JOHN 9 COMMENTARYWritten and Edited by Glenn Pease

Jesus Heals a Man Born Blind

1As he went along, he saw a man blind from

birth.

1. It was rare to come across one who was blind from birth. Many became blind

in later life, but to be blind from birth was so extreme that people assumed that

there had to be some extreme sin somewhere in the family to account for such a

radical judgment on a child.

2. In contrast to chapter 8 where Jesus is rejected and the leaders wanted to

stone him, this chapter starts off with a scene of Jesus showing divine grace and

mercy to one that most would not dream of helping, for he was obviously cursed

of God to be born blind. Pink comments, "And as Jesus passed by, he saw a

man." How blessed. The Savior was not occupied with His own sorrows to the

exclusion of those of others. The absence of appreciation and the presence of

hatred in almost all around Him, did not check that blessed One in His

unwearied service to others, still less did He abandon it. Love "suffereth long,"

and "beareth all things" (1 Cor. 13). And Christ was Love incarnate, therefore

did the stream of Divine goodness flow on unhindered by all man’s wickedness.

How this perfection of Christ rebukes our imperfections, our selfishness!"

3. I share the following paragraph to make it clear that many babies have been

born blind even in our country due to no sin related activity of the parents.

"The World Health Organization estimates that about 100,000 children each

year are born with congenital rubella syndrome (CRS), a major cause of severe

birth defects such as blindness, deafness, heart disease, and mental retardation.

When pregnant mothers get rubella, a highly contagious otherwise-minor illness,

the results for their babies can be devastating. Most of the 100,000 victims each

year are in developing nations – although the first nation to eliminate CRS was

Cuba, who did it in the mid 1990s with an aggressive immunization program. On

March 21, 2005, the United States formally and officially declared itself free of

rubella. This is a major public health milestone. Rubella peaked in the United

States in the mid 1960s when one epidemic caused an estimated 12.5 million cases

of rubella in the U.S., leading to 20,000 cases of CRS which according to the

CDC was responsible for “more than 11,600 babies born deaf, 11,250 fetal

deaths, 2,100 neonatal deaths, 3,580 babies born blind and 1,800 babies born

mentally retarded.” Cases of rubella fell rapidly after the vaccine was introduced

in 1969. In 1989, the CDC set a goal of eliminating rubella from the United

States, and 2005 is the year of celebrating this major success." New babies

around the world still suffer from this disease.

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4. Blindness was one of the problems that Jesus healed in large numbers. The

three synoptic gospels describe a variety of individuals, and numbers of the blind

being healed by Jesus, whereas in John's gospel we have only one record.

Examples of indefinite numbers include Matthew 21:14 "And the blind and the

lame came to him in the temple; and he healed them." Luke 7:21 "And in that

same hour he cured many of their infirmities and plagues, and of evil spirits; and

unto many that were blind he gave sight." John's Gospel just focuses on this one

blind man.

5. Larry Hiles tells of one man's compassion for the blind that led to his greatest

honor. He wrote, "The 1964 Philadelphia Phillies will always be known as the

team that suffered one of the great collapses in sports history. They let a huge

division lead slip away by losing ten games in a row at the end of the season.

Despite the collapse, the Phillies season had its share of memorable moments,

including a perfect game and a ninth-inning home run by a Phillie to win the All-

Star Game.

But the most remarkable moment of the entire season occurred after a game, not

during it. Clay Dalrymple, a Phillie pitcher, was asked to assist a blind girl who

had requested a chance to walk out on the field. Dalrymple took the girl to home

plate where she reached down and felt the plate. Then they walked to first base,

second base, and third base before ending up at home plate once again.

While Dalrymple was showing the girl around the bases, he never noticed that

the fans remaining in the stadium had stopped to watch him and his companion.

He just assumed that the silence in the stands meant the fans had gone home. But

when the two of them finally reached home plate, the ballpark erupted.

Dalrymple was shocked by the applause. When he looked up, he saw thousands

of fans giving him a standing ovation. Later, Dalrymple told a Sports Illustrated

reporter, “It was the biggest ovation I ever got.”

PINK 1-7, "Below will be found an Analysis of the passage which is to be before

us:—

1. Jesus beholds the man born blind: verse 1.

2. The disciples’ question: verse 2.

3. Christ’s answer: verses 3-5.

4. Christ anoints the blind man: verse 6.

5. Christ sends the man to the Pool: verse 7.

6. The man’s prompt obedience: verse 7.

7. The miracle completed: verse 7.

That there is an intimate connection between John 8 and John 9 is manifest from

the first word of the latter, and when the Holy Spirit has thus linked two things

together it behooves us to pay close attention to the law of comparison and

contrast. The little conjunction at the opening of John 9 is very appropriate, for

in the previous verse we read of Jesus hiding Himself from those who took up

stones to cast at Him; while in John 9:1 we behold a man blind from his birth,

unable to see the passing Savior. That these two chapters are closely related is

further seen by a comparison of John 8:12 and John 9:5: in both Christ is

revealed, specifically, as "the light of the world." As we read carefully the

opening verses of the chapter now before us and compare them with the contents

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of John 8 it will be found that they present to us a series of contrasts. For

example, in John 8 we behold Christ as "the light" exposing the darkness, but in

John 9 He communicates sight. In John 8 the Light is despised and rejected, in

John 9 He is received and worshipped. In John 8 the Jews are seen stooping

down—to pick up stones; in John 9 Christ is seen stooping down—to make

anointing clay. In John 8 Christ hides Himself from the Jews; in John 9 He

reveals Himself to the blind beggar. In John 8 we have a company in whom the

Word has no place (verse 37); in John 9 is one who responds promptly to the

Word (verse 7). In John 8 Christ, inside the Temple, is called a demoniac (verse

48); in John 9, outside the Temple, He is owned as Lord (verse 36). The central

truth of John 8 is the Light testing human responsibility; in John 9 the central

truth is God acting in sovereign grace after human responsibility has failed. This

last and most important contrast we must ponder at length.

In John 8 a saddening and humbling scene was before us. There Christ was

manifested as "the light" and woeful were the objects that it shone upon. It

reminds us very much of that which is presented right at the beginning of God’s

Word. Genesis 1:2 introduces us to a ruined earth, with darkness enveloping it.

The very first thing God said there was, "Let there be light," and we are told,

"There was light." And upon what did the light shine? what did its beams

reveal? It shone upon an earth that had become "without form and void"; its

beams revealed a scene of desolation and death. There was no sun shining by day

nor moon by night. There was no vegetation, no moving creature, no life. A pall

of death hung over the earth. The light only made manifest the awful ruin which

sin (here, the sin of Satan) had wrought, and the need for the sovereign goodness

and almighty power of God to intervene and produce life and fertility.

So it was in John 8. Christ as the Light of the world discovers not only the state

of Israel, but too, the common atheism of man. He affirmed His power to make

free the bondslaves of sin (John 8:32): but His auditors denied that they were in

bondage. He spoke the words of the Father (John 8:38): but they neither

understood nor believed Him. He told them that their characters were formed

under the influence of the Devil and that they desired it to be so (John 8:44): in

reply they blasphemously charged Him with having a demon. He declared that

He was the Object who had rejoiced the heart of Abraham (John 8:56): and they

scoffed at Him. He told them He was the great and eternal "I am" (John 8:58):

and they picked up stones to cast at Him. All of this furnishes us with a graphic

but accurate picture of the character of the natural man the world over. The

mind of the sinner is enmity against God, and he hates the Christ of God. He

may be very religious, and left to himself, he may appear to be quite pious. But

let the light of God be turned upon him, let the bubble of his self-righteousness

be punctured, let his awful depravity be exposed, let the claims of Christ be

pressed upon him, and he is not only skeptical, but furious.

What, then, was Christ’s response? Did He turn His back on the whole human

race? Did He return at once to heaven, thoroughly disgusted at His reception in

this world? What wonder if the Father had there and then called His Son back to

the glory which He had left. Ah! but God is the God of all grace, and grace

needed the dark background of sin so that its bright lustre might shine the more

resplendently. Yet grace would be misunderstood and unappreciated were it

shown to all alike, for in that case men would deem it a right to which they were

entitled, a meet compensation for God allowing the race to fall into sin. O the

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folly of human reasoning! Grace would be no more grace if fallen men had any

claims upon it. God is under no obligations to men: every title to His favor was

forfeited forever when they, in the person of their representative, rebelled

against Him. Therefore does He say, "I will have mercy on whom I will have

mercy" (Rom. 9:15). It is this side of the truth which receives such striking

illustration in the passage which is to be before us.

In John 8 we are shown the utter ruin of the natural man-despising God’s

goodness, hating His Christ. Here in John 9 we behold the Lord dealing in grace,

acting according to His sovereign benignity. This, this is the central contrast

pointed by these two chapters. In the former it is the Light testing human

responsibility; in the latter, the Light acting in sovereign mercy after the failure

of human responsibility had been demonstrated. In the one we see the sin of man

exposed, in the other we behold the grace of God displayed.

"And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth" (John

9:1). That which is dominant in this passage is intimated in the opening verse.

The sovereignty of Divine grace is exemplified at once in the actions of our Lord

and in the character of the one upon whom His favors were bestowed. The

Savior saw a certain man; the man did not see Him, for he had no capacity to do

so, being blind. Nor did the blind man call upon Christ to have mercy upon him.

The Lord was the one to take the initiative. It is ever thus when sovereign grace

acts. But let us admire separately each detail in the picture here.

"And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man." How blessed. The Savior was not

occupied with His own sorrows to the exclusion of those of others. The absence of

appreciation and the presence of hatred in almost all around Him, did not check

that blessed One in His unwearied service to others, still less did He abandon it.

Love "suffereth long," and "beareth all things" (1 Cor. 13). And Christ was

Love incarnate, therefore did the stream of Divine goodness flow on unhindered

by all man’s wickedness. How this perfection of Christ rebukes our

imperfections, our selfishness!

"He saw a man which was blind from his birth." What a pitiable object! To lose

an arm or a leg is a serious handicap, but the loss of sight is far more so. And this

man had never seen. From how many enjoyments was he cut off! Into what a

narrow world did his affliction confine him! And blindness, like all other bodily

afflictions, is one of the effects of sin. Not always so directly, but always so

remotely. Had Adam never disobeyed his Maker the human family had been free

from disease and suffering. Let us learn then to hate sin with godly hatred as the

cause of all our sorrows; and let the sight of suffering ones serve to remind us of

what a horrible thing sin is. But let us also remind ourselves that there is

something infinitely more awful than physical blindness and temporal suffering,

namely, sickness of soul and a blinded heart.

"He saw a man which was blind from his birth." Accurately did he portray the

terrible condition of the natural man. The sinner is blind spiritually. His

understanding is darkened and his heart is blinded (Eph. 4:18). Because of this

he cannot see the awfulness of his condition: he cannot see his imminent danger:

he cannot see his need of a Savior—"Except a man be born again he cannot see"

(John 3:3). Such an one needs more than light; he needs the capacity given him

to see the light. It is not a matter of mending his glasses (reformation), or of

correcting his vision (education and culture), or of eye ointment (religion). None

of these reach, or can reach, the root of the trouble. The natural man is born

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blind spiritually, and a faculty missing at birth cannot be supplied by extra

cultivation of the others. A "transgressor from the womb" (Isa. 48:8). shapen in

iniquity and conceived in sin (Ps. 51:5), man needs a Savior from the time he

draws his very first breath. Such is the condition of God’s elect in their

unregenerate state—"by nature the children of wrath, even as others" (Eph.

2:3).

"He saw a man which was blind from his birth." The late Bishop Ryle called

attention to the significant fact that the Gospels record more cases of blindness

healed than that of any other one affliction. There was one deaf and dumb

healed, one sick of the palsy, one sick of a fever, two instances of lepers being

healed, three dead raised, but five of the blind! How this emphasizes the fact that

man is in the dark spiritually. Moreover, the man in our lesson was a beggar

(verse 8)—another line in the picture which so accurately portrays our state by

nature. A beggar the poor sinner is: possessing nothing of his own, dependent on

charity. A blind beggar—what an object of need and helplessness! Blind from his

birth—altogether beyond the reach of man!

"And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his

parents, that he was born blind?" (John 9:2). How little pity these disciples seem

to have had for this blind beggar, and how indifferent to the outflow of the

Lord’s grace. Instead of humbly and trustfully waiting to see what Christ would

do, they were philosophizing. The point over which they were reasoning

concerned the problem of suffering and the inequalities in the lot of human

existence—points which have engaged the minds of men in every clime and age,

and which apart from the light of God’s Word are still unsolved. There are many

who drift along unexercised by much of what goes on around them. That some

should be born into this world to enter an environment of comfort and luxury,

while others first see the light amid squalor and poverty; that some should start

the race of mortality with a healthy body and a goodly reserve of vitality, while

others should be severely handicapped with an organism that is feeble or

diseased, and still others should be crippled from the womb, are phenomena

which affect different people in very different ways. Many are largely

unconcerned. If all is well with them, they give very little thought to the troubles

of their fellows. But there are others who cannot remain indifferent, and whose

minds seek an explanation to these mysteries. Why is it that some are born

blind?—a mere accident it cannot be. As a punishment for sin, is the most

obvious explanation. But if this be the true answer, a punishment for whose sins?

"Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?" Three

theories were current among the philosophers and theologians of that day. The

first obtained in some measure among the Babylonians, and more extensively

amongst the Persians and Greeks, and that was the doctrine of reincarnation.

This was the view of the Essenes and Gnostics. They held that the soul of man

returned to this earth again and again, and that the law of retribution regulated

its varied temporal circumstances. If in his previous earthly life a man had been

guilty of grievous sins, special punishment was meted out to him in his next

earthly sojourn. In this way philosophers sought to explain the glaring

inequalities among men. Those who now lived in conditions of comfort and

prosperity were reaping the reward of former merit; those who were born to a

life of suffering and poverty were being punished for previous sins. That this

theory of re-incarnation obtained in measure even among the Jews is clear from

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Matthew 16:13, 14. When Christ asked His disciples, "Whom do men say that I

the Son of man am?" they said, "Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some,

Elijah; and others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets" which shows that some of

them thought the soul of one of the prophets was now re-incarnated in the body

of Jesus of Nazareth. Further evidence that this view obtained to some extent

among the Jews is supplied by the Apocrypha. In "The Wisdom of

Solomon"—8:19, 20—are found these words, "Now I was a goodly child, and a

goodly soul fell to my lot. Nay rather, being good, I came into a body undefiled"!

But among the rabbins this theory held no place. It was so completely without

scriptural support, yea, it so obviously clashed with the teaching of the Old

Testament, they rejected it in toto. How then could they explain the problem of

human suffering? The majority of them did so by the law of heredity. They

considered that Exodus 20:5 supplied the key to the whole problem: all suffering

was to be attributed to the sins of the parents. But the Old Testament ought to

have warned them against such a sweeping application of Exodus 20:5. The case

of Job should have at least modified their views. With some it did, and among the

Pharisees a third theory, still more untenable, was formulated. Some held that a

child could sin even in the womb, and Genesis 25:22 was quoted in support.

It was in view of these prevailing and conflicting theories and philosophies which

then obtained that the disciples put their question to the Lord: "Master, who did

sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?" Evidently they desired to

hear what He would say upon the matter. But what is the present-day

application of this verse to us? Surely the reasoning of these disciples in the

presence of the blind beggar points a solemn warning. Surely it tells of the

danger there is of us theorizing and philosophizing while we remain indifferent

to human needs. Let us beware of becoming so occupied with the problems of

theology that we fail to preach the Gospel to lost souls!

"Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the

works of God should be made manifest in Him" (John 9:3). The Lord returned a

double answer to the disciples’ inquiry: negatively, this man was not born blind

because of sin. "Neither did this man sin nor his parents" must not be

understood absolutely, but like many another sentence of Scripture has to be

modified by its setting. Our Lord did not mean that this man’s parents had never

sinned, but that their sin was not the reason why their son had been born blind.

All suffering is remotely due to sin, for if sin had not entered the world there

would have been no suffering among humankind. But there is much suffering

which is not due immediately to sin. Indirectly the Lord here rebukes a spirit

which all of us are prone to indulge. It is so easy to assume the role of judge and

pass sentence upon another. This was the sin of Job’s friends, recorded for our

learning and warning. The same spirit is displayed among some of the "Faith-

healing" sects of our day. With them the view largely obtains that sickness is due

to some sin in the life, and that where healing is withheld it is because that sin is

unconfessed. But this is a very harsh and censorious judgment, and must

frequently be erroneous. Moreover, it tends strongly to foster pride. If I am

enjoying better health than many of my fellows, the inference would be, it is

because I am not so great a sinner as they! The Lord deliver us from such

reprehensible Phariseeism.

"But that the works of God should be made manifest in him." Here is the

positive side of our Lord’s answer, and it throws some light upon the problem of

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suffering. God has His own wise reasons for permitting sickness and disease;

ofttimes it is that He may be glorified thereby. It was so in the case of Lazarus

(John 11:4). It was so in connection with the death of Peter (John 21:19). It was

so in the affliction of the apostle Paul (2 Cor. 12:9). It was so with this blind

beggar: he was born blind that the power of God might be evidenced in the

removal of it, and that Christ might be glorified thereby.

"But that the works of God should be made manifest in him." Let us not miss the

present application of this to suffering saints today. Surely this word of the

Savior’s contains a message of consolation to afflicted ones among His people

now. Not that they may expect to be relieved by a miracle, but that they may

comfort themselves with the assurance that God has a wise (if hidden) purpose to

be served by their affliction, and that is, that in some way He will be glorified

thereby. That way may not be manifested at once; perhaps not for long years. At

least thirty years (see verse 23) passed before God made it evident why this man

had been born blind. As to what God’s purpose is in our affliction, as to how His

purpose will be attained, and as to when it will be accomplished, these things are

none of our affair. Our business is to meekly submit to His sovereign pleasure (1

Sam. 3:18), and to be duly "exercised thereby" (Heb. 12:11). Of this we may be

sure, that whatever is for God’s glory in us, will ultimately bring blessing to us.

Then do not question God’s love, but seek grace to rest in sincere faith on

Romans 11:36 and 8:28.

"I must work the works of him that sent me" (John 9:4). And what were these

works? To reveal the perfections of God and to minister to the needs of His

creatures. Such "works" the Son must do because He was one both in will and in

nature with the Father. But no doubt there is another meaning in these words.

The "works of him" that sent Christ were not only works that were pleasing to

God, but they were works which had been predestinated by God. These works

must be done because God had eternally decreed them—cf. the "must" in John

4:4 and 10:16.

"The night cometh, when no man can work. As long as I am in the world, I am

the light of the world" (John 9:4, 5). More specifically this statement had

reference to what Christ was about to do—give sight to the blind beggar. This is

clear from the opening words of verse 6: "When he had thus spoken." The

miracle Christ was about to perform gave a striking illustration of the yet

greater miracle of the Divine bestowment of spiritual vision upon an elect sinner.

Such an one must be illumined for the eternal counsels of Deity so determined—

compare the "must" in Acts 4:12. The saving of a sinner is not only entirely the

"work" of God, but it is, pre-eminently, that in which He delights. This is what

these words of Christ here plainly intimate. How blessed to know, then, that the

most glorious of all God’s works is displayed in the saving of lost and hell-

deserving sinners, and that the Persons of the Trinity cooperate in the outflow of

grace.

"The night cometh, when no man can work." Christ here teaches us both by

word and example the importance of making the most of our present

opportunities. His earthly ministry was completed in less than four years, and

these were now rapidly drawing to a close. He must then be about His Father’s

business. A Divine constraint was upon Him. May a like sense of urgency impel

us to redeem the time, knowing the days are evil (Eph. 5:16). What a solemn

word is this for the sinner: "the night cometh, when no man can work"! This is

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life’s day for him; in front lies the blackness of darkness forever (Jude 1:13).

Unsaved reader, your "night" hastens on. "Today if ye will hear his voice

harden not your hearts." "Behold now is the accepted time; behold, now is the

day of salvation" (2 Cor. 6:2).

"As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world." Christ seems to be

referring to the attempt which had just been made upon His life (John 8:59).

Soon the appointed time would come for Him to leave the world, but until that

time had arrived man could not get rid of Him. The light would shine despite all

man’s efforts to put it out. The stones of these Jews could not intimidate or

hinder this One from finishing the work which has been given Him to do. "Light

of the world" He had just demonstrated Himself to be by exposing their wicked

hearts. "Light of the world" He would now exhibit Himself by communicating

sight and salvation to this poor blind beggar.

"When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle,

and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay" (John 9:6). This was a

parable in action and deserves our closest attention. Christ’s mode of procedure

here though extraordinarily peculiar was, nevertheless, profoundly significant.

