Sunday, April 18, 2021

JESUS & BLIND MEN - JOHN 9


 


The Sign

9:1-12


This passage continues the story of Jesus after his teaching that he is the light of the world. We cannot tell exactly when this happened, but it was between the Feast of Tabernacles and the Feast of Dedication, which happens three months later. That feast is first mentioned in 10:22. 


Jesus’ healing of the blind man demonstrates what happens when Jesus shines the light of the revelation of God upon people. Some come to see and other turn away from the light. 


The event does seem to happen in Jerusalem, since no new location is announced. As Jesus was walking, he came upon a blind man. In fact, the man had been born blind. (1) When the disciples noticed this, they asked Jesus a theological question. Was the man blind because his parents sinned or because he sinned? 


The question shows the disciples absorption of some common beliefs of the time. First, it was a common belief that a person could be punished for the sins of a parent. There are Old Testament passages that indicate God would punish sins for several generations. But, in Ezekiel 18, God declares this will not be the case any longer. A person would only be accountable for his or her own sins. 


For example, Ezekiel 18:20 says “The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son”.   


The Jews also believed a person could sin in the womb. Especially, if the mother sinned while pregnant with the child, the child could be considered a participant of the sin. 


Jesus did not deny that sin could cause suffering, but says it is not the case here. His blindness was not because of any person’s sins, but was so the works of God might be displayed in him. (2) 


Jesus also expressed an urgency to his work. He said “we” must work, meaning him and his disciples. Jesus was the only one sent by the Father (“him who sent me”). But Jesus joined them to his work while he was physically present on earth. 


The time in which Jesus is on earth and able to directly do these works was limited. He said “night is coming”. Jesus is using the symbolism of light and dark here. It was day, and light, while he is with them, because he is the light of the world. 


But he will be taken from them, taken to the cross to die and be buried. The time of his shining brightly into the world in person will be over. It will be night in this symbolism. 


After Jesus is ascended into heaven, the Holy Spirit will come and empower the followers of Jesus to do his work and to shine the light in his name. 


After saying these things to the disciples, Jesus demonstrated them physically and symbolically. He gave sight to a man who was blind from birth. He did the works of the one who sent him. He really did this. It is a real event. 


But it is an event with symbolism and meaning behind it. Jesus showed that he is the Messiah and is shining light on those who live in darkness. It is as John set out in the prologue, in John 1:5. 


Beginning in verse 8, John again records the various reactions of those who see what Jesus has done. Some were astonished at the blind man seeing. (8) Some denied he was the same man. (9) But the man continued to insist that he was the same one who had been blind. He also told what he knew of the story: a man named Jesus caused him to receive his sight. (11-12)



The Pharisees Investigate

9:13-34


The people took the man to the Pharisees, likely to get an explanation of how this could have happened. They were seen by the people as those who could discern things according to Scripture. The Pharisees asked and the man repeated the story. 


John here lets us know that the healing occurred on the Sabbath. Some of the Pharisees focused on that rather than on the miracle. Keeping the Sabbath was important. But the Pharisees had lost the meaning of the Sabbath. It was for rest and restoration of people.


Healing on the Sabbath was actually forbidden except when life itself was in danger. Kneading was also forbidden. Jesus’s working of the mud could be considered a form of kneading. Some Pharisees also believed that putting anything on the eyes for relief was also a breaking of the Sabbath.


Having determined that Jesus broke the Sabbath, these Pharisees declared that Jesus could not be from God. (16) Others, however, focused on the miracle, and said a sinner could not do this. This created a division among the Pharisees. John is again showing us the different reactions people have to Jesus, including his miracles. 


In light of this division, the Pharisees turned to ask the opinion of the healed man, although there is no indication he had any theological learning. This man did not hesitate. He said Jesus was a prophet, which would mean he was indeed from God. (17)


This man was not concerned with the intricacies of the Sabbath regulations. Instead, he knew a work of God had been done to him. 


