Gospel Reflection on John 9:1-41

March 15, 2026

As he passed by, he saw a man blind from his birth. And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be made manifest in him. We must work the works of him who sent me, while it is day; night comes, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” As he said this, he spat on the ground and made clay of the spittle and anointed the man’s eyes with the clay, saying to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Silo′am” (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing. The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar, said, “Is not this the man who used to sit and beg?” Some said, “It is he”; others said, “No, but he is like him.” He said, “I am the man.” They said to him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” He answered, “The man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to Silo′am and wash’; so I went and washed and received my sight.” They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.”

They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. Now it was a sabbath day when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. The Pharisees again asked him how he had received his sight. And he said to them, “He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.” Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the sabbath.” But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” There was a division among them. So they again said to the blind man, “What do you say about him, since he has opened your eyes?” He said, “He is a prophet.”

The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight, until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight, and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” His parents answered, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; but how he now sees we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age, he will speak for himself.” His parents said this because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if any one should confess him to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue. Therefore his parents said, “He is of age, ask him.”So for the second time they called the man who had been blind, and said to him, “Give God the praise; we know that this man is a sinner.” He answered, “Whether he is a sinner, I do not know; one thing I know, that though I was blind, now I see.” They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” He answered them, “I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you too want to become his disciples?” And they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.” The man answered, “Why, this is a marvel! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if any one is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. Never since the world began has it been heard that any one opened the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” They answered him, “You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?” And they cast him out.

Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of man?” He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who speaks to you.” He said, “Lord, I believe”; and he worshiped him. Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind.” Some of the Pharisees near him heard this, and they said to him, “Are we also blind?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.

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The setting for the wonderful story of the healing of the man born blind is the feast of tents, which recalled Israel's time living as nomads and how the providence of God quenched their thirst in the desert during that time they were led by a bright cloud that indicated the path as they came out of Egypt.

So in this feast day their celebration included two rituals. The first was about water, the priest fetching water from the pools of Solomon.

Water was so important for a city like Jerusalem that was subjected to siege from time to

time. The priest sprinkled the water on the ground as a sign of great abundance.

The other element, which the festival was based, was a ritual involved light, torches commemorating the bright cloud illuminated the city.

So this feast celebrated thirst over come by water, darkness over come by light.

All of us have suffered through painful experiences we didn't understand, but often we chose an explanation that allowed us to escape responsibility that in many cases blamed others or put the outcome down to bad luck.

And we were so in love with our interpretations of what had happened that we could not accept an alternative interpretation at all. And so we remained blind to our own experience.

Sadly, even what we thought we understood of our life became less and less clear leaving us more uncertain about our journey. The reality is that none of us can stand on solid ground until we've made peace with the things we have not understood about our lives. We need to discover those difficult elements in our personal existence were needed in order to find and truly know ourselves.

In the middle of all of these ceremonies, Jesus encounters all of us who struggle to understand, to know our own life, to know our purpose. And he performs an act of recreation on this individual and on us.

In Genesis, we remember how we were created from the earth when matter encountered the Word of God. This man who is never known light will find it bathing in the waters of

Silo′am. These eyes that never before functioned are touched by the earth combined with the saliva of Jesus. Mud is a symbol of creation; saliva represented the word of God. God created us from the dust of the earth. We can't speak without saliva. If our mouth is completely dry, you can't speak.

Today it is as if God has completed the recreation of us in Christ. Using his word and

earth, he anoints the part of the man that is maimed, his eyes and invites him to walk in faith to the waters of regeneration. Following this, he becomes a proclaimer of good news. It is his very wound that becomes for him the occasion of his salvation.

We discovered that the absurd areas of our life are the places where we can most learn to trust and love. All of us are blind to some realities in our own life. All of us need to hear a word and accept a new version of our own journey. Only then will we find our voice and see where our true future lies.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNQddDEFnwk