As he passed by he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3 Jesus answered, “Neither he nor his parents sinned; it is so that the works of God might be made visible through him. 4 We have to do the works of the one who sent me while it is day. Night is coming when no one can work. 5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 6 When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva, and smeared the clay on his eyes, 7 and said to him, “Go wash in the Pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went and washed, and came back able to see. 8 His neighbors and those who had seen him earlier as a beggar said, “Isn’t this the one who used to sit and beg?” 9 Some said, “It is,” but others said, “No, he just looks like him.” He said, “I am.” 10 So they said to him, “[So] how were your eyes opened?” 11 He replied, “The man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and told me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went there and washed and was able to see.” 12 And they said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I don’t know.”'
Jesus restored the sight to a man born blind on a Sabbath and the blind man gave witness to the Pharisees that Jesus must be “from God (v. 33)” and not a sinner as the Jewish leaders had claimed. In OT times the Israelites believed that physical illness, handicaps, or deformities resulted from sin. If the man was blind ether he or his parents had sinned. The evangelist John adds that the man was blind so that the works of God may be revealed through him (v. 3). Jesus told his disciples that he is the light of the world, and they have to do the work God sent him to do while he is still in the world. Darkness would overcome the world if he, the light of the world, had not come (vv. 4-5). Traditional OT beliefs held that spit and mud helped to cure blindness (2 Kgs. 5:10). The blind man obeyed Jesus and washed in the pool of Siloam and his obedience to the words of Jesus cured him (v. 7). The man not only received physical sight but spiritual sight so he could recognize Jesus’ divinity. The man’s neighbors were astounded and wanted to know how he could now see.
Almighty God, grant us the faith to recognize
and trust you when you are trying to heal our blindness. May we be ever mindful of your goodness
towards us and strive to bring to completion the work you have assigned to
us. This we pray through Christ our
Lord. Amen!
Chiu, José Enrique Aguilar, et al. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. Paulist Press, 2018.
Brown, Raymond Edward, et al. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Upper Saddle River, NJ, United States, Prentice Hall, 1990.
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