Jesus Heals the Blind Man

Jesus saw him. “Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth” (9:1). A hard question. “And His disciples asked Him, saying, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’” (9:2). They believed someone's sin must have caused it. Jesus' answer. “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him” (9:3). Jesus did not mean that the man and his parents had never sinned. Everyone sins. He meant that this blindness did not come from their sin. Is God angry with sick people? Does being sick mean God is angry with you? No. Sickness and pain came into the world after sin broke it. When you are sick, it does not mean God is against you. The works of God. Jesus said God would do His work in this man. God was about to show His power and His kindness right there. Jesus still cares. Jesus really healed people, and He still hears our prayers today. He does not always take sickness away right now, but He stays close to His people in it. One day “there shall be no more pain” (Revelation 21:4). What we learn. When someone is sick or hurting, do not ask whose fault it is. Ask how you can help and how you can pray. When you are the one who is sick, remember that Jesus sees you too.

Blind from birth (9:1). “Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth.” He had lived his whole life in darkness. Rabbi (9:2). The disciples called Jesus Rabbi (say: RAB-eye), a Hebrew word meaning my teacher. Their question was honest: “who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” They took for granted that great suffering must come from great sin. An old mistake. Job's friends believed the same thing. They told Job again and again that his suffering proved his sin. At the end God said they had not spoken rightly about Him (Job 42:7). Neither (9:3). “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.” Jesus was not saying they were sinless. He was saying that this blindness was not a penalty for some sin of theirs. Erga. The Greek word for works is erga (say: ER-gah). Jesus uses it again in the next verse: “I must work the works of Him who sent Me.” His miracles were the works of God Himself. A broken world. “Through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin” (Romans 5:12). Some trouble does come from a person's own sin, and Jesus warned the man at Bethesda, “Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you” (John 5:14). But no one can look at a sick person and conclude that God is punishing them. Why it matters. Being sick or hurt is not proof that God is angry with you. Jesus really healed, and He still hears prayer, though He does not promise to take every sickness away now. He does promise to be with His people, and one day “there shall be no more pain” (Revelation 21:4).

Jesus' followers asked Him a hard question. They thought somebody's sin must have made the man blind. Jesus said no. It was not the man's sin or his parents' sin. Does being sick mean God is angry with you? No, it does not. Sin broke God's good world a long time ago. That is why people get sick. But Jesus said God would show His power in this man. Jesus really healed people, and He still hears our prayers. He does not always take sickness away right now. But one day He will take away all pain.

Jesus' friends thought the man was blind because of sin. Jesus said no. God would show His power in this man!

While it is day. “I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work” (9:4). Most likely the day means Jesus' time on earth before the cross (“As long as I am in the world,” 9:5). So He did His Father's work every day He had. The light of the world. “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world” (9:5). Right after He said it, Jesus showed what His light does. It does not only shine. It opens blind eyes. Clay. Jesus “spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay” (9:6). Jesus came close and touched the man. Sent. “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (9:7). John tells us the name Siloam is “translated, Sent.” Jesus, the One the Father sent, sent the man to a pool called Sent. He went. “So he went and washed, and came back seeing” (9:7). The man could not see where he was going. He trusted Jesus' word and did what He said. A promise kept. Long before, Isaiah wrote that when God came to save His people, “the eyes of the blind shall be opened” (Isaiah 35:5). Jesus was doing what God had promised. What we learn. Jesus is the light who gives sight. Trust Him and obey Him, even when you cannot see the whole way yet.

While it is day (9:4). “I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work.” Most likely the day is Jesus' time on earth and the night is the end of it at the cross. Verse 5 says, “As long as I am in the world.” Light that gives sight (9:5). “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” Jesus had said these words before (8:12). Here He shows them in action: the Light gives sight to a man who had never seen light at all. His word and His work go together. The clay (9:6). “He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay.” Jesus healed other people with a word alone. This time He touched the man and then gave him a command to obey. Siloam (9:7). “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated, Sent). The Father had sent Jesus, and Jesus sent the man to a pool named Sent. Faith that goes. “So he went and washed, and came back seeing.” He had nothing to go on but Jesus' word. His washing did not earn the healing. It was the way his trust showed itself. Isaiah's promise. “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened” (Isaiah 35:5). When John the Baptist sent to ask whether Jesus was the One, Jesus answered, “The blind see and the lame walk” (Matthew 11:5). Opening blind eyes was one of the signs that God Himself had come to save. Why it matters. The Light of the world does not shine at us from far away. He comes close, touches, speaks and gives sight. Faith listens to His word and goes, even before it can see.

Jesus said He must do God's work while it was day. Then He said, “I am the light of the world.” Light helps people see. Jesus made mud and put it on the man's eyes. He told the man to wash in the Pool of Siloam. Siloam means Sent. Jesus Himself was sent by God the Father. The man could not see the pool yet. But he went anyway! He washed, and he came back seeing. No one had ever healed a man born blind before. Jesus did it because He is the Son of God. Do what Jesus says, even before you understand it all.

Jesus said, “I am the light of the world.” He put mud on the man's eyes. The man washed and could see!

