John 9: 13-41
They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man’s eyes was a Sabbath. Therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he received his sight. “He put mud on my eyes,” the man replied, “and I washed, and now I see.”
Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.”
But others asked, “How can a sinner do such miraculous signs?” So they were divided.
Finally they turned to the blind man, “What do you have to say about him? It was your eyes he opened.”
The man replied, “He is a prophet.”
The Jews still did not believe he had been blind and had received his sight until they sent for the man’s parents. “Is this your son,” they asked. “Is this the one you say was born blind? How is it now that he can see?”
“We know he is our son,” the parents answered, “and we know he was born blind. But how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself.” His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews, for already the Jews had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Christ would be put out of the synagogue. “He is of age ask him.”
A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. “Give glory to God,” they said. “We know this man is a sinner.”
He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”
Then they asked him, “What did he do to you?” How did he open your eyes?”
He answered, “I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples, too?”
Then they hurdled insults at him and said, “You are this fellow’s disciple! We are disciples of Moses! We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don’t even know where he comes from.”
The man answered, “Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will. Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”
To this they replied, “You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!” And they threw him out.
Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”
“Who is he sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.”
Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.”
Then the man said, “I believe,” and he worshiped him.
Jesus said, “For judgement I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”
Some Pharisees who were with him and heard him say this and asked, “What, are we blind too?”
Jesus said, If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.”
A Thought
The Pharisees first tried to disprove the miracle that had taken place by not believing he was the same man because God would never break the law and heal on the Sabbath. The man then wisely stated that if this was not of God this man could do nothing. After they could not deny the miracle, the Pharisees hurdled insults at him and they threw him out! When Jesus had heard of these things, Jesus found him and told him who he was, the Son of Man. The man believed and fell down and worshiped him.
Jesus changed his discussion from a physical blindness to one of a spiritual blindness. To be able to see spiritually, we must believe in Jesus Christ. If we choose not to believe, we walk in darkness filled with our guilt of sin.
Our Prayer
Father open our eyes that we can see the guilt of our sin. Thank you for Jesus the Christ that has paid the price of our judgement for sin. We as believers desire to trust, obey and worship you in Jesus’ name, amen.