Peculiar it certainly was, for the surest way to blot out vision would be to plaster

the eye with wet clay: and yet this was the only thing Christ did to this blind

beggar. Equally sure is it that His mysterious action possessed some deep

symbolic significance. What that was we shall now inquire.

"When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle,

and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay." The first thing we must

do is to study this care* fully in the light of the context. What is before us in the

context? This: the "light of the world" (John 8:12), the "sent one" (John 8:18),

the "Son" (John 8:36) was despised and rejected of the Jews. And why was that?

Because He appeared before them in such lowly guise. They judged Him "after

the flesh" (John 8:15); they sought to kill Him because He was "a man that had

told them the truth" (John 8:40). They had no eyes to discern His Divine glory

and were stumbled by the fact that He stood before them in "the likeness of

men."

Now what do we have here in John 9? This: once more Christ affirms that He

was "the light of the world" (John 9:5); then, immediately following, we read,

"When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle,

and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay." Surely the meaning of

this is now apparent. "As a figure, it pointed to the humanity of Christ in earthly

humiliation and lowliness, presented to the eyes of men, but with Divine efficacy

of life in Him" (J.N.D.). Christ had presented Himself before the Jews, but

devoid of spiritual perception they recognized Him not. And did the blind

beggar, who accurately represented the Jews, did he see when Christ applied the

clay to his eyes? No; he did not. He was still as blind as ever, and even though he

had not been blind he could not have seen now. What, then, must he do? He must

obey Christ. And what did Christ tell him to do? Mark carefully what follows.

"And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation,

Sent)" (John 9:7). This, too, was a sermon in action. What the blind beggar

needed was water. And of what did that speak? Clearly of the written Word (see

our notes on John 3:5, and cf. Ephesians 5:26). It was just because the Jews

failed to use the water of the Word that the eyes of their hearts remained closed.

Turn to John 5, and what do we find there? We see the Jews seeking to kill

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Christ because He made Himself equal with God (verse 18). And what did He bid

them do? This: "Search the Scriptures" (John 5:39). We have the same thing

again in John 10: the Jews took up stones again to stone Him (verse 31). And the

Lord asked them why they acted thus. Their answer was, "Because that thou,

being a man, makest thyself God" (verse 33). What reply did Christ make,

"Jesus answered them, Is it not written?" It was then, this very thing which

(symbolically) the Lord commanded the blind beggar to do. He obeyed implicitly,

and the result was that he obtained his sight. The difference between the Jews

and the beggar was this: they thought they could see already, and so refused the

testimony of the written Word; whereas the beggar knew that he was blind and

therefore used the water to which Christ referred him. This supplies the key to

the 39th verse of this chapter which sums up all that has gone before. "And Jesus

said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see;

and that they which see might be made blind."

We turn now to consider the doctrinal significance of what has just been before

us. The blind beggar is to be viewed as a representative character, i.e., as

standing for each of God’s elect. Blind from birth, and therefore beyond the help

of man; a beggar and therefore having nothing, he fitly portrays our condition

by nature. Sought out by Christ and ministered to without a single cry or appeal

from him, we have a beautiful illustration of the activities of sovereign grace

reaching out to us in our unregenerate state. Our Lord’s method of dealing with

him, was also, in principle, the way in which He dealt with us, when Divine

mercy came to our rescue.

"He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of

the blind man with the clay." This seems to have a double meaning.

Dispensationally it symbolized Christ presenting Himself in the flesh before the

eyes of Israel. Doctrinally it prefigured the Lord pressing upon the sinner his lost

condition and need of a Savior. The placing of clay on his eyes emphasizes our

blindness. "And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam." This intimates

our need of turning to the Word and applying it to ourselves, for it is the

entrance of God’s words which, alone, give light (Ps. 119:130).

The name of the Pool in which the blind beggar was commanded to wash is not

without its significance, as is seen by the fact that the Holy Spirit was careful to

interpret it to us. God incarnate is the Object presented to the needy sinner’s

view: the One who was "anointed" by the Holy Spirit (Acts 10:38). How is He

presented to us? Not as pure spirit, nor in the form of an angel; but as "made

flesh." Where is He to be thus found? In the written Word. As we turn to that

Word we shall learn that the man Christ Jesus is none other than the "sent one"

of the Father. It is through the Word alone (as taught by the Holy Spirit) that we

can come to know the Christ of God.

"He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing" (John 9:7). The

simple obedience of the blind beggar is very beautiful. He did not stop to reason

and ask questions, but promptly did what was told him. As the old Puritan, John

Trapp (1647), quaintly puts it, "He obeyed Christ blindly. He looked not upon

Siloam with Syrian eyes as Naaman did upon Jordan; but, passing by the

unlikelihood of a cure by such means, he believeth and doeth as he was bidden,

without hesitation." Let the interested student go over the whole chapter

carefully and prayerfully, seeking the personal application of this passage.

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2His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned,

this man or his parents, that he was born

blind?"

1. The disciples were products of their time, and they assumed, as was the

custom of the day, that all tragedy was the result of some sin. They were

interested in knowing just who did the sin that produced a baby that was born

blind. It was a terrible tragedy to the parents and the child, and so somebody

had to be really guilty of something seriously evil. This kind of thinking never

goes away, and so even though they had the book of Job that should have put an

end to this thinking, they are still locked into a false view of suffering. The fact is,

the parents and grandparents of this child may have been far more godly and sin

free than the majority of people who had perfectly normal children. The

blindness had nothing to do with any personal sin of the child or someone among

its relatives. Bad things happen to good people all the time, and they have no

connection with sin in their lives. These disciples are typical of either/or people at

this point. They only have two options. Is it the parents of the man himself. This

type of thinking also leads to many false conclusions in life. Quite often their is a

third alternative, as is the case here, but people do not consider that as an option,

and so the choose one of just two and make the wrong choice either way. Jesus is

constantly rejecting either/or, and black or white issues by giving a third way of

seeing things.

1b. James Forbes writes, "Now Jesus was upset with that question they were

asking him. How disappointing the question was. Had the disciples not heard

earlier in the day how Jesus was eager to silence the sin patrollers who had

brought that woman just to judge her? Had he not condemned the judgmental

spirit about holding traditional understandings so tightly that they are more

important than mercy and compassion? Hadn't Jesus told the people, "Don't be

so zealous for righteousness that you are willing to condemn everybody who is

different from yourself." So can you feel Jesus' disappointment? "Not my own

disciples, the ones who have been learning from me these years." How could they

now be like the canine crew at the controls for customs on the conveyer belt

where the dogs are sniffing frantically trying to find some contraband? Could it

be that Jesus' advocates are as blind as his adversaries regarding what Jesus

stands for and why he had been sent into the world?"

2. One could answer the question, “Who sinned?” by saying Adam and Eve, for

it was a fallen world where many bad things can happen because it is fallen due

to their sin, but this was not what the disciples were getting at. They wanted to

see a direct link to someone’s sinful acts and this blind child. They wanted to

hear that the mother had an affair, or that the parents had sex on the Sabbath,

or some other logical reason for this child being cursed with blindness. They had

simplistic minds that saw life as black and white, with a clear link between

suffering and sin.

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3. A few quotes from my sermon on this passage will illustrate the folly of asking

this question about anyone's suffering. To read the whole sermon go to

http://glennpease.250free.com/ISSUES_OF_SUFFERING.htm

Show me a simple solution to the problem of suffering, and I will show you a

heresy that will fit neither the revelation of God, nor the experience of man. The

Jews had a simple answer to suffering that was superficial. If you are good you

will be happy, and if you are not happy, you are not good. Simple solutions are

none the less the most popular and widely held by the intelligent and ignorant

alike. Here are the disciples of Christ who are hand picked by the Master

Himself, and they view suffering with the same old worn out theory held by the

friends of Job. They assume that such a terrible fate as being born blind had to

be the result of somebody's sin. It was so logical and obvious to them that they

did not even see the cruelty of it. They are asking, who is guilty for such an

awful thing: His parents or himself. In other words, who do we blame when this

horrible reality occurs? What kind of parents must they have been to give birth

to such a monstrosity as a blind baby? Or what kind of a low life scoundrel must

he be that God would punish him at birth for the sins he foresaw that he would

commit?

We want life to be simple, and we want to have easy answers that give meaning

to life. We want life to be black and white where the good guys are escaping

suffering, and the bad guys are getting their due reward of judgment. If life was

only like the movies, but it is not, and often the real life story has the bad guys

getting by with murder, and the good guys being the ones getting murdered. So

it was with Able, John the Baptist, Stephen, and on and on. Simple answers are

not always false, but they are so often foolish and cruel when applied to specific

situations.

Simple answers are convenient, but they are often worthless or cruel. Harold

Kushner in his book When Bad Things Happen To Good People writes, "I once

read of an Iranian folk proverb, ' If you see a blind man, kick him; why should

you be kinder than God?' In other words, if you see someone who is suffering,

you must believe that he deserves his fate and that God wants him to suffer.

Therefore, put yourself on God's side by shunning Him or humiliating Him

further. If you try to help him, you will be going against God's justice." It is

simple solutions like this that make so many religious people cruel and without

compassion.

4. These very men would one day be severely persecuted and suffer death that

was very unjust, and by then they would have learned that suffering is not linked

to sin, but sometimes suffering is due to not sinning. Had they rejected Christ

and not preached the Gospel they would not have been imprisoned and killed.

They will learn that the righteous often suffer the afflictions that even the most

wicked do not have to endure. They will understand that the world is filled with

suffering of all kinds that has no relationship to any personal sin of those who

suffer. But at this stage they are simple minded and accept the common beliefs of

their age, that all suffering is the punishment for some sin.

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5. A number of commentators, including Calvin, say the Jews at this time

believed in the transmigration of souls, and that means they believed the sins of a

former life passed into another body, and that person suffered for those sins of

his former life, and so even a baby could be suffering for its sins of the past. A

later rabbinic work states that when a pregnant woman worships in a heathen

temple the fetus also commits idolatry. This is only one example of how, in

rabbinic Jewish thought, an unborn child was capable of sinning. Calvin writes,

“It was truly monstrous, that so gross an error should have found a place among

the elect people of God, in the midst of which the light of heavenly wisdom had

been kindled by the Law and the Prophets.” This would explain how they could

possibly believe that the man himself was the cause of his being born blind.

6. John MacArthur points out that today we know of medical reasons for why

children are born blind, and it is due to the sins of the parents. He writes,

"Medically the answer would most likely have been his parents. You say, "What

do you mean by that?" Just this, gonorrhea, the venereal disease, is in the

mother, the most common cause of total blindness in the next generation. When

the mother is infected with gonorrhea, the eyes of the baby can become infected

even as it passes through the birth canal. This has been a common disease

around the world, the infection of gonorrhea of newborn babies is very severe. It

scars their eyes so that they cannot see. For example, in Africa and in the East,

there are multiplied thousands of blind babies that are born, most of them

blinded by gonorrhea." Jesus denies that there is any such sin behind this case of

blindness.

7. Intervarsity Press Commentary, “Jesus' statement touches on the theme of

suffering. There is a sense in which every aspect of our lives, including our own

suffering, is an occasion for the manifestation of God's glory and his purposes.

Scripture describes four types of suffering viewed in terms of causes or purposes

(cf. John Cassian Conferences 6.11): first, suffering as a proving or testing of our

faith (Gen 22; Deut 8:2; Job); second, suffering meant for improvement, for our

edification (Heb 12:5-8); third, suffering as punishment for sin (Deut 32:15-25;

Jer 30:15; Jn 5:14); and fourth, suffering that shows forth God's glory, as here in

our story and later in the raising of Lazarus (Jn 11:4). To these should be added

a fifth form of suffering, that which comes from bearing witness to Christ,

illustrated by what happens to this former blind man in being cast out of the

synagogue.”

8. Maclaren wrote, "That is all that the sight of sorrow does for some people. It

leads to censorious judgments, or to mere idle and curious speculations. Christ

lets us see what it did for Him, and what it is meant to do for us. 'Neither hath

this man sinned nor his parents, but he is born blind that the works of God may

be made manifest in him.' That is to say, human sorrow is to be looked at by us

as an opportunity for the manifestation through us of God's mercy in relieving

and stanching the wounds through which the lifeblood is ebbing away. Do not

stand coldly curious or uncharitably censorious. Do not make miserable men

theological problems, but see in them a call for service. See in them an

opportunity for letting the light of God, so much of it as is in you, shine from

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you, and your hands move in works of mercy."

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.

1. It must have shocked them to hear Jesus rule out sin as the cause of this

tragedy. That put a big hole in their theory that all suffering is the result of sin.

Sin is not a part of the big picture here at all. The disciples and Pharisees, and

people in general with a false view of suffering would look down on this family

and this man, for they would suspect some sin in their past as the reason for their

suffering. This is a sad way of seeing suffering people, for it kills compassion and

sympathy. Suffering people need caring for and encouragement, and not

judgment that comes from the suspicion that they deserve their misery because

of something they have done.

Pink wrote, "It is so easy to assume the role of judge and pass sentence upon

another. This was the sin of Job’s friends, recorded for our learning and

warning. The same spirit is displayed among some of the "Faith-healing" sects of

our day. With them the view largely obtains that sickness is due to some sin in

the life, and that where healing is withheld it is because that sin is unconfessed.

But this is a very harsh and censorious judgment, and must frequently be

erroneous. Moreover, it tends strongly to foster pride. If I am enjoying better

health than many of my fellows, the inference would be, it is because I am not so

great a sinner as they! The Lord deliver us from such reprehensible

Phariseeism."

2. This particular tragedy of blindness was a part of the providence of God in

this man’s life, so that the special work of God might be put on display in his life,

and the miraculous and loving work of God was displayed in him being made to

see. In other words, he was an example of the healing power of God to deal with

the most difficult problems that life can throw at us. Some people may be blind

due to the sinful folly of taking drugs that lead to birth defects, but that is not the

case here. This man is blind for the glory of God, for God intends to show his

loving power in him by restoring his sight.

3. Weatherhead wrote, "Jesus says, "Neither did this man sin, nor his parents.

But that the works of God should be made manifest in him I must work the

works of him that sent me while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can

work." In other words Jesus is saying, "Don't let us argue why the man is blind.

Let us make him better. It wasn't his own fault or that of his parents; but

instead of arguing about it, what we must get done before nightfall is the work of

God in making him better." What Jesus says is: don't argue; get on with the

cure. In the cure the work of God is made manifest." My comment here is that

Jesus is not concerned with the cause, but with the cure. When you see suffering

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do not bother to figure out why it exists, but do what you can to eliminate it. You

can never know all the why's of suffering, but you can focus on the how to make

it better, and that is what the Great Physician did.

4As long as it is day, we must do the work of

him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one

can work.

1. Jesus knew it was the Sabbath, and that he would be greatly condemned if he

healed this man, but he says there is an urgent need to work while it is day, for

night will come and the work will be over. In other words, he will be killed in

about 6 months, and there will be no more opportunity to do works that glorify

God, like healing a blind man. Jesus is saying I have to do this now, even though

it is the Sabbath, for it will soon be too late. Jesus is saying he just cannot put

this off. He has to take the risk of causing serious trouble for himself by healing

this man.

2. Jesus was a man of action. There is a legend about a man sinking into

quicksand when Confucious came by and remarked, "There is evidence men

should stay out of such places." Buddha came by and said, "Let that life be a

lesson to the rest of the world." Mohammed said, "Alas, it is the will of 'Allah."

The Hindu said to him, "Cheer up friend, you will return to earth in another

form." But Jesus came by and saw his plight and said, "Give me your hand,

brother, and I will pull you out." Jesus did not deal with suffering with

philosophy or theology, but with work. The disciples are focused on the origin of

the problem, but Jesus is focused on the outcome. Others can sit around and

speculate how such a problem ever came to be, but he goes to work to solve the

problem and set the victum free.

3. Notice the word "we" in this verse. Jesus includes his disciples, and all

believers in the work of showing compassion to a suffering world. Barclay wrote,

"Any kind of suffering is an opportunity to demonstrate the glory of God in our

own lives. Second, by helping those who are in trouble or in pain, we can

demonstrate to others the glory of God. Frank Laubach has the great thought

that when Christ, who is the Way, enters into us "we become part of the Way.

God's highway runs straight through us." When we spend ourselves to help

those in trouble, in distress, in pain, in sorrow, in affliction, God is using us as

the highway by which he sends his help into the lives of his people. To help a

fellow-man in need is to manifest the glory of God, for it is to show what God is

like." Practical Christianity is not in seeking for the sin that causes suffering, but

in seeking for the cure of the sufferer. The Pharisees looked for the sin cause,

and this led to condemnation, but Jesus looked for the simple cure, and this led

to compassion.

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4. Matthew Henry wrote, "The period of his opportunity was at hand, and

therefore he would be busy; The night comes when no man can work. Note, The

consideration of our death approaching should quicken us to improve all the

opportunities of life, both for doing and getting good. The night comes, it will

come certainly, may come suddenly, is coming nearer and nearer. We cannot

compute how nigh our sun is, it may go down at noon; nor can we promise

ourselves a twilight between the day of life and the night of death. When the

night comes we cannot work, because the light afforded us to work by is

extinguished; the grave is a land of darkness, and our work cannot be done in

the dark. And, besides, our time allotted us for our work will then have expired;

when our Master tied us to duty he tied us to time too; when night comes, call the

labourers; we must then show our work, and receive according to the things

done. In the world of retribution we are no longer probationers; it is too late to

bid when the inch of candle is dropped. Christ uses this as an argument with

himself to be diligent, though he had no opposition from within to struggle with;

much more need have we to work upon our hearts these and the like

considerations to quicken us."

5. What would you think of a doctor who came upon the scene of a terrible

accident, where injured people were laying on the ground broken and bleeding,

and he did not begin immediately giving his attention to how he could help these

suffering people? What if he began to measure the skid marks, and check the

speedometers in the cars involved, and did all kinds of investigating of the cause

of the accident, but did not come to the aid of the victums? Such is the case with

people who do all kinds of philosophizing about suffering, but do not lift a hand

to actually help the suffering. Jesus was the Great Physician because his first

concern was not with speculation, or with investigation, but with compassion for

the suffering. He acted to heal this man, while others would spend years

speculating about why he was blind.

6. The work of God in the world is to eliminate the defects that come about due

to a fallen world. G. Campbell Morgan put it forcefully when he wrote, "Every

clrippled childl is contrary to the willl of God; every mentally deficient man or

woman is contrary to the will of god; every spiritually inefficient being is

contrary to the will of God." He is saying that it is God's will to do all we can to

eliminate all the defects that hinder people from living a normal life. Thank God

there are doctors all over the world doing just what Jesus did, and they are

finding more and more ways to prevent and cure the defects that cause people to

be born abnormal, or develop abnormally. Much has been done, but there is

alway more to be done, and it is all because it is God's will that it be done.

7. Mike Fogerson gives some historical examples where putting things off led to

the night coming when work could be done no more. He wrote, "Billy Graham

was at a hotel in Seattle, fast asleep when he was awakened with a powerful

burden to pray for Marilyn Monroe. (The next morning his burden was stronger

and he had his assistant call Monroe to set up an appointment.) A Monroe’s

agent made it difficult. She was too busy, she would meet with the Reverend

Graham-sometime. "Not now, maybe two weeks from now."Two weeks were too

15

little too late. She committed suicide.

D.L. Moody was preaching in Chicago on October 8, 1871. He was preaching a

message "What will you do with Jesus?" He concluded his sermon by saying, "I

wish you would seriously consider this subject, for next Sunday we’ll speak

about the cross. Then I’ll ask you, ‘What will you do with Jesus?’" They

concluded the service with a hymn, but the hymn never got completed-the roar

of the fire engines filled the auditorium. The famous Chicago fire of 1871 broke

out that very night and almost wiped the city off the map. That sermon on the

cross never came. Afterward Moody often said, "I have never since dared to give

an audience a week to think of their salvation." It haunted him . How many were

ready? How many were hearing the voice of God, and would have laid their souls

before Christ that evening?"

8. In the year 1269 the Mongal Emperor, Kublai Khan, sent an envoy to Rome

asking for a hundred missionaries to be sent to his capital in order that his

people might be taught a better understanding of Christ, and that the East and

the West might be tied together by religious devotion. All China, Central Asia,

and Russia were under the rule of the Mighty Kublai Khan... But Rome was too

busy. The college of Cardinals was quarreling over which one shoud be Pope,

and political squabbles went on for months. Eventually two Dominican friers

were sent, but it was too late. The church missed the chance of a lifetime to have

impacted half of the world for Christ. They did not work while it was day, and

the night came when they could work no more.

