September 8, 2026 • 35 mins
A man is born blind, and the first instinct of Jewish tradition is to put him on trial. Who caused this, what sin brought this about, and who deserves the blame? As we move through John chapter 9, we slow down and listen to Jesus overturn a common assumption about sin and suffering. He doesn’t treat pain as a quick moral scorecard. He points to the works of God, the urgency of doing the Father’s will “while it is day,” and His own claim that He is the Light of the World.
Then the leason gets personal and messy. Jesus uses mud and sends the man to wash in the Pool of Siloam, and the man’s sight comes on the other side of obedience. What follows is just as dramatic as the healing: neighbors argue over whether he’s even the same person, and the Pharisees turn the miracle into a courtroom fight because it happened on the Sabbath. We watch the pressure build, the parents shrink back in fear of being cast out of the synagogue, and the healed man grow in courage as he repeats the simplest, strongest testimony he has: .... though I was blind, now I see.
The turning point is stunning. After the religious leaders throw him out, Jesus goes and finds him, reveals Himself as the Son of Man, and the man responds with faith and worship. We close with Jesus’ sharp warning about spiritual blindness: the ones who admit they can’t see are the ones who receive sight, and the ones who insist they already see remain guilty. If you care about Bible teaching, the Gospel of John, and what real faith looks like under pressure, listen through to the end and then subscribe, share the episode, and leave a review.
Email: nathan@nathandietsche.com
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SPEAKER_00 (00:15):
Grace and peace to you, and thank you once again
for joining me for the mysteriesof God's Word.
Today we are in John chapter 9,and we will begin at verse 1.
As he passed by, he saw a manblind from birth, and his
disciples asked him, Rabbi, whosinned?
(00:39):
This man or his parents, that hewas born blind?
Jesus answered.
It was not that this man sinned,nor his parents, but that the
works of God might be displayedin him.
We must work the works of himwho sent me while it is day.
(01:03):
Night is coming when no one canwork.
As long as I am in the world, Iam the light of the world.
In these first five verses wesee a continuation of the
timeline from chapter eight.
Jesus has now left the templewhere the Jews wanted to stone
(01:28):
him.
Again, let's remind ourselvesthat this is the last day of the
feast of tabernacles, six monthsbefore Jesus was to be
crucified.
And Jesus is passing by thisblind man begging for alms.
Now Jesus had passed by manypeople that had physical
(01:49):
trouble, and many people thathad spiritual needs.
However, Jesus doesn't stop atevery person, and he didn't heal
every physical issue.
But yet Jesus heals this man.
Why?
Now certainly there were timeswhen Jesus would heal every
(02:11):
person that came to him.
And then there were also timeslike this, when Jesus would walk
right through crowds of hurtingpeople, healing only one person.
Jesus was always intentional andhad a purpose for what he did,
and the purpose of his miracleswas to point to who he was.
(02:36):
As we examine this timeline, itwould seem to imply that this
man was on Jesus' path as he wasleaving the temple.
Perhaps after Jesus had hidhimself and escaped the Jews at
the temple, this man was on theroadside, shortly outside of the
temple complex.
(02:58):
And we read that this man wasblind from birth.
Jesus choosing a man blind frombirth was significant,
particularly because of what hehad just taught in his
discussion with the Jewishleaders.
Being physically blind frombirth symbolizes mankind's
spiritual blindness from birth,and Jesus had just condemned the
(03:23):
Pharisees for their spiritualblindness and being children of
the devil.
In John chapter eight, Jesussaid he was the light of the
world, and whoever followed himwould never walk in darkness,
but have the light of life.
And now Jesus is going to give ablind man sight that he might
(03:46):
see not only the light of day,but his Messiah, who is the
light of life.
As Jesus approaches this man,the disciples ask Jesus a
question Who sinned this man orhis parents?
Now the disciples rightfullyunderstand from Jewish theology
(04:09):
that the brokenness andsuffering of this world comes
from sin.
However, like many of the Jewsof their day, their assumptions
about sin and suffering hadbecome twisted and judgmental.
Jewish tradition had come tobelieve that personal suffering
was necessarily tied toindividual sin.
(04:34):
If someone was suffering, it wasa consequence for their personal
wrongdoing.
And that was a misunderstandingthat came about through the
Jewish traditions in their day.
A man that was born blind,however, gives the disciples a
little bit of a theologicalproblem.
(04:56):
How could this person be bornwith a handicap unless God is
punishing him before he evencommits the sin?
Was this the sin of his father?
The disciples ask Jesus, why wasthis man born this way?
Was it his sin or was it hisparents' sin who are responsible
(05:19):
for it?
And Jesus answers, It was notthat this man sinned or his
parents, but that the works ofGod might be displayed in him.
Now Jesus is not denying theconnection between sin and
suffering, but he is correctingthe common misunderstanding.
(05:40):
That false teaching thatsuffering was directly connected
to personal sin.
He's letting his disciples knowthat suffering is not always or
necessarily connected to aconsequence of personal sin or
of your father's sin.
Ultimately, what Jesus isteaching and pointing to is how
(06:04):
he himself will suffer and dieat the crucifixion, for the
glory of God to be displayed.
Jesus speaks of the importanceof doing his Father's will while
he's here on earth.
Jesus again uses the phrase thathe is the light of the world,
(06:26):
and while he's here the light isshining brightly.
Jesus gives us a strong exampleof how important our time is
here on earth, how we need to bedoing the Father's will, of
spreading the gospel andministering and living God's
will in our lives.
(06:47):
Then Jesus uses darkness torefer to the time of his
crucifixion, when he will betaken from his disciples.
