John 9
Jesus heals a man born blind
As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
Jesus answered, “This man didn’t sin, nor did 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.” When he had said this, he spat on the ground, made mud with the saliva, anointed the blind man’s eyes with the mud, and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means “Sent”). So he went away, washed, and came back seeing.
Therefore the neighbors and those who saw that he was blind before said, “Isn’t this he who sat and begged?” Others were saying, “It is he.” Still others were saying, “He looks like him.” He said, “I am he.”
They therefore were asking him, “How were your eyes opened?”
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.”
Then they asked him, “Where is he?” He said, “I don’t know.”
Seeing a man blind from birth, the disciples ask whose sin caused it, his or his parents'; Jesus says neither, but that God's works are to be shown in him. He makes mud with saliva, puts it on the man's eyes and sends him to wash in the pool of Siloam. The man comes back seeing, and his neighbours argue over whether he is the same man.
What does this mean?
Siloam means "sent", as the narrator explains; the Gospel often describes Jesus as the one "sent" by the Father. "Anointed" here simply means smeared.
Historical context
Many people in the ancient world, including some Jewish teachers, connected illness and disability with sin; the book of Job argues against a simple link. Saliva was used in ancient folk remedies. A large pool from the Second Temple period, identified by its excavators as the pool of Siloam, was uncovered in southern Jerusalem in 2004.
Why does it matter?
The healing acts out Jesus' claim to be "the light of the world" (8:12, 9:5). The chapter that follows is carefully built: the man gradually comes to see who Jesus is, while those who claim to see become more resistant.
Editorial notes, not scripture.