João 9

The man born blind

1 Now as He was passing by He saw a man blind from birth. 2 And His disciples asked Him saying, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, in that he was born blind?"*Wait a minute—if being born blind was the result of the man’s own sin (as they suggest), when did he commit it? In any case, Jesus rejects their basic premise. 3 Jesus answered: "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but so that the works of God might be displayed in him.*Wow! Did you get that? Jesus is saying that it was part of the Plan—the man was born blind so that the Messiah could come along years later and give him sight. (Does that fit anywhere in your theology?) 4 I*Perhaps half a percent of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, read "we" for "I" (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.). Virtually the same handful of manuscripts also has "Him who sent us" (in this verse), but none of the versions mentioned goes along—a curious proceeding. must accomplish the works of Him 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."*In Matthew 5:14 Jesus said to His disciples, "You are the light of the world"—so as long as we are here there is light, and so it isn’t night yet. We had better get on with accomplishing the Father’s works.

The man is healed

6 Upon saying these things He spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva, and spread the mud on the blind man’s eyes.*How unhygienic! The dirt in the street or road would be mixed with manure and all sorts of other contaminants, and human saliva is worse than a dog’s. So why did Jesus do it? I don’t know. Apparently it was part of His game plan to use a variety of procedures. There are cultures today where the shamans use saliva to heal, and to them this incident is especially significant. 7 And He said to him, "Go wash in the pool of Siloam" (which is translated, ‘Sent’). So he went and washed, and came away seeing!