John 9:1–12
The Light transforms congenital blindness into sight for God’s glory.
1 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, “This man didn’t sin, nor did his parents; but, that the works of God might be revealed in him.
4 I must work the works of him who sent me while it is day. The 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, made mud with the saliva, anointed the blind man’s eyes with the mud,
7 and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means “Sent”). So he went away, washed, and came back seeing.
8 The neighbors therefore, and those who saw that he was blind before, said, “Isn’t this he who sat and begged?”
9 Others were saying, “It is he.” Still others were saying, “He looks like him.” He said, “I am he.”
10 They therefore were asking him, “How were your eyes opened?”
11 He answered, “A man called Jesus made mud, anointed my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to the pool of Siloam and wash.’ So I went away and washed, and I received sight.”
12 Then they asked him, “Where is he?” He said, “I don’t know.”
The Light transforms congenital blindness into sight for God’s glory.
To demonstrate that Jesus, the Light of the world, reveals God’s glory by giving sight to the blind.
This sign follows Jesus' declaration as Light of the World (8:12). The miracle visually demonstrates that claim. The chapter will unfold as a progressive revelation of sight and blindness-physical and spiritual.
Physical blindness was sometimes associated with sin in Jewish thought (cf. Exodus 20:5; rabbinic speculation). Begging was common among those with congenital disabilities. The Pool of Siloam was part of Jerusalem's water system and associated with ritual purification.
The Man Born Blind, the Light of the World, and the Blindness of Religious Unbelief
Jesus, the Light of the world, gives sight to the blind and exposes the deeper blindness of those who claim spiritual sight while rejecting him.