Why Jesus Spat

From the Gospel of John

{9:1} And Jesus, while passing by, saw a man blind from birth.
{9:2} And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?”
{9:3} Jesus responded: “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but it was so that the works of God would be made manifest in him.

+++ The gestures surrounding Jesus’ miracles are symbolic. Jesus uses these symbolic gestures to reveal mystical realities. Jesus chose this man to heal and in doing so to manifest the Incarnation.

{9:4} I must work the works of him who sent me, while it is day: the night is coming, when no one is able to work.
{9:5} As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

+++ At this time Jesus was proclaiming to the Jews, in so many ways and expressions that God the Father has sent Him into the world.

{9:6} When he had said these things, he spat on the ground, and he made clay from the spittle, and he smeared the clay over his eyes.
{9:7} And he said to him: “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated as: one who has been sent). Therefore, he went away and washed, and he returned, seeing.

+++ Jesus spat on the ground. This references the Father in Heaven sending the Son to the Earth by means of the Incarnation. It also references the Son eternally springing forth from the Father: God from God.

After Jesus spat he made clay using the saliva of his mouth and soil of the earth. This is an elegant signification of the Son assuming his human nature. Saliva represents his Divine Form, and soil his human form fashioned in the womb of Mary. The clay signifies the mystical, intimate, and indissoluble fusion of the Divine nature and human nature of Jesus Christ.  

Saliva: Divine Nature
Dirt: human nature
Clay: Jesus Christ.

The act of spitting, and the spittle coming together in the soil to make this new clay is a genius symbol of the miracle of the Incarnation.

Jesus smearing the clay on the blind man's eyes represents the seal smeared on the soul through Baptism. "Baptism seals the Christian with the indelible spiritual mark (character) of his belonging to Christ." (CCC. 1272)

The blind man washing in the Pool of Siloam represents Baptism: the cleansing of original sin, infusion of the Holy Spirit, etc. The two eyes opening represent the stimulation of the soul and the body by the presence of the Spirit in the newly baptized.

The Pool of Siloam means "one who has been sent" to set an exclamation on the whole miracle.

Saliva is intimate. It comes from inside the mouth, inside the body. Think of a husband and wife kissing. The gift of Jesus Christ and sanctifying grace effected through baptism is an unfathomable, and astonishing gift of God's intimacy wit mankind..

It is amazing to think that Jesus would use such a lowly human act to teach such profound mystical events.