21 Days in the Book of JohnНамуна

Chapters 8 and 9 should really be read together as one is about light and the other about deliverance from darkness.

Here are a few things I’d like to point out about Chapter 9:

1. At the end of Chapter 8, it says the Jews picked up rocks to stone Jesus, but He slipped away. You would think He would be running to get away but instead, He calmly walks out of the gate and stops to heal a blind man. The Jews believed that if someone had a disease or special need, they must have sinned before they were born. Jesus explained that sometimes there are tragedies in this broken world but revealed that these difficult situations can be used to display the work of God.
2. Kneading clay with spittle was specifically forbidden by the law but Jesus did it anyway. Many believed he used the dust of the ground to remind the blind man where he came from. He was sent to the pool of Siloam, almost 1 mile away, even though the pool of Bethesda was much closer, possibly to test his faith.
3. The blind man’s parents were very afraid of the Pharisees as they could throw them out of the synagogue. This was a very big deal. It means they would have been excommunicated and shunned by everyone. People would have stayed 6 feet away or even acted as though they were dead. The blind man himself did not care because he knew the truth about who Jesus was.