John 9 English Standard Version Jesus Heals a Man Born Blind 9 As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3 Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. 4 We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 6 Having said these things, he spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man's eyes with the mud 7 and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing. 8 The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar were saying, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” 9 Some said, “It is he.” Others said, “No, but he is like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.” 10 So they said to him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” 11 He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed and received my sight.” 12 They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.” 13 They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. 14 Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. 15 So the Pharisees again asked him how he had received his sight. And he said to them, “He put mud on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.” 16 Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.” But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” And there was a division among them. 17 So they said again to the blind man, “What do you say about him, since he has opened your eyes?” He said, “He is a prophet.” 18 The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight, until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight 19 and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” 20 His parents answered, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. 21 But how he now sees we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.” 22 (His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess Jesus to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue.) 23 Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.” 24 So for the second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, “Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.” 25 He answered, “Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” 26 They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” 27 He answered them, “I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?” 28 And they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. 29 We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.” 30 The man answered, “Why, this is an amazing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. 31 We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. 32 Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” 34 They answered him, “You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?” And they cast him out. 35 Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” 36 He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” 37 Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.” 38 He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him. 39 Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.” 40 Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?” 41 Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains. We have a longer passage today than what we've been dealing with today. While Jesus leaves the area of the Temple, He doesn't leave the area of Jerusalem quite yet and it seems that the religious leaders are following Him on His way out of town. Jesus is going to pass by a man who was born blind from birth, and His disciples, who have been with Him for nearly three years and don't have that much time left for Him to teach them, show that they have a fundamental misunderstanding about birth defects. Since they believe that a birth defect is a punishment and that all punishment is part of the Curse that is a result of sin, then they would think that this punishment was meant to be brought against this man for his own sin (maybe sin that God knew ahead of time that he would commit or maybe sin that he committed while still in the womb) or perhaps instead it was a result of the sin of his parents who possibly conceived the child in sin and this was God's way of judging them. So they inquire to Jesus about whether is was the man or the man's parents who sinned so that he was born blind.
The question lacks compassion, but it also shows how the disciples are still entangled in the teachings of the Pharisees. This is very close to the same topic as the debate we just finished, because the Pharisees argued that Jesus was disqualified to be the Messiah because Mary's presumed sin of fornication would have been passed on to Jesus somehow and He would have been judged for her sin. We have a lot of other words to make a complete sentence here, but Jesus' answer to their either-or questions was basically a simple, "No." He did not accept the premise that they gave that there were only two choices here, but instead told them that this man was made this way on purpose for this time in this place so that God would be glorified. Jesus then ties this back to when He said He is always doing the work of His Father but adds that it's like only having a certain number of hours of daylight to get your work done and that we are getting closer and closer to sunset, so we need to be even more watchful so that we are doing the work of our Father in heaven. Jesus than repeated that as long as He is in the world, He is the Light of the World, but this seems to be foreshadowing the fact that He will not always be with them, and maybe that time is soon approaching. We'll see later that Jesus says of the disciples that they are the light of the world (He is like the sun and they are like the moon reflecting His light and glory). With this reminder of who He is and that everything He does is to glorify God and that His mission is to do the works of God the Father, He bends down and spits in the ground and makes some mud and puts the mud on the blind man's eyes (the text actually uses the word "anointed" for this) and told the man to go wash in the Pool of Siloam (which means "Sent"). When the man came back, he came back seeing! The man comes back to the only place he