Not satisfied that the man had actually been blind, the Pharisees summoned the man’s parents. They admitted the man was their son and had been born blind, but refused to speculate on how it happened. They were afraid of being put out of the synagogue by the Pharisees for confessing that Jesus was the Christ, or Messiah. (23) Your Bible probably has this verse in parenthesis, showing that it is John’s explanation of the actions of the parents. 


While the parents protected themselves, they unwittingly gave witness to the miracle. The man was indeed born blind and now the man can see.


Now that the parents had testified in such a way as to prove a miracle had happened, the Pharisees went back to further interrogate the healed man as his parents suggested.


It was not an impartial questioning, however. It was designed to make the man recant his story. They said “give glory to God”. (24) In effect, this was saying, stop trying to glorify this man Jesus, tell the truth before God; agree with us that this man is a sinner. 


The point was that Jesus was a sinner for breaking their Sabbath rules and, as a sinner, could not be empowered by God to accomplish this miracle. 


In contrast to many people questioned by the Jews in the gospels, this man stands his ground and even got combative. He admitted not knowing if the man was a sinner. But the thing he knew was that he had been healed from his blindness. (25) His words, “though I was blind but now I see” have made into into some of our hymns.


For example, the first stanza of Amazing Grace is:


Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound

That saved a wretch like me

I once was lost, but now am found

Was blind but now I see.


The hymn “The Light of the World is Jesus” has this refrain (chorus):


Come to the light, ’tis shining for thee;

Sweetly the light has dawned upon me;

Once I was blind, but now I can see:

The Light of the world is Jesus!


It was a simple, but great testimony: “this is what happened to me”. 


The Jews, however, focused on the way Jesus healed rather than the miraculous healing itself. They asked the man what Jesus did and how he healed him. They appear to be trying to establish that Jesus broke the Sabbath. 


The man, however, did not play along. Here in verse 27, he gets combative. He says I already told you and you did not listen. Why do you ask me again, do you want to become his disciples?


That question outraged the Jewish leaders, since they were trying to destroy Jesus, not follow him. So, they reassured him they were disciples of Moses and not Jesus. And they insulted Jesus saying they knew God spoke through Moses but they did not even know where this man came from, implying there was, therefore, no way God could be acting through Jesus. (29)


The man really took a dig at them at this point. He sarcastically said it was amazing that the supposed leader did not know where Jesus came from, but that he must come from God because does not listen to sinners, but does listen to those who worship him and do his will. (31)


The man went on to say that no one since the world began had given sight to a blind man, so, if Jesus were not from God, he could do nothing. (34) His argument was correct and unassailable. 


The Pharisees had no way to rebut the man’s statements, so they just told him he was born in utter sin (because he was born blind) and could teach them nothing (although he did). To make sure they made their point, they cast him out of the synagogue. (34)


The Pharisees did not realize that in accusing the man of being born in sin because he was blind, they were admitting that the man was born blind and could now see, meaning they admitted a miracle had occurred. 


Jesus met the man later and asked him if he believed in the Son of Man. (35) Again, Jesus used the title from Daniel 7. When Jesus told the man he was the Son of Man, the man confessed his faith and worshipped Jesus.


Verses 39-41 show us why John placed this story after his teaching that he is the light of the world. Jesus said he came to give sight to those who do not see. This he did literally to the blind man by giving physical sight, but also spiritually giving him the ability to believe who Jesus is. 


In contract, he gave those who falsely claimed to have knowledge of God, “those who see”, a blindness. The Pharisees asked if they were blind, understanding the metaphor. Jesus said, in effect, yes. Had they been blind, meaning ignorance of who Jesus is, they would not have guilt. But since they claimed to see, but did not, their guilt remained. (41)   


John was also telling his readers that opposition from the Jews was to be expected and their opposition proves their blindness to the truth. The same is true now. Opposition from people or from governments proves that those people are blind to spiritual proof. 


John also shows us that the best way to meet such opposition is with the courage to speak the truth. And what we speak is the simple message of the gospel and that we are believers who are saved from sin and hell by the Jesus they oppose. 


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