All who believe in Jesus havethe light of Jesus Christ
shining through us through thepower of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus' teaching here shouldremind us that one day we will
(07:09):
be taken from this earth, and wewill no longer be able to work.
The night is coming for us all.
Picking up in verse six.
Having said these things, hespit on the ground and made some
mud with his saliva.
Then he anointed the man's eyeswith the mud, and he said to
(07:31):
him, Go wash in the pool ofSilom, which means sent.
So he went and washed, and cameback seeing.
Verses six and seven describethis miracle of Jesus giving
sight to the blind.
It says Jesus spit on the groundand made mud with the saliva.
(07:55):
This isn't typically how Jesusperformed miracles.
Most often Jesus just spoke withthe power of his word.
But by doing this, Jesus createsan imagery that's representative
of how God formed man from thedust of the earth.
And in a similar fashion to howGod personally spent time
(08:19):
forming man out of the dust ofthe ground to show his intimate
connection with his creation, sohe does with this man.
Furthermore, from antiquity andculturally, saliva was thought
to have some medicinal powers,and the Jews were very
(08:40):
suspicious of anyone usingsaliva in healing.
Jesus never did anything withoutpurpose, and this display of the
creator bringing light to ablind man while shedding light
on oppressive regulation wasvery common for the Lord of
(09:01):
light.
Jesus then sends this blind manto go and wash in the pool of
Siloam.
Now this pool was at thesouthern end of the city, and it
was likely a great deal ofeffort for this man to walk to
that pool still blind with mudon his eyes.
(09:22):
But this blind man now moves inobedience and faith towards
those waters of Siloam, trustingin Christ.
And notice this blind man didnot receive his sight until he
went and washed in the pool,according to Jesus' command.
What would that walk to the poolhave looked like?
(09:46):
This man had been sitting andbegging all of his life, and now
his eyes are covered in mud.
He couldn't see where he wasgoing, and he would have to ask
someone for directions.
Surely he must have been askinghimself why did Jesus just not
heal me?
And as he made his way, didpeople refuse to help him and
(10:10):
mock him?
I would imagine.
Were people making fun of themud on his eyes and how he
looked?
Probably so.
Yet he obediently makes his wayto the pool and washes himself
as Jesus told him to do.
And the result is he came backseeing Picking up in verse
(10:37):
eight.
The neighbors and those who hadseen him before as a beggar were
saying, Is this not the man whoused to sit and beg?
Some said it is he.
Others said No, but it is likehim.
He kept saying, I am the man.
So they said to him, Then howwere your eyes opened?
(11:01):
He answered, The man calledJesus made mud and anointed my
eyes and said to me, Go toSiloam and wash.
So I went and washed andreceived my sight.
They said to him, Where is he?
He said, I do not know.
(11:22):
In verses eight through twelvewe see the transformation.
This transformation in thispreviously blind man is
dramatic.
When Jesus touches our lives andwe obey, we are never the same.
We are transformed.
His neighbors had seen himsitting and begging all of his
(11:45):
life, perhaps many of them evenhelped to support him.
And this drastic change hadthose who knew him best second
guessing if this was even thesame man.
Some of his neighbors thought itwas him, while others were
certain it could not be.
Some claimed this could be animposter, but the man repeatedly
(12:09):
confirmed that I am that man.
So the neighbors began to demandanswers.
They could not understand howthis could have possibly
happened, and the man spoke veryfrankly.
He gave testimony to the eventsjust as they had happened, and
he gave credit to Jesus forhealing him.
(12:32):
It's interesting that this manat this point doesn't seem to
know Jesus as the Messiah yet,nor does he know where Jesus
went.
He simply refers to Jesus as theman they call Jesus.
Even later he says Jesus is aprophet.
(12:53):
Picking up in verse thirteen,they brought to the Pharisees
the man who had formerly beenblind.
Now it was a Sabbath day whenJesus made the mud and opened
his eyes.
So the Pharisees again asked himhow he had received his sight,
(13:14):
and he said to them, He put mudon my eyes, and I washed, and I
see.
Some Pharisees said, This man isnot from God, for he does not
keep the Sabbath.
But others said, How can a manwho is a sinner do such signs?
(13:35):
And there was a division amongstthem.
So they said again to the blindman, What do you say about him,
since he has opened your eyes?
He said he is a prophet.
In verses thirteen throughseventeen, these overly
(13:56):
concerned neighbors bring thisformerly blind man to the
Pharisees.
And we read that the miraculoushealing was done by Jesus on the
Sabbath.
Perhaps these particularneighbors were amongst the Jews
that did not like the teachingsof Jesus.
Perhaps they were intentionalabout bringing this man to the
(14:17):
Pharisees to bring chargesagainst Jesus.
Whatever their motive, healingon the Sabbath was contrary to
what they understood to be God'sway of doing things.
So they sought advice andguidance from these religious
leaders.
(14:38):
And just as the neighbors haddemanded answers from this
formerly blind man, now thePharisees are demanding answers.
How could you have possiblyreceived your sight?
And the man's answer to thePharisees is a little bit more
reserved than it was to hisneighbors.
(15:00):
He doesn't tell the Phariseesthat Jesus mixed his saliva with
the sand, nor does he tell themthat Jesus told him to go and
wash in the pool.
He simply says, He put mud on myeyes, and I washed and I see.
And we see that once thistestimony is given, there's a
(15:22):
division amongst the Phariseesover whether or not Jesus was
from God.
We've seen this division before,but here we see it very
distinctly.
Some of the Pharisees areadamant that Jesus was a false
prophet, believing that a man ofGod would never violate the
(15:43):
Sabbath this way.
