. The blind man washed his
uncleanliness in the water for gaining his vision that Jesus offered. We
received baptism with water to take away our uncleanliness, so we could
offer ourselves to God. The healed man returned to the place where Jesus
met him, looking for Jesus to express his gratitude. But Jesus had left
the place.
(8) His neighbors and all the people
who used to see him begging said, “Is not this the man who used to sit
here and beg?”
The former blind man’s neighbors and those
who had seen him begging were raising the question. He was a well-known
native of Jerusalem because many people had seen him there begging for
years. His changed state confused some because they could not believe
that this man blind from birth was looking and seeing normal.
(9) Some said, “It is the one.” Others
said, “No, but he looks like him.” But the man himself said, “I am the
one.”
People familiar with the formerly blind man
expressed their normal reactions when they saw he had regained his
sight. However, he confirmed his identity as the formerly blind beggar
who got the healing. Thus he confirmed the miracle happened to him.
(10) Then they asked, “How is it that
your eyes were opened?”
Only the disciples were present when Jesus
smeared the eyes of the blind man with his saliva and clay. The public
was curious to hear from the beggar how he got the healing. It was a
great miracle, and nothing like that had happened before.
(11) And he answered, “The man called
Jesus made clay and put it on my eyes and said to me: ‘Go to Siloam and
wash.’ So I went, and washed, and then I could see.”
What the healed man knew about Jesus was his
name and that he was a “man.” He did not see Jesus as a prophet or the
Messiah. Only later he realized step by step who Jesus was because he
was physically and spiritually blind. In his description of what
happened, he did not mention Jesus spitting on the soil because he did
not see that. He said, Jesus made clay, anointed his eyes, and asked him
to go to Siloam and wash. Then he did as Jesus asked him to do and got
the sight.
(12) They asked, “Where is he?” The man
answered, “I do not know.”
The healed man did not get time to see Jesus.
He moved out from there by the time the blind man got sight and
returned. So, he was not aware of where Jesus was.
(13) The people brought to the
Pharisees the man who had been blind. (14) Now it was a Sabbath day when
Jesus made clay and opened his eyes.
The Jews in Jerusalem knew that their
conservative leaders, especially Pharisees, hated Jesus because he was
not following the Sabbath observance. Since Jesus healed the blind man
on a Sabbath, they wanted confirmation from the Pharisees to keep him as
a member of the synagogue. The Jews had expelled from the synagogue
everyone who accepted Jesus. The people and their leaders did not
acknowledge God’s glory revealed through Jesus for the blind beggar.
Instead, they made use of it to plot against Jesus.
Though spitting on the ground, making clay
out of it, rubbing it on the eyes, and asking the blind man to walk a
long distance were simple acts, the Pharisees considered them as the
violation of Sabbath observance. For Jesus, these were acts of mercy
that perfected the Sabbath adherence. Such acts of mercy were not
against the spirit of Mosaic law, but against the rules the leaders laid
out later with wrong assumptions. From the Pharisees’ point of view,
Jesus could do the miracle on another day. As per Rabbinic rules, only
in case of an imminent danger can someone perform acts of recovery on a
Sabbath.
(15) So the Pharisees asked him again,
“How did you recover your sight?” And he said once more, “He put clay on
my eyes, and I washed, and now I see.”
The Pharisees started their investigation. To
their question, the formerly blind man answered a summarized version of
what he had told his neighbors and acquaintances. The brief answer
expressed his displeasure in the interrogation. He sensed that the
Pharisees were not appreciating the grace he received but trying to find
fault with his benefactor. So, he skipped the details to avoid more
accusations against Jesus. He did not mention the name of Jesus, how he
made clay, and sent him to the pool of Siloam. Thus, he was a favorable
witness for Jesus.
(16) Some of the Pharisees said, “This
man is not from God, for he works on the Sabbath;” but others wondered,
“How can a sinner perform such miraculous signs?” So they were divided.
