John 9
- Who wrote it
- Traditionally John, the son of Zebedee
- Who it was for
- Followers of Jesus, Jewish and Gentile
- What was happening
- A man born blind, a pool called Sent, and who really cannot see
What’s happening
As Jesus passes by, he sees a man blind from birth. His disciples ask, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" Jesus answers, "Neither did this man sin, nor his parents, but that the works of God might be revealed in him. I must work the works of him who sent me, while it is day. The night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world." He spits on the ground, makes mud with the saliva, anoints the man's eyes with it, and says, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which means Sent). The man goes, washes, and comes back seeing. The neighbors ask whether this is the one who used to sit and beg, and some say yes and some say no, but he says, "I am he." They bring him to the Pharisees, because it was a Sabbath when Jesus made the mud. The Pharisees ask how he received his sight. "He put mud on my eyes, I washed, and I see." Some say, "This man is not from God, because he doesn't keep the Sabbath," while others say, "How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?" and there is division. They ask the man, "What do you say about him, because he opened your eyes?" "He is a prophet." The Jews don't believe he had been blind, so they call his parents: "Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?" The parents say, "We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind, but how he now sees, or who opened his eyes, we don't know. He is of age. Ask him." John explains that they said this because they feared the Jews, who had already agreed that if anyone confessed him as Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue. They call the man a second time: "Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner." He answers, "Whether he is a sinner, I don't know. One thing I do know: that though I was blind, now I see." "What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?" "I told you already, and you didn't listen. Why do you want to hear it again? You don't also want to become his disciples, do you?" They revile him: "You are his disciple, but we are Moses' disciples. We know that God has spoken to Moses. But as for this man, we don't know where he comes from." The man answers, "How amazing! You don't know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. We know that God doesn't listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshipper of God, and does his will, he listens to him. Since the world began it has never been heard of that anyone opened the eyes of someone born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing." They answer, "You were altogether born in sins, and do you teach us?" and throw him out. Jesus hears that they have thrown him out, and finding him says, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" "Who is he, Lord, that I may believe in him?" "You have both seen him, and it is he who speaks with you." "Lord, I believe," and he worships him. Jesus says, "I came into this world for judgment, that those who don't see may see; and that those who see may become blind." Some Pharisees ask, "Are we also blind?" Jesus says, "If you were blind, you would have no sin. But now you say, 'We see.' Therefore your sin remains."
Why the setting matters
The disciples' question reflects a common assumption that suffering is the result of sin, the same assumption Jesus answers in Luke 13:1-5; Jesus rejects it and turns the question to what God will do. The pool of Siloam was at the southern end of the City of David, fed through the tunnel King Hezekiah dug from the Gihon spring, and its name means "sent" (Hebrew Shiloah, as in Isaiah 8:6). Making mud counted as kneading and so as Sabbath work, and healing with saliva was a recognized folk remedy that rabbis restricted on the Sabbath. This chapter is one of the strongest examples of John's irony: the blind man gradually sees more and more, from "the man called Jesus" to prophet to "from God" to "Lord," while those who claim to see grow more blind. The parents' fear refers to expulsion from the synagogue, a theme John returns to at 12:42 and 16:2. Whether a formal exclusion of Christians was in place in Jesus' time or in John's own is debated; the references may reflect the situation of John's community when the Gospel was written. "Son of Man" here is the title Jesus uses for himself. The man's worship is the point of the story, and the verb is the same one used for the worship of God.
Who’s in this chapter
Jesus
Heals a man born blind, and then finds him after he's thrown out.
The man born blind
Given sight, questioned repeatedly, and expelled; he ends by worshiping Jesus.
The disciples
Ask whose sin caused his blindness.
The man's parents
Confirm he was born blind, but won't say more.
The Pharisees
Investigate and divide over the sign.
The Jews
The authorities, who threatened to expel anyone who confessed Jesus as Christ.
Talk it through
- The disciples ask who sinned. What does Jesus' answer change about how to read suffering?
- The man's account of Jesus grows from "the man called Jesus" to "Lord, I believe." What moves him along?
- His parents say "He is of age; ask him." How do you read their fear?
- Jesus says some who see become blind. Who is he talking about, and how do you tell?
Read John 9
World English Bible
1As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. 2His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
3Jesus answered, “This man didn’t sin, nor did his parents; but, that the works of God might be revealed in him. 4I must work the works of him who sent me while it is day. The night is coming, when no one can work. 5While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 6When he had said this, he spat on the ground, made mud with the saliva, anointed the blind man’s eyes with the mud, 7and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means “Sent”). So he went away, washed, and came back seeing. 8The neighbors therefore, and those who saw that he was blind before, said, “Isn’t this he who sat and begged?” 9Others were saying, “It is he.” Still others were saying, “He looks like him.”
He said, “I am he.” 10They therefore were asking him, “How were your eyes opened?”
11He 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.”
12Then they asked him, “Where is he?”
He said, “I don’t know.”
13They brought him who had been blind to the Pharisees. 14It was a Sabbath when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. 15Again therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he received his sight. He said to them, “He put mud on my eyes, I washed, and I see.”
16Some therefore of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, because he doesn’t keep the Sabbath.” Others said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” There was division among them. 17Therefore they asked the blind man again, “What do you say about him, because he opened your eyes?”
He said, “He is a prophet.”
18The Jews therefore didn’t believe concerning him, that he had been blind, and had received his sight, until they called the parents of him who had received his sight, 19and asked them, “Is this your son, whom you say was born blind? How then does he now see?”
20His parents answered them, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; 21but how he now sees, we don’t know; or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. He is of age. Ask him. He will speak for himself.” 22His parents said these things because they feared the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that if any man would confess him as Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue. 23Therefore his parents said, “He is of age. Ask him.”
24So they called the man who was blind a second time, and said to him, “Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.”
25He therefore answered, “I don’t know if he is a sinner. One thing I do know: that though I was blind, now I see.”
26They said to him again, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”
27He answered them, “I told you already, and you didn’t listen. Why do you want to hear it again? You don’t also want to become his disciples, do you?”
28They insulted him and said, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. 29We know that God has spoken to Moses. But as for this man, we don’t know where he comes from.”
30The man answered them, “How amazing! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. 31We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God, and does his will, he listens to him. 32Since the world began it has never been heard of that anyone opened the eyes of someone born blind. 33If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”
34They answered him, “You were altogether born in sins, and do you teach us?” Then they threw him out.
35Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and finding him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of God?”
36He answered, “Who is he, Lord, that I may believe in him?”
37Jesus said to him, “You have both seen him, and it is he who speaks with you.”
38He said, “Lord, I believe!” and he worshiped him.
39Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment, that those who don’t see may see; and that those who see may become blind.”
40Those of the Pharisees who were with him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?”
41Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, ‘We see.’ Therefore your sin remains.
Text: World English Bible, Public domain. About our sources