John 9
1 As he passed by, he saw a person who had been blind from birth. 2 His students asked him, “Rabbi, who deviated to cause him to be born blind: this person or his parents?”
3 “Neither this person nor his parents deviated,” Jesus answered. “Just the opposite, it has the result thata what God seeks to accomplishb can be clearly shown with him.c 4 It is necessary for us to work toward what the one who sent me seeks to accomplish as long as it is daytime. Night is coming when no one can work. 5 While I’m in the world, I am the light of the world.”
6 After he said these things, he spit on the ground and made mudd from the saliva. He spread the mud on the blind man’se eyes.
7 “Go,” Jesus said to him, “Wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated as ‘sent’). Then the blind manf went away and washed, and he came back seeing.
8 Then neighbors and the people who saw him previously because he had needed to request people give him things to surviveg started saying, “Isn’t this the person who used to sit and ask for things?”
9 Some were saying, “This is him!”
Others were saying, “No, but he looks like him.”
The man kept saying, “It’s me!”h
10 So they started asking him, “Then, how were your eyes opened?”
11 “The man called Jesus,” he answered, “made mud and spread it on my eyes, and he told me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So, I left, and after I washed, I could use my eyes.”i
12 “Where is that man?” they said to him.
“I don’t know,” he said.
13 They brought the man who used to be blind to the Pharisees 14 (It was Shabbat on the day Jesus made mud and opened his eyes). 15 Then the Pharisees were the ones who asked him again how had been able to use his eyes.
“He put mud on my eyes,” he told them, “And I washed, and I could see.”
16 Then some of the Pharisees started saying, “This person is not from God because he doesn’t carefully observe Shabbat,” but others were saying, “How can a person who is deviating produce signs like these?” and there was a split between them.
17 Then they said to the formerlyj blind man again, “What do you say about him, since he opened your eyes?”
“He is a prophet,” he said.
18 So the Judean authorities didn’t trust the claim about him that he had been blind and then able to use his eyes until they had called the parents of the one who had become able to use his eyes, 19 and they asked them.
“Is this your son,” they said, “About whom you say, ‘He was born blind’? Then, how is he seeing right now?”
20 Then his parents answered. “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind,” they said. 21 “But we don’t know how he can see now. Ask him. He’s old enough. He’ll speak for himself.” 22 (His parents said this because they were afraid of the Judean authorities. You see, the Judean authorities had already agreed together that if anyone acknowledged him as Christ, they would become expelled from the synagogue.k 23 That’s why his parents said, “He’s old enough. Ask him.”)
24 Then they called for the person who had been blind a second time.
“Contribute to God’s praise!”l they said to him. “We know that this person is a deviator.”
25 “I don’t know whether he is a deviator,” he answered. “I know one thing, that although I used to be blind, now I can see.”
26 “What did he do to you?” they said. “How did he open your eyes?”
27 “I already told you, and you didn’t listen!” he said. “You don’t want to become his students too, do you?”
28 They verbally attacked him and said, “You are that man’s student, but we are Moses’ students! 29 We know that God has spoken to Moses, but we don’t know where this man is from.”
30 “Well, that’s what makes it amazing, that you don’t know where he’s from, yet he opened my eyes!” the man said to them. 31 “We know that God does not listen to deviators, but if someone is respectful of God so that they do what he wants, then God listens. 32 Since ages past,m it has not been heard that anyone born blind has had their eyes opened. 33 Unless this man were from God, he wouldn’t be able to do anything.”
34 They responded to him, “You were born entirely coveredn with deviations, yet you’re teaching us!” and they expelled him from the community.o
35 Jesus heard that they expelled him from the community,p and after going to find him, he said, “Have you placed your trust in the Son of Humanity?”
36 “Who is he, sir?” he answered, “so I can place my trust in him?”
37 “You have seen him,” Jesus said, “and he is the one who is speaking with you.”
[|q 38 So he said, “I trust, Lord,” and he bowed down to him.
39 Jesus said, |]r “I came to the world for justice,s so those who can’t see would see and those who can see would become blind.”
40 The Pharisees who were with him heard this and said, “We aren’t blind too, are we?”
41 “If you were blind,” Jesus told them, “You wouldn’t have deviation. But now that you say, ‘We can see,’ your deviation stays present.