One group of Pharisees could not appreciate
the miraculous healing Jesus did to the blind beggar. From a negative
perspective, they could see Jesus as a violator of the Sabbath
observance. The other group had a logical question: How could a sinful
man do such an amazing miracle? Their guess could be positive or
negative. In the positive sense, they could mean that Jesus must be from
God to perform such a sign and hence he could not be a sinner. Some
members of the Sanhedrin like Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea had such
a view. In the negative sense, as a sinful person, Jesus was performing
miracles with the help of Beelzebul, the prince of the demons (Matthew
12:24).
(17) And they questioned the blind man
again, “What do you think of this man who opened your eyes?” And he
answered, “He is a prophet.”
Since the Pharisees could not agree on who
Jesus was, they asked the formerly blind man’s opinion on what he
thought of Jesus because he was the one who experienced the miracle. A
positive response on Jesus could cause him trouble from the Pharisees,
including expulsion from the synagogue. That happened later. However,
unlike the earlier occasion when he qualified Jesus as a “man,” this
time he presented Jesus, whom he never saw but experienced, as “a
prophet.” A prophet meant a messenger from God, and he knew that some
former prophets performed miracles. Thus, the blind man who gained his
sight also gained spiritual sight.
(18) After all this, the Jews refused
to believe that the man had been blind and had recovered his sight; so
they called his parents.
The Pharisees wanted to prove that the
miracle was a made-up story for the popularity of Jesus. If that miracle
was real, they would have to acknowledge the divine power of Jesus whom
they hated and wanted to avoid. So, they summoned the formerly blind
man’s parents. Pessimists will always look for loopholes to prove their
views.
(19) And asked them, “Is this your son?
You say that he was born blind, how is it that he now sees?”
The Jews needed two witnesses to prove a
truth. The healed man’s parents would be the best witnesses because they
knew him from birth. The Pharisees asked three questions to the parents:
(1) Was he their son? (2) Was he born blind? (3) How did he get the
sight? The second question, “who you say was born blind” implied that
they did not believe he was born blind. If he was born with eyesight and
became blind later, that would lessen the quality of the miracle and the
credibility of the claim made in favor of Jesus.
(20) The parents answered, “We know he
is our son and we know he was born blind.”
They could give positive answers for the
first two questions. They confirmed to the Jews that the formerly blind
man was their son and that he was born blind.
(21) “But how it is that he now sees,
we do not know, neither do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him, he is
old enough. Let him speak for himself.” (22) The parents said this
because they feared the Jews who had already agreed that whoever
confessed Jesus to be the Messiah was to be put out of the synagogue.
(23) That is why his parents said, “He is old enough, ask him.”
The parents might know the truth from their
son that Jesus healed him. They were not eyewitnesses to the miracle,
and they knew the ill intention of the Jews. So, they did not want to
give a correct answer to the third question because they were afraid of
expulsion from the synagogue. The decision to expel from the synagogue
must have been a local one and was not a formal order from the Sanhedrin
because the disciples of Jesus continued to be members of the synagogue
for many more years until 85 A.D. The parents requested the Jews to seek
the answer from their adult son who knew how he received the healing and
who did it for him. The parents took a neutral stand to save themselves
from the anger of the Jews upon them.
(24) So a second time the Pharisees
called the man who had been blind, and they said to him, “Give God the
praise, we know that this man is a sinner.”
The parents’ answer did not satisfy the
Pharisees. The formerly blind was not present when they questioned the
parents. So they called him. Since the Pharisees did not appreciate
Jesus, they forced the healed man to tell that he had lied. They tried
to convince him that Jesus was a sinner and that he should tell the
truth on his healing. “Give God the praise” is a confession formula
insisting the guilty to convey the truth. When Joshua questioned Achan
on his mistake, Joshua said, “‘My son, give glory to
the LORD, the God of Israel, and praise him by telling me what you have
done; do not hide it from me.’ Achan answered
Joshua, ‘I have indeed sinned against the LORD, the God of Israel.’”