While others believed that thesesigns that Jesus was doing were
evidence that Jesus was a man ofGod.
It reminded me of what Nicodemussaid way back in John 3 2, when
he said, Rabbi, we know that youare a teacher that came from
(16:05):
God, for no one can do thesesigns that you do unless God is
with him.
And here we begin to see thissplit in the Jewish leadership.
Some know that these signs mustcome from God, while others
refuse to acknowledge them andsimply believe no man of God
(16:28):
would heal on the Sabbath.
Picking up in verse 18.
The Jews did not believe that hehad been blind and had received
his sight until they called theparents of the man who had
received his sight.
And they asked them, Is thisyour son, who you say was born
(16:50):
blind?
How then does he now see?
His parents answered, We knowthat this is our son, and that
he was born blind, but how henow sees we do not know, nor do
we know who opened his eyes.
Ask him, he is of age, he willspeak for himself.
(17:11):
His parents said these thingsbecause they feared the Jews,
for the Jews had already agreedthat if anyone should confess
Jesus to be Christ, he was to beput out of the synagogue.
Therefore his parents said, Heis of age, ask him.
In verses eighteen throughtwenty one, these stiff necked
(17:35):
Pharisees refused to believethat this man was born blind,
and they refused to believe thathe had somehow received his
sight miraculously.
And this is despite the factthat they've received multiple
testimonies from multipleneighbors.
These Pharisees are consideringall of the testimony worthless
(17:59):
at this point.
So the Pharisees call in theparents of this man.
Surely the parents would be ableto give some deniability.
And from the followinginterrogation of these parents,
the Pharisees were likely hopingthe parents would even renounce
their son out of fear.
(18:20):
But the parents did confirmbasic facts.
The parents said this is ourson, and he was born blind.
But out of fear of the Jews,they said, Ask him.
He is of age.
Now in Jewish culture, a Jewishboy comes of age at 13, and then
(18:41):
he's able to give legaltestimony.
Not that these Jewish leaderswere accepting legal testimony.
The parents here refuse to giveany testimony on how their son
could have received his sight.
By this time, certainly theyknew that Jesus had opened his
eyes, but they're respondingcautiously because they feared
(19:03):
retaliation from the Jewishleaders.
And we see why in verse 22.
The Jews had already agreed thatif anyone confessed Jesus to be
the Christ, they were to be putout of the synagogue.
The Jewish leadership is usingfear to motivate people from
(19:25):
speaking the name of Jesus asthe Christ.
At this time, the Pharisees andthe Sanhedrin as a council have
concluded that Jesus is not theMessiah, and they have taken a
public stand against any suchclaim, that anyone confessing
Jesus as Christ would be put outof temple.
(19:49):
Now Jewish life revolved aroundlocal synagogues.
To be expelled from thesynagogue would have serious
social and economicconsequences, and the Jewish
leadership was using it.
Picking up in verse twenty four,so for the second time they
called the man who had beenblind and said to him, Give
(20:12):
glory to God, we know that thisman is a sinner.
He answered, Whether he is asinner I do not know.
One thing I do know that thoughI was blind, now I see.
They said to him, What did he doto you?
How did he open your eyes?
(20:33):
He answered them, I have toldyou already, and you would not
listen.
Why do you want to hear itagain?
Do you also want to become hisdisciples?
And they reviled him, saying,You are his disciple, but we are
disciples of Moses.
(20:53):
We know that God has spoken toMoses, but as for this man, we
do not know where he comes from.
The man answered, Why this is anamazing thing.
You do not know where he comesfrom, and yet he opened my eyes.
We know that God does not listento sinners, but if anyone is a
(21:13):
worshipper of God and does hiswill, God listens to him.
Never since the world began hasit been heard that anyone opened
the eyes of a man born blind.
If this man were not from God,he could do nothing.
(21:35):
They answered him You were bornin utter sin, and you would
teach us?
And they cast him out.
In verses twenty four throughthirty four, we see the second
interrogation of this man whowas formerly born blind.
(21:55):
After interrogating his parentsand getting a sheepish answer,
the Pharisees bring the man inagain, anticipating that this
time he'll fall in line.
And they begin, give glory toGod.
We know that this man is asinner.
This statement is clearly meantto intimidate the man into
(22:19):
retracting his previousstatement about Jesus healing
him and being a prophet.
These Pharisees are living inunbelief, and men who live in
unbelief will often claim tohave scientific evidence or know
the truth based upon theirfaulty logic.
(22:42):
Here, the Jewish leaders claimto know the truth, that Jesus is
a sinner because he violatedtheir traditions of the Sabbath.
And now they want the man bornblind to confirm their thinking
and also confess that Jesus is asinner.
And while the man born blindcertainly does not yet
(23:06):
understand that Jesus is God inhuman flesh, he was not willing
to confess that the man thathealed him was a sinner.
He says the one thing I do knowthat though I was blind, now I
see.
The experience of having gainedhis sight after years of being
(23:29):
blind emboldened this man todeclare this one indisputable
fact.
Rather than be intimidated bythe Jewish leaders, this man now
gives glory to God by declaringthe testimony and the healing
power of Jesus.
(23:50):
And all the Pharisees could dowas to argue, how did he open
your eyes?
What did he do to you?
And these argumentativequestions come after it has
become evident to the Phariseesthat this man who was born blind
was indeed healed by Jesus onthe Sabbath.
(24:11):
They're likely attempting to gethim to restate his case so they
can find some discrepancy in histestimony.
And the man says to thePharisees, Do you also want to
become his disciples?
