[Editor’s Note: Sorry for the delay, the scheduled devotional did not immediately post properly this morning.]
John 9:1–41 – “The Testimony of a Man No Longer Blind”
(Josiah Hall)
John 9:1–41 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.
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After Jesus heals the man, people can scarcely believe that the blind beggar they knew is now walking around able to see. Because Jesus healed the man on the Sabbath, the Pharisees question the man as to who did it and how. There is no denying the miracle’s staggering implications, so the Pharisees resort to questioning the miracle’s reality, going so far as to interrogate the man’s parents to ensure that the entire event is not just a massive stunt. The Pharisees’ second interrogation of the man reveals the core of their objection: even though no mere human being can do what Jesus did, they are unable to square this revelation of God’s presence with their own conceptions of what righteousness requires. Instead of glorifying God for his transformation of this man’s life, the religious leaders instead reject both the man and Jesus. While we can learn much from considering the reasons for the Pharisees’ objections, I want to instead focus on the healed man.
This story of Jesus healing the man born blind occurs only in John’s Gospel. John wrote his Gospel towards the end of the first century AD, at a time when Christ-followers were experiencing increasing opposition. Experiences of opposition present enormous challenges to those seeking to remain faithful to Jesus because they can make us feel isolated and cut off from God’s presence and goodness. John (in my opinion) chose to include this story because of its power to encourage his audience, and us, in experiences of suffering and opposition. Let me highlight three ways that John recounts this story in a manner that provides encouragement to us.
First, note that the man’s belief and understanding are progressive. He moves from only knowing Jesus’s name (9:11), to considering Jesus a prophet (9:17), to boldly and insightfully seeing through the Pharisees motivations for rejecting Jesus and countering that Jesus must be sent from God (9:30–32). The man’s growth encourages us that we do not need to know or understand everything about Jesus and deep Christian doctrine to be faithful disciples. Furthermore, the man’s progressive growth in understanding reminds us that God often uses opposition as a catalyst for our spiritual development. As the man matures in his ability to see through the contradictions in the Pharisees’ logic, he also grows in his confidence in who Jesus is.
Second, note that the trial scenes all occur in Jesus’s absence. Jesus sends the man to wash in the pool, and the man, who notably has never seen Jesus’s face, endures the interrogations not knowing where Jesus is (9:12). Likewise, in many of our experiences of suffering and opposition, we can feel like God is absent. Yet while Jesus seems to be absent in the story, he is clearly paying attention, and when he hears that the man has been expelled from his community, Jesus meets him (9:35). This man provides a powerful example of what faithful testimony to Jesus looks like. The man never doubts Jesus’s goodness for he has experienced its transformative power. Even in the face of being disowned by his parents and being kicked out of his religious community, he remains so convinced of Jesus’s power and goodness that he faithfully testifies to Jesus.
Third, as mentioned above, like us this man had never seen Jesus’s face. When Jesus asks the man if he believes in the Son of Man, the man’s question indicates an immediate acceptance of Jesus’s authority and a commitment to do whatever Jesus tells him (9:36). While this man has never seen Jesus’s face before, he has recognized Jesus’s voice, and when Jesus reveals his identity, the man immediately responds with worship (9:38). In this way, the man foreshadows the meaning of the analogy Jesus will use in John 10: Jesus’s sheep hear his voice and follow him (10:4, 16, 27). As we read John 10 over the next two days, keep this story of the man born blind in your mind. Take comfort that although we also have not yet seen Jesus’s face, he will enable us to be faithful as he did this man, and when Jesus returns, we too will recognize his voice.
Weekly Prayer Focus: Outreach to Neighbors
Daily Prayer Request: “Immediate Neighbors.” Please pray for the people who live in homes in very close proximity to 300 Saline St. The renovations and new construction, as well as the arrival of 400 worshippers on Sunday morning could have a significant impact on our immediate neighbors. Please pray that we would honor these relationships and that they would receive our presence as a good thing.