Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary John 9:2

"And his disciples asked him, saying, Rabbi, who sinned, this man, or his parents, that he should be born blind?" — John 9:2 (ASV)

The interest of the disciples was prompted by theological curiosity rather than compassion. For them the blind man was an unsolved riddle rather than a sufferer to be relieved. Their question was based on Ex 34:7, which the Jews construed to mean that if a person suffered from any ailment, it must have been because his parents or grandparents had committed some sin against God. To this they added the thought that perhaps he might have sinned before birth (either as an embryo or in a preexistent state); such a concept appears in the rabbinical writings. Jesus refused to accept either alternative. He looked on the man’s plight as an opportunity to do God’s work, not as a punishment or as a matter of irrational chance.