Jesus leads a blind man to offer spiritual insight

October 21, 2002

LifeWay Explore the Bible Series for Nov. 3

Jesus leads a blind man to offer spiritual insight
___ John 9
___By Robert Creech
___University Baptist Church-Clearlake, Houston
___John narrates the healing of the man born blind, Jesus' sixth sign, in a series of seven carefully crafted scenes. Each scene involves a pair of dialogue partners.
___Key themes of the Gospel reappear throughout the story--light versus darkness (9:4), Jesus as light of the world (9:5), accusations of Sabbath violations (9:14-16), division (judgment) caused by Jesus' arrival (9:16, 39-41), the question of Jesus' origin (9:16, 28-34) and the spiritual blindness of the religious establishment (9:39-41).
___The central theme of Jesus' trial continues here as well, with the formerly blind man as the chief witness. In addition, irony pervades the entire story. The man born physically blind, not because of sin, grows increasingly full of light and insight. Meanwhile, the physically sighted sink deeper and deeper into spiritual darkness because of their sin.
___Scene 1 (9:1-7) opens with a dialogue between Jesus and his disciples. Encountering a beggar with a birth defect, the di

sciples raise a question. Assuming (wrongly) a direct connection between sin and suffering, the disciples inquire: "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" (9:2). Jesus, not sharing their assumption, redirects the question. The issue is not "Why?" but "To what end?" (9:3-5). Then, demonstrating that even human suffering can glorify God, Jesus heals the blind beggar (9:6-7).
___The second scene (9:8-12) portrays the formerly blind man in dialogue with his incredulous neighbors. Even though they have physical sight, they cannot believe their eyes (9:8-9). Unlike the reluctant witness of chapter 5, gratitude so fills the man he willingly testifies concerning God's work in his life. At this point, his testimony is simply "a man they call Jesus" has healed him (9:11).
___Scene 3 (9:13-17) contains an exchange between the man and the Jewish leaders. The reader only now learns this healing occurred on a Sabbath (9:14). That fact becomes the central issue with the religious establishment (9:16). They cannot see how God could use one who would so flagrantly violate the Sabbath, even to effect such a miraculous healing. They turn to the man and ask his opinion. Growing in insight, he now identifies Jesus as "a prophet" (9:17).
___The fourth scene (9:18-23) pits the Jewish leadership against the parents of the blind man. They testify to what they know and no more. They acknowledge he is their son and he was born blind (9:20-21). Beyond that, they are unwilling to offer further testimony. The narrator intrudes to tell us of how fearful they were of excommunication from the synagogue (9:22-23). Consequently, they were careful to say nothing specifically about Jesus' role in the healing of their son.
___In Scene 5 (9:24-34), the Pharisees interrogate the former blind man once more. They attempt to force him to denounce Jesus as a sinner (9:24). He offers instead an indisputable first-hand testimony that enrages them: "Whether he is a sinner or not, I don't know. One thing I do know. I was blind, but now I see!" (9:25).
___They again demand an account of how the healing occurred, and the man asks sarcastically whether they also want to be Jesus' disciples (9:26-27). Their renunciation of that idea could hardly be stronger (9:28-29).
___The man "born in sin" then becomes the religious teacher for Israel's religious teachers. He declares with flawless logic that Jesus must be from God and they must be blind not to see the truth (9:30-33). With that, the Pharisees make good on their threat and excommunicate him from the synagogue (9:34).
___The sixth scene (9:35-38) brings the former blind man into his first personal dialogue with his healer. Jesus hears of the excommunication and deliberately seeks the man out in the streets of Jerusalem. He extracts from this man a confession of faith: "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" (9:35). The man is ready to believe in the "Son of Man," but wants to know his identity. When Jesus identifies himself as the Son of Man, the former blind man makes the appropriate response. He confesses Jesus as "Lord," declares his faith and worships him (9:38)
___The final scene (9:39-41) occurs in some undisclosed location and provides for an encounter between Jesus and the Pharisees themselves. Jesus declares his coming into the world has effected a kind of judgment (3:19-21). He has brought light to those formerly in spiritual darkness, but the light has blinded the eyes of those who reject it (9:39).
___The Pharisees do not miss the accusation but are shocked that he has leveled such a charge against them: "What? Are we blind too?" (9:40). The story of the sixth sign closes with the words of Jesus, summarizing the condition of every human being. Jesus says, "If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains" (9:41). The spiritual pride of the religious establishment confirms them in their spiritual darkness. The humility of the blind beggar brings him not only physical healing but spiritual sight as well.
___Questions for discussion
___ How would you tell the story of your own movement from spiritual darkness to spiritual light? Who played significant roles in that journey?
___ How does pride keep a person in darkness?

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