FOOTNOTES:
a The Greek word hina can be translated a number of ways. It’s simplest translation is ‘so that.’ However, it can be used to indicate a cause, a purpose, a result, and other related ideas. The traditional translations word it in such a way that shows the translators take it to be about purpose. However, that assumption does not fit Jesus’ teaching. The most natural way to translate this so that it fits with Jesus’ teaching is to understand it as being about result, not purpose. It then is simply something that happened, not that God caused to prove a point, and it is being used as an opportunity to treat the person how God would treat them.
b Compare with John 8:39, 41. Literally, ‘the work/actions of God.’
c The context makes clear that this story is about Jesus and his students, not about the blind man. If the blind man is the subject, then God is unjust, causing him and his parents suffering and hardship throughout his whole life (up to this point and beyond since while he can see after this story, he still has to start from scratch with building a life) just to prove a point. That perspective does not fit with Jesus’ message. Jesus sees an opportunity to model what God cares about and how people who follow the path of the Lord are responsible to treat others. Jesus does whatever is in his power to improve a stranger’s life. He teaches his students to do the same. That is what it means to do ‘the work of God.’ It happens with this blind man, and it’s intended to spread and become the default way of life for those who follow Jesus. The rest of the chapter shows how people wrestled with understanding what Jesus’ actions demonstrated about God.
d Or ‘wet clay’
e Literally, ‘his.’
f Literally, ‘he’
g The Greek word prosaites traditionally has been translated as ‘beggar.’ In present culture, a term like that would be accompanied by judgment and dismissal. It is not appropriate to use a term like that in the narrative of Jesus’ story. It has been translated here with a long, descriptive phrase, essentially a whole definition rather than a single term: ‘someone who needs to request people give them things to survive.’
h Literally, ‘I am,’ the same Greek Jesus uses (ego eimi) to state “I AM before Abraham’s existence” (John 8:58) and let his students know it was him walking on water: “Take courage! I AM me! Don’t be afraid. (Matthew 14:27).
i Literally, ‘look up.’ Jesus uses the same word as a direction to his students in John 4:35, telling them to ‘use your eyes’ or ‘look up.’
j The word ‘formerly’ is not in the Greek. It just says “Then they said to the blind again.”
k The Greek is aposunagogos genetai, literally, ‘become away-from-synagogue.’ The word ‘synagogue’ is from the Greek sunagoge, which means ‘gathered together,’ or ‘community gathering.’ They were worried about being excommunicated, banished from the community life and worship. This is a different wording than John 9:34-35, though it is a related concept, probably even meaning the same action.
l This short sentence was an idiom used as way of placing the man under oath. It was essentially, “Stop lying and reflect God by telling the truth instead.”
m Literally, ‘from the ages…’
n The word ‘covered’ is not in the Greek but is used to make the thought flow more smoothly in English. A more literal translation would be something like “All of you was born with deviations.”
o The words ‘from the community’ are not in the Greek, but it is certainly what was in view, not just telling him to leave the building for that moment. He was kicked out of membership and participation in Jewish community life and worship (he was excommunicated). The Greek phrase is exebalon auton exo (literally, ‘they threw him out outside.’ There is an extra emphasis on the ‘out’ or ‘outside.’ The verb exebalon (root: ekballo) already means ‘throw out’ or ‘cast out’ or ‘banish.’ It is a compound of ek (preposition meaning ‘out of’ or ‘out from’) and ballo (to throw, to project). The word exo is related to the preposition and means ‘outside’ or ‘out.’ John 9:22 explained that the Pharisees had decided to expel people from the community if they acknowledged Jesus as Christ. It uses a different phrase in that verse: aposunagogos genetai, literally, ‘become away-from-synagogue.’ The word ‘synagogue’ is from the Greek sunagoge, which means ‘gathered together,’ or ‘community gathering.’ The book of John seems to use ekballo exo (‘throw out outside/banish outside’) the way Matthew uses ekballo eis to skotos to exoteron (‘throw out into the outer darkness’).
p Again, ‘from the synagogue’ is not in the Greek, but the phrasing is about being kicked out of the community, not just escorted out of the building.
q The earliest and most reliable manuscripts don’t include verse 38 and the part of verse 39 that says, “Jesus said.”
r The earliest and most reliable manuscripts don’t include verse 38 and the part of verse 39 that says, “Jesus said.”
s Most of the instances of ‘assessment’ or what is traditionally translated as ‘judgment’ are krisis, but the word here is krima. Both words can be used in a number of ways, but in John, krisis usually refers to something like ‘the process or result of assessing/deciding,’ i.e. ‘assessment’ or ‘decision,’ and krima seems to be the equivalent of the Hebrew mishpat (and was used to translate it in the Septuagint), which is about justice in which the poor and oppressed are given equity. BDAG includes one of the definitions as “proper recognition of someone’s rights, justice.” It is restitutionary and restorative justice in action, not retributive justice. It’s about supporting those who have been wronged or marginalized, not punishing bad behavior.