Completely frustrated with thePharisees' hypocrisy and
harassing questions at thispoint, the man becomes quickly
(24:35):
sarcastic, asking them if theywant to become disciples of
Jesus.
And this sarcastic comment ofthis illiterate healed man was
more than the pride of thePharisees could possibly take.
It brought out their true natureand made them become abusive and
(24:56):
divisive towards this man.
These highly educated Jewishleaders began to ridicule and
mock this healed man.
Despite the overwhelmingevidence of a healed man
standing before them, theirhighly educated minds are made
(25:17):
up concerning Jesus.
There's no amount of evidencethat's going to convince them
that it's all right for Jesus toheal on the Sabbath.
And after the Pharisees insultthis man, the boldness of this
man grows even more.
This uneducated, healed blindman shows more biblical
(25:42):
knowledge and spiritual insightthan all of these educated
Jewish leaders combined.
He reasoned using sound OldTestament theology that God does
not hear the prayer ofunrepentant sinners.
He only hears God fearing peoplewho are righteous in his sight.
(26:06):
Some verses that describe thisJob thirty five thirteen.
Surely God does not hear anempty cry, nor does the almighty
regard it.
(26:40):
Furthermore, this man alsoreasoned that there had never
been a prophet in Scripture oreven someone extra biblical that
was ever known to open a man'seyes who was born blind before.
And he says, If this man werenot from God, he could do
nothing.
(27:01):
The conclusion of this man'sargument is a common Jewish
theological understanding thatmiracles of healing were
performed only by God and inanswer to prayer.
But the Jewish leaders, beinghardened in their hearts with no
rational response as to why thisman is healed, turn to character
(27:26):
attacks and an abuse of theirpower.
They tell this man, You wereborn in utter sin.
This highlights their judgmentaland prejudiced view of people
with handicaps that hadunfortunately become part of
Jewish tradition.
We are again reminded of how thedisciples asked Jesus if it was
(27:49):
this man or his parents whosinned that made him blind.
And these Jewish leaders say,Would you teach us?
Because these learned Jewishleaders had just been schooled
by an uneducated man who spenthis entire life on the street.
In their pride and in theiranger, they were blinded to how
(28:13):
the Old Testament scripturedeclared that the coming Messiah
would give sight to the blind.
Isaiah twenty nine, eighteenreads, In that day the deaf
shall hear the words of thebook, and out of the gloom and
darkness the eyes of the blindshall see.
(28:33):
Then these Pharisees cast thisman out of the synagogue
altogether.
This is the first person we seein Scripture that is removed
from the synagogue for the sakeof Jesus Christ.
Picking up in verse thirty five.
Jesus heard that they had casthim out, and having found him,
(28:55):
he said, Do you believe in theSon of Man?
He answered, And who is he, sir,that I might believe in him?
Jesus said to him, You have seenhim, and it is he who is
speaking to you.
He said, Lord, I believe and heworshipped him.
(29:20):
In verses thirty five throughthirty eight, Jesus finds this
man after he's cast out of thesynagogue.
It actually implies that Jesussearches for this man as a
shepherd looking for his lostsheep, and the good shepherd
found this man who'd beenrejected for speaking the truth
(29:41):
and speaking in faith.
And Jesus invites this man toconfirm his faith in him, this
time as the Son of Man, which isanother title for Messiah.
The man responds that he iswilling, but he's ignorant yet
of who the Son of Man is.
(30:02):
And Jesus says, It is he who isspeaking to you.
This is the second time in theGospel of John that Jesus
reveals his messianic identityto an individual.
The first time was to theSamaritan woman.
Saving faith is not simply anintellectual decision, but it
(30:23):
involves an act of the will totrust wholeheartedly in the
Messiah when it's revealed.
Romans ten seventeen reads Faithcomes from hearing, and hearing
through the word of Christ.
And the man born blind said,Lord, I believe, and he
(30:43):
worshipped him.
The healed man puts his fulltrust in Jesus as Christ, and
his faith is immediately putinto action by worshiping Jesus
as God.
The man's spiritualunderstanding of Jesus has
progressed, progressed from theman they call Jesus to he is a
(31:08):
prophet, and to now he is God,the Son of Man and my Lord.
Picking up in verse thirty nine,Jesus said, For judgment I came
into this world, that those whodo not see may see, and those
who see may become blind.
(31:31):
Some of the Pharisees near himheard these things and said to
him, Are we also blind?
Jesus said to them, If you wereblind you would have no guilt,
but now that you say we see,your guilt remains.
In our last three verses fortoday, Jesus says, For judgment
(31:56):
I came into this world.
We know that the gospel of Jesusis a gospel of grace and
salvation.
Jesus didn't come into the worldto condemn the world, but to
save it.
But that salvation of someinvolves the judgment of others
who reject the kindness Godshows through his Son Jesus
(32:21):
Christ.
And Jesus uses this backdrop ofthe man who was born blind to
describe all men who are born inspiritual darkness.
And those who are born blind arethose who recognize they are
born with the handicap of beingsinful and spiritually blind.
(32:45):
Jesus says that those who do notsee may see.
Those who know that they areblind without the Lord Jesus
Christ, he has come to givesight.
Jesus is the light of the world.
But to those who believe thatthey see without him, to people
(33:07):
who believe that they are in thelight without Christ, they are
the ones who are blind.
Some of the Pharisees who werenear Jesus asked Jesus if they
were blind as well.
In their pompous pride, theyexpected Jesus to affirm their
formal Jewish education andpriestly authority.
(33:31):
But Jesus makes the case thatthey're actually not totally
blind.
