JOHN
CHAPTER 9

Jesus Heals a Man Born Blind

¹As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. ²His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"
³"Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. ⁴As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. ⁵While I am in the world, I am the light of the world."
⁶Having said this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man's eyes. ⁷"Go," he told him, "wash in the Pool of Siloam" (this word means Sent). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.
⁸His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, "Isn't this the same man who used to sit and beg?" ⁹Some claimed that he was.
Others said, "No, he only looks like him."
But he himself insisted, "I am the man."
¹⁰"How then were your eyes opened?" they demanded.
¹¹He replied, "The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see."
¹²"Where is this man?" they asked him.
"I don't know," he said.

The Pharisees Investigate the Healing

¹³They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. ¹⁴Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man's eyes was a Sabbath. ¹⁵Therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. "He put mud on my eyes," the man replied, "and I washed, and now I see."
¹⁶Some of the Pharisees said, "This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath."
But others asked, "How can a sinner do such miraculous signs?" So they were divided.
¹⁷Finally they turned again to the blind man, "What have you to say about him? It was your eyes he opened."
The man replied, "He is a prophet."
¹⁸The Jews still did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they sent for the man's parents. ¹⁹"Is this your son?" they asked. "Is this the one you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see?"
²⁰"We know he is our son," the parents answered, "and we know he was born blind. ²¹But how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don't know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself." ²²His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews, for already the Jews had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Christ^[1] would be put out of the synagogue. ²³That was why his parents said, "He is of age; ask him."
²⁴A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. "Give glory to God,^[2] " they said. "We know this man is a sinner."
²⁵He replied, "Whether he is a sinner or not, I don't know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!"
²⁶Then they asked him, "What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?"
²⁷He answered, "I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples, too?"
²⁸Then they hurled insults at him and said, "You are this fellow's disciple! We are disciples of Moses! ²⁹We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don't even know where he comes from."
³⁰The man answered, "Now that is remarkable! You don't know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. ³¹We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will. ³²Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. ³³If this man were not from God, he could do nothing."
³⁴To this they replied, "You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!" And they threw him out.

Spiritual Blindness

³⁵Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?"
³⁶"Who is he, sir?" the man asked. "Tell me so that I may believe in him."
³⁷Jesus said, "You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you."
³⁸Then the man said, "Lord, I believe," and he worshiped him.
³⁹Jesus said, "For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind."
⁴⁰Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, "What? Are we blind too?"
⁴¹Jesus said, "If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.

This sign-miracle is the illustration of what Jesus had said at the Feast of Tabernacles, “I am the Light of the World” (John 8:12). In our tour of the tabernacle, we have seen the altar of sacrifice, the laver, or ceremonial washbasin, and the table of the Bread of Presence. Now turning around in the tabernacle, we see the Golden Lampstand, or candlestick. It would have been the only light in the tabernacle (Exodus 25:31-37). And just as Jesus has fulfilled the first three elements of the tabernacle imagery, so He also fulfills this one. Jesus is the Light, perfectly moral and holy, capable of resting in God’s presence. Jesus is also the light that enlightens every man to the truth. Jesus alone can bring the knowledge of God to men blinded by sin; otherwise, we would remain in utter darkness (see Ephesians 5:8; 1 Peter 2:9-10).

1. V1-12 - Of all the sign-miracles that Jesus performed, this is one of the most amazing and one of the surest indicators that He was indeed the Messiah. After all, giving sight to the blind was one of the works that was to characterize the coming Christ (Isaiah 35:4-5; 42:6-7). Moreover, although the prophets before Christ had performed many miraculous signs, and had even raised the dead (2 Kings 4), it had never before happened, in recorded history, that a man born blind had been given sight – which is the point of the healed man’s observation in v32. No physical sign could demonstrate the nature of the Messianic task quite as poignantly as giving sight to someone who had been born blind. Likewise, we were all born in the spiritual night of our sinfulness; only Jesus can open our eyes to see and rejoice in God’s glory.