9. Maclaren has a gem of an insight into the word "must" on the lips of Jesus in

this text. He wrote, "There are two kinds of 'musts' in our lives. There is the

unwelcome necessity which grips us with iron and sharpened fangs; the needs-be

which crushes down hopes and dreams and inclinations, and forces the slave to

his reluctant task. And there is the 'must' which has passed into the will, into the

heart, and has moulded the inmost desire to conformity with the obligation

which no more stands over against us as a taskmaster with whip and chain, but

has passed within us and is there an inspiration and a joy. He that can say, as

Jesus Christ in His humanity could, and did say: 'My meat'--the refreshment of

my nature, the necessary sustenance of my being--'is to do the will of my Father';

that man, and that man alone, feels no pressure that is pain from the incumbency

of the necessity that blessedly rules His life. When 'I will' and 'I choose' coincide,

like two of Euclid's triangles atop of one another, line for line and angle for

angle, then comes liberty into the life. He that can say, not with a knitted brow

and an unwilling ducking of his head to the yoke, 'I must do it,' but can say, 'Thy

law is within my heart,' that is the Christlike, the free, the happy man." It is not

the must of I have to do this, but the must of I get to do this that makes doing the

will of God life's greatest pleasure.

10. Great Texts says, "Christ felt this necessity. With Christ it was not, " I may

if I will " ; not, " I can if I like " ; not the mere possibility and

the mere potentiality of work, but an imperious necessity "I

must! He could not help Himself. If we may use such words

concerning One who was none the less Divine that He was human,

He was under restraint ; He was bound ; He was compelled. The

cords which bound Him, however, were the cords of His Deity.

16

They were the cords of love which bound Him who is love. " I

must work." It was because He loved the sons of men so well

that He could not sit still and see them perish. He could not

come down from heaven and stand here robed in our mortal

flesh, and be an impassive, careless, loitering spectator of so much

evil, so much misery. His heart beat high with desire. He

thirsted to be doing good, and His greatest and grandest act,

His sacrifice of Himself, was a baptism with which He had to be

baptized, and He was straitened until it was accomplished.

As Christ s followers, this necessity is ours. " We must

work." Christ associates His disciples with Himself in His Divine

enterprise of mercy. They, too, are commissioned to " destroy the

works of the devil," and the range of their activity must be co

extensive with their Lord s. Physical suffering, and all that

makes for physical suffering unjust conditions of living, insanitary

dwellings, inadequate and misdirected education, harsh and

unequal laws, oppressive social conventions all the perennial

springs of human misery and disgrace are within the sphere of

that redemptive mission which was Christ s in Palestine nearly

two millenniums ago, and is Christ s still, wherever His true

disciples are found."

If you go back and read item 3 under the first verse you will see that compassion

for suffering people led to the development of a vaccine that ended the massive

number of babies being born blind. That is the continuing work of Christ in the

world, and medical missionaries are carrying on this work all over the world in

the name of Jesus who was compelled to heal this man born blind.

GREAT TEXTS OF THE BIBLE, "A Time to Work

We must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh,

when no man can work.—Joh_9:4.

These words were drawn from Jesus Christ by a remarkable question addressed

to Him by His disciples. Our Saviour’s attention had been arrested by the sad

but familiar spectacle of a blind beggar. We may reasonably infer from the

Evangelist’s account that this afflicted man’s case was notorious. He was “blind

from his birth.” Thus he presented to view in its most pathetic because its least

disciplinary shape the very common, but not on that account more tolerable,

phenomenon of physical affliction. This, then, was the occasion of the

remarkable inquiry on the part of Christ’s disciples: “Rabbi, who did sin, this

man, or his parents, that he should be born blind?” From the point of view of

Jewish monotheism, suffering appeared to be in all cases the consequence of sin.

But the difficulty was how to apply this principle to the present case. The only

two alternatives presented to their minds, and indicated by the question of the

disciples, viz. that either his own sin or that of his parents was the cause of his

misfortune, seemed equally inadmissible.

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The context sufficiently explains our Lord’s reply. He does not deny the existence

of sin either in this man or in his parents; but neither does He recognize the

necessity of any moral connection between this individual or family sin and the

blindness with which the unfortunate man was visited. Individual suffering is not

often connected, except in a very general manner, with the collective sin of

humanity. Hence it gives us no right to judge those who suffer, but only furnishes

a summons to fulfil a Divine mission towards them by assisting them. As truly as

evil exists in the world, so truly has God His work on earth; and His work

consists in finding matter for good in evil itself. Hence all the acts by which we

concur in the accomplishment of this Divine purpose are called “the works of

God.” But this word is here applied more specially to acts which bear the seal of

Divine Omnipotence, such as the physical cure of the blind man, and his spiritual

illumination. The call to heal this unhappy one had made itself felt in the Lord’s

heart at the very moment when His eyes beheld him, and it was with this feeling

that He fixed them upon him. Jesus seeks to make His disciples share with Him

the point of view from which He regards suffering, by applying it to His personal

task during His sojourn on earth.

I

We Must Work

1. Christ felt this necessity.—With Christ it was not, “I may if I will”; not, “I can

if I like”; not the mere possibility and the mere potentiality of work, but an

imperious necessity—“I must.” He could not help Himself. If we may use such

words concerning One who was none the less Divine that He was human, He was

under restraint; He was bound; He was compelled. The cords which bound Him,

however, were the cords of His Deity. They were the cords of love which bound

Him who is love. “I must work.” It was because He loved the sons of men so well

that He could not sit still and see them perish. He could not come down from

heaven and stand here robed in our mortal flesh, and be an impassive, careless,

loitering spectator of so much evil, so much misery. His heart beat high with

desire. He thirsted to be doing good, and His greatest and grandest act, His

sacrifice of Himself, was a baptism with which He had to be baptized, and He

was straitened until it was accomplished.

What a friend Necessity is! It stops our standing on one foot; it ends our looking

at our watches, and wondering about three or four things; it moves the previous

question; it says, “This one thing you do!” It is good discipline to conquer

indecision, but it is better for us and for the world, knowing “what must be,” to

be about it. It saves time. Goethe spoke of the “dear must.” Emerson calls a

man’s task his life-preserver. Let us recognize the purpose of God in the

inevitable, and accept it gracefully, whether discipline or duty. Swift adjustment

means peace and power. Necessity will then be but the iron band inside the

golden crown.1 [Note: M. D. Babcock, Thoughts for Every-Day Living, 40.]

2. As Christ’s followers, this necessity is ours.—“We must work.” Christ

associates His disciples with Himself in His Divine enterprise of mercy. They, too,

18

are commissioned to “destroy the works of the devil,” and the range of their

activity must be coextensive with their Lord’s. Physical suffering, and all that

makes for physical suffering—unjust conditions of living, insanitary dwellings,

inadequate and misdirected education, harsh and unequal laws, oppressive social

conventions—all the perennial springs of human misery and disgrace are within

the sphere of that redemptive mission which was Christ’s in Palestine nearly two

millenniums ago, and is Christ’s still, wherever His true disciples are found. Has

He not identified Himself with them, clothing them with the authority of His own

person? “He that heareth you heareth me; and he that rejecteth you rejecteth

me.” “We must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day.” The

exemplary worth of Christ’s conduct follows from this identity of His mission

with ours, and the abiding importance of the Gospel but reflects the conviction of

men that in the life therein recorded they can learn their own practical

obligations.

The work which Christ appeals to us to do is not left to our single-handed

weakness or timidity. We are sustained by the example and the co-operation of a

goodly fellowship, the goodliest and mightiest fellowship that ever banded

together to cheer a fainting soul; no less a fellowship than God and Christ and all

things. “For my Father worketh even until now,” said Jesus—no night for Him—

“and I work,” and “all things,” said His Apostle, “work together.” Was ever

band of workers like this: God, His Son, and all His universe, working for ever,

working together, for good? Should the thought of that magnificent, harmonious

fellowship, whose work is from everlasting to everlasting, marching

triumphantly on through the generations, not brace the weakest will, strengthen

the faintest heart, nerve the slackest hands of men whose day at the longest is

short and rounded with a sleep? So Christ’s appeal is charged with all the forces

of heaven and of earth, when He says, “We”—not I, as the Authorized Version

has it—“we must work the works of him that sent me.” We—for He is not

ashamed to call us brethren; and we, His brethren, must work. The Divine

necessity lies upon men whose hearts can be touched by an appeal of Christ, and

by the weird power of the night that is coming to bring to an end all the work of

the day, be it never so faithful and never so earnest.1 [Note: J. E. McFadyen, The

Divine Pursuit, 155.]

3. God has appointed a work for each and all.—Vain are the complaints so often

made, that we have no distinct work in life appointed for us; that we stand idle

because we have not been called into the vineyard to labour. God has made

duties for us, and placed us in the midst of them, just as He has made light for

the eyes, and air for us to breathe. There is not an action of our life that may not

become an act of worship, if it is consecrated by the love of God in the heart of

the doer. But the common round of our common daily life is full of occasions of

Christian duty. Who is he that stands idle because he is not hired? One it must

be who can find neither poverty, nor ignorance, nor wickedness at his hand; who

cannot influence one person by the Christian tone of his own life; who cannot

sweeten the daily life of his home with kindness; who never comes near a sinner

rushing headlong to his ruin; who cannot even find a child to encourage in

struggling with an evil temper, or a stricken heart to be consoled by a word of

sympathy.

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In the summer vacation of 1856 I remained behind for a few days. A message

came from Royston that there was a German woman dying there who could not

speak English, and was a Catholic. They asked if anybody could go to her from

the College. Dr. Vaughan, who spoke German, at once volunteered to go. He

asked me to go with him, and I drove him to Royston, which was thirteen miles

from the College. In was in the month of July, and I remember it was a very hot

drive. He found the poor woman alive, heard her confession, and gave her the

Last Sacraments. I believe she died the next day. Some forty years afterwards, on

my recalling this to his memory, he said, “Ah yes; I remember it well, and I have

often quoted it as an instance that we never know how anything we learn may be

turned to God’s account. He has His own design in prompting us to acquire, say,

a language, and I have often cited this example of my visit to that poor German

woman as an illustration of this, for it was the only occasion in my whole life that

I ever had any practical need of the German language. I have no doubt that God

inspired me to study German for the sake of that poor woman’s salvation.”2

[Note: Mgr. Fenton, in The Life of Cardinal Vaughan, i. 91.]

Lord, send us forth among Thy fields to work!

Shall we for words and names contending be,

Or lift our garments from the dust we see,

And all the noonday heat and burden shirk?

The fields are white for harvest, shall we stay

To find a bed of roses for the night,

And watch the far-off cloud that comes to sight,

Lest it should burst in showers upon our way?

Fling off, my soul, thy grasping self, and view

With generous ardour all thy brothers’ need;

Fling off thy thoughts of golden ease, and weed

A corner of thy Master’s vineyard too.

The harvest of the world is great indeed,

O Jesus! and the labourers are few.1 [Note: Martha Perry Lowe.]

II

How We must Work

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1. It must he God’s work.—Much has been said in these days as to work. Some of

the most piercing and emphatic voices which the century has heard have made

work the keynote of their message, proclaiming it as at once the end of man’s

being and the gospel of his deliverance. So far, there is no fault to be found with

them, for anything that will wake men and shame men out of idleness must be

good. But, after all, work for the mere work’s sake is a doubtful evangel to

preach. It is true that inactivity has its sins, but it is true that work has its own

sins also. There are those who work till their work carnalizes them, and their

being becomes sense-bound and earth-bound, dense as the clods that they break

in their fields, mechanical as the wheels that they turn in their mills, shrivelled as

the parchments that they study in their office-rooms. No, there is nothing that is

necessarily elevating, nothing that is necessarily purifying, nothing that is

necessarily acceptable, in work. Work may be done that is wrong work; work

that is right may be wrongly done; and the only reception for which the

workman is toiling may be this: “Unfaithful and unprofitable servant, who hath

required these things at thy hand?” But here is a text for the labourer, both

defining the scope of his tasks and ennobling and sanctifying their nature: “I

must work the works of him that sent me.” That is, “What I do, I will do because

God has assigned it, and I will do it, too, because God will therein be glorified,

His character unfolded, His purpose proclaimed, and His gospel adorned among

men.” And with that as our great guiding principle we have all that we need. It

contains the secret of labour’s redemption, it yields the germ and the pledge of

labour’s reward.

It may be questioned whether any work of fiction ever produced so tangible an

effect as the impetus which Uncle Tom’s Cabin gave to the destruction of

American slavery. The author’s account of the matter was characteristically

simple: “I did not write it; God wrote it.”1 [Note: G. W. E. Russell,

Afterthoughts, 70.]

I too could now say to myself: Be no longer a Chaos, but a World, or even

Worldkin. Produce! Produce! Were it but the pitifullest infinitesimal fraction of

a Product, produce it, in God’s name! ’Tis the utmost thou hast in thee: out with

it, then. Up, up! Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy whole might.

Work while it is called To-day; for the Night cometh, wherein no man can

work.2 [Note: Carlyle, Sartor Resartus, bk. ii. ch. x.]

2. To do God’s work we must have received His Spirit.—We cannot do God’s

works unless we have received His Spirit and accepted His will as the law of our

lives so as to have become fellow-workers with Him. It is only those who

surrender their hearts in faith and love to God, only those in whose souls God

savingly works by His Holy Spirit, who can truly labour in God’s service.

Otherwise than through regeneration there is no possibility of becoming one of

His workmen. His works are spiritual works which can be performed only by

spiritual men. If we have not repented of our sins and turned from them to God;

if we have not believed on the Lord Jesus Christ; if we have not come under the

influence of the Holy Spirit; then, no matter how diligently and strenuously we

may toil, or how useful our exertions may seem to ourselves or others, the works

21

we do are not the works which God would have us to do, for they are not done in

dependence on His Spirit.

III

When We must Work

1. Christ’s interpretation of the “day.”—Christ uses the language of urgency. His

Divine mission must be fulfilled in the brief space of His “day” of opportunity, or

not fulfilled at all. We gain a glimpse of our Lord’s view of His own career. He,

like all His brethren, worked under the hard conditions of risk and uncertainty.

His “day” was a short one. The life of Jesus in the world had ended when most

human lives may be said to be but beginning. It is, indeed, true that His earthly

career is but an episode in His warfare against evil, but it is no less true that it is

the supreme episode on which hung the issue of men’s redemption. After the

Passion the conditions of Christ’s life changed; there was no longer any

opportunity for the performance of those works by which, in terms of human

experience, the character of the unseen, unknown Father might be discovered to

human view. The life of Christ constitutes the revelation of God, and that

revelation is adequate and faithful as that life is perfect.

This image partially finds place in the “Sayings of the Jewish Fathers”: R.

Tarphon said, “The day is short, and the task is great, and the workmen are

sluggish, and the reward is much, and the Master of the house is urgent.”

2. The brevity and uncertainty of life.—“The day is short.” When another year

has gone into the dead past beyond our recall for ever, when we look back and

think how rapidly, and, it may be, how unprofitably, it has glided away, the

impression of this truth may be vivid upon us; but we seldom feel it as we ought.

It is not useless admonition that Scripture gives us when it insists so often on

life’s brevity, comparing human existence to the most fleeting things in nature; to

the mist which disappears before the sun, to the cloud driven by the winds, to the

shadows that flit across the landscape, to the smoke that ascends and mingles

with the atmosphere, to the leaf of the forest tree, and to the flower of the field. It

cannot be compared to any of the more stable objects of nature. How many

generations of men has the earth successively borne on her bosom; on how many

generations have the sun and the moon looked down! There is many a tree still

fresh and vigorous, although the hands that planted it have for centuries been

dust. Man is far more fragile even than many of his own works. From the

pyramids of Egypt more than “forty centuries look down upon us”; but where

are the builders?

The day of our life is as uncertain as it is short. It is a day in which there is often

no gradual fading away of the light to warn us that it is drawing near to a close.

It is often with man’s life as with countries in other zones than ours, where night,

instead of climbing gradually up the heavens and giving evidence of its approach

by an ever-deepening twilight, overspreads it at once and envelops all living

creatures in sudden darkness. In the course we have to run there is no point,

however near the one from which we started, where our race may not terminate.

22

In the whole period of life usually allotted to man there is no year, month, week,

day, or even instant, but it may be the last to each individual. There is no truth of

which we are more frequently or strikingly reminded.

Have you measured and mapped out this short life and its possibilities? Do you

know, if you read this, that you cannot read that—that what you lose to-day you

cannot gain to-morrow?1 [Note: Ruskin, Sesame and Lilies (Works, xviii.62).]

It is not merely of the literal shortness of our time, or the possible nearness of

death, that our Lord’s words should set us thinking, when He warns us that we

must work while it is day. If we measure our life by the things we should

accomplish in it, by the character it should attain to, by the purposes that should

be bearing fruit in it, and not by mere lapse of time, we soon come to feel how

very short it is, and the sense of present duty grows imperative. It is thus that the

thoughtful man looks at his life; and he feels that there is no such thing as length

of days which he can without blame live carelessly, because in these careless days

critical opportunities will have slipped away irrecoverably; he will have drifted

in his carelessness past some turning-point which he will not see again, and have

missed the so-called chances that come no more.2 [Note: Bishop Percival,

Sermons at Rugby, 27.]

I have long said: “The night cometh,” etc., but that does not make it right to act

in a hurry. Better not do a thing than do it badly. I must be patient and wait on

God. If it is His Will I should do more He will give me time. I am not serving Him

by blundering.1 [Note: Newman, in Wilfrid Ward’s Life of John Henry Cardinal

Newman, ii. 126.]

Our life is long. Not so, wise Angels say

Who watch us waste it, trembling while they weigh

Against eternity one squandered day.

Our life is long. Not so, the Saints protest,

Filled full of consolation and of rest;

“Short ill, long good, one long unending best.”

Our life is long. Christ’s word sounds different:

“Night cometh; no more work when day is spent.”

Repent and work to-day, work and repent.

23

Lord, make us like Thy Host, who clay nor night

Rest not from adoration, their delight,

Crying, “Holy, Holy, Holy!” in the height.

Lord, make us like Thy Saints, who wait and long

Contented: bound in hope and freed from wrong,

They speed (may be) their vigil with a song.

Lord, make us like Thyself: for thirty-three

Slow years of toil seemed not too long for Thee,

That where Thou art, there Thy Beloved might be.

(1) The need for diligence.—We ought to be misers of our time and

opportunities. If Jesus Christ said, “I must work the works of him that sent me,

while it is day; the night cometh,” some of us ought very specially to say it, and to

feel it, because the hour when we shall have to lay down our tools is coming very

near, and the shadows are lengthening. If you had been in the fields in these

summer evenings during the last few days, you would have seen the haymakers

at work with more and more diligence as the evening drew on darker and

darker. Some of us are at the eleventh hour. Let us fill it with diligent work.2

[Note: A. Maclaren.]

When he was urged to desist and take rest his favourite expression was, “No, I

will never be a loafer. If there are no meetings to be addressed, I will return to

my work in Australia and the Islands.” “You tell me I am working too hard,” he

would say, “but my time to work for Jesus cannot be long now. I only wish I

could press three times the quantity of work for Him into each day, resting on

His promise for the needed help: ‘Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the

end.’ ”1 [Note: John G. Paton, iii. 44.]

(2) Postponement of duty is loss.—Postponement of the obvious duty means

irretrievable loss and inevitable incompleteness when the day is done. Our

Lord’s more immediate meaning would seem to be that the work and the

moment are so adjusted that what is missed at one time cannot be made up at

another. Not only does the day bring its task, but every separate hour has its

appointed portion of the work. So that if the work of the third hour be missed,

there is no time in which to do it. Each subsequent hour brings its own

24

responsibility, and there is no room for any work that does not belong to that

hour. The work of the passing moment must be done in it, or remain for ever

undone. This is a law of life that will be acknowledged the moment it is

mentioned, and yet we are apt to grow strangely indifferent to it. But consider

what it means. The omission of this moment tells upon the work of the next. One

stone is left out, and the wall shakes for the want of it. A word is left out of the

sentence, and the sense of it is thereby obscured. An exercise is skipped in the

lesson, and the examination is rendered unsatisfactory. Christ’s work was

cumulative, and every step in the staircase was fitted in its place. So must it be

with us if we would be prime and perfect workmen.

Sins of commission are the usual punishment for sin a of omission. He that leaves

a duty, may well fear that he will be left to commit a crime.2 [Note: Gurnall.]

I should have said your letter delighted me, but for the news you gave me of

D——’s death.… My dear, it is awful; not that death is awful or even to be

regretted, but I could have borne with more composure the news of the death of

my most intimate friend. Learn from me what I never so fully realized before,

the self-reproach that follows upon the omission of duty. I am most deeply

grieved when I think that D——’s appearance, manners, peculiarities, stood in

my way of doing what I might have done: time after time I have thought of his

real merits, of his honesty, integrity, zeal, conscientiousness, and I have thought,

“Some day, when I have more time, when I am less worried, I will try and see if I

cannot make his solitary life happier, make him less eccentric.” I have felt that it

was hard for him to be condemned to loneliness, to be cheered by scanty

sympathy on his course, which was an honest hard-fought one, because his voice

was loud, and other little matters. I feel that I have weakly disregarded a noble

human soul because it had an unsightly body; and now he has gone, and I cannot

ask his pardon or make amends.1 [Note: Life and Letters of Mandell Creighton,

i. 105.]