Is this he? The neighbors asked, “Is not this he who sat and begged?” (9:8). Some said, “This is he.” Others said, “He is like him” (9:9). He settled it: “I am he.” A Man called Jesus. When they asked how it happened, he answered simply, “A Man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes” (9:11). The Pharisees. Jesus had healed him on a Sabbath (9:14), and the Pharisees cared about keeping God's day of rest. Some said, “This Man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath.” Others asked an honest question: “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” (9:16). A prophet. When they asked what he thought, the man said, “He is a prophet” (9:17). A prophet is someone who speaks God's message. He was seeing more about Jesus. Afraid parents. His parents said, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind” (9:20). They would say no more, “because they feared the Jews” (9:22). It is hard to be brave when you are afraid of what people will do. Jesus can give courage. One thing I know. Called back again, the man said, “Whether He is a sinner or not I do not know. One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see” (9:25). He did not know every answer. He told what Jesus had done. From God. His last answer was bold: “If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing” (9:33). Then “they cast him out” (9:34). What we learn. You do not have to know everything to tell others about Jesus. Tell them what He has done for you, and keep learning more about Him.

The neighbors (9:8-12). “Is not this he who sat and begged?” Some said, “This is he.” Others said, “He is like him.” He answered, “I am he,” and told it plainly: “A Man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes.” Sabbath questions (9:13-16). “Now it was a Sabbath when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes.” The Pharisees wanted to honor God's day. Some decided, “This Man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath.” Others asked, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” “And there was a division among them.” Seeing more (9:17). The man's view of Jesus grew: “A Man called Jesus” (9:11), then “He is a prophet” (9:17), then a man “from God” (9:33), and at last, “Lord, I believe!” (9:38). His eyes opened in a moment. His understanding opened step by step. Homologeo (9:22). “His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had agreed already that if anyone confessed that He was Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue.” Christ means the Anointed One, the King God promised. The Greek word for confessed is homologeo (say: hoh-moh-loh-GEH-oh), to say the same thing, to agree out loud. The parents told the truth they knew, but fear kept them from saying more. Give God the glory (9:24-25). The leaders said, “Give God the glory! We know that this Man is a sinner.” The man would not argue about what he did not know. “Whether He is a sinner or not I do not know. One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see.” A bold answer (9:30-33). “Why, this is a marvelous thing, that you do not know where He is from; yet He has opened my eyes!” He reasoned that God hears the one who does His will (9:31), and no one had ever opened the eyes of a man born blind (9:32). “If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing.” Cast out (9:34). “You were completely born in sins, and are you teaching us?” And they cast him out. They used the same idea the disciples had at the start, that his blindness proved his sin. Jesus had already answered it (9:3). Why it matters. The man had less training than the Pharisees, but he had met Jesus. Telling the truth about what Jesus has done is the heart of every witness, even when it costs something.

Some neighbors were not sure it was really him. They had only ever seen him blind. Some Pharisees said Jesus did not keep the Sabbath day. Others asked how a sinner could do such miracles. The man's parents were scared to say much. They did not want to be put out of the synagogue. But the man was brave. He said, “I was blind, and now I can see.” Each time he spoke, he knew a little more about Jesus. At first he called Him “the man named Jesus.” Next he said Jesus was a prophet. Later he said Jesus must be from God. You do not need big words to talk about Jesus. Just tell what He has done for you.

People asked the man many questions. He said, “I was blind, and now I can see.” He told the truth about Jesus.

Jesus found him. “Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when He had found him” (9:35), He asked the man if he believed. The leaders had pushed him out, but Jesus came looking for him. Who is He? The man answered, “Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?” (9:36). You have seen Him. “You have both seen Him and it is He who is talking with you” (9:37). Before, the man had only heard Jesus' voice. Now he could see Him with his own eyes. I believe! “Then he said, ‘Lord, I believe!’ And he worshiped Him” (9:38). To worship means to bow down and give honor that belongs to God alone. Jesus received it, because He is God the Son. Blind and seeing. “For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind” (9:39). People who know they need Jesus receive sight. People who say they need nothing stay in the dark. Are we blind? Some Pharisees asked, “Are we blind also?” (9:40). Jesus answered, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, ‘We see.’ Therefore your sin remains” (9:41). What we learn. The first step to seeing is admitting that you need Jesus. Tell Him, “Lord, I believe!” and worship Him.

Found (9:35). “Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when He had found him.” The leaders put him out. Jesus went out after him. The man had been pushed away, but the Lord Himself came to find him. Do you believe? (9:35-36). “Do you believe in the Son of God?” The man answered, “Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?” He was ready to trust as soon as he knew whom to trust. Seen and heard (9:37). “You have both seen Him and it is He who is talking with you.” The man who had first known Jesus as a voice and a touch now saw His face. Proskyneo (9:38). “Lord, I believe!” And he worshiped Him. The Greek word proskyneo (say: pros-koo-NEH-oh) means to bow down in worship. Jesus Himself said, “You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve” (Matthew 4:10). Jesus received this man's worship because He is God the Son. Judgment (9:39). “For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind.” Jesus did not come to condemn the world (John 3:17), but His coming divides people. Those who admit their blindness receive sight. Those who insist they see shut their own eyes. Are we blind also? (9:40-41). Jesus answered, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, ‘We see.’ Therefore your sin remains.” Their problem was not a lack of learning. They knew the Scriptures well. Their problem was that they would not admit their need. Why it matters. Sight is a gift Jesus gives to people who know they cannot see. Pride says, “We see.” Faith says, “Lord, I believe!”

The leaders had thrown the man out. But Jesus did not leave him alone. Jesus went and found him. Jesus asked, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” Jesus was talking about Himself. The man said, “Yes, Lord, I believe!” He bowed down and worshiped Jesus. Now his eyes could see, and his heart could see too. Some Pharisees were standing nearby. But they would not believe in Jesus. Jesus said that was a worse kind of blindness. Sometimes people may leave you out. Jesus still comes to find you. Ask Him to help your heart see Him.

Jesus went and found the man. The man said, “Yes, Lord, I believe!” Then he worshiped Jesus.

Jesus Heals the Blind Man

🎉 All Matched!