   This episode calls into question “theodicy,” which is how we humans justify God’s actions in our lives. Webster defines theodicy as “defense of God’s goodness and omnipotence in view of the existence of evil.” The question asked is this: Why is this man blind? In other words, “Why did God make this man blind?” When we ask why God allows this or why God brings that to pass, we are talking about theodicy, which rightly recognizes the sovereignty of God over all things. The disciples, asking if this man sinned to cause his handicap, acknowledge the possibility of this man having sinned prior to his own birth. The disciples knew that man was sinful from conception, as David taught under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in Psalm 51:5 and Psalm 58:3. Asking if the man’s parents sinned to cause his blindness, the disciples must have been thinking of Exodus 20:5 (punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation). But why wouldn’t they equally consider Ezekiel 18:20 (The soul who sins is the one who will die. The son will not share the guilt of the father, nor will the father share the guilt of the son.)? Both can be true at different times…

   In this case, God ordained history so that no man before Jesus had healed the blind; and also, that this particular man should be born blind and should encounter Christ as an adult. What is God’s purpose in this man’s blindness? God’s purpose is to provide a remarkable illustration of the Gospel itself. In other words, as Jesus explains, God made this man blind, in order to show forth His glory, in the person of Christ, at the appropriate time. This is a truth that the disciples did not initially understand. Like Job’s three comforters, they believed that any such trial could only be in response to a specific sin – either the man’s or his parents’. It is certainly true that death exists only because sin has entered the world; and it is also true that sickness can result from a specific sin, as was the case with King Uzziah (2 Chronicles 26:19) and many sexually transmitted diseases. But to trace all sicknesses and hardships to specific sins is not Scriptural. Rather God has ordained all things for His own glory.

   Richard Dawkins, Darwin’s rottweiler, the evolutionist atheist of our day, in his books The Blind Watchmaker or The God Delusion, can answer the question, “How did this man get blind?” He could give a scientific explanation as to the cause of this man’s blindness. But he can’t answer the question, “Why?” Science can’t answer the question. It can’t tell us about purpose here. It’s only Jesus that answers that question — and it’s a satisfying answer. Consider the amazing testimony of Joni Erickson Tada, that the book that made the most sense to her is Loraine Boettner’s The Refomed Doctrine of Predestination. Isn’t that astonishing? That’s a tough book. Joni says that in the hour of her greatest agony, that is the book that comforted her the most. Do you know why? It’s very simple. Because it says that in the midst of my trouble there is a purpose. There is a divine purpose at work.

   So Jesus explained these things to His disciples, and then, before He even performed the miracle, He explained why it was so significant that He do so. It is because He is the Light of the world, as He had already said at the Feast of Tabernacles, and so must work the Father’s works. The time when Jesus was in the world was the Messianic Day, that had finally arrived after centuries of spiritual night. And the night was to return, when those who experienced the light-giving Son of God, and personally encountered His words and works, saw Him no more and were swallowed back up in darkness. Of course, this is not true of Jesus’ true disciples, to whom Jesus would continue to give light throughout the age by His Holy Spirit – but for the Jews in general, this is exactly what would happen. And for us, when we seek the reason why we suffer, let us not accuse God as we may be tempted to do, for we know that He is being glorified whether by giving mercy or severity (as in the case of Job).

   Jesus made a mud pie and rubbed it on the man’s eyes. Some say that Jesus did this to emphasize the point of the miracle, that are eyes are blinded by the “dirt” of our sin, until we come to Christ, who was sent by God to accomplish our redemption, and are cleansed by Him. Others think Jesus is re-enacting the creation account, when God formed man from the dust; and showing that He alone can accomplish the new creation of sinful men. Perhaps the simplest answer displays the communication Jesus was making with the blind man. Jesus rubs mud in his eyes to communicate that He is healing him. The blind man had never experienced sight, and it’s not likely that many people touched him. So Jesus communicates to him audibly with words and, more importantly, tactilely or tangibly by touch.