“But who art thou, with curious beauty graced,

O woman, stamped with some bright heavenly seal?

Why go thy feet on wings, and in such haste?”

“I am that maid whose secret few may steal,

Called Opportunity. I hasten by

Because my feet are treading on a wheel,

Being more swift to run than birds to fly.

25

And rightly on my feet my wings I wear,

To blind the sight of those who track and spy;

Rightly in front I hold my scattered hair

To veil my face, and down my breast to fall,

Lest men should know my name when I am there;

And leave behind my back no wisp at all

For eager folk to clutch, what time I glide

So near, and turn, and pass beyond recall.”

“Tell me; who is that Figure at thy side?”

“Penitence Mark this well that by decree

Who let me go must keep her for his bride.

And thou hast spent much time in talk with me

Busied with thoughts and fancies vainly grand,

Nor hast remarked, O fool, neither dost see

How lightly I have fled beneath thy hand.”2 [Note: J. E. Flecker, Forty-two

Poems, 28.]

IV

Why We must Cease from Working

1. The coming night.—It was Jesus who assured us that God was the God of the

living, not of the dead; yet it was Jesus who told us that the night was coming. In

the glamour and fretful haste of the day, we too often forget the blackness of the

night into which it is rushing, and thereby lose all the directness and

concentration of aim, which would chase away the terror of the night when it

falls. And yet terror there should be none; for in the beginning God ordained

26

that in every night the moon and the stars should shine, and no night can be very

dark into which Christ the Light has passed. Yet, with all its gracious

possibilities, it is night that awaits us. The longest day dies into night, and though

out of the darkness a new day will be born, yet that darkness is the grave of a

day that is gone.

The greatest of English moralists felt this so strongly, that on the dial of his

watch—ready to catch his eye whenever he looked at it—he had these words

engraved in their original tongue—“For the night cometh.” He thought it fit that

every time he looked to see how time was going on, he might be reminded of the

end of it. He thought there was something he might be the better for

remembering, at the commencement of every engagement, in every company, in

every place, in every occupation; in the bustle of the street when crowds of men

went by; in the quiet chamber over his papers and his books, where the hours

passed on so silently; in the view of regal state, and youthful beauty; still

something worth remembering in that most suggestive truth expressed in the

simple words—“For the night cometh!”1 [Note: A. K. H. Boyd, The Graver

Thoughts of a Country Parson, ii. 255.]

“Work while you have light,” especially while you have the light of morning.

There are few things more wonderful to me than that old people never tell young

ones how precious their youth is. They sometimes sentimentally regret their own

earlier days; sometimes prudently forget them; often foolishly rebuke the young,

often more foolishly indulge, often most foolishly thwart and restrain; but

scarcely ever warn or watch them. Remember, then, that I, at least, have warned

you, that the happiness of your life, and its power, and its part and rank in earth

or in heaven, depend on the way you pass your days now.2 [Note: Ruskin,

Sesame and Lilies (Works, xviii. 37).]

Bishop Whipple tells a story of an old man among the North American Indians

who was confirmed late in life. His rheumatism made kneeling very painful to

him. He said to the Bishop: “I put it off too long. I ought to have done it when my

knees were not rheumatic.”3 [Note: D. Williamson, From Boyhood to Manhood,

172.]

Just on the Borders of Enchanted Land

We linger,—culling here and there some bloom;

From distant gardens sweet and rare perfume

The soft breeze gently wafteth where we stand.

We might have enter’d—you and I, dear Heart!

Lo, the dusk falleth—and ’tis time to part.1 [Note: Una, In Life’s Garden, 3.]

2. Man is immortal till his work is done.—Let us grasp this thought that no good

man dies with his work half done. We may not see its last touch. It may appear to

27

our dim vision to be sunset at noon. But He in whose hand is our time, and from

whom we receive our task, sets His seal and attestation upon the work done in

His name. Sometimes you will hear it said that a good man has died prematurely;

you have even heard it said that Christ died early. By what false standard do we

reach such extraordinary decisions as these? All standards are false that are not

in harmony with this great utterance. “We must work the works of him that sent

me, while it is day.”

Edward Thring, of Uppingham, wrote out this prayer when he was a student at

Cambridge: “O God, give me work till the end of my life, and life till the end of

my work; for Christ’s sake, Amen.”2 [Note: Morning Watch, 1903, p. 10.]

Lord, I read of the two witnesses, And when they shall have finished their

testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war

against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them. They could not be killed

whilst they were doing, but when they had done their work; during their

employment they were invincible. No better armour against the darts of death

than to be busied in Thy service. Why art thou so heavy, O my soul? No malice

of man can antedate my end a minute, whilst my Maker hath any work for me to

do. And when all my daily task is ended, why should I grudge then to go to bed?3

[Note: Thomas Fuller.]

Let me not pass till eve,

Till that day’s fight is done;

What soldier cares to leave

The field until it’s won!

And I have loved my work and fain

Would be deemed worthy of the ranks again.

Let twilight come, then night,

And when the first birds sing

Their matin songs, and light

Wakens each slumbering thing,

Let some one waken me, and set

My feet to steps that lead me upward yet.

28

5While I am in the world, I am the light of the

world."

1. What better way to reveal that I am the light of the world than by opening this

man’s eyes to the light so that he can see for the first time in his life? I cannot let

him remain in darkness, for I am the light of the world and must let this man see

the light I bring to all the world. This man would not only see the light of the sun,

but he would see the light of the Son. As long as he was alive in this world Jesus

had to bring light to people, and he had to heal this blind man, for giving light

was his purpose in life. Even Jesus had a limited time to show forth the love and

grace of God in the world. He had to redeem the time and make every Sabbath

count, for this is when people would be gathered as on no other day.

I am the Light.

I will be kind.

I will end the night,

Of this man born blind.

2. John MacArthur expresses the urgency of Christ this way, "He is still the light

but He is not in the purest sense in the world physically ministering and He says

I've only got so much time as long as I'm in the world I'm the light of the world

and I've got to get at it. The Father put Me here to light this world, now let's go.

You've got a man here who needs light, let's get at him." "I like that. Don't you

like that compulsion of Jesus? If anybody could have sat back and depended on

sovereignty, He could, right? Relax, guys, (snap) it's all in My control. No, let's

work, let's work, we've got a blind man, let's give him light, see. Urgency was in

Jesus Christ's attitude. And He was God and He knew the end from the

beginning and He was in a hurry. And so He says I'm the light of the world as

long as I'm here. You know, He was light physically for this man, wasn't He? He

was going to touch those eyes, those sightless eyes, those motionless eyes and He

was going to open them and recreate their sight and that blind man was about to

behold the light of day. For the first time in his life He'd see the glory of the

dawn. He could look at the sky, the sunset, the irresistible hills of Jerusalem and

the surrounding country and most of all, he could see the valleys and the rivers

and the people that he loved. He was the light physically. But, oh, far beyond

that, Jesus was the light of his soul. Jesus was going to open his soul. And He did.

Over in verse 38 He opened that man's soul. That man said to Him,

"Lord...what?...I believe," and he fell down and worshiped Him."

3. Henry points out that Jesus wasted no time in letting his light shine, but went

right to the task of meeting the need. He wrote, "He did not defer it till he could

do it either more privately, for his greater safety, or more publicly, for his

greater honour, or till the sabbath was past, when it would give less offence.

What good we have opportunity of doing we should do quickly; he that will

29

never do a good work till there is nothing to be objected against it will leave

many a good work for ever undone, Ecclesiastes 11:4, which says, "He that

observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds shall not

reap."

6Having said this, he spit on the ground, made

some mud with the saliva, and put it on the

man's eyes.

1. Charles W. Holt wrote, "It is a fallacy and misunderstanding to think that

God always works according to certain clearly defined laws of logic and

decorum. It is a mistake to think that He cannot deviate from conventional,

acceptable methods that are easily understood by the majority. Scripture, and

life’s experience, show God is not limited by anything. These verses are a case in

point.

Peter’s shadow passing over people in the street and their being healed is

another.

Cloths and handkerchiefs from Paul that brings healing to the sick and drives

out demons is another.

Jesus used several "unconventional" methods to bring healing.

1. He touched a leper

2. He spoke a word while miles away from a sick person

3. He made a mudpack by spitting upon the clay soil. Placing it upon a man’s

eyes he told him to go and wash it off.

4. He forgave a man’s sins to bring healing.

5. He took a dead girl by the hand and raised her from the dead

6. He stood in front of the tomb of Lazarus and called loudly for the dead to

come out.

7. He put his fingers in a deaf man’s ears, spit,touched his tongue.

8. He spit on a blind man’s eyes after leading him out of town.

9. Jesus stood over Peter’s mother-in-law and rebuked the raging fever. Etc., Etc.

1B. Spittle was a known medicine in that day, and Jesus was just using

something that had meaning to the blind man. He could have just said to him to

begin seeing, or “be healed,” but the man was blind and could not see Jesus.

Jesus gave him something he could feel on his eyes, and this gave the man a

physical reason to have faith that something was going to happen. The feel of the

mud would stimulate hope and expectation. In other words, faith needs some

foundation. There has to be some evidence to believe, and this mud was just the

thing that could give the man hope. There was no real healing power in the mud

to heal blindness. It was a miracle of Christ’s power, but he used the mud as a

prop, or what we mean by the use of a sugar pill to arouse hope and faith.

Calvin wrote, “The intention of Christ was, to restore sight to the blind man, but

he commences the operation in a way which appears to be highly absurd; for, by

30

anointing his eyes with clay, he in some respects doubles the blindness Who

would not have thought either that he was mocking the wretched man, or that

he was practicing senseless and absurd fooleries? But in this way he intended to

try the faith and obedience of the blind man, that he might be an example to all.”

2. William Barclay has several paragraphs on the use of spittle in the ancient

world that makes it likely that Jesus used it to give the blind man a sense of being

treated by a doctor. He writes,

"This is one of two miracles in which Jesus is said to have used spittle to effect a

cure. The other is the miracle of the deaf stammerer (Mk.7:33). The use of spittle

seems to us strange and repulsive and unhygienic; but in the ancient world it was

quite common. Spittle, and especially the spittle of some distinguished person,

was believed to possess certain curative qualities. Tacitus tells how, when

Vespasian visited Alexandria, there came to him two men, one with diseased eyes

and one with a diseased hand, who said that they had been advised by their god

to come to him. The man with the diseased eyes wished Vespasian "to moisten

his eye-balls with spittle"; the man with the diseased hand wished Vespasian "to

trample on his hand with the sole of his foot." Vespasian was very unwilling to

do so but was finally persuaded to do as the men asked. "The hand immediately

recovered its power; the blind man saw once more. Both facts are attested to this

day, when falsehood can bring no reward, by those who were present on the

occasion" (Tacitus, Histories 4: 8 1).

Pliny, the famous Roman collector of what was then called scientific information,

has a whole chapter on the use of spittle. He says that it is a sovereign

preservative against the poison of serpents; a protection against epilepsy; that

lichens and leprous spots can be cured by the application of fasting spittle; that

ophthalmia can be cured by anointing the eyes every morning with fasting

spittle; that carcinomata and crick in the neck can be cured by the use of spittle.

Spittle was held to be very effective in averting the evil eye. Perseus tells how the

aunt or the grandmother, who fears the gods and is skilled in averting the evil

eye, will lift the baby from his cradle and "with her middle finger apply the

lustrous spittle to his forehead and slobbering lips." The use of spittle was very

common in the ancient world. To this day, if we burn a finger our first instinct is

to put it into our mouth; and there are many who believe that warts can be cured

by licking them with fasting spittle.

The fact is that Jesus took the methods and customs of his time and used them.

He was a wise physician; he had to gain the confidence of his patient. It was not

that he believed in these things, but he kindled expectation by doing what the

patient would expect a doctor to do. After all, to this day the efficacy of any

medicine or treatment depends at least as much on the patient's faith in it as in

the treatment or the drug itself."

Vincent's N. T. word studies adds this information: "The spittle was regarded as

having a peculiar virtue, not only as a remedy for diseases of the eye, but

generally as a charm, so that it was employed in incantations. Persius, describing

an old crone handling an infant, says: "She takes the babe from the cradle, and

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with her middle finger moistens its forehead and lips with spittle to keep away

the evil eye" ("Sat.," 2, 32, 33). Tacitus relates how one of the common people of

Alexandria importuned Vespasian for a remedy for his blindness, and prayed

him to sprinkle his cheeks and the balls of his eyes with the secretion of his

mouth ("History," 4, 81). Pliny says: "We are to believe that by continually

anointing each morning with fasting saliva (i.e., before eating), inflammations of

the eyes are prevented" ("Natural History," 28, 7)."

3. The Intervarsity Commentary adds this note about the spittle not being used

alone, but by making a sort of clay paste to put on the eye. "But for the healer to

make clay out of spittle and use it for healing is unusual. John emphasizes this

mud in the repeated recounting of the event by the former blind man (9:6, 11, 15)

and also by including it where it is unnecessary (v. 14). K. H. Rengstorf suggests

that this emphasis may be intended to draw a contrast with Aesculapius, but

more likely the allusion is to the biblical picture of God as a potter and human

beings as clay (for example, Job 10:9; Is 45:9; 64:8; Jer 18:6; Sirach 33:13; cf.

Rom 9:21). Irenaeus picks up this allusion when he interprets this story in the

light of the creation of man from the ground (Gen 2:7), for "the work of God [cf.

Jn 9:3] is the fashioning of man" (Against Heresies 5.15.2). Thus, "that which the

artificer, the Word, had omitted to form in the womb, [namely, the blind man's

eyes], He then supplied in public, that the works of God might be manifested in

him" (Irenaeus Against Heresies 5.15.2). In this way Jesus revealed his own

glory, "for no small glory was it that He should be deemed the Architect of the

creation" (Chrysostom In John 56.2). This story illustrates the truth revealed in

John's prologue that Jesus, the Word, is the one through whom all things were

made, having in himself the life that is "the light of men" (1:3-4). While many

modern scholars would agree with C. K. Barrett that Irenaeus's interpretation is

"improbable" (Barrett 1978:358), the association with the prologue actually

makes it likely--all the more so as this story follows directly Jesus' clear

expression of his claim to divinity (8:58)."

4. Jesus was practicing medicine on the Sabbath, and this was a major issue with

the Pharisees who forbid such things. Jesus said by his acts that it is nonsense to

forbid healing and doing acts of kindness on the Sabbath.

5. Jesus used spittle in the healing of a deaf mute (Mark 7:33) and in the healing

of a blind man (Mark 8:23) “The Marcan spittle miracles seem to have been

deliberately omitted by Matthew and Luke. The use of spittle was part of the

primitive tradition about Jesus but left him open to a charge of engaging in

magical practice.” (Raymond Brown, THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO JOHN,

V. I, p. 372)

6. Maclaren wrote, "In the other Gospels He heals sometimes because of the

pleading of the sufferer; sometimes because of the request of compassionate

friends or bystanders; sometimes unasked, because His own heart went out to

those that were in pain and sickness. But in John's Gospel, predominantly we

have the Son of God, who acts throughout as moved by His own deep heart. That

view of Christ reaches its climax in His own profound words about His own

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laying down of His life: 'I came forth from the Father, and am come into the

world. Again, I leave the world and go unto the Father.' So, not so much

influenced by others as deriving motive and impulse and law from Himself, He

moves upon earth a fountain and not a reservoir, the Originator and the

Beginner of the blessings that He bears.

7.

Jesus healed this poor blind man’s eyes

By a method that comes as quite a surprise.

He just used the nearest thing he found,

And spit his saliva out on the ground.

The end result, you would think, was just crud,

But Jesus turned it into eye healing mud.

The blind man could have said, “I feel like a fool.”

But he obeyed what Jesus said, and washed in the pool.

That act of obedience changed his whole being,

For he came home with eyes that were seeing. Glenn Pease

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.

Jesus the Sent One sent him to the pool of sent. He went and reveals that

miracles are only possible by the power and grace of God, but sometimes God

expects acts of cooperation without which the miracle will not happen. He got his

miracle because he went to sent; adding his consent and content to this awesome

event. Had he gone home in disbelief in the nonsense of mud on his eye, he would

have been blind from birth till the day of his death. It is wise when we pray for a

miracle to do all that we know that may be what is expected of us if we really

believe it will happen. In other words, we are to assume that God wants us to

cooperate and do our part in seeing the miracle happen. The spit, the clay, and

the water of Siloam may have had no power to bring about the miracle, but the

obedience of the blind man certainly did.

1. Many times Jesus heals on the spot with no action called for on the part of

those healed, but here he sends him away to wash in the well-known pool. Jesus

is asking this man to demonstrate his faith by action, and the man does just that,

and is greatly rewarded for his faith in action. He comes home seeing. Notice, the

first place he goes is to his home to see for the first time the parents who have

loved him through all these years of blindness. Can you imagine the joyful

response of that whole family? Henry notes, "The evangelist takes notice of the

signification of the name, its being interpreted sent. Christ is often called the sent

of God, the Messenger of the covenant (Malachi 3:1); so that when Christ sent

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him to the pool of Siloam he did in effect send him to himself; for Christ is all in

all to the healing of souls. Christ as a prophet directs us to himself as a priest.

Go, wash in the fountain opened, a fountain of life, not a pool."

2. Calvin points out, “The astonishing goodness of God is displayed in this

respect, that he comes of his own accord to cure the blind man, and does not wait

for his prayers to bestow help. And, indeed, since we are by nature averse to him,

if he do not meet us before we call on him, and anticipate by his mercy us who

are plunged in the forgetfulness of light and life, we are ruined.” Calvin is

pointing out that sometimes God answers prayer even before it is uttered. This is

relevant to a study we will be doing at verse 31 on the prayers of non-believers.

3. John MacArthur has this comment, "...this is the only miracle in the gospels

where Jesus is recorded to have healed a congenitally ill person...that is it's the

only case of somebody born with a disease that Jesus healed. And I believe John

makes a key thing out of this to show that there's no possibility of criticism that

Christ had absolute and total divine miracle power to do things without the

natural processes, without any medical assistance, without any psychological

dramatics, pure creative healing."

4. The Intervarsity Commentary says, "The healing was not effected until the

man obeyed Jesus' command: Go . . . wash in the Pool of Siloam (9:7). Why

didn't Jesus just heal him on the spot, as he did others? Why send a blind man,

in particular, on such a journey? There must be something involved here that

contributes to the revealing of God's work. Perhaps the man's obedience is

significant, revealing that he shares a chief characteristic of Jesus' true disciples.

Like Naaman the Syrian (2 Kings 5:10-14), this man obeys God's command to go

and wash and is healed. Also like Naaman, he is able to bear witness to God as a

result (2 Kings 5:15). But John's parenthetical note that Siloam means Sent (v. 7)

suggests more than the man's obedience is involved. References to Siloah, the

stream associated with the pool of Siloam (Shiloah in Gen 49:10 [NIV margin];

Shiloah in Is 8:6), were seen as messianic (Genesis Rabbah 98:8; Gen 49:10 in

Targum Onqelos; b. Sanhedrin 94b; 98b). This fits with the emphasis in John's

Gospel on Jesus as the one sent from the Father, including such an emphasis in

the immediate context (8:16, 18, 29, 42; 10:36). Thus, both the healing itself and

the details involved point to Jesus as the Messiah. Here is an example of the

triumph of the light over the darkness (1:5)."

5. It is almost shocking how simply this miracle is recorded. He went, he washed,

and he came home seeing. Henry says it reminded him of Caesar saying, "I came,

I saw, I conquered."

6. Bob Deffinbaugh points out, "It is not without significance that Jesus is

recorded to have performed more miracles of restoring sight than of any other

kind of healing (cf. Matthew 9:27-31; 12:22f.; 15:30f.; 21:14; Mark 8:22-26;

10:46-52; Luke 7:21f.)."

7. Maclaren wrote, "He heals at a distance. We have here a parallel with the

story of the nobleman's son at Capernaum, which we have already considered.

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There, too, we have the same phenomenon, the healing power sent forth from the

Master, and operating far away from His corporeal personal presence. This was

a test of faith, as the use of the clay had been a help to faith. Still He works His

healing from afar, because to Him there is neither near nor far. In His divine

ubiquity, that Son of Man, who in His glorified manhood is at the right hand of

God the Father Almighty, is here and everywhere where there are weakness and

suffering that turn to Him; ready to help, ready to bless and heal. 'Lo, I am with

you always, even unto the end of the world.' "

8. “The pool of Siloam was (and still is) a real place in Jerusalem, at the southern

end of the tunnel that King Hezekiah built to bring in water to the city when it

was under seize by the Assyrians. Originally part of King Hezekiah’s tunnel,

Siloam was excavated in 1880, complete with an inscription enabling its

identification.”