knows--the place where he has been begging for alms for so many years because he doesn't know where else to go, but we'll see in a few verses that Jesus is no longer there. I'm going to "spoil" this for you a bit and give you some background here that blindness, like leprosy, was one of the conditions that is used as a metaphor of our condition when we are in our fallen, sinful state before redemption. We are blind and unable to see the right way to go--and this man was born with this condition, just like all of us who are born spiritually blinded by our sin nature. Jesus is going to use this as a point of contrast now between this blind man who could clearly see spiritually who Jesus was and the unbelieving Pharisees who, although they probably had perfect natural eyesight, were spiritually blind to what was happening right in front of them., and while not directly related to this story, these verses from the book of Matthew come to mind when I read this story. (Notice the prophecy from the prophet Isaiah that I would say is also being fulfilled in this passage). Matthew 13:10-16 English Standard Version The Purpose of the Parables 10 Then the disciples came and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” 11 And he answered them, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. 12 For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 13 This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. 14 Indeed, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says: “‘“You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive.” 15 For this people's heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.’ 16 But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. So, back to the passage where the man has washed, been healed, and has returned to the spot where he used to beg. Everyone who saw the man return saw him come back changed. He was clearly different in how he walked and talked--everything about him would have changed! He was no longer the "blind beggar" People continue to talk about him while he is right in front of them with some saying, "Look, it is is him," and others saying, "No, that can't be him, but must just be someone that looks like him." It gets a little funny here because the man is right there to speak for himself and says, "Yes, I am the man," and some refuse to believe his own testimony about himself. The people, probably being stirred up by the religious leaders, then say, "Tell us how this happened." So he tells them the good news that he knows that a man named Jesus put mud on his eyes and told him to go wash in the Pool of Siloam, and he obeyed and was healed. The Jews then want to find this Jesus who did this, but the man has no idea where Jesus went, because by the time the man who was born blind got back to his spot, Jesus was gone, and the man doesn't know where He went. The crowd then does the only thing they know to do, and they take the man to the Pharisees. When they hear the story, they are irate because, once again, Jesus has healed a man on the Sabbath day--this time He even spit on the ground and made mud! This again convinced them that this Jesus was worthy of death. So then there is division among the people were some say that Jesus can't be of God because, in their minds, He does not keep the Sabbath, while others say that no man should be able to do such signs if He is a "sinner" as the Pharisees claim. The Pharisees then finally turn to blind man, and ask what He thinks about Jesus, and the man says as much as he knows at the time that it is clear to him that Jesus is a prophet (the man's answer will change later as he thinks about it more). Now the Jews, that is the Pharisees and the other religious leaders, did not believe that this man had really been blind and really received his sight back, even though we have several accounts in the other gospels of Jesus giving sight to the blind and this pointing to the fact that He was the Messiah, the Son of David. The Jews seem to begin an inquisition and go to interrogate the parents of the man who was born blind. Notice how they frame their question, "Is this your son who YOU SAY was born blind?" The assumption on the part of the Pharisees is that there has been some elaborate deception going on here for the man's entire life and that both he and his parents have been in on it. They'll believe anything to not believe that Jesus healed this man! They ask the parents to then explain to them how it is that all of a sudden their son can see. The parents give a decent answer at first, but they quickly "sacrifice" their son to the Pharisees to get rid of them, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. 21 But how he now sees we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.” The text tells us that his parents are actually lying to the Pharisees here and they do know what happened and how their son was healed, but they feared excommunication from the synagogue because all the people had been told that if they confessed that Jesus was the Christ (the Messiah) that they would be excommunicated. This is why they sacrificed their son in this way and said, "He is of age, ask him yourself." They knew he was going to get excommunicated for what he was saying and they didn't want any part of that for themselves, so this man who already had nothing as a blind beggar is about to lose everything that he did have in his family and his community in a day. He would want to go into the synagogue and praise God for his healing, but they wouldn't let him come into church, nor would anyone fellowship with this man or be seen in public with him. The Pharisees find the man born blind and again start to interrogate him. Again, notice how they are not asking questions at all. This is a sham trial and is more about political theater at this point. This man is not going to be intimidated by these men though. He's had some more time to think about it in their absence and the more they push him, the more he pushes back and the bolder his witness gets. They approach him saying that he needs to give glory to God and stop telling people that this "sinner" Jesus is