   Then Jesus told the man to wash in the Pool of Siloam (perhaps to rebuke the Jews for rejecting Him, ala Isaiah 8:6). John translates for his audience that “Siloam” means “sent.” This was the place where the water was drawn for the Feast of Tabernacles, of which Jesus claimed to be the fulfillment, and exhorted the crowds to come to Him and drink (John 7:37). So Jesus is the One sent from God, and only Jesus can give sight to the blind. In fact, He had been called “Shiloh,” from the same Hebrew word, as far back as Genesis 49:10. This is the trial of true faith, when the devout mind is satisfied with the simple word of God, which promises what otherwise appears incredible. Faith is instantly followed by a readiness to obey, so that he who is convinced that God will be his faithful guide calmly yields himself to the direction of God. This miracle is so staggering, that people had a hard time believing that this man was actually the blind beggar they all knew – some thought it was a different man who just looked like him. But the beggar himself acknowledged that he was the same man, explaining that Jesus had healed him. He was excited to tell the story as a testimony to the grace he had received. Of course, they all wanted to see Jesus then, but the man did not know where He had gone.

2. V13-17 – This portion of our text departs from John’s usual style of relating Jesus’ own teaching about Himself, following His miraculous signs. In fact, Jesus is not even present while the Pharisees investigate His latest healing, and He will not show up again until the end of the chapter, when He comes privately to the man He had healed. But it has a crucial role in John’s Gospel, because it continues to relate the unfolding controversy that the Jewish religious leaders had with Jesus, and it further illustrates the manner in which the sign-miracles were meant to lead sinners to a true faith in Jesus as the Messiah and the Son of God. We notice first that the multitude brings the healed man to the Pharisees. What is their motive? Surely they knew that the Pharisees did not approve of Jesus. Do they foolishly seek the favor of the religious leaders? Perhaps the custom was to bring matters before them for arbitration.

   Next we notice the hardened state of some of the Pharisees’ hearts, for as soon as they had heard of this unprecedented miracle, which took place on the Sabbath, their sole concern was not to glorify God for His mercy, or remember the prophecies about the Messiah’s giving sight to the blind; instead they just wanted to know how the miracle was performed, so that they might accuse Jesus of breaking the Sabbath again. And the act of making mud and anointing the blind man’s eyes was apparently enough like manual labor to give them cause to condemn Him. And so they immediately discern that He must not be of God, since He violated God’s law. Instead they ought to have noted that such a clear work of God, which they certainly did not deny, could not have been a violation of the law of God. Of course, Jesus’ actions were not technically forbidden by Moses, who recorded the very words of God, but were in fact carried out in keeping with both the spirit and the letter of the Sabbath commandment. The work(s) of God is/are not forbidden, but rather appropriate – even commanded (ala the Puritans) – on the Sabbath. But the Pharisees had placed the oral traditions and interpretations of the law on the same authoritative plane as the Scriptures themselves – and He had clearly violated the traditions of the elders. Let us remember that no interpretation of God’s Word is infallible, no matter how ancient or widespread it is; only the Word itself has that distinction.

   Finally, it appears that the nature of this particular miracle, as well as the fact that Jesus did not command the healed man to carry his bed, was enough reason to cause some diversity of opinion, even among the Pharisees (though it appears they are united in condemning Him by they end of the investigation). Divided in opinion after hearing the man’s detailed account of what happened, the Pharisees also ask him what he believed about Jesus. In doing so, they do not wish to abide by his judgment, or set any value on it, but they hope that the man, struck with fear, will reply according to their wish. But the man boldly maintains that Jesus is a prophet. And if he so boldly and freely acknowledged Christ to be a prophet, though he did not yet know that the Lord Jesus was the Son of God, how shameful is the treachery of those who, subdued by fear, either deny Him, or are silent respecting Him, though they know that He sits at the right hand of the Father, and that He will come to judge of the whole world! Since this blind man did not quench a small spark of knowledge, we ought to endeavor that an open and full confession may blaze forth from the full brightness that has shone into our hearts.