9. Ray Stedman tells of his being here, and he wrote, "Last June my youngest

daughter and I were in Jerusalem, and we walked one afternoon from the temple

area down the deep declivity of the Kidron ravine to the pool of Siloam. It was a

hot, dusty afternoon, and there were many obstacles along the way. For a blind

man to traverse this would be very difficult. He would have to ask for directions

and for help, and he might easily fall into some of the crevices alongside the road

on the way down. It was a difficult journey the Lord sent him on, but when he

found his way to the pool, whose meaning is "Sent," then his eyes would be

opened and he would be washed and cleansed." What he is illustrating is that it

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took a great deal of faith on the part of the blind man to make this journey, and

so he believed Jesus was going to heal him, and so it was worth all the effort to

get to this difficult place. In other words, it was a challenge to see if he really

believed, and he did, for he made it. His miracle did not come without a price.

10. W. Hall Harris III in his commentary gives this valuable information that

shows Jesus was fulfilling prophecy in this special miracle. He writes, "In the OT

it is God himself who is associated with the giving of sight to the blind (Exod

4:11, Ps 146:8). In a number of passages in Isaiah (29:18, 35:5, 42:7) it is

considered to be a messianic activity:

Isa 29:17,18—”Is it not yet just a little while before Lebanon will be turned into

a fertile field, and the fertile field will be considered as a forest? And on that day

the deaf shall hear words of a book, and out of their gloom and darkness the eyes

of the blind shall see…”

Isa 35:4-5—”Say to those with anxious heart, ‘Take courage, fear not. Behold,

your God will come with vengeance; the recompense of God will come, but he

will save you.’ Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf

will be unstopped.”

Isa 42:6,7—”I am the LORD, I have called you in righteousness, I will also hold

you by the hand and watch over you, and I will appoint you as a covenant to the

people, as a light to the nations, to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from

the dungeon, and those who dwell in darkness from the prison.”

It is in fulfillment of these prophecies that Jesus gives sight to the blind. As the

Light of the world he has defeated the darkness (cf. 1:5). Thus the miracle

recorded here has significance for John as one of the seven “sign-miracles”

which he employs to point to Jesus’ identity and messiahship. Because light and

darkness is such an important theme in the Fourth Gospel, the imagery here is

particularly significant."

8His neighbors and those who had formerly

seen him begging asked, "Isn't this the same

man who used to sit and beg?"

1. This blind man was a regular part of the environment, for he sat and begged

for a living for many years. It was the only occupation he could do, and so a good

many people were aware of who he was, for they had, no doubt, thrown a coin or

two into his lap. They are mystified now, for he is not sitting and begging but

walking around as a normal seeing man. He was a perfect man to receive this

miracle, for he had a place in the community that many people knew of, and so

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many would be touched by this miracle. He would be the talk of the town.

PINK 8-23, "We begin with our usual Analysis of the passage which is to be

before us:—

1. The uncertainty of the neighbors: verses 8, 9.

2. Their questioning of the beggar: verse 10.

3. The beggar’s answers: verses 11, 12.

4. The Pharisees and the Sabbath: verses 13, 14.

5. The beggar before the Pharisees: verses 15-17.

6. The skepticism of the Jews: verse 18.

7. The beggar’s parents interrogated: verses 19-23.

In our last chapter we pointed out how that the opening verses of John 9 supply

us with a blessed illustration of the outflow of sovereign grace toward an elect

sinner. Every detail in the picture contributes to its beauty and accuracy. Upon

the dark background of the Jews’ hatred of Christ (chapter 8) we are now shown

the Savior ministering to one who strictly portrays the spiritual condition of each

of God’s elect when the Lord begins His distinguishing work of mercy upon him.

Seven things are told us about the object of the Redeemer’s compassion:

First, he was found outside the Temple, portraying the fact that, in his natural

‘condition, the elect sinner is alienated from God. Second, he was blind, and

therefore unable to see the Savior when He approached him. Third, he had been

blind from birth: so, too, is the sinner—"estranged from the womb" (Ps. 58:3).

Fourth, he was therefore quite beyond the aid of man: helpless and hopeless

unless God intervened. Fifth, he was a beggar (verse 8), unable to purchase any

remedy if remedy there was; completely dependent upon charity. Sixth, he made

no appeal to the Savior and uttered no cry for mercy; such is our condition

before Divine grace begins to work within us. Seventh, the reasoning of the

disciples (verse 2) illustrates the sad fact that no human eye pities the sinner in

his spiritual wretchedness.

Our Lord’s dealings with this poor fellow shadow forth His gracious work in us

today. Note, again, seven things, in connection with Christ and the blind beggar.

First, He looked in tender pity upon the one who so sorely needed His healing

touch. Second, He declared that this man had been created to the end that the

power and grace of God might be manifested in him (verse 3). Third, He

intimated that necessity was laid upon Him (verse 4): the eternal counsels of

grace "must" be accomplished in the one singled out by Divine favor. Fourth, He

announced Himself as the One who had power to communicate light to those in

darkness (verse 5). Fifth, He pressed upon the blind beggar his desperate need by

emphasizing his sad condition (verse 6). Sixth, He pointed him to the means of

blessing and put his faith to the test (verse 7). Seventh, the beggar obeyed, and in

his obedience obtained evidence that a miracle of mercy had been wrought upon

him. Each of these seven things has their counterpart in the realm of grace today.

As we follow the Divine narrative and note the experiences of the blind beggar

after he had received his sight, we shall find that it continues to mirror forth that

which has its analogy in the spiritual history of those who have been

apprehended by Christ. What is before us here in John 9 is something more than

an incident that happened in the long ago—it accurately depicts what is

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transpiring in our own day. The more the believer studies this passage in the

light of his own spiritual history, the more will he see how perfectly this

narrative describes his own experiences.

"The neighbors therefore, and they which before had seen him that he was blind,

said, Is not this he that sat and begged?" (John 9:8). When a genuine work of

grace has been wrought in a soul it is impossible to conceal it from our neighbors

and acquaintances. At first they will talk among themselves and discuss with a

good deal of curiosity and speculation what has happened. The unsaved are

always skeptical of God’s miracles. When one of their fellows is saved, they

cannot deny that a radical change has taken place, though the nature of it they

are completely at a loss to explain. They know not that the manifestation of

Christ in the outward life of a quickened soul is due to Christ now dwelling

within. Yet, even the unbelieving world is compelled to take note and indirectly

acknowledge that regeneration is a real thing. Ah! dear reader, if the Lord Jesus

has lain His wondrous hand on you, then those with whom you come into daily

contact will recognize the fact. "They will see that it is not with thee as it used to

be—that a real change has passed upon thee—that the tempers and lusts, habits

and influences which once ruled thee with despotic power, now rule thee no

longer—that though evil may occasionally break out, it does not habitually bear

sway—that though it dwells within it does not reign—though it plagues it does

not govern."

"Some said, This is he: others said, He is like him: but he said, I am he" (John

9:9). How marvellously accurate is this line in the picture! When one who is dead

in trespasses and sins has been quickened into newness of life he becomes a new

creature in Christ, but the old man still remains. Not yet has he been delivered

from this body of death; for that, he must await the return of our Lord. In the

one who has been born again there are, then, two natures: the old is not

destroyed, but a new has been imparted. This is plainly foreshadowed in the

verse before us: some recognized the one they had known before his eyes were

opened; others saw a different personality. It is this which is so puzzling in

connection with regeneration. The individual is still the same, but a new

principle and element have come into his life.

"Therefore said they unto him, How were thine eyes opened?" (John 9:10). How

true to life again! The one who has found mercy with the Lord is now put to the

proof: his faith, his loyalty, his courage must be tested. It is not long before the

quickened soul discovers that he is living in a world that is unfriendly toward

him. At first God may not permit that unfriendliness to take on a very aggressive

form, for He deals very tenderly with the babes in His family. But as they grow

in grace and become strong in the Lord and in the power of His might, He

suffers them to be tested more severely and no longer shields them from the

fiercer assaults of their great enemy. Nevertheless, testing they must have from

the beginning, for it is thus that faith is developed by casting us upon the Lord

and perfecting our weakness in His strength.

"Therefore said they unto him, How were thine eyes opened?" Here was an

opportunity afforded this one who had so wondrously received his sight to bear

witness to His gracious Benefactor. To confess Christ, to tell of what great things

the Lord hath done for him, is the first duty of the newly saved soul, and the

promise is, "Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of man

also confess before the angels of God" (Luke 12:8). But this is the last thing

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which the world appreciates or desires: that blessed Name which is above every

name is an offense to them. It is striking to observe how the neighbors of the

beggar framed their question: "How were thine eyes opened?" not "Who opened

thine eyes?" They wished to satisfy their curiosity, but they had no desire to hear

about Christ!

"He answered and said, A man that is called Jesus made clay, and anointed mine

eyes, and said unto me, Go to the pool of Siloam, and wash: and I went and

washed, and I received sight" (John 9:11). The witness borne by this man was

simple and honest. As yet he did not have much light, but he was faithful to the

light that he did have; and that is the way to obtain more. He did not speculate

nor philosophize, but gave a straightforward account of what the Lord had done

to him. Two things in this man’s confession should be noted as accurately

illustrating the witness of a newly saved soul today. First, it was the work of

Christ rather than His person which had most impressed him; it was what Christ

had done, rather than who He was that was emphasized in his testimony. It is so

with us. The first thing we grasp is that it is the Cross-work of the Lord Jesus,

His sacrificial death which put away our sins; the infinite value of His person we

learn later, as the Spirit unfolds it to us through the Word. Second, in connection

with the person of Christ it was His humanity, not His Deity that this man spoke

of. And was it not so with us? "A man that is called Jesus"—was it not that

aspect of His blessed person which first filled our vision! "A man that is called

Jesus" speaks of His lowliness and humiliation. Later, as we study the Scriptures

and grow in the knowledge of the Lord, we discover that the man Christ Jesus is

none other than the Son of God.

"He answered and said, A man that is called Jesus made clay, and anointed mine

eyes, and said unto me, Go to the pool of Siloam, and wash: and I went and

washed, and I received sight." That precious name of "Jesus" was the most

hated of all to those Jews; yet did the beggar boldly confess it. "It would

manifestly have served the poor man’s worldly interest to cushion the truth as to

what had been done for him. He might have enjoyed the benefit of the work of

Christ, and yet avoided the rough path of testimony for His name in the face of

the world’s hostility. He might have enjoyed his eyesight, and, at the same time,

retained his place within the pale of respectable religious profession. He might

have reaped the fruit of Christ’s work and yet escaped the reproach of

confessing His name.

"How often is this the case! Alas, how often! Thousands are very well pleased to

hear of what Jesus has done; but they do not want to be identified with His

outcast and rejected Name. In other words, to use a modem and very popular

phrase, ‘They want to make the best of both worlds’—a sentiment from which

every true-hearted lover of Christ must shrink with abhorrence—an idea of

which genuine faith is wholly ignorant. It is obvious that the subject of our

narrative knew nothing of any such maxim. He had had his eyes opened, and he

could not but speak of it, and tell who did it, and how it was done. He was an

honest man. He had no mixed motives. No sinister object, no undercurrent.

Happy for him? (C.H.M.).

"He answered and said, A man that is called Jesus made clay, and anointed mine

eyes, and said unto me, Go to the pool of Siloam, and wash." There is one little

detail here which strikingly evidences the truthfulness of this narrative, and that

is one little omission in this man’s description of what the Savior had done to

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him. It is to be noted that the beggar made no reference to Christ spitting on the

ground and making clay of the spittle. Being blind he could not see what the

Lord did, though he could feel what He applied! It is in just such little

undesigned coincidences, such artless touches, as this, that makes the more

apparent the genuineness of these Divine narratives.

"Then said they unto him, Where is he? He said, I know not" (John 9:12).

Equally commendable was the modesty of this man here. He acted up to the light

that he had, but he did not go beyond it. He pretended not to possess a

knowledge not yet his. O that we were all as simple and honest. When the

neighbors enquired, "Is not this he that sat and begged?", he answered, "I am

he"—though it is most unseemly for a Christian to advertise the sins of his

unregenerate days, yet it is equally wrong for him to deny what he then was

when plainly asked. Next, they had asked, "How were thine eyes opened?", and

he unhesitatingly told them, not forgetting to boldly confess the name of his

Benefactor. Now they said, "Where is he?", and he frankly replied, "I know

not." The babe in Christ is guileless and hesitates not to acknowledge that he is

ignorant of much. But it is sad to observe how pride so often comes in and

destroys this simplicity and honesty. Christian reader, and especially the babe in

Christ, hesitate not to avow your ignorance; when asked a question that you

cannot answer, honestly reply, "I know not." Feign not a knowledge you do not

possess, and have not recourse to speculation.

"They brought to the Pharisees him that aforetime was blind" (John 9:13).

"Now the former blind beggar was to become an object of special notice by the

Pharisees. Very likely many of them had passed him unheeded. A blind beggar!

Which of them would bestow a thought on him whose condition they regarded as

an evidence that he was born in sin? But the beggar, no longer blind, was quite a

different matter. Were they anxious to learn of the favor he had received in

order to honor his Benefactor, or to solicit in their turn favors from Him? Quite

the contrary. Their efforts were directed to discredit the miracle as being

wrought by One sent from God. He who had shortly before affirmed of Himself

in the Temple court, that He was God, had now opened that man’s eyes. The

insult to the Divine Majesty, as the Jews regarded it, in asserting His Deity, was

followed by this miracle, of which the beggar in the Temple precincts was the

subject. To discredit the Lord was their purpose. He was a Sabbath-breaker they

declared; and therefore that miracle must be disowned as being any display of

almighty power and benevolence" (C. E. Stuart).

"They brought to the Pharisees him that aforetime was blind." This was a much

more severe trial for him than what he had just passed through at the hands of

his neighbors. It was a real test of his faith. The opposition of the Pharisees

against the Lord, and their desire to get rid of Him were well known: and their

determination to excommunicate any one who confessed Him as the Christ was

no secret (see verse 22). To face them, then, was indeed an ordeal. Alas that this

part of the history is being repeated today. Repeated it certainly is, for the ones

who will treat worst the young believer are not open infidels and atheists, but

those who are loudest in their religious professions. These Pharisees have many

successors: their tribe is far from being extinct, and their descendants will be

found occupying the same position of religious leadership as did their fathers of

old.

"And it was the Sabbath day when Jesus made the clay, and opened his eyes"

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(John 9:14). There are two observations which we would make on this verse.

First, our Lord here teaches us that the words of the fourth commandment "In it

[the Sabbath] thou shalt not do any work," are not to be taken absolutely, that is,

without any modification. By His own example He has shown us that works of

necessity and also works of mercy are permissible. This 14th verse therefore

reflects the glory of Christ. It was the Sabbath day: how was He occupied? First,

(and note the order) He had gone to the Temple, there to minister God’s Word;

second, now He is seen ministering in mercy to one in need. Perfect example has

He left us.

In the next place, we would call attention to the fact that our Lord knew full well

that His performing of this miracle on the Sabbath would give offense to His

enemies. He proceeded to its execution, nevertheless. We have another

illustration of the same principle in Mark 7:2: "When they saw some of his

disciples eat bread with defiled, that is to say, with unwashen hands, they found

fault." Though rendering perfect obedience to all the laws of God, Christ paid no

regard to the commandments of men. Here too He has left us a perfect example.

Let not the believer be brought into bondage by heeding the mandates of

religious legislators, when their rules and regulations have no support from the

Holy Scriptures.

"Then again the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. He said

unto them, He put clay upon mine eyes, and i washed, and do see" (John 9:15).

This was an honest effort on the part of these Pharisees to investigate the

teaching of that blessed One whose voice they had recently heard and whose

power had now been so signally displayed. They—or the influential among them

at least, for in this Gospel "the Jews" ever refer to the religious leaders or their

agents—had already agreed that if any did confess that Jesus was the Christ, he

should be put out of the synagogue (see verse 22). Thus had they deliberately

closed their eyes against the truth, and therefore it was impossible that they

should now discern it, blinded by prejudice as they were. Their object here was

twofold: to discredit the miracle, and to intimidate the one who had been the

subject of it. Note the form of their question. They, too, asked the beggar how he

had received his sight, not who was the one who had so graciously blest him.

"He said unto them, He put clay upon mine eyes, and I washed, and do see." The

enlightened beggar was not to be cowed. He had returned a straightforward

answer to the inquiries of his neighbors, he is equally honest and bold now

before the open enemies of Christ. His faithful testimony here teaches us an

important lesson. Behind his human interrogators it is not difficult to discern the

great Enemy of souls. Satan it is who hurls the fiery darts, even though he

employs religious professors as his instruments. But they fall powerless upon the

shield of faith, and it is this which is illustrated here. One may be the veriest

babe in Christ, but so long as he walks according to the measure of light which

God has granted, the Devil is powerless to harm him. It is when we quench that

light, or when we are unfaithful to Christ, that we become powerless, and fall an

easy prey to the Enemy. But the one before us was acting up to the light that he

had, therefore the lion roared in vain against him.

"Therefore said some of the Pharisees, This man is not of God, because he

keepeth not the Sabbath day" (John 9:16). A striking contrast is this from what

has just been before us. These Pharisees had turned their backs upon the Light,

and therefore was their darkness now even more profound. Devoid of spiritual

41

discernment they were altogether incapable of determining what was a right use

and lawful employment of the Sabbath and what was not. They understood not

that "The sabbath was made for man" (Mark 2:27), that is, for the benefit of his

soul and the good of his body. True, the day which God blest at the beginning

was to be kept holy, but it was never intended to bar out works of necessity and

works of mercy, as they should have known from the Old Testament Scriptures.

In thus finding fault with Christ because He had opened the eyes of this blind

beggar on the Sabbath day, they did but expose their ignorance and exhibit their

spiritual blindness.

"Others said, How can a man that is a sinner do such miracles? And there was a

division among them" (John 9:16). We wonder if one of those who spoke up thus

was Nicodemus! The argument used here is strictly parallel with the words of

that "Master in Israel" which we find in John 3:1, 2. That we are next told,

"And there was a division among them" shows that the second speakers held

their ground and refused to side-in with the open enemies of our Lord. On this

verse the Puritan Bullinger remarked, "All divisions are not necessarily evil, nor

all concord and unity necessarily good"!

"They say unto the blind man again, What sayest thou of him, that he hath

opened thine eyes?" (John 9:17). The Devil is powerless in his efforts to gain an

advantage over the sheep of Christ. Repulsed for the moment by the unexpected

friendliness toward Christ on the part of some of the Pharisees, the Enemy

turned his attention once more to the beggar: "They say unto the blind man

again": note the frequency with which this word is used in this passage—verses

15, 17, 24, 26. The Devil’s perseverance frequently puts our instability to shame.

"What sayest thou of him, that he hath opened thine eyes?" A searching

question was this. The faith of the beggar was now openly challenged: he must

now either confess or deny his Benefactor. But he did not flinch or dissemble.

Boldly he answered, "He is a prophet." Divine grace did not fail him in the hour

of need, but enabled him to stand firm and witness a good confession. Blessed be

His name, the grace of God is as sufficient for the youngest and feeblest as for the

most mature and established.

"He said. He is a prophet" (John 9:17). There is a decided advance here. When

answering his neighbors, the beggar simply referred to Christ as, "A man that is

called Jesus" (verse 11); but now he owns Him as One whose word is Divine, for

a "prophet" was a mouthpiece of God. This was most blessed. At first he had

been occupied solely with the work of Christ, now he is beginning to discern the

glory of His person; increased intelligence was his. Nor is God arbitrary in the

bestowment of this. When the believer walks faithfully according to the light

which he has, more is given to him. It was so here; it is so now. This is the

meaning of that verse which has perplexed so many: "Take heed therefore how

ye hear: for whosoever hath, to him shall be given; and whosoever hath not, from

him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have" (Luke 8:18): the

reference here being to light used and unused-note the "therefore" which looks

back to verse 16. In Matthew’s account it reads, "For whosoever hath, to him

shall be given, and he shall have more abundance." A striking illustration of this

is furnished in John 9. Light the beggar now had; and that light he let shine

forth, consequently more was given to him; later, we shall see how a more

abundance" was vouchsafed to him.

"He said, He is a prophet." This is not the first time we have had Christ owned

42

as "prophet" in this Gospel. In John 4:19 we read that the woman of Samaria

said to the Savior at the well, "I perceive that thou art a prophet." In John 6:14

we are told, "Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did,

said, This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world." Once

more, in John 7:40 we read, "Many of the people therefore, when they heard this

saying, said, Of a truth this is the prophet." These references are in striking

accord with the character and theme of this fourth Gospel. A prophet was the

mouthpiece of God, and the great purpose of John’s Gospel, as intimated in its

opening verse, is to portray the Lord Jesus as "the Word"!

