(Gospel of John 9:1 - 9:41)
When Jesus was out walking, he came upon a blind man, one who had been blind since birth. The disciples asked Jesus, "Rabbi, why was this man born blind? Was is it due to his sins or the sins of his parents?"
"It is due neither to his own sins nor to the sins of his parents. He was born blind so that the power of God might be revealed in him. --- I must accomplish the tasks commanded by the one who sent me while it is yet daylight, for when it is dark no one can work. As long as I am on earth, I am the light of the world!"
With that Jesus spat on the ground and formed some mud with his saliva. He spread the mud over the eyes of the blind man and then told him, "Go wash it away in the pool of Siloam." (Siloam means "sent")
The blind man went and washed his eyes and when he returned home -- he was able to see! Soon his neighbors and those who had seen him begging were inquiring, "Isn't this the man who used to sit and beg?" Some declared, "Yes, it certainly is," but others said, "No, it just looks like him." But the man himself insisted, "I am that man!"
"How, then were you cured of your blindness?" they asked him.
"The man called Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. I went there and washed and I could then see!"
"Where is this man?" they asked, but he told them he didn't know.
The man who had once been blind was brought before the Pharisees, because the act of healing had taken place on the Sabbath. The Pharisees interrogated the man, who could only respond, "He put the mud on my eyes and when I washed it away, I could see!"
A number of the Pharisees concluded, "This man Jesus cannot be from God, for he violates the Sabbath," but others argued, "How could some cheap fraud perform such a miracle?" There was a sharp division of opinion among the Pharisees on this matter, and so they asked the formerly blind man what he thought, for he was the one who had been cured.
"He is a prophet!" was the man's reply.
The authorities would not believe that he had been blind and then cured of his blindness until they had summoned his parents. "Is this your son?" they asked them. "You say he was born blind, how is it that he can now see?"
The parents replied, "We know for sure that this is our son and that he was born blind, but how he was cured of his blindness and who cured him, we do not know. You must ask him. He is of age and can speak for himself." (The parents were cowed by the religious authorities, for they had already ruled that anyone who believed that Jesus was the Messiah would be expelled from the synagogue. That's why they said only, "You must ask him. He is of age and can speak for himself.")
The formerly blind man was summoned to appear before the Pharisees a second time. They told him, "The truth is that credit for this miracle belongs to God alone. This man Jesus we know to be a charlatan."
"I don't know whether he's a charlatan or not. All I know is, I used to be blind, but now I can see," the man replied.
They persisted in interrogated him. "What did he do to you? How did he cure your blindness?"
He answered, "I've told you that before! Weren't you listening? What do you want to hear it again for? Are you interested in becoming his disciples?"
At that the Pharisees mocked him and rejoined sharply, "You are his disciple, we are the disciples of Moses! We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this man, we don't even know where he came from."
The man answered them. "Well, that's funny. Here's a man who cured my blindness and you don't even know where he came from. We know that God doesn't hear the prayers of charlatans, but does listen to those who worship and obey him. Since the beginning of the world, no one has ever heard of someone being born blind and then cured of that blindness. Surely this man couldn't have done such a thing unless he was sent by God."
The religious authorities retorted, "You were born steeped in sin and yet you have the gall to lecture us!" And they booted him out of the synagogue.
When Jesus heard that the man had been expelled, he sought him out, and finding him, he asked of the man, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?"
"Who may he be?" the man asked. "Please tell me, sir, so I may believe in him."
"You have seen him," Jesus told him. “He is speaking to you now!"
"Yes, Master, I do believe," said the man, bowing in adoration.
Jesus told him, "I came into this world to make clear the distinction between those who are blind but will be made to see and those who see, but will be made blind."
There were some Pharisees standing nearby who overheard this conversation. They challenged Jesus, "So you think we are blind?"
Jesus answered them "If you were truly blind, there would be no sin in that, but because you falsely claim that you can see, you remain guilty of sin."
Notes
1. The correlation between physical sight and spiritual understanding is brought out in this incident. The man is physically blind, but by giving him his sight Jesus has also given him spiritual insight which the sighted Pharisees lack. The spiritual blindness of the Pharisees is not a result of honest ignorance, which is forgivable, but of willful error, their rejection of Jesus. Here, spiritual sight, understanding, is judged solely upon one's acceptance or rejection of Jesus as the divine Messiah sent by God. No one who disbelieves in Jesus can possibly possess spirituality.
2. One imagines that Jesus made the mud with his saliva rather than with water, because his essence must have been necessary to endow the mud with some magical property. Whether the water at the pool was Shiloam was also necessary for the miracle is an open question. So is why he choose to accomplish the miracle in this particular way.
3. The cured blind man becomes, with his acquired sight, pretty feisty, admirably so, for he bravely tells off the Pharisees. As a result he is kicked out of the synagogue, but later he finds Jesus, or vice versa. It seems that the man had never seen his healer before. His was, of course, blind when Jesus put the mud on his eyes and apparently after he washed off the mud and could see, he did not go back to find Jesus, or was unsuccessful in locating him. Jesus, though, looked him up, concerned about the trouble had gotten into with the Pharisees.
4. Jesus’ explanation to the formerly blind man why he came into the world is often mistranslated. He did not come to pass judgment, but to use judgment to make the distinction between two types of people, those who are spiritually ignorant but will be enlightened (by him) and those who falsely believe they are already enlightened, but will be left in ignorance.
5. It seems strange that Jesus is always performing his miracles on the Sabbath. Is he going out of his way to antagonize the Pharisees and challenge their overly strict doctrines? Doesn't he ever get the urge to work a wonder on a lazy Monday or some odd Thursday?
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