3. V18-23 – The Pharisees (here called Jews) are not willing to believe that this man was truly healed of blindness until they had called his parents to testify. They had just divided over the miracle, and now they try to justify their disbelief by saying that there really is no miracle – only some kind of hoax. They find the man’s parents, hoping that their testimony will prove their faulty thinking to be correct, but instead, the parents testify that this man is their son, who had been born blind.

   However, unlike the man himself, as we will see by his second testimony, his parents are afraid of the Jews, and so they refused to answer any questions beyond the circumstances of his birth, pointing out instead that he was of legal age to answer for himself. They prudently avoid danger in the presence of the Jewish leaders, though they reveal their ingratitude by their unwillingness to glorify God by attesting to the miracle. By this time, the Pharisees had already made it clear that they would expel from the synagogue anyone who professed that Jesus was the Christ; being excommunicated was not a sacrifice they were willing to make, and so they chose not to pursue any further knowledge of Jesus, being content with their comfortable ignorance. And they further shift this burden of testimony onto their son. How many today are the same, and would rather live in their comfortable sins than be willing to listen to the truth that Jesus will one day come to judge the world! Let us assure our hearts that the pursuit of the truth, which is in Jesus, is well worth any sacrifice that comes with it, including excommunication. Consider Martin Luther and countless others…

4. V24-34 – The Pharisees question the man again, this time exhorting him (ironically) to “give glory to God” by telling the truth – which for them seems to be that Jesus is a sinner (Joshua 7:19 – “Then Joshua said to Achan, ‘My son, give glory to the LORD, the God of Israel, and give Him the praise. Tell me what you have done; do not hide it from me.’”). They don’t really want the truth, which would glorify God, unless it happens to coincide with their beliefs. The man claims nothing about Jesus’ moral condition, but simply restates that he has experienced an extraordinary miracle. He does not fear those who have the power to excommunicate him, for he has been an outcast his whole life. He knows what Jesus has done for him, and he will not deny it. But the Jews continue to press him, asking him again of the details of the affair. At this point, he turns to sarcasm – he has already told them all about the healing, so maybe the reason they want to keep hearing about it is that, deep down, they actually want to be Jesus’ disciples.

   Calvin says, “Not only does he persist in his opinion, but he freely and severely reproaches them, that after having abundantly ascertained and known the truth, they endeavor to bury it by their continual inquiries. He charges them also with wicked hatred of Christ, when he asks, ‘Do you want to become His disciples, too?’ For he means that, though they were a hundred times convinced, they are so strongly prejudiced by wicked and hostile dispositions that they will never yield. It is an astonishing display of freedom, when a man of mean and low condition, and especially liable to be reproached on account of his poverty, fearlessly provokes the rage of all the priests against himself.”

   In a way, this man was similar to the crippled man at the Pool of Bethsaida (John 5) – Jesus healed him physically, at first, but the man did not yet know and believe in Jesus as the Christ until He came to him later and explained the Gospel. But in another way, he was much different. The crippled man seemed unwilling to say anything definite about the Man who had healed him, for fear of the Jews. But this man is very straightforward and unafraid. In fact, he becomes very critical with the Pharisees, and is eventually driven out of the synagogue. Even though he had not yet learned the truth about Christ, he emphatically states that he must be a prophet, come from God.

   The Pharisees’ response, hurling insults at the man and accusing him of being Jesus’ disciple, reveals the heart of the dispute: they still believe they are following the Law of Moses, whom they knew was from God. They did not know if Jesus was from God, so if He disagreed with Moses, Jesus must be wrong. Their reasoning is certainly correct, but their understanding of Moses is woefully inadequate. Moses did not contradict Jesus – he prophesied of Jesus. And Jesus, as we know, was far superior to Moses. But they were blinded by their own prideful tendency to use Moses as a guide to earning self-righteousness, and completely missed the Gospel truths about Jesus that Moses had proclaimed.

