John 9:14

There is a detail that becomes germane to the way this event plays out. It is a Sabbath day when Jesus makes the healing clay and performs the miracle that leads to the healing of the blind man’s eyesight. John 9:14 EFP 

John throws this little detail into the mix. It is not the first time this particular situation crops us. Chapter 5 tells the story of the paralytic man healed by Jesus at the Pool of Bethesda. That scenario did not turn out as one would have expected. Strong condemnation was aimed at the healed man because he carried his bed on the Sabbath. They looked past the miracle and saw only the violation of their burdensome interpretation of Sabbath-keeping in Jewish society.

In the previous scenario, the man did not know who his benefactor was, as is in this case. The previous healing took place at a pool, but of a different name. That healing was completed on the spot. This one required some follow-up from the one receiving the healing. In the healing at the Bethesda Pool, Jesus seeks out the healed man after the fact. Here, it is the healed man that seeks out Jesus. In both scenarios, it is the perceived violation of the sanctity of the Sabbath that becomes the focus for the opponents of Jesus, rather than the miracle. In this case it is Jesus who is accused, not of telling someone to violate the rules against carrying beds on the Sabbath, but of actually violating the rule against kneading on the Sabbath, not to mention the distance walked by the blind man to and from the Pool of Silaom.

Once again we lose sight of the beauty of the forest by focusing on the details of the trees.