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The Encounter with the Jews and the Man Born Blind
The Evangelist John chose to recount a series of signs performed by Jesus to illustrate his work of new creation. Jesus is the revelation of the Father and the creator of a new humanity. The first part of his discourse from Cana to Cana highlighted the novelty Jesus brought to the institutions of the biblical tradition. Starting from the second sign of Cana, in which the son lives, Jesus focuses on mankind. John presents a series of signs in which Jesus transforms the condition of humans—he heals the paralytic, enabling him to walk; he feeds the hungry, showing that he is the bread of life, as the word of God, and as a foretaste of the Eucharistic gift that will allow people to live for him and the Father.
The following sign appears in chapter 9, where the story of the man born blind is told. We see the sign of bread related to the discourse in chapter 6. The sign of the man born blind appears in chapter 9; two chapters are between. Chapters 7 and 8 serve as preparation for the important story of the man born blind.
John chooses to set different episodes around specific Jewish festivals. The scene of the multiplication of the loaves occurs during the Passover feast. Chapter 7, however, mentions another festival, the Feast of Tabernacles, which is celebrated exactly six months after Passover. So, during spring, at the autumnal equinox, six months after Passover, Jesus returns to Jerusalem and encounters several people in the temple, where he clashes with the Jewish authorities.
In chapter seven, verse 37, we notice an important detail. After all the encounters and conflicts, on the last day, the great day of the Feast of Tabernacles, “Jesus stood and said loudly, ‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as scripture says: Rivers of living water will flow from within him.'”
The theme of water resurfaces. He had promised the Samaritan woman the water of life. Now, he declares that a spring of water flows from within his own will. The last day of the Feast of Tents was marked by a solemn procession in Jewish tradition, during which priests drew water from Siloam and carried it to the top of the Temple Mount. They poured these bowls of water along the sanctuary walls, asking for the gift of autumn rain after months with no water. The earth longed for moisture, and they prayed for rain to bring life to the land.
During that solemn water procession, Jesus shouts, attracting attention, ‘Those who are thirsty, come to me and drink, those who believe in me. The source of living water is me. The scripture has said it.’ Probably, he alludes to the water from the rock and the water that rises from the temple, as described symbolically by the prophet Ezekiel. ‘I am the new temple; I am that rock from which water flows, which will truly give life.’
The evangelist interjects to clarify: “He said it, referring to the Spirit the believers would receive in him.” The Spirit was not yet present because Jesus had not yet been glorified. It’s not that there was no Spirit in Himself or in the world, but it had not been shared with people. It is the risen Christ who, in the glory of the cross, shares water from His heart; from the open side, the crucified causes blood and water to flow. That water symbolizes the Spirit that flows from the new temple, which is the body of Christ, and it represents the water of the sacraments, the Spirit’s water that gives life to new humanity.
These words spark further debates. Then comes chapter 8, the story of the adulterous woman. This episode is missing in many ancient manuscripts. Many scholars believe it was not originally part of the Gospel of John but was added from another tradition. Chapter 8 focuses on a tense conflict between the Jews and Jesus. The confrontation reaches its peak. It begins with a statement from Jesus, describing himself: “I am the light of the world, who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
Let’s look at the different symbols Jesus used before he showed himself as water, the source of living water. Now, he describes himself as the light of the world, capable of illuminating until the fullness of life is reached. The Jews challenged him and rejected his revelation. Jesus then emphasizes, “Before that Abraham was I am.” ‘I am’ is the proper name of God. Jesus associates himself with the Lord God, who revealed himself to Israel. He uses the proper name of God to identify himself. Then they gathered stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid and left the temple.
“Passing by, he saw a man born blind’—thus begins chapter 9. However, placing it after chapter 8 is important because it is a sequel; there is no narrative break. Chapters 7, 8, 9, and 10 are a single unit set during the Feast of Tents. On the most solemn day of that celebration, when Jesus reveals himself as the source of living water and the light of the world, the Jews reject him and try to stone him. Jesus must flee and hide, quickly exiting the temple to avoid being caught by his enemies; he stops in front of a beggar who has been blind from birth.
