Charles Spurgeon Commentary John 9:12-14

"And they said unto him, Where is he? He saith, I know not. They bring to the Pharisees him that aforetime was blind. Now it was the sabbath on the day when Jesus made the clay, and opened his eyes." — John 9:12-14 (ASV)

Then said they unto him, Where is he? He said, I know not.

They brought to the Pharisees him that aforetime was blind. And it was the sabbath day when Jesus made the clay, and opened his eyes.

Therefore, this act of Christ would be something horrible in the eyes of the Pharisees. They would claim that Christ, when he made the clay, had turned brickmaker on the Sabbath day, thus violating the traditions of the fathers, just as, on another occasion, they said that he allowed his disciples to go threshing on the Sabbath, when they gathered ears of corn in the field, rubbed them between their hands, and ate the grain because they were hungry.

The Rabbis regarded that as an act of threshing, and a very serious violation of the law; and now that Jesus had himself made clay, and opened a man's eyes with it, they held up their hands in holy horror—no, in impious horror—that Christ should do such a thing on the Sabbath.