The Blind Chapter

John Chapter 9

The Blind Chapter

Blindness can be a physical condition as in today’s text. It can and is also a spiritual condition for many who live in a dark and sin filled world.

While walking along with his disciples Jesus sees a blind man. The disciples ask Jesus who sinned, this man or his parents? The physical condition of a person was linked with their spiritual condition by Jewish teaching. Jesus was about to teach them that to understand sin in that context was an error.

God has a plan for all of human history. His plan concerns your life and my life and it also concerned the life and work of His Son our Saviour Jesus Christ.

The blind man Jesus met that day was a part of Gods plan. The man did not sin to cause his blindness, and his parents did not sin to cause his blindness. God the Father created the man so that he would be blind from birth until the day he met Jesus.

Our Heavenly Father has designed us and our lives in such a way that we might have an opportunity to escape our blindness. Today is such an opportunity for you.

Jesus ministry would only last for a specific period of time. I must complete my message today in a specific period of time. The clocks of our lives are set by God to last for a specific period of time. Just as the light of day last only for a certain length of time so too the light of God can only be visible for a certain length of time while we live.

When our eyes close in death we will no longer be able to see as we do now. Only the light of God can open our sinful eyes to our blindness and save us from eternal darkness.

Jesus took earth and mixed it with his saliva. Bible commentaries suggest that this man may not have had eye balls that his blindness was complete in every way. He was known by his community to be a blind person. Do people see you as someone who is blind or as someone who is spiritually sighted?

The bible says that God created us from the dust of the earth. It should be no surprise that Jesus reaches down to earth to gather a little dust. He adds something of himself to the dust by way of his saliva. This strange medicine is applied to the man’s eyes and he is told to wash in the pool of Siloam which means - Sent. So the man went and washed and came home seeing.

John the Baptist spent his life and ministry washing people in the Jordan River. He called them to clean away their spiritual blindness saying: Make straight the way for the Lord. John wanted people to see the light of God that had come into the world. That light is Jesus Christ. John sent people to see Jesus. Today I too want to send you to see Jesus because only then can your eyes be opened.

The blind man now sees for the first time. He has not yet seen the face of the person who has healed him. His family and friends marvel at his healing and ask him who was it that healed you? 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.

Do you suffer from blindness of one form or another? Would you like your eyes to be opened? You need to confess your sin you need to wash them away in the living water. Have your eyes been opened to the things of God?

The Pharisees heard the man’s story then wanted to validate his facts. They called for his parents to testify to his blindness. The parents confirmed that yes he was blind but that now he can see.

Are there people in your life who we can call and who can testify to how you were once blind and how you can now see? Could we call your parents or your brothers or your sisters or your neighbors? What would they say about the change in your condition?

They brought the man to the Pharisees. They wanted an explanation. The healing had occurred on a Sabbath day Holy to God. No work was to be done on the Sabbath yet this man Jesus made clay with his spit and earth. This was considered work by the Pharisees.

In their eyes Jesus had broken the law. In their eyes Jesus had sinned. Therefore since he was a sinner there was no way he could be the author of such a miracle.