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"The Miracle of Christ Healing the Blind" – El Greco (1560) . The man in the foreground with his wife may be the blind man’s parents
“Man Blind from Birth”
Using saliva and earth, Jesus made a paste to heal the blind man. The healing became a true conversion for the man, but created some problems for Jesus with the Jewish leaders. Because this healing took place on the Sabbath, the Pharisees accused Jesus of breaking Jewish law. The Pharisees tried to get confirmation of this action from the blind man’s parents and from the blind man himself. In the end, the authorities were unable to charge Jesus with any wrongdoing and had to recognize that Jesus was gaining many disciples.
The Gospel account of the "Man Born Blind" is one of not one but two miracles. The first miracle is told in the first seven verses. The rest of the chapter deals with human reactions to the miracle: the healed man, his parents, the Pharisees and Jesus. The second miracle is the insight the healed man was given enabling him to confess Jesus as the Son of man, Messiah. The chapter begins and ends with blindness. At the beginning a man was physically blind. At the end, the Pharisees were spiritually blind because of their sin. The healed man experienced a double miracle: sight and insight.
Confronted by the blindness of the world, a blindness encapsulated in the man born blind, Jesus said to his disciples, "we must work the works of him who sent me while it is day." This scripture can be seen as a call to us to practice evangelism, providing light to others. It is there, through faith, that they will find life eternal.