"But the Jews did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind, and

received his sight, until they called the parents of him that had received his

sight" (John 9:18). How skeptical are the unregenerate! "Children in whom is no

faith (Deut. 32:20) is what the Scriptures term them. A wonderful miracle had

been performed, but these Jews were determined not to believe it. The simple but

emphatic testimony of the one on whom it had been wrought went for nothing.

What a lesson is this for the young convert. Marvelling at what the Savior has so

graciously done for and in him, anxious that others should know Him for

themselves, he goes forth testifying of His grace and power. Full of zeal and hope,

he expects that it will be a simple matter to convince others of the reality of what

the Lord has clone for him. Ah! it will not be long before his bright expectations

meet with disappointment. He will soon discover something of that dreadful and

inveterate unbelief which fills the hearts of his unsaved fellows. He must be

shown that he has no power to convince them; that nothing but a miracle of

mercy, the putting forth of invincible power by God Himself, is sufficient to

overcome the enmity of the carnal mind.

"And they asked them, saying, Is this your son, who ye say was born blind? how

then doth he now see?" (John 9:19). This was a desperate move. They had been

unable to intimidate the one who had been dealt with so graciously by Christ.

They were unable to meet the arguments which had been made by some of the

more friendly Pharisees. They now decide to summon the beggar’s parents. It

was their last hope. If they could succeed in getting them to deny that their son

had been born blind, the miracle would be discredited. With this object in view

they arraign the parents. And Satan still seeks to discredit the witness of the

young Christian by getting his relatives to testify against him! This is an oft-used

device of his. Let us daily seek grace from God that we may so act in the home

that those nearest to us will have no just ground for condemning our profession.

"His parents answered them and said, We know that this is our son, and that he

was born blind: But by what means he now seeth, we know not; or who hath

opened his eyes, we know not: he is of age; ask him: he shall speak for himself"

(John 9:20, 21). How this serves to expose the folly of a wish we have often heard

expressed. People say, "O that I had lived in Palestine during the days of

Christ’s public ministry; it had been so much easier to have believed in Him!"

They suppose that if only they had witnessed some of the wonderful works of our

Lord, unbelief had been impossible. How little such people know about the real

nature and seat of unbelief; and how little acquainted must they be with the four

Gospels. These plainly record the fact (making no effort at all either to conceal or

excuse it) that again and again the Lord Jesus put forth His supernatural power,

producing the most amazing effects, and yet the great majority of those who

stood by were nothing more than temporarily impressed. It was so here in the

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passage before us. Even the parents of this man born blind believed not on

Christ. They were evidently afraid of their inquisitors; and yet their answer

nonplussed the Pharisees.

"These words spake his parents, because they feared the Jews" (John 9:22).

They represented a large class of religious professors who surround us on every

side today—in such bondage are men and women, otherwise intelligent, to

religious leaders and authorities. How true it is that "the fear of man bringeth a

snare." The only ones who are fearless before men are those who truly fear God.

This is one of our daily needs: to cry earnestly unto the Lord that He will put His

"fear" upon us. "These words spake his parents, because they feared the Jews:

for the Jews had agreed already, that if any man did confess that he was Christ,

he should be put out of the synagogue" (John 9:22). Mark here the desperate

lengths to which prejudice will carry men. They were determined not to believe.

They had made up their minds that no evidence should change their opinions,

that no testimony should have any weight with them. It reminds us very much of

what we read of in Acts 7. At the close of Stephen’s address we read that his

enemies "stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord" (verse 57). This

is just what these Pharisees did, and it is what many are doing today. And this is

the most dangerous attitude a sinner can assume. So long as a man is honest and

open-minded, there is hope for him, no matter how ignorant or vicious he may

be. But when a man has deliberately turned his back upon the truth, and refuses

to be influenced by any evidence, it is very rare indeed that such an one is ever

brought into the light.

"Therefore said his parents, He is of age; ask him" (John 9:23). Typically, this

tells us that the young and tried believer must not look to man for help; his

resources must be in God alone. This man might well have expected his parents

to be filled with gratitude at their son’s eyes being opened, that they would

perceive how God had wrought a miracle of mercy upon him, and that they

would readily stand by and corroborate his witness before this unfriendly

tribunal. But little help did he receive from them. The onus was thrown back

upon himself. And this line in the picture is not without its due significance. The

young believer might well expect his loved ones to appreciate and rejoice over the

blessed change they must see in him; but oftentimes they are quite indifferent if

not openly antagonistic. So too with our fellow-Christians. If we look to them for

help when we get in a tight place, they will generally fail us. And it is perhaps

well that it should be so. Anything that really casts us upon God Himself is a

blessing, even though it be disguised and appear to us a calamity at the time. Let

us learn then to "have no confidence in the flesh" (Phil. 3:3), but let our

expectation be in the Lord, who will fail us not.

9Some claimed that he was.

Others said, "No, he only looks like him."

But he himself insisted, "I am the man."

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1. People can never agree on anything, and so here you have two sides to the

issue of is this really the blind man we have seen for years? There has to be two

sides to every issue it seems, for some know this is the man, for they have paid

attention to him over the years. Others are not sure, for they never really paid

attention and got to know him as a person. They felt it could not be the same

man, for he was blind from birth and nobody that is blind from birth ever sees

again, and this guy is seeing. How funny is this scene? The man himself has to get

into the argument and insist that he is the guy that has been sitting and begging

for many years. “I am that man,” he shouts to the skeptics. “I ought to know who

I am, and I am the man.” It is a hurorous scene to see this man trying to convince

others that he is really the man who was blind. He was fighting to prove his

identity. The skeptics say, “You have got to be kidding. How can you be the man

when you are not a blind man?” We don’t know all that went on before all the

people were convinced, and maybe some went home and never did believe he was

the same man.

10"How then were your eyes opened?" they

demanded.

1. The believers in the crowd asked him how it could be that he now sees when he

was always blind from birth? They were more than just curious, for they

demanded to know how this miracle happened, for it was beyond anything they

ever saw, or even heard about.

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."

1. He was a man of few words, for he told the whole story of his marvelous

miracle in three sentences, but he had all the basic information that anyone could

ask for. He had the who, the what, the where, and the how.

12"Where is this man?" they asked him.

"I don't know," he said.

45

He never went back to Jesus, but went on home, and had no idea where Jesus

went after he put the mud on him and sent him to the pool. It was quite a trip for

him, and he did not know what happened to Jesus in the meantime. This could

have been several hours from the time of the mud being applied to the time when

he would be seeing.

The Pharisees Investigate the Healing

13They brought to the Pharisees the man who

had been blind.

1. This man is seeing for the first time in his life, and not all that he is seeing this

first day is beautiful. He is going to see pride and arrogance, and unbelievable

blindness in the leaders of his people. He is going to see to what lengths men of

power will go to in order to reject what they do not want to be. He is going to see

hatred for a man who does only good, and who bring light and love to others. He

is going to see just how ugly man can be, and so his first day of sight will be far

from a pleasant one, for he has to see the Pharisees at their worst.

14Now the day on which Jesus had made the

mud and opened the man's eyes was a Sabbath.

1. Calvin has some strong language about why Jesus deliberately chose to do

miracles on the Sabbath, and thereby provoke the Pharisees. He wrote, “Now it

was the Sabbath. Christ purposely selected the Sabbath-day, which must have

given ground of offense to the Jews. He had already found, in the case of the

paralytic, that this work was liable to slander. Why then does he not avoid the

offense -- which he could easily have done -- but because the defense malignantly

undertaken by men would tend to magnify the power of God? The Sabbath-day

serves as a whetstone to sharpen them, to inquire more eagerly into the whole

matter. And yet what advantage do they reap from a careful and earnest

examination of the question but this, that the truth of the Gospel shines more

brightly? We are taught by this example that, if we would follow Christ, we must

excite the wrath of the enemies of the Gospel; and that they who endeavor to

effect a compromise between the world and Christ, so as to condemn every kind

of offenses, are altogether mad, since Christ, on the contrary, knowingly and

deliberately provoked wicked men. We ought to attend, therefore, to the rule

which he lays down, that they who are blind, and leaders of the blind,

(Matthew15:14,) ought to be disregarded.”

2. Jesus was not ignorant of the laws of the Sabbath that the Pharisees treasured

so much, and so his actions here are a direct rejection of their whole system of

46

legalism.

Barclay gives us this information on the laws of that time.

"(i) By making clay he had been guilty of working on the Sabbath when even the

simplest acts constituted work. Here are some of the things which were

forbidden on the Sabbath. "A man may not fill a dish with oil and put it beside a

lamp and put the end of the wick in it." "If a man extinguishes a lamp on the

Sabbath to spare the lamp or the oil or the wick, he is culpable." "A man may

not go out on the Sabbath with sandals shod with nails." (The weight of the nails

would have constituted a burden, and to carry a burden was to break the

Sabbath.) A man might not cut his finger nails or pull out a hair of his head or

his beard. Obviously in the eyes of such a law to make clay was to work and so to

break the Sabbath.

(ii) It was forbidden to heal on the Sabbath. Medical attention could be given

only if life was in actual danger. Even then it must be only such as to keep the

patient from getting worse, not to make him any better. For instance, a man with

toothache might not suck vinegar through his teeth. It was forbidden to set a

broken limb. "If a man's hand or foot is dislocated he may not pour cold water

over it." Clearly the man who was born blind was in no danger of his life;

therefore Jesus broke the Sabbath when he healed him.

(iii) It was quite definitely laid down: "As to fasting spittle, it is not lawful to put

it so much as upon the eyelids."

15Therefore the Pharisees also asked him how

he had received his sight. "He put mud on my

eyes," the man replied, "and I washed, and now

I see."

1. Now his story is even shorter than before, and he has it boiled down to one

sentence. It was the greatest experience of his life, and he had it summed up in

one sentence. Some people would have had paragraphs of detail, but he was truly

a man of few words.

16Some 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. 47

1. Here we have another controversy with two sides. He cannot be from God for

he does not keep the Sabbath says one side. The others side counters with, how

can someone not from God do things that only God can do? They could not get

everyone on the same page, for there were too many questions for a simple

answer. The doubters had their simple answer: if a man does not keep the

Sabbath laws in the way we interpret them, he has to be an enemy of God. In

other words, those who disagree with us are disagreeing with God. They then

become the standard by which all others are judged. People tend to do this, and

are not open to the possibility that they might be wrong. It is wise to always keep

an open mind to exceptions to your legalistic rules. The other side realized that it

is hard to conclude that a sinner could do such a miraculous thing. They were

open to the possibility that Jesus was from God.

2 Calvin wrote, “They bring to the Pharisees. The following narrative shows that

wicked men are so far from profiting by the works of God, that, the

more they are urged by their power, so much the more are they

constrained to pour out the venom which dwells within their breasts.

The restoration of sight to the blind man ought undoubtedly to have

softened even hearts of stone; or, at least, the Pharisees ought to

have been struck with the novelty and greatness of the miracle, so as

to remain in doubt for a short time, until they inquired if it were a

divine work; but their hatred of Christ drives them to such stupidity,

that they instantly condemn what they are told that he has done.”

3. Here we have something of a comedy, for we have blind Pharisees trying to

figure out how a man born blind has come to be able to see. They have no clue,

except the obvious one that Jesus is who he claims to be, and can give sight to the

blind because he is the Son of God. Even among these blind guides of the people

you have some who see the folly of making Jesus look all bad, for he is able to do

what no other man has ever done. It is a dilema for these leaders. Some are

stubbornly blind, and others are seeing slightly, but none are willing to accept

the evidence as sufficient to prove that Jesus is from God. They have been

smacked in the face with a miracle beyond any other, and yet they cannot make

up their mind if it is God at work in him. This is comedy because it is so

ridiculous for learned men to be acting so stupid. They were so blind that even

Jesus could not cure it with such radical evidence of God's power.

4. Edward Markquart wrote, "Some people are forever “the legalists.” Jesus is

not from God? Why? He doesn’t obey the laws that we think are important. He

does not fit our understanding, our perceptions, our expectations of what a

genuine man of God is. Jesus was not from God. Why? He didn’t observe the

proper religious rules. This narrow logic proves mixed up the Pharisees were. As

one Biblical scholar said, “They were obsessed with the observances of the law.”

They were infatuated with the intricacies of religious rituals. They were

passionate about the particulars of little details of the religious law. For some

people, that is what it means to be religious (keep the religious rules and

regulations) and that is what it meant for the Jews/Pharisees to be “good, strict

Jews.”

48

5. Intervarsity Commentary says, "The Pharisees face a dilemma for Jesus'

sabbath breaking suggests he is not of God whereas his extraordinary power to

heal suggests he is of God. Some of the Pharisees ask, How can a sinner do such

miraculous signs? (v. 16). The plural, signs, indicates a larger familiarity with

Jesus' activity. Perhaps we may assume that we are hearing the voice of

Nicodemus, who has already said the same thing to Jesus himself (3:2). If so, then

the one who came to Jesus at night is now sticking up for him once again

(7:50-51) while it is day."

Divided amongst themselves, the Pharisees ask the blind man for his opinion of

Jesus, given that it was his eyes Jesus had opened (v. 17). It is ironic that these

Jewish leaders, who are so proud of their possession of the law and their ability

to evaluate religious claims, are asking this man for his opinion on a religious

matter. The Christians in John's own day would have loved this verse, since they

were being persecuted by these same authorities for their loyalty to Jesus. This

scene is like an underground political cartoon that deflates the self-important

persecuting officials."

6. Pink comments, "A striking contrast is this from what has just been before us.

These Pharisees had turned their backs upon the Light, and therefore was their

darkness now even more profound. Devoid of spiritual discernment they were

altogether incapable of determining what was a right use and lawful employment

of the Sabbath and what was not. They understood not that "The sabbath was

made for man" (Mark 2:27), that is, for the benefit of his soul and the good of his

body. True, the day which God blest at the beginning was to be kept holy, but it

was never intended to bar out works of necessity and works of mercy, as they

should have known from the Old Testament Scriptures. In thus finding fault

with Christ because He had opened the eyes of this blind beggar on the Sabbath

day, they did but expose their ignorance and exhibit their spiritual blindness."

17Finally they turned again to the blind man,

"What have you to say about him? It was your

eyes he opened."

The man replied, "He is a prophet."

1. They asked the healed man what his opinion was of Jesus, and he replied that

he considered him a prophet. In other words, the power that healed me was from

God, and it came through this man Jesus. There was no question in his mind that

Jesus was a man of God

2. Barclay wrote, " They brought the man and examined him. When he was

asked his opinion of Jesus, he gave it without hesitation. He said that Jesus was a

prophet. In the Old Testament a prophet was often tested by the signs he could

49

produce. Moses guaranteed to Pharaoh that he really was God's messenger by

the signs and wonders which he performed (Exo.4:1-17). Elijah proved that he

was the prophet of the real God by doing things the prophets of Baal could not

do (1Kgs.18). No doubt the man's thoughts were running on these things when he

said that in his opinion Jesus was a prophet. Whatever else, this was a brave

man. He knew quite well what the Pharisees thought of Jesus. He knew quite

well that if he came out on Jesus' side he was certain to be excommunicated. But

he made his statement and took his stand. It was as if he said: "I am bound to

believe in him, I am bound to stand by him because of all that he has done for

me." Therein he is our great example."

3 Calvin wrote, "What sayest thou of him? When they ask the blind man what is

his

opinion, they do so, not because they wish to abide by his judgment, or

set any value on it, but because they hope that the man, struck with

fear, will reply according to their wish. In this respect the Lord

disappoints them; for when a poor man disregards their threatenings,

and boldly maintains that Christ is a Prophet, we ought justly to

ascribe it to the grace of God; so that this boldness is another

miracle. And if he so boldly and freely acknowledged Christ to be a

Prophet, though he did not as yet know that the Lord Jesus [263] was

the Son of God, how shameful is the treachery of those who, subdued by

fear, either deny him, or are silent respecting him, though they know

that he sitteth at the right hand of the Father, and that he will come

thence to be the Judge of the whole world! Since this blind man did not

quench a small spark of knowledge, we ought to endeavor that an open

and full confession may blaze forth from the full brightness which has

shone into our hearts."

4. Pink wrote, "He said, He is a prophet." This is not the first time we have had

Christ owned as "prophet" in this Gospel. In John 4:19 we read that the woman

of Samaria said to the Savior at the well, "I perceive that thou art a prophet." In

John 6:14 we are told, "Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that

Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world."

Once more, in John 7:40 we read, "Many of the people therefore, when they

heard this saying, said, Of a truth this is the prophet." These references are in

striking accord with the character and theme of this fourth Gospel. A prophet

was the mouthpiece of God, and the great purpose of John’s Gospel, as intimated

in its opening verse, is to portray the Lord Jesus as "the Word"!

18The Jews still did not believe that he had

been blind and had received his sight until they

sent for the man's parents.

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1. They were still skeptics about the identity of the man. How can this man blind

from birth be seeing? It could be a hoax, and this is not the blind man at all.

They needed more proof, and so they sent for the parents. They did not want this

miracle to be a fact, and so they kept digging in hopes they would find a flaw in

the whole story, and be able to prove it was all a hoax.

2. Calvin wrote, "But the Jews did not believe. There are two things here which

ought to be observed; that they do not believe that a miracle has been

performed, and that, being wilfully blinded through a perverse hatred

of Christ, they do not perceive what is manifest. The Evangelist tells

us that they did not believe. If the reason be asked, there can be no

doubt that their blindness was voluntary. For what prevents them from

seeing an obvious work of God placed before their eyes; or, after

having been fully convinced, what prevents them from believing what

they already know, except that the inward malice of their heart keeps

their eyes shut? Paul informs us that the same thing takes place in the

doctrine of the Gospel; for he says that it is not hidden or obscure,

except to the reprobate, whose understandings the god of this world hath

blinded, (2 Corinthians 4:3, 4.)"

19"Is this your son?" they asked. "Is this the

one you say was born blind? How is it that now

he can see?"

1. These three questions could reveal a plot to deceive, but the first two they

answered outright. He is our son, and yes, he was born blind. The third question

they could not answer because they were not there when he was healed.

20"We know he is our son," the parents

answered, "and we know he was born blind.

1. They were open to identify their son and acknowledge his being blind from

birth, but they were reluctant to go beyond this basic information, for they knew

the Pharisees could use anything they said against them if they began to praise

Jesus as the one who gave them back their son as a seeing person. They kept

quiet about any opinion they had about the miracle, and they were wise to do so.

2. Henry wrote, "These parents were poor and timorous, and if they had said

that they could not be sure that this was their son, or that it was only some

weakness or dimness in his sight that he had been born with, which if they had

been able to get help for him might have been cured long since, or had otherwise

51

prevaricated, for fear of the court, the Pharisees had gained their point, had

robbed Christ of the honour of this miracle, which would have lessened the

reputation of all the rest. But God so ordered and overruled this counsel of theirs

that it turned to the more effectual proof of the miracle, and left them under a

necessity of being either convinced or confounded."

21But 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."

1. Legal age for giving testimony in court was 30, and so this man was 30 at least.

He was not old, however, for you do not say of an old man that he is of age, for

that is too conspicuous to mention. Other commentaries say the age 13 was when

a boy would be considered of age.

2. Intervarsity Commentary says, "This scene is full of tragedy, for these parents

are not allowed to give thanks to God for the great thing he has done for their

son. They must have agonized over his blindness and the begging he was forced

into. Now he has been miraculously healed, and they must put aside the

overwhelming parental joy and knuckle under to the goons from the committee

for the investigation of un-Jewish activity, as it were. The parents' agony would

have been very great, given the guilt over the possibility that it was their sin that

had been responsible for their son's blindness. In such a situation Jesus' healing

would have far-reaching implications concerning God's gracious acceptance of

sinful humanity. Not only was their son released from the bondage of his

blindness and its related life of begging, but they and their son would see

themselves in a new relation to God. Yet they had to stifle all of these feelings of

joy and gratitude when they were called in by the authorities for questioning."

22His 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[a] would be put out of the

synagogue.

1. The parents had an opinion about Jesus, but they kept quiet rather than

expose themselves to the Pharisees who had threatened people with expulsion

from the synagogue if they acknowledged Jesus as the Christ. They were being

52

dishonest out of fear, and who can blame them? They were not willing to

challenge the Pharisees and lose their standing in the community. They may have

come to believe in Jesus as their Messiah, but why tell this to the people who

would use it against them? It is true that they did not take a stand for Jesus, if

they did, in fact, believe in him, but it was not a necessary sacrifice, for they

could pass the buck to their son to see how he would handle the pressure.

