What does John 9:14 mean?

The Pharisees were an orderly, pious sect. They created a long list of oral traditions and secondary laws meant to "protect" the laws of Moses. At the time of Jesus' earthly ministry, these traditions were being treated with the same level of authority as the Word of God itself. The most sacred of these rules was that of honoring the Sabbath. In confronting religious hypocrites, Jesus seems to deliberately use their secondary laws to provoke conversations. This included performing healings on the Sabbath day (John 5:18).

Jesus' most recent miracle is the sixth of seven "signs" recorded by John in this gospel. In this case, the miracle was to give sight to a man born blind (John 9:1–7). Not only was this done on a Sabbath day, as this verse indicates, but it involved something the Pharisees considered taboo. Jesus made clay from mud and saliva. According to traditional Pharisaical laws, this was a form of work, and Sabbath work was explicitly forbidden. Jesus' actions challenge their shallow views of spirituality and highlight their unreasonable legalism.