Chapter 9, placed in this context, is a well-structured narrative unit with a parallel, concentric pattern, meaning passages that move toward a center. The beginning and the end mirror each other. Jesus and the blind man face each other at both the start and the end. In the middle, there is an inquiry into how the man born blind gained his sight.
If you think about it, this is not a healing but a creative intervention. John is eager to emphasize that the man was born blind, not became blind, and that it was not a disease or an accident that caused him to lose sight. It is simply a congenital issue; it is part of his nature, so he cannot see. Never in history has anyone been recorded as opening the eyes of someone born blind. Even today, despite major advancements in science, doctors still cannot cure blindness in those born without sight.
So, Jesus’ intervention is not aimed at healing in the traditional sense but at creating. He does not heal someone from a disease; instead, he must create the organ of sight. After engaging in a theological discussion about sin, which could involve the blind person or his parents, the evangelist emphasizes some gestures Jesus makes. “When he said this, he spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva, smeared the clay on his eyes, 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.” It is an example of a paratactic story, featuring many conjunctions and a series of verbs, each followed by only a few descriptive elements.
We first notice the unusual nature of the gesture. Jesus does not need physical means to perform a miracle. We recall the father in Cana when he said, ‘Go in peace, your son who is in Capernaum is better and lives from that moment.’ Therefore, at a distance, his word is effective. In this case, he chooses to make a strange gesture: spitting on the ground. It is not a pleasant gesture by itself. Then, we can imagine Jesus stooping down to mix the saliva with the soil; he needed to lower himself. Jesus bent down to form this mud. He took it and applied it to the blind man’s eyes. We notice that the blind man did not ask him for anything; he is a poor beggar sitting at the temple entrance. It is Jesus who sees him; he sees nothing. The disciples are the ones who ask him: ‘Was he born blind because of his sin or of his parents?’ Jesus answers: “Neither he nor his parents. It serves for God’s works to be revealed.” Without the man asking for the miracle, Jesus performs a sign. With that mud, he rubs his eyes and sends him to wash.
Suppose we understand how the city of Jerusalem was built. In that case, we can see the difficulty the blind man faces: he is standing in front of the temple door but is told to wash at the Pool of Siloam, which is far away at the end of a series of alleys and stairs in the old city. He is not simply sent to the nearest washhouse; he is directed to the Pool of Siloam. Since the term is Semitic, John translates it for his Greek audience and explains that the name Siloam is meaningful.
It means ‘sent.’ Why does he explain it? Because it is an important name. It is the pool of the one who is sent. That man obeys the word of Jesus. He goes, washes in the pool of the one sent, and gains sight. A new creation occurs. Why did Jesus make mud? Why did he mix saliva with the earth? What does he want to remind us of? It is a meaningful symbol. It refers to the creation of Adam, the first man, formed from dust of the ground and the breath of God; the saliva symbolizes the breath. Now, the saliva combined with the earth makes the mud that is applied to his eyes and, for sure, causes him a lot of discomfort.
He heard someone spitting on the ground, then felt hands on him, with dirt rubbed into his eyes, and heard, ‘Go and wash in Siloam.’ That man could have reacted badly, refused, gotten angry, or insulted. The episode isn’t told realistically but in a strongly symbolic way. It represents the journey of the new creation. That man is a symbol of the catechumen, who is being catechized, trained, and completing a formative process until he gains sight. He is recreated, and the organ of sight is given to him, but the path he must walk is the growth of his faith until he adheres to Jesus.
That mud must remind us of how man was created. The pool of the one who is sent should remind us of Jesus; He is the one whom the Father sends, and the pool of the one who is sent is the baptismal font, the symbol of baptism. The man who washes in the pool of the one sent gains sight. It is the story of the man who, by encountering Christ through the sacraments of faith, receives the ability to see God and know Him fully. Jesus is the light of the world; Jesus is the one who allows us to see God. He is the great revealer of the Father. He is the one who opened the eyes of humankind, born blind and unable to know God by their nature. But Jesus revealed Himself and performed a gesture of new creation.
