John Calvin Commentary John 9:14

"Now it was the sabbath on the day when Jesus made the clay, and opened his eyes." — John 9:14 (ASV)

Now it was the Sabbath. Christ purposely selected the Sabbath-day, which must have given cause for offense to the Jews. He had already found, in the case of the paralytic, that this work was subject to slander. Why then does he not avoid the offense—which he could easily have done—but because the defense malignantly undertaken by men would tend to magnify the power of God?

The Sabbath-day serves as a whetstone to sharpen them, to inquire more eagerly into the whole matter. And yet what advantage do they reap from a careful and earnest examination of the question but this: that the truth of the Gospel shines more brightly?

We are taught by this example that, if we are to follow Christ, we must provoke the wrath of the enemies of the Gospel; and that those who endeavor to effect a compromise between the world and Christ, so as to condemn every kind of offenses, are altogether foolish, since Christ, on the contrary, knowingly and deliberately provoked wicked men. We ought to attend, therefore, to the rule which he lays down, that those who are blind, and leaders of the blind (Matthew 15:14), ought to be disregarded.