John 9

CHRIST HEALS THE BLIND MAN

There was a man who had been blind since birth, and as Jesus and His disciples passed by him, they asked Jesus whose sin caused the man's blindness, his parents or himself? Jesus said, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him." In other words, the man was blind that Jesus may perform the works of God that people would believe. 

Then Jesus made clay and rubbed it onto the man's eyes and told him to go wash in the pool of Siloam (or Sent). The man obeyed. When he returned, he could see.

First his neighbors wondered at how his eyes were opened, and the man explained exactly how he had received his sight -- exactly as it happened. But he did not know where Jesus went. The neighbors brought the man to the Pharisees and they were infuriated because a blind man was made well on the Sabbath! And they asked the man what happened, and he told them a Man named Jesus opened his eyes.

The Pharisees could not believe that a Man from God would not keep the Sabbath. But the people questioned how a sinner could do such signs; and divisions were caused among them. 

The Pharisees wanted to know what the man thought of Jesus, and he referred to him as a prophet. Thence the Pharisees doubted the man had even been blind, and they called for his parents. His parents were afraid of being excommunicated from the temple, and while they confirmed that their son had been blind since birth, they would not say how they felt about Jesus, who just gave sight to their adult son who had been blind his whole life and was begging for his bread. They said, Ask our son; he's of age.

Back to the man who could see, they told him to give glory to God instead because this Jesus is a fraud. The man replied:

Whether He is a sinner or not, I do not know. One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see.

In disbelief, they asked again what Jesus did to give the man sight, and the man got snarky because, seriously, how many times did he have to say it?? And he said to them:

Why, this is a marvelous thing, that you do not know where He is from; yet He has opened my eyes! Now we know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He hears him. Since the world began it has been unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of one who was born blind. If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing. 

(IMO, this little remark was better than some sermons I have ever heard.) Naturally, the Pharisees were dumbfounded that this once blind beggar was now teaching them! They flagged him for misinformation, censored his free speech, and excommunicated him from their religious cult. 

No problem. Here comes Jesus. He asked the man if he believed in the Son of God? The man eagerly wanted to know who the Son of Man was that he may believe in Him. And Jesus said, "You have both seen Him and it is He who is talking with you."

The grateful man replied, "Lord, I believe! And he worshipped Jesus. 

COMMENTARY

God has His reasons for permitting sickness, disease, suffering, and all kinds of trials. In this case, this man was born blind that God may be glorified in his healing. More specifically, the blind man was able to see Jesus and know Him as his Savior. "Unless the Son of God, by means of the Holy Spirit, opens our eyes so that we can see spiritual things, we will remain blind..."

McGee said that the story of the blind man parallels our condition before we are saved. 

1.) The blind man was outside the temple, shut out from God, as we are shut out, hopeless without God.

2.) The man was unable to see the Savior, physically blind, but also spiritually, as we, too.

3.) The man was born blind, and we also are born in sin.

4.) The blind man was beyond human help, and we are helpless, with no man-made cure to save us.

5.) The man was reduced to begging, which is the only way we come to God for salvation.

6.) The man made no appeal to Jesus, and it even took some time for him to grow in grace and knowledge of Jesus. We, too, in our lowly state are not looking for Jesus, but He is seeking us. 

7.) Finally, no one showed him pity, except Jesus, and that is because, like the blind man, only Jesus alone has genuine compassion for us.

After the blind man was cured, people reacted: The neighbors noticed the change and probed for answers. 

"You would think the Pharisees would have rejoiced that a blind man could now see," but they rather focus on their weak argument that men of God keep the Sabbath, and since Jesus did not, He was not from God. Meanwhile, the (blind) man contradicted their argument, that "only people from God can open the eyes of a man born blind. Jesus opened the eyes of the blind man; therefore, Jesus is from God."

And lastly, the parents were intimidated by the religious rulers -- did not want to admit how the miracle was performed because they knew it would only confirm that they should give credit to Jesus, who was God.

When the Pharisees confronted the man (again), they wanted him to give glory to God the Father, not Jesus who sinned and healed on the Sabbath. And the man said he did not know anything about that other than he once was blind, but now he can see (because of Jesus). This all led to the man being cast out of the temple. 

Then Jesus met up with the man, and the man now knows that Jesus is the Savior of the World, and he believes and worships Him! We are like this man when he was blind. We do not even know how lost we truly are until we come to Jesus and He reveals Himself to us. Then our eyes are open and we see who He is and what He has done. After that we must believe, like the man did, and then we will want to worship Christ forever. 

Don't be like the Pharisees who had eyes to see, but were blind.  Be like the blind man. Go to Jesus and let Him open your spiritual eyes and see the Light.