Opening the eyes of the blind. Though this 9th chapter of John is about Jesus giving sight to a man born blind, but there is so much more here. The physical eyes being opening is not nearly as significant as the spiritual eyes. The blind man’s spiritual eyes where being opened and he was seeing far more than the Pharisees. The Spiritual eyes of the Pharisees were blinded.
Today, we are looking at legalism and religious persecution. And the religious persecution comes from, of all places, the religious authorities themselves.
This is a long passage, today, but we strive to keep it all in context and we’ll attempt to see the bigger story that is happening here. I hope you all have taken the time to read ahead.
John 9:13–34
The heart that judges others too quickly or too stringent in this way is the heart of a Pharisee. It's almost always a heart that views God as a punisher instead of a redeemer. In his book called, "Messy Spirituality" Mike Yaconelli has a test for a heart of a pharisee. It involves a young idealistic college student named David that goes into the projects of N.Y.C. to share the gospel.
He had no idea how or where to start but he walked into one of the buildings where he heard a baby crying behind a door so he knocked on it…A woman with a cigarette in her mouth and baby in her arms opened the door a crack….with the chain still latched. She yelled, "What the Hell do you want?" David said, I'd like to talk with you about Jesus." She said, "Go away…and she slammed the door in his face. He went back outside and sat on the curb. In tears he wondered "what in the world can I do here to be of any help?"
Then he remembered this lady had a baby and she was smoking, so he went to a little convenient store and bought formula and some cigarettes and some diapers. He walked back into the building and knocked on her door again. She opened it again and said, "What are you doing back here?" And he showed her the formula, diapers and cigarettes. She let him in…All that afternoon he helped her with the baby and smoked cigarettes with her, even though he'd never smoked before. At the end of the day she said softly, "What did you want to tell me about Jesus?
And for the next few minutes he told her about the love of Christ. She said, "Please pray that my babies make it out of here' alive."
You know what the Pharisee test is….? There are those who will say: "Wow…what's he doing smoking cigarettes with her!" [1] We missed the big picture.
This is just what is happening in this story in John 9.
John 9:13 (NKJV) They brought him who formerly was blind to the Pharisees.
Why did they do this?
In a day when almost all events bore religious overtones, the extraordinary healing cried out for comment by the religious authorities. John pictures the healed man’s neighbors turning to their local religious leaders and asking them what they should make of the healing. [2]
This is contrast today when nothing has any spiritual overtones. And then John adds this little detail to the story:
John 9:14 (NKJV) Now it was a Sabbath when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes.
This little detail changed everything! This was not the first time Jesus healed on the sabbath. The Jews have all kind of rules to keep the sabbath. For example:
You cannot light a lamp or extinguish a lamb – that would be working.
You cannot not where sandals shod with nails. The weight of the nails constituted a burden.
Even today in Israel, in the Hotels, they have Shabbat elevators, On the sabbath these elevators run all day on automatic, going up and down stopping at every floor, because pushing a button is work.
Here Jesus broke at least three rules, (1) He spit and made clay, (2) He applied the clay to the eyes (3) He brought healing.
Healing was permitted only in cases of life and death and only to the extent that life is preserved till the sabbath is over. The man born blind was in no danger of dying until the sabbath was over, therefore Jesus should have not brought healing - completely ignoring the miracle of it all!
John 9:15–16 (NKJV) 15 Then the Pharisees also asked him again how he had received his sight. He said to them, “He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.” 16 Therefore some of the Pharisees said, “This Man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath.” Others said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” And there was a division among them.
Jesus caused division wherever he went. There is no middle ground with Jesus. You are either for or against Him. The very wonder of the miracle of healing a man born blind is pitted against that of breaking some of the man made rules for keeping the Sabbath.
Mark 2:27–28 (NKJV) And He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. 28 Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.”
Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath, but they, the Jews (inferring to the Jewish religious officials) and the Pharisees, they despised Jesus because it infringed on their authority and their status. So they put it to the blind man. Here is your chance firm up your standing in the synagogue. They forced the man to take a side.
John 9:17 (NKJV) They said to the blind man again, “What do you say about Him because He opened your eyes?” He said, “He is a prophet.”
The formerly blind man’s spiritual eyes are really beginning to open. From verse 11 where Jesus was just a man, to now He was a prophet. Aside from John the Baptist, a prophet performing miracles had not been seen in Israel for over 400 years. A prophet is a man from God with a message.
So the Pharisees are wondering if a miracle really occur. Was this man really was born blind? So they call in the man’s parents.
John 9:18–19 (NKJV) But the Jews did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind and received his sight, until they called the parents of him who had received his sight. 19 And they asked them, saying, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?”
So his parents answered:
John 9:20–21 (NKJV) His parents answered them and said, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; 21 but by what means he now sees we do not know, or who opened his eyes we do not know. He is of age; ask him. He will speak for himself.”
The parent knew very well who did it. The man, their son, had told them. Why were they so afraid to say more to these religious authorities?
John 9:22–23 (NKJV) His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had agreed already that if anyone confessed that He was Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue. 23 Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”
They wimped out. They were afraid of being excommunicated from the synagogue. To be put out was a fearful thing. They would lose their status in the community, family would disown them, friends would leave them, and the possible loss of employment. They were not the only ones to fear being putting out.
John 12:42–43 (NKJV) Nevertheless even among the rulers many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue; 43 for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.
