And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth — Jesus encounters a man blind from birth (from childhood, ek koilias mētros, from his mother's womb). The blindness is congenital, total, and lifelong—the complete deprivation of sight. The encounter exemplifies John's principle: the sign is both physical and spiritual. Physical blindness will become the occasion for spiritual revelation and crisis. The man's absolute disability (not blind from an accident or illness but from birth) makes the cure maximally miraculous and maximally symbolic of spiritual blindness cured only by Jesus.

COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS

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