John 9:1–41 has many aspects to it and will require some explanation.
As Jesus is traveling with his disciples, they come upon a blind man who has been blind since birth. Jesus' disciples ask if the blindness is a punishment from God for the sin of this man or his parents. Jesus, however, explains that the man's blindness has a higher purpose; to show the glory of God in his life.
At this, Jesus declares himself the light of the world and heals the man using mud and saliva. The now-sighted man, so astonished at his healing, begins to tell those who recognize him about the man that is Jesus. However, as in previous chapters of John, Jesus is nowhere to be found after the miracle, which again shows that His works may be less for the sake of his immediate image, and more guided toward the after effects of the witness and the discussion and depth to understanding at a later point.
Despite the fact that the man was healed, the Jews harass him in disbelief. Even though Jesus had attributed the man's blindness to God's glory, rather than to sin, the Pharisees continue to label this man a sinner. We know that this was to God's glory when we look at John 9: 3-5.
3 Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.
4 I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.
5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.
At first, the disciples are confused, and ask Jesus who has sinned: his parents or the blind man to make him this way. Then in the following verses Jesus provides further information saying that it is neither. The reason why this man is blind is so that "the works of God might be displayed in him." (v.3) (see similar references Jesus made to John 11:4, 10:38, 11:40)
The glorification of Jesus, was his upcoming death, resurrection, and accession is one of the major themes in the gospel of john. Further, in verse 4 Jesus states "I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work." (reference to John 7:33) This is also another reference to a popular theme in John in comparing day and night or light and dark. When Jesus inhabits the world He is the light and when He leaves it will be dark with sin. Then in verse 5 we have even more evidence of this when Jesus says "As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.."
The healing of a blind man is a continuation of the theme of Chapter 3 that God is a loving God toward mankind. The disciples believe the man's blindness is caused by a sin his parents committed. Jesus tells them the man is not blind as a punishment but as an example of God's glory and love. Jesus then proceeds to make some mud and give the man sight.
The Pharisees were so intent on proving the man wrong that they summoned his parents to the scene and interrogated them as well. Though they claim the man as their son, they are hesitant to get involved further out of fear of being removed from the temple. The family is clearly poor, as their son must beg outside of the temple to be able to get by. If the man and his family were to be thrown out of the temple, he would be unable to beg outside of it; indeed, people would probably shun him because of it. The family tries very hard to stay out of it, saying that their son is of age and can speak for himself. This plan did not necessarily work, however, as the son was thrown out of the temple anyway.
Ironically, the Pharisees, who have clearly witnessed the aftermath of a miracle, disregard what they seem to not understand and say that they "We know that God spake unto Moses: as for this fellow, we know not from whence he is." (v 29). This contradicts their identification of Jesus in John 6:41-42, which clearly states that the leaders "knew his father and mother" (for those were leaders from an area more local to Jesus' home).
41 The Jews then murmured at him, because he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven.
42 And they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? how is it then that he saith, I came down from heaven?
In John 7:27, once again the people say "Howbeit we know this man whence he is: but when Christ cometh, no man knoweth whence he is." The entirety of John 9 demonstrates how the man who was once blind can now see in both a physical and a spiritual sense. The Pharisees, then, are examples of those who are blind, in darkness. Thus, the contradiction of their words with those previously stated by "the Jews". The Pharisees as the spiritually blind were grasping at whatever argument may suit their opposition to the light.
The blame may be attached to the pharisees, religious leaders, who claim to be able to see, but are spiritually blinded--to be so self-deceived as to shut their eyes to the light. Had they acknowledged their spiritual blindness and allowed Jesus to remove it, then they would have been blessed and could be enlightened.
Jesus talks about the principle of spiritual blindness. Although He only clarifies the principle in a quasi-cryptic way, it is to say that if you are a true believer you do not claim to have all of the answers or to understand fully. You follow in spite of not knowing. Claiming to know all is like having a blind man claiming to understand colors. One cannot fully express what they cannot see. Jesus tells the Pharisees that since they claim to be able to see, they are, in fact, still with sin and do not see at all.
However, the verse continues, claiming that "no one will know where he is from," which lines perfectly up with the Pharisees in John 9:29 “We know that God spake unto Moses: as for this fellow, we know not from whence he is..” Truly, however, none of these leaders knows where Jesus originally came from, despite His repetitive claimed origin as being "from the Father."
