And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth.
he saw.
John 9:32 Since the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind.
He saw a man
The act of seeing here is intentional and compassionate. In the cultural context of the time, many would overlook or ignore those with disabilities, often associating them with sin or divine punishment. Jesus' attention to the man signifies His mission to seek and save the lost, as stated in Luke 19:10. This moment also prefigures the spiritual insight that Jesus offers, contrasting with the physical blindness of the man.
blind from birth
This detail emphasizes the severity of the man's condition, as congenital blindness was considered incurable. In the Jewish understanding, such a condition might be seen as a result of sin, either of the individual or their parents, as suggested by the disciples' question in John 9:2. The healing that follows serves as a powerful sign of Jesus' divine authority and His role as the Light of the World (John 8:12), bringing both physical and spiritual sight. This miracle also connects to the prophecy in Isaiah 35:5, which speaks of the eyes of the blind being opened in the Messianic age.
• Scripture presents Jesus constantly on mission. Luke 19:10 says, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
• His movement is purposeful, never random. John 4:4 notes, “Now He had to pass through Samaria,” showing divine appointments guide His steps.
• Acts 10:38 reminds us He “went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil,” underscoring that wherever He passes, ministry happens.
• Jesus’ seeing is far more than noticing; it is compassionate attention. John 5:6: “When Jesus saw him lying there… He said to him, ‘Do you want to get well?’”
• Mark 6:34 shows the same heart: “When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, He had compassion on them.”
• The Lord’s eyes are always on His people (2 Chronicles 16:9; Psalm 34:15), assuring us that no circumstance escapes His care.
• The text highlights one individual in the crowd. In John 3:1 Jesus likewise engages one man (Nicodemus), proving He values personal encounters.
• Genesis 1:27 affirms each person bears God’s image, giving inherent worth.
• Matthew 10:29-31 reminds us that if sparrows are noticed, “you are worth more than many sparrows.” Jesus’ focus on a single man models this truth.
• The lifelong nature of the blindness stresses the impossibility of human remedy, magnifying the forthcoming miracle. Psalm 51:5 shows how we all begin life in need, underscoring our spiritual parallels.
• John 9:3 will reveal God’s purpose: “this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.”
• Exodus 4:11 records God saying, “Who gives a man sight or makes him blind? … Is it not I, the LORD?” The condition is under divine sovereignty, setting the stage for divine glory.
• 2 Corinthians 4:4 connects physical and spiritual blindness, preparing us to see beyond the physical cure to the light of the gospel.
John 9:1 assures us that wherever Jesus goes, He moves intentionally, sees compassionately, values individuals, and confronts impossible situations to display God’s glory. The verse sets the scene: the Savior on mission, the sufferer in need, and the certainty that God’s redemptive power is about to break in.
(1) And as Jesus passed by.--Better, And. as He was passing by. The words are immediately connected with those of the preceding verse, "and went out of the Temple." It was then, as He was leaving the Temple to escape the fury of His enemies who had taken up stones to cast at Him, and was passing by. the place where the blind man was, that His eye fell upon him. The day was the Sabbath of the preceding discourse, now drawing to its close. (Comp. John 9:4; John 9:14, and John 8:12.) The place was probably some spot near the Temple, perhaps one of its gates. We know that beggars were placed near these gates to ask alms (Acts 3:2), and this man was well known as one who sat and begged (John 9:8).A man which was blind from his birth.--The fact was well known, and was probably publicly proclaimed by the man himself or his parents (John 9:20) as an aggravation of his misery, and as a plea for the alms of passers by. Of the six miracles connected with blindness which are recorded in the Gospels, this is the only case described as blindness from birth. In this lies its special characteristic, for "since the world began, was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind" (John 9:32). . . .
Verses 1-7. -(8) The Lord confirms by a sign the declaration that he is the Light of the world, by giving eyesight as well as light. That which had been proclaimed as a great truth of his Being and mission, viz. that he was the Light of the world, was now to be established and confirmed to the disciples by a signal miracle. The "higher criticism" finds explanation of this and other similar miracles at Bethsaida and Jericho, in the prophecy of Isaiah 42:19; Isaiah 43:8; Isaiah 35:5; Isaiah 29:18. Volkmar holds that the story of Zacchaeus is thus rewritten! Thoma thinks that we have a spiritualization of the "miracle" on Saul of Tarsus. It would be waste time to point out the differences which are patent to the simplest criticism. Verse 1. - And - the καί suggests relation both in subject-matter, in time, place, occasion, and theme, with that which had preceded - as Jesus was passing by, going along his way, he saw a man blind from birth (cf. ἐκ κοιλίας μητρὸς αὐτοῦ, Acts 3:2; Acts 14:8). He was obviously a well-known beggar, who had often proclaimed the fact that he was blind from birth (see ver. 8). Such a condition and history rendered the cure more difficult and hopeless in the view of ordinary professors of the healing art, and the juxtaposition of such a symbolic fact with the near activity of those who were boasting of their Abrahamic privilege and their national and mere hereditary advantages, is one of the instances of the unconscious poesy of the gospel history. There he sits, the very type of the race which says, "We see," but which to Christ's eye was proclaiming its utter helplessness and blindness, not asking even to be illumined, and revealing the fundamental injury done to the very race and nature of man, and calling for all the healing power that he had been sent into the world to dispense. The man who had been struck blind, or whose eyesight had been slowly dosed by disease, became the type of the effect of special sins upon the character and life; thus e.g., vanity conceals radical defects and weaknesses; pride hides from the sinner's own view his own transgressions; temporary blindness to great faults is one of the symptoms of gross sin like David's, and prejudice is proverbially blind and deaf; but here is a man who is nothing less than the type of a congenital bias to evil, of hereditary damage done to human nature. Unless Christ can pour light upon those who are born blind, he is not the Savior the world needs.
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