Once again they pressure the man to change his story. Notice how the pressure is applied by the religious officials. This is nothing new. We can look throughout church history and find this same sort of thing. Some of the biggest battles we fight as a follower of Jesus in within the church. Yes, we have pharisees in the church today. “You must believe my way or do it my way or it’s the highway.”
John 9:24 (NKJV) So they again called the man who was blind, and said to him, “Give God the glory! We know that this Man is a sinner.”
“Give God the glory” is a Jewish expression like taking an oath. Joshua used those same words when he confronted Achan:
Joshua 7:19 (NKJV) Now Joshua said to Achan, “My son, I beg you, give glory to the LORD God of Israel, and make confession to Him, and tell me now what you have done; do not hide it from me.”
He had taken some of the spoil form Jericho and God was displeased and caused the Israelites to lose a battle with the little town of Ai.
But the Pharisees and the Jewish religious authorities claimed they knew Jesus was a sinner. Notice how they referred to Jesus as “this man.” They never can get themselves to even say his name.
So convinced are they that Jesus is at best a charlatan, at worst a dangerous sinner, that they do not remember the ancient promises that one of the signs of the dawning of the messianic age is the restoration of sight to the blind. [3]
Isaiah 29:18 (NKJV) In that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book, And the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity and out of darkness.
Isaiah 35:5 (NKJV) Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, And the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.
And there are other OT passages as well.
The formerly blind man gets bolder in his testimony. His story does not change. If anything his testimony becomes more firm.
John 9:25 (NKJV) He answered and said, “Whether He is a sinner or not I do not know. One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see.”
The Pharisees cannot ague with the facts. The question now is not who opened the man’s eyes, but how did He open his eyes.
John 9:26 (NKJV) Then they said to him again, “What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?”
Again they ask. They rejected his testimony and the man would not change it to suit them. He did not tone it down to make it less offensive.
When give our heartfelt testimony, don’t water it down and try and make it more palatable. Jesus is offensive to the world. Our testimony will be rejected too. But Jesus warned us about that;
John 15:20 (NKJV) Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also.
But this man who was born blind, is now starting to see things the way they really are, and seeing the pharisees and the Jewish religious authorities for who they are. The man’s spiritual sight is getting much clearer:
John 9:27 (NKJV) He answered them, “I told you already, and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become His disciples?”
Do you see the sarcasm here? The man was displaying some bold wit. This only moves to infuriate the pharisees.
John 9:28–29 (NKJV) Then they reviled him and said, “You are His disciple, but we are Moses’ disciples. 29 We know that God spoke to Moses; as for this fellow, we do not know where He is from.”
“They reviled him,” other translation say they ridiculed him and threw insults at him. They claimed to be the followers of Moses, but they have not read from Moses very closely. Jesus said:
John 5:45–47 (NKJV) Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuses you—Moses, in whom you trust. 46 For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me. 47 But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?”
But now the uneducated formerly blind man replies the Pharisees. God had granted him a good dose of what the world lacks, an uncommon amount of common sense.
John 9:30–33 (NKJV) The man answered and said to them, “Why, this is a marvelous thing, that you do not know where He is from; yet He has opened my eyes! 31 Now we know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He hears him. 32 Since the world began it has been unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of one who was born blind. 33 If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing.”
This uneducated man is giving the pharisees an education. “Now we know that God does not hear sinners” That is theologically sound. Scripture backs him up.
Psalm 66:18 (NKJV) If I regard iniquity in my heart, The Lord will not hear.
Proverbs 15:29 (NKJV) The LORD is far from the wicked, But He hears the prayer of the righteous.
God hears from the righteous. There has been no record in the OT of anyone given their sight, much less a man born blind. “If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing.” The man’s logic baffles the Jewish religious authorities and the pharisees. They can no longer argue with Him. So for the man, the penalty for receiving his sight and by being truthful about it is banishment, excommunication, rejection.
John 9:34 (NKJV) They answered and said to him, “You were completely born in sins, and are you teaching us?” And they cast him out.
That fact is, we are all born in sin. But some people think they are above sin, that some people are just better than others. But not in the sight of God. They cast the formerly blind man out of the synagogue for refusing to speak evil of the One who gave him his sight.
The pharisees are truly the blind men in this story as we will examine next week. The uneducated formerly blind man had crystal clear spiritual vision. He recognized things as they really were. How do we see the world? Do you have spiritual vision that only comes from God?
How did this man compare to the Pharisees? Yes we were all been into sin. We all inherited a sin nature. But this formerly blind man will not die in his sins.
Christians, those of us who claim to follow Jesus. Do we have the attitude of the Pharisees? Do we look for the sin? Or do we like Jesus bring hope to a world that is sin sick? Remember not everyone will embrace what God has called you to do, including those in the church. Remember, we all will stand before the judgement seat of Christ, no the judgment seat of the world.
The blind man was cast out of the synagogue, but he was accepted by Jesus. Have you been accepted by Jesus? We are not talking church membership here, though we are called to associate with other believers. We are talking about being accepted by the creator of the universe. Being received by Jesus will also mean be rejected by the world.
[1] https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/i-was-blind-but-now-i-see-rick-burdette-sermon-on-forgiveness-in-jesus-166196?ref=SermonSerps
[2] D. A. Carson, The Gospel according to John, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, MI: Inter-Varsity Press; W.B. Eerdmans, 1991), 366–367.
[3] ibid, 375.
