John 9:15 - Printer Friendly

ESV: So the Pharisees again asked him how he had received his sight. And he said to them, "He put mud on my eyes, and I washed, and I see."

NIV: Therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. "He put mud on my eyes," the man replied, "and I washed, and now I see."

NASB: Then the Pharisees also were asking him again how he received his sight. And he said to them, 'He applied mud to my eyes, and I washed, and I see.'

CSB: Then the Pharisees asked him again how he received his sight. "He put mud on my eyes," he told them. "I washed and I can see."

NLT: The Pharisees asked the man all about it. So he told them, 'He put the mud over my eyes, and when I washed it away, I could see!'

KJV: Then again the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. He said unto them, He put clay upon mine eyes, and I washed, and do see.

NKJV: Then the Pharisees also asked him again how he had received his sight. He said to them, “He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.”

This is the second time that a man, born blind but healed by Jesus, has been asked to explain "how" he was healed (John 9:10). He'll be asked yet again in this story by these same Pharisees (John 9:24–26), and after his parents are posed the same question (John 9:19). His answer is consistent and truthful: Jesus put mud on his eyes and told him to wash, resulting in sight.

The Pharisees' reaction to this miracle illustrates the dangers of self-centered, tradition-bound spirituality. Jesus' healing miracle (John 9:14) occurred on a Sabbath day. The Pharisees were famous for elaborate, rigid rules and laws. These developed from tradition, seeking to ensure Israel's obedience to the laws of Moses. The Pharisees claim Jesus' actions directly violate their interpretations of holiness. They're right. Jesus' actions do conflict with their traditions. In fact, this seems to be the point; Jesus purposefully tries to show that their shallow approach is not what God intends (John 7:22–24).

John also shows how easily human beings choose to equate their own opinions with those of God (John 9:16). John includes seven "signs" in this gospel. These are seven miracles meant to prove that Jesus is, in fact, the Messiah. The Old Testament predicted that the Promised One would heal blindness (Isaiah 29:18; 35:5; 42:7). Only Jesus is credited with this ability in Scripture. However, the Pharisees cannot accept that Jesus' work is divine, for no other reason than because He disagrees with their specific doctrine.

John 9:13–34 describes the Pharisees' reaction to Jesus' healing of a man born blind. Rather than being swayed by an obvious sign of divine power, they look for excuses and criticisms to discredit the miracle. They interrogate the man's parents, who timidly defer back to their son. The healed man knows nothing more than this: ''though I was blind, now I see.'' His matter-of-fact responses to the Pharisees highlights their obvious prejudice. As a result, they excommunicate the healed man from the synagogue. Jesus will meet with the man in the next passage to give more context for the miracle.

Jesus encounters a man who has been blind his entire life. Consistent with notions of that era, the disciples assume the disability is due to some specific sin: either the man's or his parents'. Jesus challenges this idea and heals the man. His restoration leads to interrogation. The Pharisees try to discredit Jesus' miraculous work. The healed man's simple, straightforward perspective embarrasses the religious leaders, who excommunicate him in frustration. Jesus meets with the healed man, explaining more about His identity and the purpose of His ministry. Jesus also reminds the Pharisees that those who ought to know better, spiritually, will be held more accountable as a result.

Jesus has begun to actively confront the false teachings of local religious leaders. His most recent debate included a heated exchange with the Pharisees. There, Jesus claimed to have existed before Abraham. This resulted in an attempted stoning for blasphemy (John 8). Here, Jesus continues to antagonize religious hypocrites by healing a man who was born blind. The ensuing ruckus further exposes Jerusalem's religious leaders as shallow, prejudiced, and false. This event launches Jesus into another lengthy discussion of His ministry. That, recorded in chapter 10, includes several crucial teachings on His role as Shepherd.

The disciple John wrote the gospel of John decades after the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke were written. The author assumes that a reader is already familiar with the content of these other works. So, John presents a different perspective, with a greater emphasis on meaning. John uses seven miracles—which he calls "signs"— to prove that Jesus is, in fact, God incarnate. Some of the most well-known verses in the Bible are found here. None is more famous than the one-sentence summary of the gospel found in John 3:16.