As Jesus 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, "Neither he nor his parents sinned; it is so that the works of God might be made visible through him. We have to do the works of the one who sent me while it is day. Night is coming when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world."

The disciples reflect the general thinking about the connection between sickness/affliction and sin. Being born blind was considered by some to be a punishment for some sin, either personal or generational.
Jesus says that nature has taken its course and God will use this for his glory. When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva, and 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. Could this be an insight into the sacrament of Baptism and what it does? His neighbors and those who had seen him earlier as a beggar said, "Isn’t this the one who used to sit and beg?" Some said, "It is, " but others said, "No, he just looks like him." He said, "I am." So they said to him, "How were your eyes opened?" He replied, "The man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and told me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went there and washed and was able to see." And they said to him, "Where is he?" He said, "I don’t know." He readily witnesses the truth of what Jesus did for him. Have we been ministered to by Jesus recently? Did we share the truth with others? They brought the one who was once blind to the Pharisees. Now Jesus had made clay and opened his eyes on a sabbath. The issue is not so much that Jesus healed this man but that it was the Sabbath on which he did this. The Pharisees claim this is forbidden by the Law and that Jesus was breaking the Law. So then the Pharisees also asked him how he was able to see. He said to them, "He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and now I can see." So some of the Pharisees said, "This man is not from God, because he does not keep the sabbath." But others said, "How can a sinful man do such signs?" And there was a division among them. Blindness to the truth can prevent people from seeing the hand of God. The Pharisees were not looking for the truth, only to defend their position, no matter the cost. Have we ever found ourselves in a similar position? So they said to the blind man again, "What do you have to say about him, since he opened your eyes?" He said, "He is a prophet." As the man comes to a clearer understanding of who Jesus is, the Pharisees become more hardened against him. Now the Jews did not believe that he had been blind and gained his sight until they summoned the parents of the one who had gained his sight. They asked them, "Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How does he now see?" His parents answered and said, "We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. We do not know how he sees now, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him, he is of age; he can speak for himself." His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone acknowledged him as the Christ, he would be expelled from the synagogue. For this reason his parents said, "He is of age; question him." Out of fear the parents did not want to get involved. Have we at times acted out of fear rather than stand up for what we know is true? So a 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 replied, "If he is a sinner, I do not know. One thing I do know is that I was blind and now I see." So they said to him, "What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?" He answered them, "I told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples, too?" They ridiculed him and said, "You are that man’s disciple; we are disciples of Moses! We know that God spoke to Moses, but we do not know where this one is from." The man answered and said to them, "This is what is so amazing, that you do not know where he is from, yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners,.
but if one is devout and does his will, he listens to him. It is unheard of that anyone ever opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, he would not be able to do anything."
They answered and said to him, "You were born totally in sin, and are you trying to teach us?"
Then they threw him out. The Pharisees try to discredit Jesus by implying that he is a sinner. At another time they called him a devil. Rather than acknowledge Jesus is doing the work of God, they prefer to accuse him of being evil. To acknowledge him would then put them at a crisis. The man hit the nail on the head: they have refused to be his disciples that is why they are trying to destroy him
The man sees the truth about Jesus and about the Pharisees. When Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, he found him and said, (Do you believe in the Son of Man?" He answered and said, "Who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?"
Jesus said to him, "You have seen him, the one speaking with you is he." He said, "I do believe, Lord," and he worshiped him.
The man comes to the final stage of his journey: faith and acceptance of Jesus as One who came from God; one who is the Messiah. This was what the Pharisees refused to accept. Then Jesus said, "I came into this world for judgment, so that those who do not see might see, and those who do see might become blind." Some of the Pharisees who were with him heard this and said to him, "Surely we are not also blind, are we?" Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you are saying, ‘We see,’ so your sin remains. Can you feel Jesus saying if the shoe fits, wear it.
Jesus contrasts the journey of the man from physical blindness to physical sight, from spiritual blindness to spiritual insight. On the other hand those who should have spiritual insight further rush into spiritual blindness.
Whereas they accuse the man of being born because of his sin, Jesus says the real sin is theirs because they refuse to believe in the truth of who he is and what he has been preaching.                   What do you take from this story and apply to your life?