Jesus Heals a Man Born Blind
1 As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth.
2 His 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 works of God might be displayed in him.
4 As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work.
5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
6 After saying 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.
8 His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, “Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?”
9 Some 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 asked.
11 He 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
13 They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind.
14 Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man’s eyes was a Sabbath.
15 Therefore 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.”
16 Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.”
But others asked, “How can a sinner perform such signs?” So they were divided.
17 Then 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.”
18 They 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.
21 But 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.” 22 His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders,who already had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue.
23 That was why his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”
24 A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. “Give glory to God by telling the truth,” they said. “We know this man is a sinner.”
25 He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”
26 Then they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”
27 He 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?”
28 Then they hurled insults at him and said, “You are this fellow’s disciple! We are disciples of Moses!
29 We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don’t even know where he comes from.”
30 The man answered, “Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. 31 We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will.
32 Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind.
33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”
34 To this they replied, “You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!” And they threw him out.
Spiritual Blindness
35 Jesus 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.”
37 Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.”
38 Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.
39 Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”
40 Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we blind too?”
41 Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.
THOUGHTS:
The Story:
- All of John’s other miracle stories- 10/12 verses
- Why 41 verses?
- No OT BLIND healings!
- Only NT And with the exception of 1 all Jesus.
- We are all blind.
- Jesus saw a blind man
- Others observed- Jesus saw
- Vs. 2- The Disciples saw a theological discussion
- Jesus saw someone who had never seen- anything!
Point 1- GOD SEES YOU!
You are seen! You aren’t invisible. You aren’t overlooked or invisible!
- The Pharisees missed the miracle:
“Charles Spurgeon said, “It is not our littleness that hinders Christ; but our bigness. It is not our weakness that hinders Christ; it is our strength. It is not our darkness that hinders Christ; it is our supposed light that holds back his hand.
THE SPIT:
- Jesus takes the initiative
- Jesus spits!
- Jesus spitting:
POINT 2: Sometimes God iniates the miracle through less than pleasant circumstances. He uses mud-moments.
- Fear, frustration and failure- mud in the eye.
- Shalom means sent
- Jesus many time refers to himself as sent from the father!
- To SEE we have to go to the SENT one
- Those steps were 3 sets of 5 steps.
THE REQUIREMENT:
To RECIEVE A MIRACLE WHAT do YOU NEED TO KNOW:
- He knew only this: a man called Jesus made clay, put it on his eyes, and told him to wash.
- He received sight, not because he deserved it, earned it, or found it.
- He received sight because he trusted and obeyed the One who was sent to “open eyes that are blind” (Isa. 42:7 NIV).”
Point 3: TRUST AND OBEY
EXAMPLE: opening blind eyes
Tom Doyle, a leading expert on contemporary dreams and visions experienced by Muslims. Doyle described a phenomenon of person after person seeing the same image: Jesus in a white robe, telling them he loves them, that he died for them, and urging them to follow him. This has been happening in Syria, Iran, and Iraq. It has happened so many times in Egypt that Christian outreach groups took out ads in the newspapers.
The ads asked, “Have you seen the man in a white robe in your dreams? He has a message for you. Call this number.”
Doyle explains that 50 percent of Muslims around the world cannot read, so Jesus reaches them through dreams and visions. Eighty-six percent do not know a Christian, so Jesus goes to them directly.”
CLOSE THOUGHTS:
“And because the leaders refused to see, “They cast him out” (John 9:34).
The was-blind man found himself kicked out of the temple with no one to defend him. “When Jesus heard what had happened, he found the man” (v. 35 NLT).
Christ was not about to leave the man unprotected. You can expect him to do the same for you. If you believe in him, he has given this pledge to you: “No one can steal [you] out of my hand” (John 10:28 NCV).”
APPLICATION:
“What Jesus did physically for the blind beggar, he desires to do spiritually for all people: restore our sight.”
TRUST AND OBEY
“Apart from Christ we are blind.
- We cannot see our purpose.
- We cannot see the future.
- We cannot see our way out of problems and pain.
- We cannot see Jesus.
- But he sees us, from head to foot.
EPHESIANS 1:18-20-
18 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,
19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power
20 which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,