The narration depicts an investigation into how the man born blind gained his sight. The Pharisees question him, asking who did it. He recounts the event. The issue is that Jesus made mud on the Sabbath. This element appears in several episodes. Jesus, in some way, breaks the law. He performed a gesture forbidden on the Sabbath, yet it is a caring act and a good deed. He did great good for the man born blind. The Pharisees, discussing among themselves, say that this man cannot be from God because he does not keep the Sabbath. Others argued that if he were not from God, how could he perform such works? There was a split; they were divided and opposed.
The Jews cannot accept that Jesus gave sight to a man born blind, so they speculate that it is a trick, a carefully orchestrated fraud. To investigate, they summon the blind man’s parents. This scene is the core of the story; the core is always important. Neither Jesus nor the man born blind appears here, only the Jews and the parents. “The Jews ask: is he your son? Is it true that he was born blind? Why does he see now?” The parents reply: “He is our son. We know that he was born blind, but we do not know how he now sees.” They refuse to give a clear answer, saying, “Ask him; he is old enough. We know nothing.” John portrays these parents as a symbol of Jews who, because they refuse to accept Jesus, choose to ignore him. Despite the positive impact of Christian preaching, they prefer to stay in the dark. This reflects the fear of the synagogue authorities.
An important but outdated detail concerns expulsion. ‘The Jews had already established that if someone recognized him as Christ, he would be expelled from the synagogue.’ In Greek, he uses the term ‘ἀποσυνάγωγος’ (aposynagogos). It is a Greek technical term for those who are excommunicated from the synagogue. A similar law was enacted, not during Jesus’ time but in the 80s, when part of the synagogue was decisively closed against Christian preaching. They expelled those who recognized Jesus as the Messiah.
The parents of the blind man are people who fear the Jews, and out of fear, they deny the evidence. The Jews summoned the man who was once blind again. They ask him to give glory to God. We know they say that this man is a sinner. The blind man responds confidently, able to reason with his mind and without fear: ‘If he is a sinner, I don’t know. One thing I do know is this: I was blind, but now I see. So, I have to consider what he has done for me. How did he open your eyes? I’ve already told you that you haven’t listened. Do you want to become his followers too?’ He probably shouldn’t have said that! They insult him and throw him out. Here, he is excommunicated. “You will be his disciple,” they tell him. “We are disciples of Moses, and we know that God spoke to Moses. But him, Jesus, we do not know where he comes from.” Remember the important adverb of place. Even the steward at Cana did not know where the wine came from. ‘This is the strange part,’ the man says, ‘that you do not know where he is from, yet he opened my eyes. If he were not from God, he could not do anything,’ which shows that this man has reached a point of faith and attachment to Jesus.
They told him, ‘You were born in all sins, and you want to teach us!’ and they threw him out. Now, that man encounters Jesus again, who asks him, ‘Do you believe in the Son of Man?’ ‘Who is he so I may believe in him?’ ‘It is I; you see him; thanks to him, you can see.’ And that man prostrates himself and worships Jesus. ‘I believe, Lord.’
It is the pinnacle of the journey for the catechumen who, illuminated by Baptismal grace, worships Him, recognizing Jesus as God, the light of the world. Jesus concludes His speech: “I came into the world precisely so that the blind can see.” Woe to the one who arrogantly believes they can see and does not need salvation. Do you mean us? the Pharisees who listened to Him asked. Oh, yes, indeed, I mean you. If you were physically blind, you wouldn’t have sinned. Instead, when you have the presumption to say, ‘We see, we understand, we know, we are self-sufficient,’ your sin remains. If you refuse salvation, you cannot be saved.
The discourse on the shepherd follows immediately. It serves as the follow-up and theological application to the great baptismal sign through which Jesus reveals God, who grants the ability to perceive the work of salvation.