(Joshua 7:19-20). The Pharisees were expecting a similar confession from
the cured beggar.
(25) He replied, “I do not know whether
he is a sinner or not; I only know that I was blind and now I see.”
The former blind man asserted that he was
blind, Jesus healed him, and afterwards he could see. So according to
the logic of Pharisees, Jesus could not be a sinner because a sinner
could not do such a miracle. So, with no argument, the blind man
ironically presented his view that Jesus was not a sinner. Out of his
experience, he could not agree with the Pharisees. Even at the risk of
expulsion from the synagogue, he affirmed his faith in Jesus.
(26) They said to him, “What did he do
to you? How did he open your eyes?”
The Pharisees repeated the question on how
Jesus opened the blind man’s eyes. Their intention was to prove their
negative stand on Jesus and to find inconsistency in the answers of the
illiterate blind man. They also wanted to find fault with Jesus based on
his prohibited actions on the Sabbath.
(27) He replied, “I have told you
already and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do
you also want to become his disciples?”
The former blind man did not repeat his
answer. Instead, he questioned the Pharisees, who were of a lofty status
among the Jews. His answer was that he had already told them, and they
did not heed to it. He understood their ill intention of finding fault
with Jesus instead of appreciating him. So, he raised sarcastic
questions against the Pharisees. He already knew that Jesus had
disciples because he heard them asking to Jesus on the cause of his
blindness.
(28) Then they started abusing him.
“You are that fellow’s disciple, but we are disciples of Moses.”
Because of the ironic questioning and
non-cooperation of the former blind beggar, the Pharisees got offended
and so they ridiculed him. They even credited him to be a disciple of
Jesus when he was not. He developed appreciation towards Jesus and
thought he must be a prophet. While the blind man was becoming the
disciple of Jesus, the Pharisees remained to be disciples of Moses.
Moses was God’s servant, while Jesus was the Son of God. A genuine
believer of Moses should become a follower of Jesus, because Moses also
had written and testified of Christ.
(29) “We know that God has spoken to
Moses, but as for this man we do not know where he comes from.”
Pharisees knew that God had spoken to Moses,
especially on Mount Sinai. However, Moses had not seen God face to face
in full glory. God told Moses, “You cannot see my face because no one
can see me and live.” (Exodus 33:20). The Pharisees were not open to God
and could not understand that Jesus was from God and that he was the God
incarnate.
(30) The man replied, “It is amazing
that you do not know where the man comes from, and yet he has opened my
eyes!”
The formerly blind man could not comprehend
the Pharisees’ argument against his personal experience of the
miraculous healing. He was sure that Jesus opened his eyes, though he
did not know whether Jesus was a sinner or a divine messenger like
Moses.
(31) “We know that God does not listen
to sinners, but if anyone honors God and does his will, God listens to
him.”
The blind beggar who experienced mercy and
unique miracle from Jesus spoke to the Pharisees defending Jesus. His
faith increased. Using the Pharisees’ arguments, he affirmed that Jesus
could not be a sinner. God listened to Jesus to perform the miracle
because Jesus was doing God’s will.
(32) “Never since the world began has
it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person who was born
blind. (33) If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”
The only healing from blindness in the Old
Testament was of Tobit. However, he was not born blind. That made Jesus’
miracle important and became a proof for his Messiahship. Unlike the
well-educated Pharisees, the illiterate beggar argued that Jesus could
not do such miracles unless he was from God. This also shows how his
argument with the Pharisees led him to increase his faith in Jesus. It
was a fulfillment of what Jesus declared in Luke 10:21, “Jesus was
filled with the joy of the Holy Spirit and said, ‘I praise you, Father,
Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the
wise and the learned, and made them known to little children.’” This
childlike and uneducated person knew more about God than the learned
Pharisees.
(34) They answered him, “You were born
a sinner and you teach us!” And they threw him out.