2. Barnes give us an idea of the problem they faced. He writes, “It refers to

excommunication from the synagogue. Among the Jews there were two grades of

excommunication; the one for lighter offences, of which they mentioned twenty-

four causes; the other for greater offences. The first excluded a man for thirty

days from the privilege of entering a synagogue, and from coming nearer to his

wife or friends than 4 cubits. The other was a solemn exclusion for ever from the

worship of the synagogue, attended with awful maledictions and curses, and an

exclusion from all intercourse with the people. This was called the curse, and so

thoroughly excluded the person from all communion whatever with his

countrymen, that they were not allowed to sell to him anything, even the

necessaries of life (Buxtorf). It is probable that this latter punishment was what

they intended to inflict if anyone should confess that Jesus was the Messiah; and

it was the fear of this terrible punishment that deterred his parents from

expressing their opinion.”

3. Barclay adds some detail that makes it clear why his parents had such fear.

"The synagogue authorities had a powerful weapon, the weapon of

excommunication, whereby a man was shut off from the congregation of God's

people. Away back in the days of Ezra we read of a decree that whosoever did

not obey the command of the authorities "his property should be forfeited and

he himself banned from the congregation" (Ezr.10:8). Jesus warned his disciples

that their name would be cast out for evil (Lk.6:22). He told them that they

would be put out of the synagogues (Jn. 16:2). Many of the rulers in Jerusalem

really believed in Jesus, but were afraid to say so "lest they should be put out of

the synagogue" (Jn. 12:42).

There were two kinds of excommunication. There was the ban, the cherem

(HSN2764), by which a man was banished from the synagogue for life. In such a

case he was publicly anathematized. He was cursed in the presence of the people,

and he was cut off from God and from man. There was sentence of temporary

excommunication which might last for a month, or for some other fixed period.

The terror of such a situation was that a Jew would regard it as shutting him out,

not only from the synagogue but from God. That is why the man's parents

answered that their son was quite old enough to be a legal witness and to answer

his own questions. The Pharisees were so venomously embittered against Jesus

that they were prepared to do what ecclesiastics at their worst have sometimes

done--to use ecclesiastical procedure to further their own ends."

4. What we see here is a valid program of God built into the religious system of

his people to eliminate that which contaminates it. Evil people who pervert the

ways of God need to be cast out, and false teachers need to be excluded from the

people of God, and so excommunication is a good thing ordained of God. Yet this

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good thing could be used to hurt people who were innocent of any evil. It was

power, and power in the hands of tyrants is always used for evil. Good things are

never safe when they are in the control of those who are not good themselves.

5 Calvin comes down strong on these parents, but there is little basis for it. We

have no idea how much they knew, or how convinced they were of who Jesus

was. The son himself was not yet sure just who Jesus was, and so why do we

expect that his parents knew more than he did. And why should we expect them

to take a stand for Jesus which would cost them so dearly when they would just

be falling into the hands of those who hated Jesus? Here are the comments of

Calvin, which I consider unjustified.

"By their silence they show their ingratitude; for, having received so

distinguished a gift of God, they ought to have burned with desire to

celebrate his name. But, struck with terror, they bury the grace of

God, as far as lies in their power, with this exception, that they

substitute in their room, as a witness, their son, who will explain the

whole matter as it happened, and who will be heard with less prejudice,

and will be more readily believed. But though they prudently avoid

danger, and continue this middle path, of testifying indirectly about

Christ by the mouth of their son, yet this does not prevent the Holy

Spirit from condemning their cowardice by the mouth of the Evangelist,

because they fail to discharge their own duty. How much less excuse

then will they have, who, by treacherous denial, utterly bury Christ,

with his doctrine, with his miracles, with his power and grace!"

23That was why his parents said, "He is of age;

ask him."

1. This statement is recorded twice to make it clear that the parents were not

going to stick their neck out where the Pharisees could chop it off. They were not

eye witnesses to the healing, and they did not meet with Jesus, or claim to know

anything about him. They could quickly see that the Pharisees were on a witch

hunt against Jesus, and they had no reason to make them angry at themselves.

24A second time they summoned the man who

had been blind. "Give glory to God," they said.

"We know this man is a sinner."

"Give glory to God," This is a technical term meaning tell the truth!

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1. The man had been kept under watch someplace, and they brought him before

the Pharisees again. They urge him to give glory to God and denounce this Jesus

as a sinner. They were so sure that he was such, and they wanted him to feel just

like they felt about Jesus. When leaders try to impose their feelings about

someone on other people they are tyrants, and that is what the Pharisees were.

They would not allow for freedom in this matter. Jesus was a sinner to them, and

they made it their law that all must agree that he was a sinner.

2. Barclay wrote, "They did not believe at first that the man had been blind.

That is to say, they suspected that this was a miracle faked between Jesus and

him. Further, they were well aware that the law recognized that a false prophet

could produce false miracles for his own false purposes (Deut.13:1-5 warns

against the false prophet who produces false signs in order to lead people away

after strange gods). So the Pharisees began with suspicion. They went on to try to

browbeat the man. "Give the glory to God," they said. "We know that this man

is a sinner." "Give the glory to God," was a phrase used in cross-examination

which really meant: "Speak the truth in the presence and the name of God."

When Joshua was cross-examining Achan about the sin which had brought

disaster to Israel, he said to him: "Give glory to the Lord God of Israel, and

render praise to him; and tell me now what you have done; do not hide it from

me" (Josh.7:19)."

3. Vincent's N. T. Word Studies says, " Give God the praise (dov doxan tw Qew).

Rev., give glory to God. Compare Josh. vii. 19; 1 Sam. vi. 5. This phrase

addressed to an offender implies that by some previous act or word he has done

dishonor to God, and appeals to him to repair the dishonor by speaking the

truth. In this case it is also an appeal to the restored man to ascribe his cure

directly to God, and not to Jesus."

4. Intervarsity Commentary says, "They begin their interrogation on a solemn,

formal note: Give glory to God (v. 24). This is not an invitation to sing a hymn of

praise for his healing! The expression means the man is being exhorted to confess

his guilt (cf. Josh 7:19; m. Sanhedrin 6:2). The man has told them the truth, but

they don't really want the truth, they want their own answer. These people,

whom Jesus called liars (8:55), are trying to force this man to lie, and they are

doing so in the name of truth. (Double talk is not an invention of the twentieth

century.) The terms they use are full of irony. These people who care only for the

glory of men, not God (12:43; cf. 5:44), are telling him to give glory to God. They

are demanding that he give glory to God by confessing his sin, but the man has

given glory to God by bearing witness to Jesus."

5. PINK 24-41, "The following is offered as an Analysis of the passage which is to

be before us:—

1. The beggar challenged and his reply: verses 24, 25.

2. The beggar cross-examined and his response: verses 26, 27.

3. The beggar reviled: verses 28, 29.

4. The beggar defeats his judges: verses 30-33.

5. The beggar cast out by the Pharisees, sought out by Christ: verses 34, 35.

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6. The beggar worships Christ as the Son of God: verses 36-38.

7. Christ’s condemnation of the Pharisees: verses 39-41.

We arrive now at the closing scenes in this inspired narrative of the Lord’s

dealings with the blind beggar and the consequent hostility of the Pharisees. In it

there is much that is reprehensible, but much too that is praiseworthy. The

enmity of the carnal mind is again exhibited to our view; while the blessed fruit

of Divine grace is presented for our admiration. The wickedness of the Pharisees

finds its climax in their excommunication of the beggar; the workings of grace in

his heart reaches its culmination by bringing him to the feet of the Savior as a

devoted worshipper.

The passage before us records the persistent efforts of the Pharisees to shake the

testimony of this one who had received his sight. Their blindness, their refusal to

be influenced by the most convincing evidence, their enmity against the beggar’s

Benefactor, and their unjust and cruel treatment of him, vividly forecasted the

treatment which the Lord Himself was shortly to receive at their hands. On the

other hand, the fidelity of the beggar, his refusal to be intimidated by those in

authority, his Divinely-given power to non-plus his judges, his being cast out of

Judaism, and his place as a worshipper at the feet of the Son of God on the

outside, anticipated what was to be exemplified again and again in the history of

the Lord’s disciples following His own apprehension.

"Then again called they the man that was blind, and said unto him, Give God the

praise: we know that this man is a sinner" (John 9:24). The one to whom sight

had been so marvelously imparted had been removed from the court of the

Sanhedrin while the examination of his parents had been going on. But he is now

brought in before his judges again. The examination of his parents had signally

failed to either produce any discrepancy between the statements of the parents

and that of their son, or to bring out any fact to the discredit of Christ. A final

effort was therefore made now to shake the testimony of the man himself.

"Then again called they the man that was blind, and said unto him, Give God the

praise: we know that this man is a sinner." These shameless inquisitors

pretended that during his absence they had discovered something to the utter

discredit of the Lord Jesus. Things had come to light, so they feigned, which

proved Him to be more than an ordinary bad character—such is the force of the

Greek word here for "sinner," compare its usage in Luke 7:34, 37, 39; 15:2;

19:7. It is evident that the Sanhedrin would lead the beggar to believe that facts

regarding his Benefactor had now come to their knowledge which showed He

could not be the Divinely-directed author of his healing. Therefore, they now

address him in a solemn formula, identical With that used by Joshua when

arraigning Achan—see Joshua 7:19. They adjured him by the living God to tell

the whole truth. They demanded that he forswear himself, and join with them in

some formal statement which was dishonoring to Christ. It was a desperate and

blasphemous effort at intimidation.

"He answered and said, Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I

know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see" (John 9:25). It is refreshing to turn

for a moment from the unbelief and enmity of the Pharisees to mark the

simplicity and honesty of this babe in Christ. The Latin Vulgate renders the first

clause of this verse, "If he is a sinner I know not." The force of his utterance

seems to be this: ‘I do not believe that He is a sinner; I will not charge Him with

being one; I refuse to unite with you in saying that He is.’ Clear it is that the

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contents of this verse must not be explained in a way so as to clash with what we

have in verse 33, where the beggar owned that Christ was "of God." The proper

way is to view it in the light of the previous verse. There we find the Pharisees

adjuring him to join with them in denouncing Christ as a sinner. This the beggar

flatly refused to do, and refused in such a way as to show that he declined to

enter into a controversy with his judges about the character of Christ.

"Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I

was blind, now I see." This was tantamount to saying, ‘Your charge against the

person of Christ is altogether beside the point. You are examining me in

connection with what Christ has done for me, therefore I refuse to turn aside and

discuss His person.’ The Pharisees were trying to change the issue, but the

beggar would not be side-tracked. He held them to the indisputable fact that a

miracle of mercy had been wrought upon him. Thereupon he boldly declared

again what the Lord had done for him. That his eyes had been opened could not

be gainsaid: all the argument and attacks of the Pharisees could not shake him.

Let us not only admire his fearlessness and truthfulness, but seek grace to

emulate him.

"One thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see." These are words which

every born-again person can apply to himself. There are many things of which

the young believer has little knowledge: there are many points in theology and

prophecy upon which he has no light: but "one thing" he does know—he knows

that the eyes of his understanding have been opened. He knows this because he

has seen himself as a lost sinner, seen his imminent danger, seen the Divinely-

appointed refuge from the wrath to come, seen the sufficiency of Christ to save

him. Can a man repent and not know it? can he believe on the Lord Jesus Christ

to the saving of his soul and not know it? can he pass from death unto life, be

delivered from the power of darkness and translated into the kingdom of God’s

dear Son, and not know it? We do not believe it. The saints of God are a people

that "know." They know Whom they have believed (2 Tim. 1:12). They know

that their Redeemer liveth (Job 19:26). They know the), have passed from death

unto life (1 John 3:14). They know that all things work together for their good

(Rom. 8:28). They know that when the Lord Jesus shall appear they shall be like

Him (1 John 3:2). Christianity treats not of theories and hypotheses, but of

certainties and realities. Rest not, dear reader, till you can say, "One thing I

know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see."

"Then said they to him again, What did he to thee? how opened he thine eyes?"

(John 9:26). Unable to get this man to deny the miracle which had been wrought

upon him, unable to bring him to entertain an evil opinion of Christ, his judges

inquire once more about the manner in which he had been healed. This inquiry

of theirs was merely a repetition of their former question—see verse 15. It is

evident that their object in repeating this query was the hope that he would vary

in his account and thus give them grounds for discrediting his testimony. They

were seeking to "shake his evidence": they hoped he would contradict himself.

"Then said they to him again, What did he to thee? how opened he thine eyes?"

This illustrates again how that unbelief is occupied with the modus operandi

rather than with the result itself. How you were brought to Christ—the

secondary causes, where you were at the time, the instrument God employed—is

of little moment. The one thing that matters is whether or not the Lord has

opened the sin-blinded eyes of your heart. Whether you were saved in the fields

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or in a church, whether you were on your knees at a "mourner’s bench" or upon

your back in bed, is a detail of very little value. Faith is occupied not with the

manner in which you held out your hand to receive God’s gift, but with Christ

Himself! But unbelief is occupied with the "how" rather than with the "whom."

"He answered them, I have told you already, and ye did not hear: wherefore

would ye hear it again? will ye also be his disciples?" (John 9:27). With honest

indignation he turns upon his unscrupulous inquisitors and refuses to waste time

in repeating what he had already told them so simply and plainly. It is quite

useless to discuss the things of God with those whose hearts are manifestly closed

against Him. When such people continue pressing their frivolous or blasphemous

inquiries, only one course remains open, and that is "Answer a fool according to

his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit" (Prov. 26:5). This Divine

admonition,, has puzzled some, because in the preceding verse we are told,

Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him." But the

seeming contradiction is easily explained. When God says, "Answer not a fool

according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him," the meaning is, I must not

answer a fool in a foolish manner, for this would make me a sharer of his folly.

But when God says, "Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his

own conceit," the meaning is, that I must answer him in a way to expose his folly,

lest he imagine that he has succeeded in propounding a question which is

unanswerable. This is exactly what the beggar did here in the lesson: he

answered in such a way as to make evident the folly and unbelief of his judges.

"Then they reviled him, and said, Thou art his disciple; but we are Moses’

disciples" (John 9:28). The word "reviled" is hardly strong enough to express

the original. The Greek word signifies that the Pharisees hurled their anathemas

against him by pronouncing him an execrable fellow. How true to life! Unable to

fairly meet his challenge, unable to justify their course, they resort to

villification. To have recourse to invectives is ever the last resort of a defeated

opponent. Whenever you find men calling their opponents hard names, it is a

sure sign that their own cause has been defeated.

"They reviled him, and said, Thou art his disciple." The man of the world has

little difficulty in locating a genuine "disciple" of Christ. This man had not

formally avowed himself as such, yet the Pharisees had no difficulty in deciding

that he was one. His whole demeanor was so different from the cringing servility

which they were accustomed to receive from their own followers, and the wisdom

with which he had replied to all their questions, stamped him plainly as one who

had learned of the God-man. So it is today. Real Christians need no placards on

their backs or buttons on their coat lapels in order to inform their fellows that

they belong to the Lord Jesus. If I am walking as a child of light, men will soon

exclaim, "Thou art his disciple.’’ The Lord enable writer and reader to give as

clear and ringing a testimony in our lives as this beggar did.

"But we are Moses’ disciples." A lofty boast was this, but as baseless as haughty.

The Lord had already told them, "Had ye believed Moses, ye would have

believed me; for he wrote of me" (John 5:46). This too has its present-day

application. Multitudes are seeking shelter behind high pretensions and honored

names. Many there are who term themselves Calvinists that Calvin would be

ashamed to own. Many call themselves Lutherans who neither manifest the faith

nor emulate the works of the great Reformer. Many go under the name of

Baptists to whom our Lord’s forerunner, were he here in the flesh, would say,

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"Flee from the wrath to come." And countless numbers claim to be Protestants

who scarcely know what the term itself signifies. It is one thing to say "We are

disciples," it is quite another to make demonstration of it.

"We know that God spake unto Moses" (John 9:29). Such knowledge was purely

intellectual, something which they venerated as a religious tradition handed

down by their forebears; but it neither moved their hearts nor affected their

lives. And that is the real test of a man’s orthodoxy. An orthodox creed,

intellectually apprehended, counts for nothing if it fails to mould the life of the

one professing it. I may claim to regard the Bible as the inspired and infallible

Word of God, yea, and be ready to defend this fundamental article of the faith; I

may refuse to heed the infidelistic utterances of the higher critics, and pride

myself on my doctrinal soundness—as did these Pharisees. But of what worth is

this if I know not what it means to tremble at that Word, and if my walk is not

regulated by its precepts? None at all! Rather will such intellectual light serve

only to increase my condemnation.

"As for this fellow, we know not from whence he is" (John 9:29). Proofs went for

nothing. The testimony of this man and the witness of his parents had been

spread before these Pharisees, yet they believed not. Ah! faith does not come that

way. Hearing the testimony of God’s saints will no more regenerate lost sinners

than listening to the description of a dinner I ate will feed some other hungry

man. That is one reason why the writer has no patience with "testimony

meetings": another is, because he finds no precedent for them in the Word of

God. But this beggar had faith, and his faith came as the result of being made the

personal subject of the mighty operation of God. Nothing short of this avails.

Sinners may witness miracles as Pharaoh did; they may listen to the testimony of

a believer as these Pharisees; they may be terrified by the convulsions of nature,

but none of these things will ever lead a single sinner to believe in Christ. "Faith

cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God" (Rom. 10:17)—by the

Word applied in the omnipotent power of the Holy Spirit.

"As for this fellow, we know not from whence he is." How inconsistent is

unbelief! In the seventh chapter of this Gospel we find the Jews refusing to

believe on Christ because they declared they did know whence He was. Hear

them, Howbeit we know this man whence he is: but when Christ cometh, no man

knoweth whence he is" (John 7:27). But now these Pharisees object against

Christ, "We know not from whence he is." Thus do those who reject the truth of

God contradict themselves.

"The man answered and said unto them, Why herein is a marvellous thing, that

ye know not from whence he is, and yet he hath opened mine eyes" (John 9:30).

Quick to seize the acknowledgement of the ignorance as to whence Christ came,

the beggar turned it against them. Though he spoke in the mildest of terms yet

the stinging import of his words is evident. It was as though he had said, "You

who profess yourselves fully qualified to guide the people on all points, and yet in

the dark on a matter like this!" A poor beggar he might be, and as such cut off

from many of the advantages they had enjoyed, nevertheless, he knew what they

did not—he knew that Christ was "of God" (verse 33)! How true it is that God

reveals things to babes in Christ which He hides from the wise and prudent!

hides because they are "wise"—wise in their own conceits. Nothing shuts out

Divine illumination so effectively as prejudice and pride: nothing tends to blind

the heart more than egotism. "If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this

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world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise" (1 Cor. 3:18); "Proud,

knowing nothing" (1 Tim. 6:4).

"Now we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of

God, and doeth his will, him he heareth" (John 9:31). This verse like many

another must not be divorced from its setting. Taken absolutely, these words

"God heareth not sinners,’’ are not true. God "heard" the cry of Ishmael (Gen.

21:17); He "heard" the groanings of the children of Israel in Egypt, long before

He redeemed them (Ex. 2:24); He "heard" and answered the prayer of the

wicked Manasseh (2 Chron. 33:10-13). But reading this verse in the light of its

context its meaning is apparent. The Pharisees had said of Christ, "We know

that this man is a sinner" (verse 24). Now says the beggar, "We know that God

heareth not sinners," which was one of their pet doctrines. Thus, once more, did

the one on trial turn the word of his judges against themselves. If Christ were an

impostor as they avowed, then how came it that God has assisted Him to work

this miracle?

"Since the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one

that was born blind" (John 9:32). This was his reply to their statement that they

were Moses’ disciples. He reminds them that not even in Moses’ day, not from

the beginning of the world had such a miracle been performed as had been

wrought on him. It is a significant fact that among all the miracles wrought by

Moses, never did he give sight to a blind man, nor did any of the prophets ever

open the eyes of one born blind. That was something that only Christ did!

"If this man were not of God, he could do nothing." This beggar was now

endowed with a wisdom to which these learned Pharisees were strangers. How

often is this same principle illustrated in the Scriptures. The Hebrew lad from

the dungeon, not the wise men of Egypt, was the one to interpret the dream of

Pharaoh. Daniel, not the wise men of Babylon, deciphered the mysterious writing

on the walls of Belshazzar’s palace. Unlettered fishermen, not the scribes, were

taken into the confidences of the Savior. So here, a mouth and wisdom were

given to this babe in Christ which the doctors of the Sanhedrin were unable to

resist.

"If this man were not of God, he could do nothing." What a beautiful illustration

is this of Proverbs 4:18!—"But the path of the just is as the shining light, that

shineth more and more unto the perfect day." First, this beggar had referred to

his Benefactor as "a man that is called Jesus" (verse 11). Second, he had owned

Him as "a propehet" (verse 17). And now he declares that Christ was a man of

God." There is also a lesson here pointed for us: as we walk according to the

light we have, God gives us more. Here is the reason why so many of God’s

children are in the dark concerning much of His truth—they are not faithful to

the light they do have. May God exercise both writer and reader about this so

that we may earnestly seek from Him the grace which we so sorely need to make

us faithful and true to all we have received of Him.

