The Blind Will See

We see clearly the deceptive power of sin. Sin has twisted their minds so much they find it impossible to see things clearly. Sin causes confusion and breeds spiritual ignorance. Their foolishness is exposed by the simple, logical answers of the man who has been healed. All he knows is he was blind but now he can see (v. 25). What a great truth we’ve sung many times: “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.”

He answers their questions honestly, but you can hear the sarcasm dripping from his lips. “Are you kidding me? You don’t know where he’s from. Look at what he’s done!” (vv. 30-33; my paraphrase). Then he uses their own words against them. He says, “We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners” (v. 31). This is in response to their earlier question, “This man is not from God, because he doesn’t keep the Sabbath. . . . How can a sinful man perform such signs?” (v. 16). Their question implies that a sinner could never do these signs because God would not listen to him. The blind man is saying, “You’re right. Only someone who is from God can do these things. That means Jesus must be from God.” What a clear, logical deduction! In spite of the overwhelming evidence, the religious leaders continue to find reasons to ignore what’s so clear. So a blind beggar shames the spiritually elite by seeing what they could not.

The Pharisees respond by excommunicating him from the synagogue. He’s cut off religiously and socially for stating the obvious: Jesus must have come from God. God never promises following his Son will make life easier. You may have heard some wrong teaching that claims turning to Jesus will make your problems go away. That’s not what Jesus says. Jesus says, “Don’t be surprised if they hate you. They hated me, and you follow me” (15:18-21; my paraphrase; cf. 1 Pet 4:12-17; 1 John 3:13). Following Jesus is worth it; the difficulties of following Christ on this earth cannot even be compared with the future joy still to be revealed (Rom 8:18). He is the greatest treasure! We come to him because we understand that in his “presence is fullness of joy ” (Ps 16:11 NKJV). But that doesn’t always correspond with earthly happiness. Sometimes your faith will bring rejection and mistreatment.

John 9:35 says Jesus “found him.” Do you see the divine initiative? Without any prompting, Jesus reached down when this man was blind and gave him physical sight, and now he seeks him out and gives him spiritual sight. Before people can receive spiritual sight, they must first acknowledge they need it. Jesus pointed out this man’s need in verse 35. He essentially asked, “Have you placed your faith in the Son of God who became a man? Do you recognize your need of a Savior, and are you willing to turn from your own attempts and trust in him alone to save you?” The man asks, “Who is he?” Jesus responds, “You have seen him.” This man was blind, and Jesus doesn’t just say to him, “I am the Son of Man.” He says, “You have seen him” (vv. 35-36). Earlier in the day this man could not see anything, but now he’s seen the Messiah. His eyes have beheld the Savior. Instantly he begins to worship Jesus.

Imagine if the story began this way. Jesus and his disciples meet a man born blind. Jesus promises to heal the man’s eyes. He makes little mud packs, places them in the man’s eyes, and tells him to go wash his eyes in the pool of Siloam. A couple of hours later, a friend of the blind man walks by and sees him begging in his normal spot, but his eyes are caked with mud.

“What’s going on?” his friend asks.

“Not much! What’s up with you?”

“Nothing. What’s all over your eyes?”

“It’s mud. Some guy came by and put this mud on my eyes and said it would help me see. I let him do it, but it didn’t make sense. I’m fine. There’s nothing wrong with me.”

Could it be possible for a man who was born blind to assume he was fine? Only someone who realized he was blind would long for sight. Only the one who understands his condition will allow Jesus to fill his eyes with mud and then go through town looking ridiculous in the hopes of healing. Only when a person understands his spiritual blindness will he turn to Jesus for healing. We are blind, and once we realize that, then we can come to Jesus to receive sight.

Those who think they see are blind to their own blindness and will remain that way. They reject the light because they live in and love the darkness.

Those who [are] blind are the ones who do not realize their need. Those who receive sight are the ones who sense their darkness. The Pharisees thought they had it all together, that they had arrived. Through their acquaintance with the Law they knew they were not perfect, but they did not understand how deeply infected they were with sin. So they adopted the external appearance of having dealt with sin though actually they had never faced the darkness of their hearts. They were self-satisfied. They said, “We see” when in reality they were blind. (Hughes, John, 259)

One of the great promises God made to his people was that he would send a Savior to help those who were desperate—a promise that would be fulfilled by Jesus (Isa 42:6-7). God’s people were in the darkness of sin and unbelief, and the Messiah came to bring them light. But the religious leaders missed him because they could not perceive their own blindness. Charles Spurgeon wrote,

It is not our littleness that hinders Christ; but our bigness. It is not our weakness that hinders Christ; it is our strength. It is not our darkness that hinders Christ; it is our supposed light that holds back His hand. (“Sermon #1795,” 30:489)

If we want more of Christ, we must recognize a growing need for him. Those who drink the most are the ones who feel the thirstiest. Those who eat the most are the ones who feel the hungriest. Those who see and enjoy and experience the most are the ones who flee the darkness and run to the light!