Spiritually Blind

John 9 is a very familiar passage to me and probably anyone who has studied the life and miracles of Jesus. I have read it many times before, but let’s just say this morning I read it with fresh eyes. Just to give you an idea, this is the time when Jesus heals the blind man by making mud and sending him to wash in the pool. But that’s not really what I want to talk about. 

Let’s take a look at John 9:1-3---

1As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man who had been blind from birth. 2“Rabbi,” his disciples asked him, “why was this man born blind? Was it because of his own sins or his parents’ sins?”3“It was not because of his sins or his parents’ sins,” Jesus answered. “This happened so the power of God could be seen in him.

Now of course, I have read these verses before and marveled at what was being said. I was so amazed that this man came into the world with an issue that was simply to get himself and other people to understand that great gift of love (grace) which was given to us by God. I began to sit and think, how many things in my life have happened, just so I could testify to the goodness and the grace of God. I can look back over my life and thank God for what He’s done for me, but I receive even more joy when I can share those things with someone else, and they are later able to tell me how it helped them, or even how it relates to their situation. I can even think of times when sharing has helped me to heal in ways, I didn’t even know were broken. 

It’s so important to remember as believers that we what we go through is not always for us! Some of the things that we go through are for others. Because we survived, others learn that they can too. Because he did it for us, others realize that He can do it for them too! 

Now let’s fast forward, that isn’t what got me tripping, but remember we talked about it. Now after people realize that this is the same dude who was sitting and begging them everyday, everybody literally trips out and is like hold up, what a minute!!! You can see??? You been fooling us everyday??? Some people even thought it was just a look alike. The man proudly tells them, no it’s me but a man named Jesus healed me! So here we go, the religious in the crowd get mad because Jesus healed him on the Sabbath. You know that the Sabbath is supposed to be a day of rest for the Jews. This isn’t the first nor last time, that Jesus was persecuted for doing a miracle on the Sabbath. Before he ever even did anything, he prefaced it with the following statement: 

4We must quickly carry out the tasks assigned us by the one who sent us. The night is coming, and then no one can work. 5But while I am here in the world, I am the light of the world.”

Once in the synagouge, the Pharisees began to question the man. I can just see this dude getting frustrated and deep sighing. He keeps telling them, “I don’t know anything about this man. All I know is that he made mud, put it on my eyes, told me to wash it off, now I can see.” In his mind he was probably saying, “Quit asking me the same dumb questions that you’ve been asking me all day!!!!” 

The Pharisees went so far as to question the man’s parents. They didn’t want much to do with the situation for fear of retaliation if the said Jesus was the Messiah, which we can isogetically assume they believed according to verses 22-23. 

Let’s jump back in at verse 24. Now Jesus opens up this miraculous scene with the following declaration, 

3“It was not because of his sins or his parents’ sins,” Jesus answered. “This happened so the power of God could be seen in him.

Jesus never took the credit for what was being done. He lived a life that was purely to glorify God! It tripped me out because in verse 24, the Pharisees said, 

24So for the second time they called in the man who had been blind and told him, “God should get the glory for this, because we know this man Jesus is a sinner.”

This was crazy to me! I had never seen this in the text before! It’s amazing how God will use even those who are trying to find fault to STILL give Him the glory!!! Here the Pharisees are, just itching to find something wrong and they wind up still fulfilling the plan of God. In an earlier verse, they admitted that they thought he was a sinner because he didn’t keep Sabbath (vs. 16) even that idea was divided though. But just think about it...couldn’t we argue that they are breaking Sabbath by convening on the Sabbath and running all over the place gathering witnesses and evidence. 

Verse 25 is what blessed me: 

25“I don’t know whether he is a sinner,” the man replied. “But I know this: I was blind, and now I can see!”

In my heart, I believe this man was a brother. Growing tired of all of this, the man says, “Look, I don’t know what your issue is or what you are trying to accomplish. Quit asking me all these doggone questions. All I know is I was born blind, I begged your stingy behinds for money to help make my way since I couldn’t work. This man came along, whoever he is and now I can see! That’s all that’s important to me, now leave me alone!” The Pharisees were still not satisfied with this answer and continued to question him. The man told him apparently you don’t listen, or you just want to become his disciples. 

Verses 28-29 are where I want to wrap up. They apparently realize, that they aren’t getting much further with this man. They say the following, 

28Then they cursed him and said, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses! 29We know God spoke to Moses, but we don’t even know where this man comes from.”

First of all, why would you be a disciple of a dead person? Joshua 1:1a says, “My servant Moses is dead.” Moses was a mortal just like you. Pastor has been teaching on Moses and he raised a point that made even more sense to me now than it did when he first said it, the problem with the Jews were that they knew Moses, but didn’t know God. This further proves that they were stuck in the past. They said that they knew God spoke to Moses, but they didn’t know where Jesus came from...Which is interesting because they have been cited before as saying, is this not Jesus the Carpenter’s son, are his mother and sisters not here among us? 

This story for me was a fresh look. I saw this story completely different from I have many times before. It’s interesting how you can read things over and over and one day you see something you never knew was there.