1 Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth.
2 And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, awho sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
3 Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, abut that the works of God should be revealed in him.
4aI must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is bday; the night is coming when no one can work.
5As long as I am in the world, aI am the light of the world.”
6 When He had said these things, aHe spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay.
7 And He said to him, “Go, wash ain the pool of Siloam” (which is translated, Sent). So bhe went and washed, and came back seeing.
8 Therefore the neighbors and those who previously had seen that he was1 blind said, “Is not this he who sat and begged?”
9 Some said, “This is he.” Others said,1 “He is like him.” He said, “I am he.”
10 Therefore they said to him, “How were your eyes opened?”
11 He answered and said, a“A Man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to1the pool of Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed, and I received sight.”
12 Then they said to him, “Where is He?” He said, “I do not know.”
The Pharisees Excommunicate the Healed Man
13 They brought him who formerly was blind to the Pharisees.
14 Now it was a Sabbath when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes.
15 Then the Pharisees also asked him again how he had received his sight. He said to them, “He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.”
16 Therefore some of the Pharisees said, “This Man is not from God, because He does not1 keep the Sabbath.” Others said, a“How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” And bthere was a division among them.
17 They said to the blind man again, “What do you say about Him because He opened your eyes?” He said, a“He is a prophet.”
18 But the Jews did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind and received his sight, until they called the parents of him who had received his sight.
19 And they asked them, saying, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?”
20 His parents answered them and said, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind;
21 but by what means he now sees we do not know, or who opened his eyes we do not know. He is of age; ask him. He will speak for himself.”
22 His parents said these things because athey feared the Jews, for the Jews had agreed already that if anyone confessed that He was Christ, he bwould be put out of the synagogue.
23 Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”
24 So they again called the man who was blind, and said to him, a“Give God the glory! bWe know that this Man is a sinner.”
25 He answered and said, “Whether He is a sinner ornot I do not know. One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see.”
26 Then they said to him again, “What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?”
27 He answered them, “I told you already, and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become His disciples?”
28 Then they reviled him and said, “You are His disciple, but we are Moses’ disciples.
29 We know that God aspoke to bMoses; asfor this fellow,cwe do not know where He is from.”
30 The man answered and said to them, a“Why, this is a marvelous thing, that you do not know where He is from; yet He has opened my eyes!
31 Now we know that aGod does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He hears him.
32 Since the world began it has been unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of one who was born blind.
33aIf this Man were not from God, He could do nothing.”
34 They answered and said to him, a“You were completely born in sins, and are you teaching us?” And they1 cast him out.
True Vision and True Blindness
35 Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when He had afound him, He said to him, “Do you bbelieve in cthe Son of God?”
36 He answered and said, “Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?”
37 And Jesus said to him, “You have both seen Him and ait is He who is talking with you.”
38 Then he said, “Lord, I believe!” And he aworshiped Him.
39 And Jesus said, a“For judgment I have come into this world, bthat those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind.”
40 Then some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these words, aand said to Him, “Are we blind also?”
41 Jesus said to them, a“If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, ‘We see.’ Therefore your sin remains.
At some time or other, every human being experiences suffering. A baby causes pain by being born. Many live by inflicting pain on others. We all suffer pain and eventually experience death. Granted, believers alive when Christ returns to this earth will be transformed in a moment, but with this exception, the lot of all is to suffer and die (Hebrews 9:27). Eliphaz spoke truthfully to Job when he told the suffering patriarch, "For affliction does not come from the dust, nor does trouble spring from the ground; yet man is born to trouble, as the sparks fly upward" (Job 5:6-7).
Although everyone—Christians as well as non-Christians—suffers at some point in life, it is not true that all suffer alike. Seen from the outside, a Christian and a non-Christian suffering from the same incurable disease may appear to undergo the same experience. According to God's Word, however, the two are not equal (II Corinthians 6:15-16).
From God's perspective, the non-Christian is suffering without purpose, or perhaps he is suffering at the whim of Satan, who is merely doing as he pleases with a member of his own kingdom. In the case of the Christian, though, an all-wise heavenly Father is permitting suffering in a carefully controlled situation to accomplish a desirable purpose. God is a Father who disciplines His children (II Corinthians 6:18; Hebrews 12:5-8), a truth that the book of Job vividly teaches.
So what is the purpose of a Christian's suffering? To learn from it, we must ask what we are to learn; if we are to benefit, we must ask how. Some of Christ's words spoken when healing the man born blind suggest the answers to these questions.
The first lesson to be learned from this miracle is that sinful man cannot frustrate God. Rather, God accomplishes His purposes sovereignly, saving by grace those whom He chooses to call to Himself. Even man's hatred cannot frustrate God, seen clearly in this miracle story. Jesus seems undisturbed by the religious leaders' attempt to stone Him, an action that would have created great turmoil in the Temple precincts. Yet, a moment later, after Jesus had removed Himself, we find Him stopping beside a blind beggar sitting near the Temple gate. In a similar situation, most of us would scarcely have seen the beggar, being more concerned with being pursued and distancing ourselves from the enemy. Not Jesus!
He had God's perspective and acted accordingly. Therefore, instead of complying with the prohibitions of sinful men, Christ simply perseveres in His task and begins to elect some to salvation. As Paul writes of God in Romans 9:15, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion."
The poor blind man symbolizes the state of the lost apart from the creative and transforming power of Christ. On the one hand, the rulers of the people, the Pharisees, can see physically but are spiritually blind. On the other, the blind man cannot see physically, but Christ makes him see both physically and spiritually. By the end of the story, we find him worshipping Jesus as the Son of God.
As his gospel begins, the apostle John writes that Jesus Christ "came to His own, and His own did not receive Him" (John 1:11). That He "came to His own" describes the content of John 9, where we find Him healing a man born blind (John 9:1-38). Chapters 9-12 emphasize Jesus' calling out a people of His own in the midst of, and in spite of, growing hostility from Jewish authorities. As His own people are rejecting him, Christ begins to call out a new people, first exemplified by the story of His calling of the blind man.
This miracle, which John alone relates, occurs in a conspicuous setting. The sixth of eight miracles recorded in his gospel, it is an illustration of the previous day's significant affirmation of Jesus as "the Light of the world" (John 8:12). He is the Light of divine salvation that overcomes the darkness of man's moral and physical blindness. Thus, as the Light, He gave sight to a blind man.
The miracle of healing displays Jesus Christ giving sight to the blind. Healing is a work of the God of the Old Testament, as seen in Psalm 146:8, "The LORD opens the eyes of the blind . . ." (see also Exodus 4:10-12). Giving sight to the blind is also a work of the Messiah, as prophesied in Isaiah 35:4-5, "He will come and save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened. . . ." Jesus' healing of the man born blind, then, is another testimony of His Deity and of the fact that He is the Messiah.
In spite of this great testimony, most of the witnesses missed the miracle's message, and the religious leaders persecuted the newly healed man. Moreover, they condemned the Healer, Jesus Christ, calling Him a sinner. Greater blindness existed in their lives than in the man Christ healed; he was only physically blind but their blindness was spiritual, of the heart and mind.
