SIGHT AND BLINDNESS: THE BLIND CURED
In today’s gospel Jesus meets a blind man and cures him.  He does this by spitting on the ground, kneading it with dust, and spreading it over the blind man’s eyes.  He then tells the fellow to go and wash in the pool of Siloam.  (Ancient therapeutics attributed healing powers to spittle, so this isn’t as odd as it may sound to modern ears.) 
 
The blind man obeys, returns able to see and there’s a terrific commotion.  First the healed man is brought before the Pharisees who challenge him rudely.  Then he’s taken to the high council where both he and his parents are questioned in a confused and tiresome series of hostile exchanges. Through all this he courageously defends the authenticity of his cure. (I like this guy.)

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