Subscription Lists

John 9:1-41 – Jesus heals a blind man from birth

John does an intriguing thing with this story when he includes the Pharisees interrogation of the healed blind man. How extraordinary John draws a distinct line between faith in action and willful unbelief.

Jesus spits and makes mud from the clay then spreads it over the man’s eyes – In the beginning God spoke and many things happened over a six day period. The one thing God created using His hands was human. God personally drew minerals, salt, and water from the earth creating Adam, then drew a rib from Adam and made Eve. The blew into their nostrils the breaths of life. No other creature was touched in this way. Perhaps Jesus created new eyes for the blind man. Perhaps He fixed the ones the blind man had. We don’t know, but the fact Jesus laid His hand upon the man’s eyes and took from His own self to give the man sight is a physical illustration how Jesus opens our hearts and minds to the Truth.

The man went to the pool and washed, coming back a seeing man. People whispered, “Is this the blind beggar?” They were too hardened to accept the miracle. The Pharisees were willfully disbelieving even knowing the Messiah would come healing the lame, raising the dead and making the blind see (Isaiah 35:5-6; Isaiah 61:1). They knew, but rejected the truth.

John MacArthur points out the factors of this willful unbelief: a. sets false standards; b. wants more evidence and yet dismisses it, never having enough; c. rejects facts; d. is self-centered.

The Pharisees demonstrated all these factors, and I believe John entered this dialogue to illustrate the huge gulf the Jewish leaders dug between the synagogue and the disciples of Christ. This blind man who could now see was the first recorded to be cast out from the synagogue. The spiritually blind had cast out the seeing.

In verse 35, Jesus heard he had been thrown out, and when He had found him... How precious are those words. Jesus went in search of him, He didn’t rest or waste time. He searched him out and when He found him He said, “Do you believe in the Son of God?” The man replied, “Tell me so I may believe.” Jesus said, “It is He who is talking with you.” The man simply said, “I believe.”

Jesus told that man His purpose: “I bring judgment into this world that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind.” The Pharisees who overheard His words asked in a sneering way, “So we are blind also?”

Amazing is His answer, “If you were blind you would have no sin, but now you say, ‘We see.’ Therefore our sin remains.”

If they had known their own blindness, if they had admitted it and cried out as Bartimaeus did on the road going to Jericho did, Jesus would have given them new eyes to see, new hearts to beat and the relationship between them and God would have been restored. Paul tells us they were blind so that the fullness of the Gentiles may come into the fold.

May we take a lesson from this authority of Jesus. May we always ask for our blindness to fall like scales from our eyes so we might see the lost, the hurting, the sick, and the lame to reach out to them with healing and comforting hands. It is never enough to say, “I will pray for you, be warm.” We must, just like the blind man, put our faith into action.

"Refreshment in Refuge" from Gina Burgess

Talents and gifts