responsible for his miraculous healing because they KNOW that no "sinner" like Jesus should be able to do these things. The man doesn't back down and says that whether or not Jesus is a "sinner," he does not know, but there was one thing that this man did know--"I was blind, but now I see." These are the very words that inspired John Newton to write the hymn "Amazing Grace." You can't argue with that kind of testimony, but the Jews are going to try to argue with it anyways. The Jews insist that the man tell them again how Jesus did it and how the man's eyes were opened. The man is perceptive enough to know they have no interest in believing in Jesus (and is actually going to make fun of them for this). The man answers, “I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?” BOOM! Mic drop! This guy gets it that the proper response to what has happened is to see the sign, believe and respond in faith to follow after Jesus and become His disciples. The Pharisees are going to have none of this though--they start to revile this man who had been healed by using the same arguments they tried to use against Jesus in The Great Paternity Debate. “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. 29 We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.” The man then "goes nuclear" on them when he says, “Why, this is an amazing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. 31 We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. 32 Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” This is quite the epic burn! This guy knows how to "roast" someone for sure. I'm not saying that this is the way to debate everyone, but this seems to be the way to handle someone that's not genuinely asking you questions with the intent of finding out the truth or someone who has already said that no matter what arguments you make, they will never believe. All you can do at that point is show everyone else who is following after them how foolish they are and prevent others from falling off the cliff with them--they are blind guides--in fact, the Jews understand that this is where the man is going with this and ask a rhetorical question to end the debate which is ironic because the man born blind had is so right and saw so clearly where the Jews were spiritually blind--and willfully so! "They answered him, “You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?” And they cast him out." This is "cancel culture" right there--we are not dealing with anything new here. The Jews did not like or approve of this man's testimony and they excommunicated him. Jesus is neither done with this man or the Jews though. He hears about what has happened to the man and comes back to him. "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" There's the central question! The man born blind though does not understand at this point that Jesus is asking if the man believes in Him. The man responds with, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” Remember that the man believes that Jesus is simply a prophet at this point and thinks that Jesus is going to point him towards another man. Instead, Jesus gives a clear "identity statement," "“You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.” Jesus practically says "I AM" (though He doesn't say it that way this time). Notice the man's reaction! This should tell us everything we need to know! The man not only immediately believes and makes a confession of faith, but the man immediately falls down and worships Jesus, and Jesus accepts the man's worship. This means that the man understood that Jesus was God in the Flesh, Immanuel, as the man would have known not to give worship to any mere man or prophet. Now contrast this with the Pharisees telling the man to "Give glory to God" and see the irony in this story. The man is only one in this whole story who sees the sign and worships Jesus because of it, yet it cost this man everything even before he knew that Jesus was Lord simply because he confessed the good news that he did know, that this Jesus was the one that healed him--he was blind, but now could see! Then Jesus makes an amazing statement. We always think of his mission simply that He came, "To seek and to save that which was lost," but Jesus says He had another purpose altogether for coming. "For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.” Well, that explains everything that's been going on so far! Jesus is not just here to open the eyes of the blind, but to blind the eyes of the self-righteous who claim they can clearly see. No wonder the Pharisees seem to be more and more deluded as time goes on--it is all part of God's plan. We don't like to hear that, but we know that at some point God lets people get exactly what they want. He will not make them choose His Son or to be citizens of His kingdom, but all those who chose to rebel against the Son will have no part in His everlasting kingdom. Now for the kicker--the Pharisees perceive that He is talking about them and don't like what He has to say. Here's the end of the conversation between the Pharisees and Jesus, "40 Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?” 41 Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains." And there it is! Jesus says He has no need to condemn them because they already stand condemned. They have seen the same sign and heard the same words, and yet they did not respond in faith, but this blind man did. He sees clearly, but because they claim they can see clearly, they will be judged and not held guiltless. The Pharisees have to walk away from this embarrassed and even more angry and seething. They are HOT and ready to murder Jesus in any way they can think of, but they just have to wait for the right opening, which is going to take place in just a couple more chapters--God is already working out those details too.
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Daniel WestfallI will mostly use this space for recording my "journal" from my daily devotions as I hope to encourage others to read the Bible along with me and to leave a legacy for others. Archives
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