He said, If you were blind,referring to the fact that God
has revealed himself to them insome way.
For these particular Pharisees,God has revealed Himself not
only through the generalrevelation of creation, but also
(33:53):
through His special revelationof His Holy Word, which they
have studied for many years.
And now God stands before them,revealing himself through the
person of Jesus Christ, and yetthey reject him.
Because the Pharisees claimed toknow the truth of God while
(34:16):
rejecting the greatestrevelation of Him ever given to
mankind.
God in the flesh, the MessiahJesus, they remained lost in
their sin.
And quite unfortunately, theyare content to live in the
darkness of their pride as theyreject the light of God that
(34:37):
stands before them.
Thus their guilt remains.
Thank you for joining me forchapter nine of John.
God bless you this week.
Grace and peace to you, and thank you once again
for joining me for the mysteriesof God's Word.
Today we are in John chapter 9,and we will begin at verse 1.
As he passed by, he saw a manblind from birth, and his
disciples asked him, Rabbi, whosinned?
(00:39):
This man or his parents, that hewas born blind?
Jesus answered.
It was not that this man sinned,nor his parents, but that the
works of God might be displayedin him.
We must work the works of himwho sent me while it is day.
(01:03):
Night is coming when no one canwork.
As long as I am in the world, Iam the light of the world.
In these first five verses wesee a continuation of the
timeline from chapter eight.
Jesus has now left the templewhere the Jews wanted to stone
(01:28):
him.
Again, let's remind ourselvesthat this is the last day of the
feast of tabernacles, six monthsbefore Jesus was to be
crucified.
And Jesus is passing by thisblind man begging for alms.
Now Jesus had passed by manypeople that had physical
(01:49):
trouble, and many people thathad spiritual needs.
However, Jesus doesn't stop atevery person, and he didn't heal
every physical issue.
But yet Jesus heals this man.
Why?
Now certainly there were timeswhen Jesus would heal every
(02:11):
person that came to him.
And then there were also timeslike this, when Jesus would walk
right through crowds of hurtingpeople, healing only one person.
Jesus was always intentional andhad a purpose for what he did,
and the purpose of his miracleswas to point to who he was.
(02:36):
As we examine this timeline, itwould seem to imply that this
man was on Jesus' path as he wasleaving the temple.
Perhaps after Jesus had hidhimself and escaped the Jews at
the temple, this man was on theroadside, shortly outside of the
temple complex.
(02:58):
And we read that this man wasblind from birth.
Jesus choosing a man blind frombirth was significant,
particularly because of what hehad just taught in his
discussion with the Jewishleaders.
Being physically blind frombirth symbolizes mankind's
spiritual blindness from birth,and Jesus had just condemned the
(03:23):
Pharisees for their spiritualblindness and being children of
the devil.
In John chapter eight, Jesussaid he was the light of the
world, and whoever followed himwould never walk in darkness,
but have the light of life.
And now Jesus is going to give ablind man sight that he might
(03:46):
see not only the light of day,but his Messiah, who is the
light of life.
As Jesus approaches this man,the disciples ask Jesus a
question Who sinned this man orhis parents?
Now the disciples rightfullyunderstand from Jewish theology
(04:09):
that the brokenness andsuffering of this world comes
from sin.
However, like many of the Jewsof their day, their assumptions
about sin and suffering hadbecome twisted and judgmental.
Jewish tradition had come tobelieve that personal suffering
was necessarily tied toindividual sin.
(04:34):
If someone was suffering, it wasa consequence for their personal
wrongdoing.
And that was a misunderstandingthat came about through the
Jewish traditions in their day.
A man that was born blind,however, gives the disciples a
little bit of a theologicalproblem.
(04:56):
How could this person be bornwith a handicap unless God is
punishing him before he evencommits the sin?
Was this the sin of his father?
The disciples ask Jesus, why wasthis man born this way?
Was it his sin or was it hisparents' sin who are responsible
(05:19):
for it?
And Jesus answers, It was notthat this man sinned or his
parents, but that the works ofGod might be displayed in him.
Now Jesus is not denying theconnection between sin and
suffering, but he is correctingthe common misunderstanding.
(05:40):
That false teaching thatsuffering was directly connected
to personal sin.
He's letting his disciples knowthat suffering is not always or
necessarily connected to aconsequence of personal sin or
of your father's sin.
Ultimately, what Jesus isteaching and pointing to is how
(06:04):
he himself will suffer and dieat the crucifixion, for the
glory of God to be displayed.
Jesus speaks of the importanceof doing his Father's will while
he's here on earth.
Jesus again uses the phrase thathe is the light of the world,
(06:26):
and while he's here the light isshining brightly.
Jesus gives us a strong exampleof how important our time is
here on earth, how we need to bedoing the Father's will, of
spreading the gospel andministering and living God's
will in our lives.
(06:47):
Then Jesus uses darkness torefer to the time of his
crucifixion, when he will betaken from his disciples.
All who believe in Jesus havethe light of Jesus Christ
shining through us through thepower of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus' teaching here shouldremind us that one day we will
(07:09):
be taken from this earth, and wewill no longer be able to work.
The night is coming for us all.
Picking up in verse six.
Having said these things, hespit on the ground and made some
mud with his saliva.
Then he anointed the man's eyeswith the mud, and he said to
(07:31):
him, Go wash in the pool ofSilom, which means sent.
So he went and washed, and cameback seeing.
Verses six and seven describethis miracle of Jesus giving
sight to the blind.
It says Jesus spit on the groundand made mud with the saliva.
(07:55):
This isn't typically how Jesusperformed miracles.
Most often Jesus just spoke withthe power of his word.
