Jesus Heals the Blind Man

Pastor Carol Grace ♦ April 23, 2010 ♦ Leave a comment

John 9

Jesus Heals a Man Born Blind

1As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

3″Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. 4As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. 5While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

6Having said this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. 7″Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means Sent). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.

8His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, “Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?” 9Some claimed that he was. Others said, “No, he only looks like him.” But he himself insisted, “I am the man.”

10″How then were your eyes opened?” they demanded.

11He replied, “The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see.”

12″Where is this man?” they asked him. “I don’t know,” he said.

Who sinned, this man or his parents? This was not a philosophical question. The thinking at the time was that either the parents had sinned and therefore their sin was visited upon their children, or the child had sinned. This thinking was based on the law of cause and effect. But Jesus was not dealing with the natural law of cause and effect. Instead He was introducing a new law, a spiritual law, and said the reason for the man’s blindness was an opportunity to reveal the glory of God.

I am not blind, but I am near-sighted. In fact, a recurring dream I have is that it is dusk and I cannot find my glasses, and therefore everything is blurry and dim. Do you understand that without Jesus we are all near-sighted and everything around us is blurry and dim? Do you know that it is only when Jesus shines the light of truth upon us that we can see with clarity?

A beggar is healed of his blindness by the son of the living God, and yet there are still those of us who are blind because we will not subject ourselves to the Lordship of another. God forbid that we would prefer to live in blindness than to walk in the glorious light of our Savior.