   The healed man did not undertake to argue about the interpretation of the law with the Pharisees, but still declared, all the more emphatically, that if Jesus was a sinner, it is certainly remarkable that God would use such a Man to give sight to the blind, given that this type of healing had never been done by all the prophets before Him! The man uses this logic to confirm his prior assessment that Jesus was no sinner, but rather a prophet from God. The Pharisees were outraged at this rebuke, and, making a snide comment about how his birth as a blind man indicated that he was a sinner from the womb, they expelled him from the synagogue (excommunication). The man is cast out. (See John 6:37).

5. V35-38 – After all this, Jesus found the healed man, now hopelessly excommunicated from the synagogue, which would have been the only spiritual hope he likely thought he’d ever had, and explained to him who He truly was. The man did not know then who was the Messiah, or the Son of Man, that he could believe in Him; but Jesus told him, “You have seen Him” – which was a statement that summarized the true meaning of the miracle. By the mighty work of Christ, the man had come to see Jesus, with physical eyes, when he had always been blind before; but in the same way, it was through Jesus’ work that he came to see Him with spiritual eyes, and so have eternal life. This is another example that perfectly fleshes out the process of John’s purpose statement in John 20:31. And the man worshipped Jesus. Convinced that Jesus was Messiah, the man, in complete admiration, bowed down before Him. It calls to mind John 6:37, “All the Father gives Me will come to Me and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out.”

6. V39-41 – Jesus then expanded the principle taught to the healed man to a general truth taught to all around Him: only the blind need to be given sight, and so He came to give sight to the blind. But when He says, “For judgment I have come,” He means to make those who already see become blind. When one recognizes that he cannot see God because of his sin and ignorance, Jesus is always willing to give him spiritual sight. But He hardens in their blindness those who believe they are already spiritually knowledgeable – they are “blinded by the Light.” This was the purpose for many of the prophets, including Isaiah and Jesus, who, as Isaiah did, fulfilled Isaiah 6:9, which reads, “He said, ‘Go and tell this people: ‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’” If the Pharisees knew of their blindness, Christ would forgive their sins – but since they already thought that they could “see,” in a spiritual sense, He left them in their sinful state. This hardening of sinners, or giving them over to their sins, is a terrible and righteous judgment of God (see Romans 1:18-32). Let us be thankful that, in His great mercy, He has chosen to show us our need and open up our eyes instead!

   Some of the Pharisees acknowledge that Jesus insults them, so they ask, “Are we blind too?” First we see their pride, manifested by their being satisfied with themselves and refusing to have anything taken from them, and their anger at Christ by arguing with Him, because He has pointed out their wound. Second, the word “too” is emphatic; for it means that, though all the rest be blind, still it is improper that they should be reckoned as belonging to the ordinary rank. It is too common a fault among those who are distinguished above others, that they are intoxicated with pride, and almost forget that they are men. The rhetorical question is meant to draw a negative answer, “Of course you’re not blind.” But of course, they were blind! And Jesus’ response is not a simple, “Yes, you are blind.” Rather it’s as if He says, “If you would acknowledge your disease, it would not be altogether incurable; but now because you think that you are in perfect health, you continue in a desperate state.”

   Finally, one commentator points out the interesting fact that there’s no mention of the blind man’s name. Why didn’t John slipped in the man’s name? Was he Peter or Joseph or Matthew? Perhaps John is saying, “Look, I don’t want to tell you his name, because slip in your own name, because this is every man’s name. This is your name; this is my name. We need the touch of Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit to enable us to see. John Newton, blinded by then broken in then healed from his sinful state, wrote, “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me! I once was lost, but now am found, was blind, but now I see!”

Footnotes

1. 9:22 Or Messiah
2. 9:24 A solemn charge to tell the truth (see Joshua 7:19)

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Bible text from Gospelcom.net.  Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society.

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