Parallels have been drawn between the act of Jesus in healing the blind man with a paste made of mud and spittle, and the
Genesis creation narrative in which God makes man out of the dust of the earth and his own breath (Genesis 2:7). The story also contains an allusion to the Old Testament story of
Naaman, the leper, who was told by
Elisha to cure himself by washing in the
Jordan River (2 Kings 5:10). It also fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah: "Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as a hart, and the tongue of the dumb shall be free" (Is. 35:5–6). In the confusion over whether the healed man is identical with the beggar, it has been argued that both conclusions are correct. He is the same and not the same; he is the man who used to sit and beg, yet he is a new person. The phrase
egō eimi, "I am", is frequently spoken by Jesus in the Gospel of John; the use of it here by the healed man appears to mimic this usage, and suggests that the man has found his own identity in an encounter with the divine.
Cornelius a Lapide in his
great commentary writes: The reason why God inflicted blindness on this man was that the miraculous power of Christ should be made manifest in his case, and thus Christ be acknowledged as the true Messiah. So the
Fathers quoted above. The
Glossa Ordinaria gives the mystical meaning, that it was to signify what Christ would do in enlightening mankind in like manner by His grace, and the doctrine of the Gospel. And accordingly the man himself was enlightened not only in his body, but in his mind, as will be seen below. And therefore he suffered no wrong, but gained a benefit by his blindness (says St.
John Chrysostom), for in consequence of it he beheld with the eyes of his mind, Him who from nothing brought him into being, and received from Him enlightenment both in body and in mind. ==Tradition==