John 9:6

John 9:6. He spat on the ground, &c.— We are not to imagine that he did this, because it any way contributed towards the cure. Like the other external actions which accompanied his miracles, it was designed to signify to the blind man, that his sight was coming to him, not by accident, but by the gift of the Person who spake to him. The general reason which Cyril has assigned for Christ's touching the lepers, his taking hold of the dead, his breathing on the apostles, when he communicated to them the Holy Ghost, and such like bodily actions wherewith he accompanied his miracles, may be mentioned here. He thinks that our Lord's body was, by the inhabitation of the Divinity, endued with a vivifying quality, to shew men in a visible manner, that his human nature was by no means to be excluded from the business of their salvation. See the note on Mar 7:32-33 and the Inferences at the end of this chapter.