<p>9:2 <i>And his disciples asked him: Rabbi, who sinned, this man, or his parents, that he should be born blind?</i>- The section begins with the issue of sin and blindness, and ends with it (:41). D.A. Carson&rsquo;s commentary on John lists Talmudic citations which show that the Jews considered each disability to be the result of specific sin; to be born blind was listed as the result of the mother committing adultery (hence their claim he was born in sin, 9:34). This connects the incident with the previous chapter, as does the phrase &ldquo;passed by&rdquo; in 8:59; 9:1. The Lord is consciously seeking to challenge the Jews&rsquo; false theology at the points in which it was devaluing to the human person- He wasn&rsquo;t seeking theological controversy for the sake of it. See on Jn. 9:6. Their question assumes that being born blind was an outcome of sin- their question was 'whose sin?'. As ever, the Lord attacks the terms of the question and lifts the issue far higher. He now dismantles the connection between sin and blindness.</p>