Jesus Heals A Man Born Blind (ch. 9:1-12)
The last verse of chapter 8 tells us that Jesus slipped away from
those wanting to stone Him and left the Temple. Here, in chapter 9 verse 1
Jesus is somewhere outside of the Temple and meets up with a man that has
been blind since birth. His disciples asks Him who sinned, this man or his
parents. Obviously they thought that sickness was related to particular
sins, as some think today.
Jewish leaders often taught that certain sickness was a result of
sin on the part of a parent. When God says in the Old Testament that the
curse of sin will be visited to children of the third and fourth
generation, they interpreted that to mean people were sick because of
parental sin. This idea still exists today, but I believe is a
misinterpretation of what God was saying.
It made no sense that this man’s blindness was a result of sin he
committed since he was blind from birth. It was possible in the eyes of
the disciples that his parents sinned.
Jesus clearly points out that sin is not responsible for this man’s
blindness and therefore the disciples should not think in such terms. The
thing to think about is that this blindness can be used to the glory of
God. This is a better way for us all to think. Instead of being
introspective and searching for sin and generational curses, Jesus is
simply saying, "think how God can be glorified in this man’s
blindness". In this particular case God was glorified when Jesus
healed the man.
Jesus says that "as long as it is day, we must do the work of
Him who sent me…". He also says that He "is the light of the
world". The reason why this particular time in history is called
"day" by Jesus is because He was the light of the world. He says
that the time will come when it will be night and no one can work.
It is interesting to note that Jesus says "we" must do
work. He is including His disciples. The disciples back then had work to
do in the Kingdom of God as we have today.
What does Jesus mean when He says "the night comes when no man
can work"? I think Jesus is speaking of that brief moment of time
when He hung on the cross and was put out of commission here on earth
until He rose from the dead. That was truly night. The light of the world
was blown out for a brief moment of time. The night can’t refer to any
point beyond the resurrection since the apostles did much successful work
during that time, as we do today.
We might think that spitting is a disgusting habit and it probably
is, but we see Jesus spitting here for a purpose. He spit on the ground.
He mixed His saliva in the dirt and put the mixture of mud on the blind
man’s eyes and told him to wash his eyes in the Pool of Siloam. He did
that and came back seeing Once again, there is no formula to healing.
Jesus healed people in many different ways, of which, this was one of the
most different ways.
The pool of Siloan was a spring fed pool that flowed from the Temple
mount – the hill the Temple was built on. "Siloam" is a Hebrew
word that has been translated into Greek by John, meaning "sent
one". So this pool is the pool of the sent one. In Isa. 8:6 we note
that this pool was symbolic of the blessings of God that flowed from the
Temple, and so it was in this case when the man was healed as he washed
his eyes.
In verses 8 through 10 we note that people who knew this man saw
that he could now see. Some asked if this was really the blind man that
they’ve seen begging for years. Others said that this could not be him,
but only looked like him. Sometimes we just have a hard time accepting a
miracle.
The man who was healed insisted that he was once blind and now he
sees. The others ask who made him see. He explained the process of Jesus
putting mud on his eyes and sending him to the pool where he was healed.
The people ask the man where Jesus was but he did not know. Once
again, it appears that Jesus slips out unnoticed.
The Pharisees Investigate The Healing (ch. 9:13-34)
I am sure that Jesus healed people on days other than the Sabbath
but it seems that many of these recorded healings were performed by Jesus
on the Sabbath, as this one was. The Pharisees heard of the blind man
being healed on the Sabbath so they had to investigate as they always did.
The Pharisees had not yet succeeded in their attempt to trap Jesus,
or catch Him in a wrong doing. This would be another attempt at this.
Making mud was not something that should be done on the Sabbath. This
tells us how ridiculous Jewish tradition got. In some respects our own
Christian traditions have come close to this ridiculousness.
The group of Pharisees were divided as they often were in their
analysis of Jesus. Some thought that He was a great sinner because He did
not treat the Sabbath as they did. But on the other hand others wondered
how Jesus could be a sinner and do such miraculous things.
Not really knowing what to say, in verse 17 the Pharisees decided to
ask the man what he thought since he was the one who had been healed. The
man replies by saying that Jesus was a prophet. That was the best thing he
could figure out. By calling Jesus a prophet the man was saying that he
believed Jesus was not a sinner but a man of God.
The Pharisees weren’t convinced that this man was really healed of
blindness so they called his parent in to be questioned.
The parents told the Pharisees that this man was indeed their son
and that he was born blind. But how he could now see, they refused to
answer. They told the Pharisees to ask their son. He was of age. He could
answer for himself.
The real reason why they avoided answering the Pharisees on this
count was their fear. The Jewish leadership had already decreed that
anyone who claimed Jesus to be the Messiah would be kicked out of the
synagogue, loosing all the privileges that came with it.
To be banned from the synagogue would be to become as a pagan
Gentile. They’d loose the blessings of God. They would not receive any
social or religious benefits derived from the synagogue and would simply
become misfits in Jewish society.
In verse 24 the Pharisees questioned the man once again. They told
him "to give glory to God. We know this man is a sinner". They
did not want any praise going in Jesus’ direction. They wanted this man
to praise God instead. At this point it appears the Pharisees were willing
to admit that a miracle had taken place. They just did not want to admit
that it came through Jesus.
The man’s response was honest. He told the Pharisees that he didn’t
know if Jesus was a sinner or not. The only thing he was sure of was that
once he was blind and now he sees. His honest answer should be acceptable
to the Pharisees. He wasn’t saying that Jesus was the Christ. He just
didn’t know. It appears that Jesus did not try to convince this man who
He was. He only healed him, thus the man simply wasn’t sure who Jesus
claimed to be.