But by doing this, Jesus createsan imagery that's representative
of how God formed man from thedust of the earth.
And in a similar fashion to howGod personally spent time
(08:19):
forming man out of the dust ofthe ground to show his intimate
connection with his creation, sohe does with this man.
Furthermore, from antiquity andculturally, saliva was thought
to have some medicinal powers,and the Jews were very
(08:40):
suspicious of anyone usingsaliva in healing.
Jesus never did anything withoutpurpose, and this display of the
creator bringing light to ablind man while shedding light
on oppressive regulation wasvery common for the Lord of
(09:01):
light.
Jesus then sends this blind manto go and wash in the pool of
Siloam.
Now this pool was at thesouthern end of the city, and it
was likely a great deal ofeffort for this man to walk to
that pool still blind with mudon his eyes.
(09:22):
But this blind man now moves inobedience and faith towards
those waters of Siloam, trustingin Christ.
And notice this blind man didnot receive his sight until he
went and washed in the pool,according to Jesus' command.
What would that walk to the poolhave looked like?
(09:46):
This man had been sitting andbegging all of his life, and now
his eyes are covered in mud.
He couldn't see where he wasgoing, and he would have to ask
someone for directions.
Surely he must have been askinghimself why did Jesus just not
heal me?
And as he made his way, didpeople refuse to help him and
(10:10):
mock him?
I would imagine.
Were people making fun of themud on his eyes and how he
looked?
Probably so.
Yet he obediently makes his wayto the pool and washes himself
as Jesus told him to do.
And the result is he came backseeing Picking up in verse
(10:37):
eight.
The neighbors and those who hadseen him before as a beggar were
saying, Is this not the man whoused to sit and beg?
Some said it is he.
Others said No, but it is likehim.
He kept saying, I am the man.
So they said to him, Then howwere your eyes opened?
(11:01):
He answered, The man calledJesus made mud and anointed my
eyes and said to me, Go toSiloam and wash.
So I went and washed andreceived my sight.
They said to him, Where is he?
He said, I do not know.
(11:22):
In verses eight through twelvewe see the transformation.
This transformation in thispreviously blind man is
dramatic.
When Jesus touches our lives andwe obey, we are never the same.
We are transformed.
His neighbors had seen himsitting and begging all of his
(11:45):
life, perhaps many of them evenhelped to support him.
And this drastic change hadthose who knew him best second
guessing if this was even thesame man.
Some of his neighbors thought itwas him, while others were
certain it could not be.
Some claimed this could be animposter, but the man repeatedly
(12:09):
confirmed that I am that man.
So the neighbors began to demandanswers.
They could not understand howthis could have possibly
happened, and the man spoke veryfrankly.
He gave testimony to the eventsjust as they had happened, and
he gave credit to Jesus forhealing him.
(12:32):
It's interesting that this manat this point doesn't seem to
know Jesus as the Messiah yet,nor does he know where Jesus
went.
He simply refers to Jesus as theman they call Jesus.
Even later he says Jesus is aprophet.
(12:53):
Picking up in verse thirteen,they brought to the Pharisees
the man who had formerly beenblind.
Now it was a Sabbath day whenJesus made the mud and opened
his eyes.
So the Pharisees again asked himhow he had received his sight,
(13:14):
and he said to them, He put mudon my eyes, and I washed, and I
see.
Some Pharisees said, This man isnot from God, for he does not
keep the Sabbath.
But others said, How can a manwho is a sinner do such signs?
(13:35):
And there was a division amongstthem.
So they said again to the blindman, What do you say about him,
since he has opened your eyes?
He said he is a prophet.
In verses thirteen throughseventeen, these overly
(13:56):
concerned neighbors bring thisformerly blind man to the
Pharisees.
And we read that the miraculoushealing was done by Jesus on the
Sabbath.
Perhaps these particularneighbors were amongst the Jews
that did not like the teachingsof Jesus.
Perhaps they were intentionalabout bringing this man to the
(14:17):
Pharisees to bring chargesagainst Jesus.
Whatever their motive, healingon the Sabbath was contrary to
what they understood to be God'sway of doing things.
So they sought advice andguidance from these religious
leaders.
(14:38):
And just as the neighbors haddemanded answers from this
formerly blind man, now thePharisees are demanding answers.
How could you have possiblyreceived your sight?
And the man's answer to thePharisees is a little bit more
reserved than it was to hisneighbors.
(15:00):
He doesn't tell the Phariseesthat Jesus mixed his saliva with
the sand, nor does he tell themthat Jesus told him to go and
wash in the pool.
He simply says, He put mud on myeyes, and I washed and I see.
And we see that once thistestimony is given, there's a
(15:22):
division amongst the Phariseesover whether or not Jesus was
from God.
We've seen this division before,but here we see it very
distinctly.
Some of the Pharisees areadamant that Jesus was a false
prophet, believing that a man ofGod would never violate the
(15:43):
Sabbath this way.
While others believed that thesesigns that Jesus was doing were
evidence that Jesus was a man ofGod.
It reminded me of what Nicodemussaid way back in John 3 2, when
he said, Rabbi, we know that youare a teacher that came from
(16:05):
God, for no one can do thesesigns that you do unless God is
with him.
And here we begin to see thissplit in the Jewish leadership.
Some know that these signs mustcome from God, while others
refuse to acknowledge them andsimply believe no man of God
(16:28):
would heal on the Sabbath.
Picking up in verse 18.
The Jews did not believe that hehad been blind and had received
his sight until they called theparents of the man who had
received his sight.
And they asked them, Is thisyour son, who you say was born
(16:50):
blind?
