Yohanes 9:1

Healing a Man Born Blind

9:1 Now as Jesus was passing by, ¹  he saw a man who had been blind from birth.

Yohanes 9:8

9:8 Then the neighbors and the people who had seen him previously ²  as a beggar began saying, ³  “Is this not the man ⁴  who used to sit and beg?”

[9:1]  ¹ tn Or “going along.” The opening words of chap. 9, καὶ παράγων (kai paragwn), convey only the vaguest indication of the circumstances.

[9:1]  sn Since there is no break with chap. 8, Jesus is presumably still in Jerusalem, and presumably not still in the temple area. The events of chap. 9 fall somewhere between the feast of Tabernacles (John 7:2) and the feast of the Dedication (John 10:22). But in the author’s narrative the connection exists – the incident recorded in chap. 9 (along with the ensuing debates with the Pharisees) serves as a real-life illustration of the claim Jesus made in 8:12, I am the light of the world. This is in fact the probable theological motivation behind the juxtaposition of these two incidents in the narrative. The second serves as an illustration of the first, and as a concrete example of the victory of light over darkness. One other thing which should be pointed out about the miracle recorded in chap. 9 is its messianic significance. In the OT it is God himself who is associated with the giving of sight to the blind (Exod 4:11, Ps 146:8). In a number of passages in Isa (29:18, 35:5, 42:7) it is considered to be a messianic activity.

[9:8]  ² tn Or “formerly.”

[9:8]  ³ tn An ingressive force (“began saying”) is present here because the change in status of the blind person provokes this new response from those who knew him.

[9:8]  ⁴ tn Grk “the one.”