The Pharisees then proceed to ask the man again, "what did he
do to you, and how did he open your eyes"?
You can tell by the man’s answer that he was getting frustrated.
He basically says that he has already told these men how things happened.
Then he said, "do you want to become His disciples too"? Of
course this question would make the Pharisees really mad. They began to
insult the man.
The man’s question to them gives the suggestion that he was a
follower of Jesus, whether he understood Him to be the Christ or not. So
the Pharisees ask him if he was saying that he was a disciple of Jesus.
The Pharisees claim to be followers of Moses. They knew about Moses,
but Jesus, they didn’t have a clue even where He came from. The
Pharisees were followers of Moses, but even more, they were followers of
the rabbinical traditions. Many Christians are similar to these Pharisees.
They say they are followers of Jesus, which they may be, but they are just
as much followers of their denominational tradition.
We see in verse 30 that this man is becoming quite bold. He says,
"now that is remarkable. You don’t know where He comes from, but He
opened my eyes…" He is beginning to show up the Pharisees and poke
holes in their argument. He continues by saying that "God doesn’t
listen to sinners", and if Jesus was a sinner, how could He do such a
miracle. It was not conceivable that a sinner, or even an ordinary man
could open the eyes of a man born blind. The man’s logic is that if
Jesus could do this miracle, then He had to be sent from God. Still we don’t
know if this man believed Jesus to be the Christ. We know that in his
earlier statement that he believed him to be a prophet of God.
The Pharisees in their anger told the man that he "was steeped
in sin from birth". How could such a sinner as himself even begin to
explain these things to learned Pharisees. But it is true, sometimes our
great learning gets in the way. Yes, an intellectual understanding of
Scripture is important, but when it comes to giving your life to Jesus,
you don’t need tons of education.
Spiritual Blindness (ch. 9:35-41)
Both verse 34 and 35 speak of the man "thrown out". What
are we to make of these words? Was he now banned from the synagogue as we
noted could happen to him. John doesn’t tell us that he had been banned.
It is quite possible that he was just thrown out of the room or building
where he met with the Pharisees.
When Jesus heard of the man being thrown out, whatever that means,
he went looking for him and found him. Jesus asked the man, "do you
believe in the Son of God"? This was even more important than the man’s
healing. Remember, this man when standing before the Pharisees did not
know if he believed in Jesus to be the Messiah.
In verse 36 the man responds by asking Jesus who is this Son of God
so he could believe in Him. We see that the man had full trust in Jesus
and that whatever Jesus told him, he’d accept and believe. The man
clearly wanted to believe in the Son of God.
Jesus’ answer is not as simple as it could be. He could have said,
"I am the Son of God". But he didn’t. He said, "you have
now seen Him, in fact, He is the one speaking with you". Jesus is not
speaking in the first person but the third person. He also says that you
have already met the Son of God, and in fact, you’re meeting Him again,
right now. I can’t say for sure why Jesus did not respond in the first
person, but whatever the case, He got His point across.
The beggar responds by saying, "Lord, I believe". Jesus
has now become Lord in this man’s eyes, and not just a prophet. I
believe the Holy Spirit spoke to this man’s heart as Jesus told him who
the Son of God was, resulting in His confession of Jesus being Lord. This
is true salvation, that is, the confession of the Lordship of Jesus in one’s
life. Jesus is not merely our Saviour, but our Lord. In fact, Jesus is
only our Saviour because He is first Lord.
Then John tells us that the man worshipped Jesus. Just how this
worship took place we don’t know. We do know that Jesus did accept this
worship from this man. And the worship was based on the premise that Jesus
was the Son of God. Accepting worship from men and women on the part of
Jesus is one of the historical proofs that Jesus was God in the flesh. The
Old Testament clearly teaches that only God can receive worship. It is
blasphemy for any human to accept such worship.
In verse 39 Jesus says, "for judgment I have come into this
world…" What does this mean in light of the times that Jesus has
said that He has not come into the world to judge? In my opinion I believe
that Jesus has not come to bring judgment leading to condemnation. He
clearly says this in John 3:16 and 17. But we’ve often seen Jesus make
"judgment calls". The fact that He calls the Pharisees
hypocrites is a judgment, but not a judgment that brought eternal
condemnation. It was the unbelief of the Pharisees that brought
condemnation to them as Jesus says in John 3:17. Jesus did pronounce
certain judgments while he was on earth, and this is one here. Here says
that He has come to make the blind see and the one’s who can see blind.
He was speaking in a spiritual sense and of course used this analogy of
blindness because He has just healed the blind beggar.
We see in verse 40 that some of the Pharisees caught on to what
Jesus was saying because they ask, "are we blind too"? Jesus
responds by saying that if you were really blind, you wouldn’t be guilty
of sin, but since you claim to see, you are guilty. The Pharisees weren’t
blind. They had access to the Scripture but chose to misunderstand it.
Therefore they had no excuse. They were lost in their sin. They chose not
to see. Yet those like this blind beggar had an excuse.
This is the simple fact. Those who can see, or have the ability to
see but don’t, Jesus will withhold the truth. But those who haven’t
the ability to see will be presented with the opportunity to see the
truth.
Jesus says here that "if you were blind, you would not be
guilty of sin". This is an interesting phrase. Is Jesus saying that
He will not hold sin against a person if he does not know it is sin? Is He
saying that those who have not heard of the truth of salvation will be
saved anyway because they have not heard? I’m not sure I have the answer
at this point. It appears that Jesus might be saying that. Yet He also has
just said that He has come to make the blind see. This might mean that
everyone will have the chance at some point to see the truth of the
gospel.
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