How then does he now see?
His parents answered, We knowthat this is our son, and that
he was born blind, but how henow sees we do not know, nor do
we know who opened his eyes.
Ask him, he is of age, he willspeak for himself.
(17:11):
His parents said these thingsbecause they feared the Jews,
for the Jews had already agreedthat if anyone should confess
Jesus to be Christ, he was to beput out of the synagogue.
Therefore his parents said, Heis of age, ask him.
In verses eighteen throughtwenty one, these stiff necked
(17:35):
Pharisees refused to believethat this man was born blind,
and they refused to believe thathe had somehow received his
sight miraculously.
And this is despite the factthat they've received multiple
testimonies from multipleneighbors.
These Pharisees are consideringall of the testimony worthless
(17:59):
at this point.
So the Pharisees call in theparents of this man.
Surely the parents would be ableto give some deniability.
And from the followinginterrogation of these parents,
the Pharisees were likely hopingthe parents would even renounce
their son out of fear.
(18:20):
But the parents did confirmbasic facts.
The parents said this is ourson, and he was born blind.
But out of fear of the Jews,they said, Ask him.
He is of age.
Now in Jewish culture, a Jewishboy comes of age at 13, and then
(18:41):
he's able to give legaltestimony.
Not that these Jewish leaderswere accepting legal testimony.
The parents here refuse to giveany testimony on how their son
could have received his sight.
By this time, certainly theyknew that Jesus had opened his
eyes, but they're respondingcautiously because they feared
(19:03):
retaliation from the Jewishleaders.
And we see why in verse 22.
The Jews had already agreed thatif anyone confessed Jesus to be
the Christ, they were to be putout of the synagogue.
The Jewish leadership is usingfear to motivate people from
(19:25):
speaking the name of Jesus asthe Christ.
At this time, the Pharisees andthe Sanhedrin as a council have
concluded that Jesus is not theMessiah, and they have taken a
public stand against any suchclaim, that anyone confessing
Jesus as Christ would be put outof temple.
(19:49):
Now Jewish life revolved aroundlocal synagogues.
To be expelled from thesynagogue would have serious
social and economicconsequences, and the Jewish
leadership was using it.
Picking up in verse twenty four,so for the second time they
called the man who had beenblind and said to him, Give
(20:12):
glory to God, we know that thisman is a sinner.
He answered, Whether he is asinner I do not know.
One thing I do know that thoughI was blind, now I see.
They said to him, What did he doto you?
How did he open your eyes?
(20:33):
He answered them, I have toldyou already, and you would not
listen.
Why do you want to hear itagain?
Do you also want to become hisdisciples?
And they reviled him, saying,You are his disciple, but we are
disciples of Moses.
(20:53):
We know that God has spoken toMoses, but as for this man, we
do not know where he comes from.
The man answered, Why this is anamazing thing.
You do not know where he comesfrom, and yet he opened my eyes.
We know that God does not listento sinners, but if anyone is a
(21:13):
worshipper of God and does hiswill, God listens to him.
Never since the world began hasit been heard that anyone opened
the eyes of a man born blind.
If this man were not from God,he could do nothing.
(21:35):
They answered him You were bornin utter sin, and you would
teach us?
And they cast him out.
In verses twenty four throughthirty four, we see the second
interrogation of this man whowas formerly born blind.
(21:55):
After interrogating his parentsand getting a sheepish answer,
the Pharisees bring the man inagain, anticipating that this
time he'll fall in line.
And they begin, give glory toGod.
We know that this man is asinner.
This statement is clearly meantto intimidate the man into
(22:19):
retracting his previousstatement about Jesus healing
him and being a prophet.
These Pharisees are living inunbelief, and men who live in
unbelief will often claim tohave scientific evidence or know
the truth based upon theirfaulty logic.
(22:42):
Here, the Jewish leaders claimto know the truth, that Jesus is
a sinner because he violatedtheir traditions of the Sabbath.
And now they want the man bornblind to confirm their thinking
and also confess that Jesus is asinner.
And while the man born blindcertainly does not yet
(23:06):
understand that Jesus is God inhuman flesh, he was not willing
to confess that the man thathealed him was a sinner.
He says the one thing I do knowthat though I was blind, now I
see.
The experience of having gainedhis sight after years of being
(23:29):
blind emboldened this man todeclare this one indisputable
fact.
Rather than be intimidated bythe Jewish leaders, this man now
gives glory to God by declaringthe testimony and the healing
power of Jesus.
(23:50):
And all the Pharisees could dowas to argue, how did he open
your eyes?
What did he do to you?
And these argumentativequestions come after it has
become evident to the Phariseesthat this man who was born blind
was indeed healed by Jesus onthe Sabbath.
(24:11):
They're likely attempting to gethim to restate his case so they
can find some discrepancy in histestimony.
And the man says to thePharisees, Do you also want to
become his disciples?
Completely frustrated with thePharisees' hypocrisy and
harassing questions at thispoint, the man becomes quickly
(24:35):
sarcastic, asking them if theywant to become disciples of
Jesus.
And this sarcastic comment ofthis illiterate healed man was
more than the pride of thePharisees could possibly take.
It brought out their true natureand made them become abusive and
(24:56):
divisive towards this man.
These highly educated Jewishleaders began to ridicule and
mock this healed man.
Despite the overwhelmingevidence of a healed man
standing before them, theirhighly educated minds are made
(25:17):
up concerning Jesus.
There's no amount of evidencethat's going to convince them
that it's all right for Jesus toheal on the Sabbath.
And after the Pharisees insultthis man, the boldness of this
man grows even more.