The reasonable questions and the prudent
answers of the illiterate beggar offended the Pharisees. According to
them, God cursed him even before his birth. He was born in sin and God
had punished him with blindness even from the time of his birth. As the
disciples had mentioned earlier, either he or his parents might have
sinned. How could a sinner and beggar whom all hated could teach the
Pharisees? So, they punished him by expelling him from the community.
(35) Jesus heard that they had driven
him out. He found him and said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”
Jesus came in search of the man and found
that the Pharisees had expelled him because of his profession of faith
in Jesus. His parents had forsaken him for fear of Jews. However, Jesus
came to his rescue fulfilling Psalms 27:10, “Though my father and mother
forsake me, yet the LORD will receive me.” Jesus gave him another
opportunity to declare his faith in the “Son of Man.” Instead of using
“Son of God” for himself, Jesus often used “Son of Man” as a human being
and as an exalted heavenly one as given in Daniel 7.
(36) He answered, “Who is he, sir? Tell
me, so I can believe in him!”
Though Jesus had spoken and touched the blind
man’s eyes with spitted soil before, he was seeing Jesus only when he
returned in search of him. So, he could not recognize Jesus. He was
curious to understand who that Son of Man was who healed him.
(37) Jesus said, “You have seen him and
he is speaking to you.”
This answer of Jesus identifying himself as
the “Son of Man” was like how Jesus introduced himself to the Samaritan
woman in John 4:26, “I who speak to you am he.” Thus, Jesus revealed to
this poor man his identity.
(38) He said, “Lord, I believe,” and
fell on his knees in worship.
The climax of the long event is the
profession of faith of this formerly blind beggar and his worship of
Jesus as an act of his faith. Like St. Peter and St. Thomas, this poor
man professed his faith. Like many others, he prostrated and worshipped
Jesus. Worship means veneration paid to a divine being. Jesus allowed
others to worship him to acknowledge his divinity though he never looked
for it. Several earthly kings had demanded worship, considering
themselves as deities. This man worshipped Jesus, humbling himself,
expressing his love and gratitude to Jesus. Thus, the blind man’s belief
in Jesus started with “a man” later turned into a prophet and finally a
Lord and Son of God.
MESSAGE
1. We do not appreciate our gift of sight.
God has given us eyes to see the glory of God and to worship him through
our service for others. Often, we misuse our eyesight for sins. Then our
eyesight leads us to spiritual blindness.
2. There could be sickness or disability
because of one’s own sin or the carelessness of others like drunkenness,
smoking, crazy driving, sexual misconduct, or irresponsible behavior.
However, we cannot relate every sickness or accident to the sin of the
person involved. So we cannot judge others. Instead, we need to be
compassionate and helping those in need, even if it happened because of
their fault.
3. The opposition of the religious leaders
against Jesus led to the spiritual growth of the blind man. Negativities
of others can also cause excellent results in us.
4. The parents of the blind man who got the
healing were unwilling to acknowledge that Jesus healed their son. They
found excuses such as they were not eyewitnesses, and their son was of
age to answer the question. We also sometimes take such a neutral
position to save ourselves from the challenges facing the church and its
leaders.
5. When we have disabilities, diseases, or
other mishaps in life, we should not take such sufferings in a negative
sense. God has a plan for each of us and our hardships might lead to the
glory of God and betterment of us in time, as with Job and the blind man
in this parable.
6. Jesus came in search of the formerly blind
man whom the Jews expelled from the community and the parents abandoned
for fear of the Jewish leaders. Jesus offered him support and gave him
more spiritual sight. Let us know that when we stand for Jesus and face
challenges on our faith, Jesus will be our defender.
7. The blind man got double healing: Physical
eyesight and a spiritual insight that led him to the eternal light
through Jesus, the Light of the World. Though many in the world have
physical sight, they lack spiritual vision. Let us seek more the
spiritual sight for ourselves and those we serve.