The chapter concludes with the man that was healed being thrown out and Jesus returning to him. Jesus asks if he believes in the Son of Man, and the man asks who he is so that he may believe, John 9:31–38. Jesus then reveals himself to the man and says that on Judgment Day the blind, in this case the spiritually blind, will not be saved, but those who can see will. As in those who accept Jesus will be saved in the end. Those who say they can see, but are lying to themselves will still suffer from their sin in the end.
When the blind man is confronted, his response has become proverbial: "... I was blind but now I see." (V 25). As the man continues to be questioned, the interrogators start to disregard that the event even happened. The man has already described what had happened and as he continues to answer sarcastically, the Pharisees (presumably the interrogators) they revile him.
John was writing for a Jewish audience, and the inclusion of the mud could have been seen as a violation of the Sabbath 3 times over: Jesus kneaded the mud, which was forbidden; then made from it a potential building material, which was forbidden; then healed the man's sight, which was also forbidden.
In this chapter, the sixth sign of the ministry of Jesus is revealed, the healing of a blind man. "Was his blindness because of his own sin or that of his parents?", asked the disciples. Jesus replied that this case was to be for the glory of God by the power of the Holy Spirit. The issue is not the cause of the man's blindness, but the role that it plays in the work of God. The role is the power of the Spirit and of the word, making Christ known as the One sent by the Father, gives him sight. It is the divine teaching in the heart of man. Christ, as man, touches us. We are absolutely blind, we see nothing. The Spirit of God acts, Christ being there before our eyes; and then we see clearly.
Chapter 9 is a summary of John's concept of revelation and sin. He says Jesus's coming reveals who people are and that we are all really in darkness. We need the giver of sight and light and the ones who own up to this need accept Jesus as the Revealer and the giver of light and sight. The ones who insist they see already in fact do not see and are kept away from God through sin.
"The Jews" in Chapter 9 and The Gospel of John as a Whole
The Gospel of John is a book that has frequently been used to attack Jews and claim their inferiority to Christians. Therefore it is important to question if the Gospel of John itself is anti-Semitic. There are many different sides of this argument. On one hand, the Gospel in general paints a fairly strong caricature of the Jews, most especially in this chapter. The Jews could be seen as naïve, ignorant, even “dumb.” In verses 18 and 19, the Jews want evidence that the man who was healed was actually born blind.
They call this man's parents in. The Jews are seen as illogical for doing this, and the parents' response stems from the fact that they are afraid of the Jews' "wrath" basically, and afraid of what they will do to those who believe Jesus is "the Christ."
What if the actual Jews from this time in history understood exactly both what Jesus was saying and the situation with the blind man, and simply made a conscious, educated decision NOT to follow Jesus, based on what they believed to be true? On the other hand the possibly condescending language between “the Jews” and those who were following Jesus in the Gospel of John wasn’t necessarily uncommon in Jesus’ day and the time period from which John writes. John was depicting what actually happened in an unbiased way. Whether or not John meant this text to be anti-Semitic, or even be construed as anti-Semitic, it is important for the readers of this particular Gospel to realize this is a text that can be potentially dangerous to society, if it is used in a vengeful way against Jews or any other non-Christians.
As the question raised above suggests, John has been consistently accused of infusing his gospel with language that has come to be considered anti-Semitic. While it is true that when we read these passages in a modern context we understand them to be anti-Semitic primarily because of our understanding of the way in which John uses the epithet "the Jews." This, however, might very well be a mistake on our part. It is vitally important when reading an ancient text that one not confuse modern understanding with the understanding of the author or the audience of the ancient text in question.
While not enough is known about the climate in which John was writing, or his motives for doing so, it is a distinct possibility that John was writing his gospel with a specific purpose and for a specific audience in which the term "the Jews" would have taken on a completely different meaning than what we understand today. It has been wondered whether or not John was using the term ironically and that perhaps it is appropriate to use quotation marks when translating the term. Considering the fact that the large majority of the characters in the gospel were in fact Jewish, the heroes as well as the villains, it is not completely illogical to think that John might have been taking a jab at those who were throwing the Jewish members of the early Christian groups out of the synagogue for not being "Jewish" enough. Whatever the case, enough is not known about his intentions or the meaning of the term to his followers to conclude that he was or was not being "anti-Semitic."