This uneducated, healed blindman shows more biblical
(25:42):
knowledge and spiritual insightthan all of these educated
Jewish leaders combined.
He reasoned using sound OldTestament theology that God does
not hear the prayer ofunrepentant sinners.
He only hears God fearing peoplewho are righteous in his sight.
(26:06):
Some verses that describe thisJob thirty five thirteen.
Surely God does not hear anempty cry, nor does the almighty
regard it.
(26:40):
Furthermore, this man alsoreasoned that there had never
been a prophet in Scripture oreven someone extra biblical that
was ever known to open a man'seyes who was born blind before.
And he says, If this man werenot from God, he could do
nothing.
(27:01):
The conclusion of this man'sargument is a common Jewish
theological understanding thatmiracles of healing were
performed only by God and inanswer to prayer.
But the Jewish leaders, beinghardened in their hearts with no
rational response as to why thisman is healed, turn to character
(27:26):
attacks and an abuse of theirpower.
They tell this man, You wereborn in utter sin.
This highlights their judgmentaland prejudiced view of people
with handicaps that hadunfortunately become part of
Jewish tradition.
We are again reminded of how thedisciples asked Jesus if it was
(27:49):
this man or his parents whosinned that made him blind.
And these Jewish leaders say,Would you teach us?
Because these learned Jewishleaders had just been schooled
by an uneducated man who spenthis entire life on the street.
In their pride and in theiranger, they were blinded to how
(28:13):
the Old Testament scripturedeclared that the coming Messiah
would give sight to the blind.
Isaiah twenty nine, eighteenreads, In that day the deaf
shall hear the words of thebook, and out of the gloom and
darkness the eyes of the blindshall see.
(28:33):
Then these Pharisees cast thisman out of the synagogue
altogether.
This is the first person we seein Scripture that is removed
from the synagogue for the sakeof Jesus Christ.
Picking up in verse thirty five.
Jesus heard that they had casthim out, and having found him,
(28:55):
he said, Do you believe in theSon of Man?
He answered, And who is he, sir,that I might believe in him?
Jesus said to him, You have seenhim, and it is he who is
speaking to you.
He said, Lord, I believe and heworshipped him.
(29:20):
In verses thirty five throughthirty eight, Jesus finds this
man after he's cast out of thesynagogue.
It actually implies that Jesussearches for this man as a
shepherd looking for his lostsheep, and the good shepherd
found this man who'd beenrejected for speaking the truth
(29:41):
and speaking in faith.
And Jesus invites this man toconfirm his faith in him, this
time as the Son of Man, which isanother title for Messiah.
The man responds that he iswilling, but he's ignorant yet
of who the Son of Man is.
(30:02):
And Jesus says, It is he who isspeaking to you.
This is the second time in theGospel of John that Jesus
reveals his messianic identityto an individual.
The first time was to theSamaritan woman.
Saving faith is not simply anintellectual decision, but it
(30:23):
involves an act of the will totrust wholeheartedly in the
Messiah when it's revealed.
Romans ten seventeen reads Faithcomes from hearing, and hearing
through the word of Christ.
And the man born blind said,Lord, I believe, and he
(30:43):
worshipped him.
The healed man puts his fulltrust in Jesus as Christ, and
his faith is immediately putinto action by worshiping Jesus
as God.
The man's spiritualunderstanding of Jesus has
progressed, progressed from theman they call Jesus to he is a
(31:08):
prophet, and to now he is God,the Son of Man and my Lord.
Picking up in verse thirty nine,Jesus said, For judgment I came
into this world, that those whodo not see may see, and those
who see may become blind.
(31:31):
Some of the Pharisees near himheard these things and said to
him, Are we also blind?
Jesus said to them, If you wereblind you would have no guilt,
but now that you say we see,your guilt remains.
In our last three verses fortoday, Jesus says, For judgment
(31:56):
I came into this world.
We know that the gospel of Jesusis a gospel of grace and
salvation.
Jesus didn't come into the worldto condemn the world, but to
save it.
But that salvation of someinvolves the judgment of others
who reject the kindness Godshows through his Son Jesus
(32:21):
Christ.
And Jesus uses this backdrop ofthe man who was born blind to
describe all men who are born inspiritual darkness.
And those who are born blind arethose who recognize they are
born with the handicap of beingsinful and spiritually blind.
(32:45):
Jesus says that those who do notsee may see.
Those who know that they areblind without the Lord Jesus
Christ, he has come to givesight.
Jesus is the light of the world.
But to those who believe thatthey see without him, to people
(33:07):
who believe that they are in thelight without Christ, they are
the ones who are blind.
Some of the Pharisees who werenear Jesus asked Jesus if they
were blind as well.
In their pompous pride, theyexpected Jesus to affirm their
formal Jewish education andpriestly authority.
(33:31):
But Jesus makes the case thatthey're actually not totally
blind.
He said, If you were blind,referring to the fact that God
has revealed himself to them insome way.
For these particular Pharisees,God has revealed Himself not
only through the generalrevelation of creation, but also
(33:53):
through His special revelationof His Holy Word, which they
have studied for many years.
And now God stands before them,revealing himself through the
person of Jesus Christ, and yetthey reject him.
Because the Pharisees claimed toknow the truth of God while
(34:16):
rejecting the greatestrevelation of Him ever given to
mankind.
God in the flesh, the MessiahJesus, they remained lost in
their sin.
And quite unfortunately, theyare content to live in the
darkness of their pride as theyreject the light of God that
(34:37):
stands before them.
Thus their guilt remains.
Thank you for joining me forchapter nine of John.
God bless you this week.
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