"They answered and said unto him, Thou wast altogether born in sins, and dost

thou teach us?" (John 9:34). Alas, how tragically does history repeat itself. These

men were too arrogant to receive anything from this poor beggar. They were

graduates from honored seats of learning, therefore was it far too much beneath

their dignity to be instructed by this unsophisticated disciple of Christ. And how

many a preacher there is today, who in his fancied superiority, scorns the help

which ofttimes a member of his congregation could give him. Glorying in their

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seminary education, they cannot allow that an ignorant layman has light on the

Scriptures which they do not possess. Let a Spirit-taught layman seek to show

the average preacher "the way of the Lord more perfectly," and he must not be

surprised if his pastor says—if not in so many words, plainly by his bearing and

actions—"dost thou teach us?" How marvellously pertinent is this two-

thousand-year-old Book to our own times!

"And they cast him out" (John 9:34). "Happy man! He had followed the light, in

simplicity and sincerity. He had borne an honest testimony to the truth. His eyes

had been opened to see and his lips to testify. It was no matter of wrong or

wicked lewdness, but simple truth, and for that they cast him out. He had never

troubled them in the days of his blindness and beggary. Perhaps some of them

may have proudly and ostentatiously tossed him a trifling alms as they walked

past, thus getting a name amongst their fellows for benevolence; but now this

blind beggar had become a powerful witness. Words of truth now flowed from

his lips—truth far too powerful and piercing for them to stand, so they ‘thrust

him out.’ Happy, thrice happy man! again we say, This was the brightest

moment in his career. These men, though they knew it not, had done him a real

service. They had thrust him out into the most honored position of identification

with Christ as the despised and rejected One" (C.H.M.).

"And they cast him out." How cruelly and unjustly will religious professors treat

the real people of God! When these Pharisees failed to intimidate this man they

excommunicated him from the Jewish church. To an Israelite the dread of

excommunication was second only to the fear of death: it cut him off from all the

outward privileges of the commonwealth of Israel, and made him an object of

scorn and derision. But all through the ages some of the faithful witnesses of

Christ have met with similar or even worse treatment. Excommunication,

persecution, imprisonment, torture, death, are the favorite weapons of

ecclesiastical tyrants. Thus were the Waldenses treated; so Luther, Bunyan,

Ridley, the Huguenots; and so, in great probability, will it be again in the near

future.

"And they cast him out." Ah! Christian reader, if you did as this man you would

know something of his experience. If you bore faithful testimony for Christ by lip

and life; if you refused to walk arm-in-arm with the world, and lived here as a

stranger and pilgrim; if you declined to follow the customs of the great religious

crowd, and regulated your walk by the Word, you would be very unpopular—

perhaps the very thing that you most fear! You would be cut off from your

former circle of friends, as not wanted; cut off because your ways condemned

theirs. Yea, if true to God’s Word you might be turned out of your church as an

heretic or stirrer up of strife.

"Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when he had found him, he said

unto him, Dost thou believe on the Son of God?" (John 9:35). This is indeed

precious. No sooner had the Sanhedrin excommunicated the beggar than the

Savior sought him out. How true it is that those who honor God are honored by

Him. Faithfully had this man walked according to his measure of light, now

more is to be given him. Great is the compassion of Christ. He knew full well the

weight of the trial which had fallen upon this newly-born soul, and He proved

Himself "a very present help in trouble." He cheered this man with gracious

words. Yea, He revealed Himself more fully to him than to any other individual,

save the Samaritan adulteress. He plainly avowed His deity: He presented

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Himself in His highest glory as "the Son of God."

"Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when he had found him, he said

unto him, Dost thou believe on the Son of God?" The connection between this

and the previous verse should be carefully noted: the beggar was "cast out"

before he knew Christ as the Son of God. The Nation as such denied this truth,

and only the despised few on the outside of organized Judaism had it revealed to

them. There is a message here greatly needed by many of the Lord’s people

today who are inside man-made systems where much of the truth of God is

denied. True, if they are the Lord’s, they are saved; but not to them will Christ

reveal Himself, while they continue in a position which is dishonoring to Him. It

is the Holy Spirit’s office to take of the things of Christ and to show them unto

us. But while we are identified with and lend our support to that which grieves

Him, He will not delight our souls with revelations of the excellencies of our

Savior. Nowhere in Scripture has God promised to honor those who dishonor

Him. God is very jealous of the honor of His Son and He withholds many

spiritual blessings from those who fellowship that which is an offense to Him. On

the outside with Christ is infinitely preferable to being on the inside with worldly

professors who know Him not. The time is already arrived when many of God’s

people are compelled to choose between these two alternatives. Far better to be

cast out because of faithfulness to Christ, or to "come out" (2 Cor. 6:17) because

of others’ unfaithfulness to Christ, than to remain in the Laodicean system which

is yet to be "spued out" by Christ (Rev. 3:16). Whatever loss may be entailed by

leaving unscriptural and worldly churches, it will be more than compensated by

the Lord. It was so with this beggar.

"He answered and said, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him?" (John

9:36). It is indeed beautiful to mark the spirit of this man in the presence of

Christ. Before the Sanhedrin he was bold as a lion, but before the Son of God he

is meek and lowly. Here he is seen addressing Him as "Lord." These graces,

seemingly so conflicting, are ever found together. Wherever there is

uncompromising boldness toward men, there is humility before God: it is the

God-fearing man who is fearless before the Lord’s enemies.

"And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with

thee" (John 9:37). This is one of the four instances in this Gospel where the Lord

Jesus expressly declared His Divine Sonship. In verse 25 He foretold that "the

dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live." Here

He says "Dost thou believe on the Son of God?... it is he that talketh with thee."

In John 10:36 He asked "Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and

sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God?" In

John 11:4 He told His disciples "This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory

of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby." Nowhere in the other

Gospels does He explicitly affirm that He was the Son of God. John’s record of

each of these four utterances of the Savior is in beautiful accord with the special

theme and design of his Gospel.

"And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him" (John 9:38). What a

lovely climax is this in the spiritual history of the blind beggar! How it illustrates

the fact that when God begins a good work He continues and completes it. All

through the sacred narrative here the experiences of this man exemplify the

history of each soul that is saved by grace. At first, seen in his wretchedness and

helplessness: sought out by the Lord: pointed to that which speaks of the Word:

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made the subject of the supernatural operation of God, sight imparted. Then

given opportunity to testify to his acquaintances of the merciful work which had

been wrought upon him. Severely tested by the Lord’s enemies, he, nevertheless,

witnessed a good confession. Denied the support of his parents, he is cast back

the more upon God. Arraigned by the religious authorities, and boldly answering

them according to the light he had, more was given him. Confounding his

opponents, he is reviled by them. Confessing that Christ was of God, he is east

out of the religious systems of his day. Now sought out by the Savior, he is taught

the excellency of His person which results in him taking his place at the feet of

the Son of God as a devoted worshipper. And here, most suitably, the Holy Spirit

leaves him, for it is there he will be forever—a worshipper in the presence of the

One who did so much for him. Truly naught but Divine wisdom could have

combined with this historical narrative an accurate portrayal of the

representative experiences of an elect soul.

"And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see

not might see; and that they which see might be made blind" (John 9:39). "This

is deeply solemn! For judgment I am come into this world.’ How is this? Did He

not come to seek and to save that which was lost? So He Himself tells us (Luke

19:10), why then speak of ‘judgment’? The meaning is simply this: the object of

His mission was salvation; the moral effect of His life was judgment. He judged

no one, and yet He judged every one.

"It is well to see this effect of the character and life of Christ down here. He was

the light of the world, and this light acted in a double way. It convicted and

converted, it judged and it saved. Furthermore it dazzled, by its heavenly

brightness, all those who thought they saw; while, at the same time, it lightened

all those who really felt their moral and spiritual blindness. He came not to

judge, but to save; and yet when come, He judged every man, and put every man

to the test. He was different from all around Him, as light in the midst of

darkness; and yet He saved all who accepted the judgment and took their true

place.

"The same thing is observed when we contemplate the cross of our Lord Jesus

Christ. ‘For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but

unto us which are saved it is the power of God... But we preach Christ crucified,

unto the Jews a stumbling-block, and unto the Greeks foolishness; but unto them

which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the

wisdom of God’ (1 Cor. 1:18, 23, 24). Looked at from a human point of view, the

cross presented a spectacle of weakness and foolishness. But, looked at from a

Divine point of view, it was the exhibition of power and wisdom, ‘The Jew’,

looking at the cross through the hazy medium of traditionary religion stumbled

over it; and ‘the Greek’, looking at it from the fancied heights of philosophy,

despised it as a contemptible thing. But the faith of a poor sinner, looking at the

cross from the depths of conscious guilt and need, found in it a Divine answer to

every question, a Divine supply for every need. The death of Christ, like His life,

judged every man, and yet it saves all those who accept the judgment and take

their true place before God" (C.H.M.). This was all announced from the

beginning: "And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, Behold,

this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel" (Luke 2:34).

"And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said

unto him, Are we blind also? Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should

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have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth" (John 9:40,

41). This receives explanation in John 15:22-24: "If I had not come and spoken

unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloak (excuse) for their

sin. He that hateth Me hateth My Father also. If I had not done among them the

works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both

seen and hated both Me and My Father." The simple meaning then of these

words of Christ to the Pharisees is this: "If you were sensible of your blindness

and really desired light, if you would take this place before Me, salvation would

be yours and no condemnation would rest upon you. But because of your pride

and self-sufficiency, because you refuse to acknowledge your undone condition,

your guilt remaineth." How strikingly this confirms our interpretation of verse 6

and the sequel. The blind man made to see illustrates those who accept God’s

verdict of man’s lost condition; the self-righteous Pharisees who refused to bow

to the Lord’s decision that they were "condemned already’’ (John 3:18),

continued in their blindness and sin.

25He replied, "Whether he is a sinner or not, I

don't know. One thing I do know. I was blind

but now I see!"

1. They were trying to trap him, but he was wise enough to know that he was not

qualified to make a judgment on whether he was a sinner or not. All he knew for

sure was that he was blind, but now he could see. That was a sure thing, and that

is all he knew for sure. He was not going to make some big profession of belief in

Jesus as the long awaited Messiah, for he was not stupid. He could see his

parents being wise in what they would say, and he followed their example. Don’t

cooperate with evil men by falling into their trap. He just told them what he

knew, and that was that he had experienced an amazing miracle, and that was

the issue they had to deal with. In other words, the facts say he was a man of

God, and if you disagree, it is up to you to explain how he could do a miracle like

this. I won’t say it, but the evidence is clear to me that he is a man of God, and all

I lay before you is this evidence. You do with it what you will.

2. He was a plain man blind from birth and so had limited education, and no

ability to argue theology with these men of learning, but he knew what he had

experienced, and there was no argument against that. Barclay wrote, ""Say what

you like," he said, "about this man; I don't know anything about him except that

he made me able to see." It is the simple fact of Christian experience that many a

man may not be able to put into theologically correct language what he believes

Jesus to be, but in spite of that he can witness to what Jesus has done for his soul.

Even when a man cannot understand with his intellect, he can still feel with his

heart. It is better to love Jesus than to love theories about him."

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3. Stedman wrote, "That is one of the greatest models of how to bear a witness as

a believer. Many people are afraid to say anything about the Lord because they

think they will be dragged into a theological argument that will be over their

heads. But witness is simply doing what this man did -- saying what Jesus did for

you, that is all. "Once I was blind, now I can see" -- that is what a witness is. You

are the world's greatest authority on what happened to you. As someone has well

said, "A man with an experience is never at the mercy of a man with only an

argument." When you stand on your experience no one can deny what the Lord

has done in your life. You are a positive, powerful witness for Christ. This man

teaches us great things in that regard."

4. Pink wrote, ""One thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see." These

are words which every born-again person can apply to himself. There are many

things of which the young believer has little knowledge: there are many points in

theology and prophecy upon which he has no light: but "one thing" he does

know—he knows that the eyes of his understanding have been opened. He knows

this because he has seen himself as a lost sinner, seen his imminent danger, seen

the Divinely-appointed refuge from the wrath to come, seen the sufficiency of

Christ to save him. Can a man repent and not know it? can he believe on the

Lord Jesus Christ to the saving of his soul and not know it? can he pass from

death unto life, be delivered from the power of darkness and translated into the

kingdom of God’s dear Son, and not know it? We do not believe it. The saints of

God are a people that "know." They know Whom they have believed (2 Tim.

1:12). They know that their Redeemer liveth (Job 19:26). They know the), have

passed from death unto life (1 John 3:14). They know that all things work

together for their good (Rom. 8:28). They know that when the Lord Jesus shall

appear they shall be like Him (1 John 3:2). Christianity treats not of theories and

hypotheses, but of certainties and realities. Rest not, dear reader, till you can say,

"One thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see."

26Then they asked him, "What did he do to

you? How did he open your eyes?"

1. They had nowhere else to go, and so they go back to the same old question.

They were hoping to catch him in some contradiction that would blow up in his

face and prove the whole thing was a hoax.

2 Pink wrote, ""Then said they to him again, What did he to thee? how opened

he thine eyes?" This illustrates again how that unbelief is occupied with the

modus operandi rather than with the result itself. How you were brought to

Christ—the secondary causes, where you were at the time, the instrument God

employed—is of little moment. The one thing that matters is whether or not the

Lord has opened the sin-blinded eyes of your heart. Whether you were saved in

the fields or in a church, whether you were on your knees at a "mourner’s

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bench" or upon your back in bed, is a detail of very little value. Faith is occupied

not with the manner in which you held out your hand to receive God’s gift, but

with Christ Himself! But unbelief is occupied with the "how" rather than with

the "whom."

27He 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?"

1. This blind man now healed almost blew it here, for he could not resist being a

smart aleck. He says you guys just don’t listen when I tell you what happened.

Why do you want to hear it again? Is it because you too want to become his

disciples? He was being sarcastic, but they took him seriously and did not like his

tone. He was not blind to their motives, for he could see that they did not want to

see the truth. They just wanted him to cooperate in trying to bring Jesus down.

He could see clearly that they could not see who Jesus really was.

2. His use of the word "too" implies that he is saying, "Do you want to follow this

man just as I do?" "Are you as convinced as I am that he is a true prophet of

God worthy of being the godly leader we should all be following?" "Are you so

insistent in hearing the facts over and over again because you cannot wait to join

with his disciples, which is exactly how I feel?" He knows this is not the case,and

so he is being sarcastic.

3. Pink wrote, "With honest indignation he turns upon his unscrupulous

inquisitors and refuses to waste time in repeating what he had already told them

so simply and plainly. It is quite useless to discuss the things of God with those

whose hearts are manifestly closed against Him. When such people continue

pressing their frivolous or blasphemous inquiries, only one course remains open,

and that is "Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own

conceit" (Prov. 26:5). This Divine admonition,, has puzzled some, because in the

preceding verse we are told, Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou

also be like unto him." But the seeming contradiction is easily explained. When

God says, "Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto

him," the meaning is, I must not answer a fool in a foolish manner, for this

would make me a sharer of his folly. But when God says, "Answer a fool

according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit," the meaning is, that I

must answer him in a way to expose his folly, lest he imagine that he has

succeeded in propounding a question which is unanswerable. This is exactly

what the beggar did here in the lesson: he answered in such a way as to make

evident the folly and unbelief of his judges."

4. Henry wrote, "But it rather seems to be spoken ironically: “Will you be his

disciples? No, I know you abhor the thoughts of it; why then should you desire to

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hear that which will either make you his disciples or leave you inexcusable if you

be not?” Those that wilfully shut their eyes against the light, as these Pharisees

here did, First, Make themselves contemptible and base, as these here did, who

were justly exposed by this poor man for denying the conclusion, when they had

nothing to object against either of the premises. Secondly, They forfeit all the

benefit of further instructions and means of knowledge and conviction: they that

have been told once, and would not hear, why should they be told it again? Jer_

51:9. See Mat_10:14. Thirdly, They hereby receive the grace of God in vain. This

implied in that, “Will you be his disciples? No, you resolve you will not; why then

would you hear it again, only that you may be his accusers and persecutors?”

Those who will not see cause to embrace Christ, and join with his followers, yet,

one would think, should see cause enough not to hate and persecute him and

them."

28Then they hurled insults at him and said,

"You are this fellow's disciple! We are disciples

of Moses!

1. They start calling the man names as they hurl insults at him and accuse him of

being a disciple of Jesus. It was one of the worst things they could say of him. In

pride they identify themselves as disciples of Moses, which they considered the

highest level of loyalty. You are a disciple of this man we don't even know where

he is from. You are willing to follow an uneducated nobody, but we have the

wisdom to follow the known leader God appointed for our people. You are an

ignorant layman, and we are the educated and trained leaders. Do you think we

are so stupid that we will listen to you?

2. Pink wrote, "The Greek word signifies that the Pharisees hurled their

anathemas against him by pronouncing him an execrable fellow. How true to

life! Unable to fairly meet his challenge, unable to justify their course, they resort

to villification. To have recourse to invectives is ever the last resort of a defeated

opponent. Whenever you find men calling their opponents hard names, it is a

sure sign that their own cause has been defeated."

3. Henry wrote, "For this they scorn and revile him, Joh_9:28. When they

could not resist the wisdom and spirit by which he spoke, they broke out into a

passion, and scolded him, began to call names, and give him ill language. See

what Christ's faithful witnesses must expect from the adversaries of his truth

and cause; let them count upon all manner of evil to be said of them, Mat_5:11.

The method commonly taken by unreasonable man is to make out with railing

what is wanting in truth and reason.

First, They taunted this man for his affection to Christ; they said, Thou art his

disciple, as if that were reproach enough, and they could not say worse of him.

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“We scorn to be his disciples, and will leave that preferment to thee, and such

scoundrels as thou art.” They do what they can to put Christ's religion in an ill

name, and to represent the profession of it as a contemptible scandalous thing.

They reviled him. The Vulgate reads it, maledixerunt eum - they cursed him; and

what was their curse? It was this, Be thou his disciple. “May such a curse” (saith

St. Augustine here) “ever be on us and on our children!” If we take our measures

of credit and disgrace from the sentiment or rather clamours of a blind deluded

world, we shall glory in our shame, and be ashamed of our glory. They had no

reason to call this man a disciple of Christ, he had neither seen him nor heard

him preach, only he had spoken favourably of a kindness Christ had done him,

and this they could not bear."

29We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for

this fellow, we don't even know where he comes

from."

1. Barnes forces us to be honest here and not use fellow as a basis for criticism of

the Pharisees. There is plenty by which they are to be judged without using what

is not authentic. He writes, "As for this fellow. The word fellow is not in the

original. It is simply "this." The word fellow implies contempt, which it cannot

be proved they intended to express."

2. The whole battle of the Pharisees with Jesus is over the law of Moses. They

interpret the law as legalists, but Jesus interprets it as one whose focus is on the

idea that the Sabbath was made for man's good and benefit. It was legitimate to

do what is good and helpful to those who are suffering on the Sabbath. They

hated this idea, for it made for exceptions to the rule, and that would lead to a

great deal of grace and mercy, which would rob them of the right to maintain

legalistic control of people's lives.

30The man answered, "Now that is

remarkable! You don't know where he comes

from, yet he opened my eyes.

1. This healed blind man is getting bolder by the minute under that onslaught of

all these questions by the skeptics. He is making a joke of them, for they are the

ones in the know, and yet here you have a man doing miracles on the same level

with Moses, and you guys don’t even know where he is from. Do you see why I

question your intelligence on this matter? Leaders are supposed to be up on what

is coming down, and you guys don’t seem to have a clue as to who Jesus really is.

You would think that God would keep leaders like you better informed when he

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sends someone like Jesus into your midst. You guys are really out of the loop on

this miracle worker. Don't you think this is strange?

2. Pink wrote, "Quick to seize the acknowledgement of the ignorance as to

whence Christ came, the beggar turned it against them. Though he spoke in the

mildest of terms yet the stinging import of his words is evident. It was as though

he had said, "You who profess yourselves fully qualified to guide the people on

all points, and yet in the dark on a matter like this!" A poor beggar he might be,

and as such cut off from many of the advantages they had enjoyed, nevertheless,

he knew what they did not—he knew that Christ was "of God" (verse 33)! How

true it is that God reveals things to babes in Christ which He hides from the wise

and prudent! hides because they are "wise"—wise in their own conceits. Nothing

shuts out Divine illumination so effectively as prejudice and pride: nothing tends

to blind the heart more than egotism. "If any man among you seemeth to be wise

in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise" (1 Cor. 3:18); "Proud,

knowing nothing" (1 Tim. 6:4)."

3. Henry wrote, "Those that are ambitious of the favours of God must not be

afraid of the frowns of men. “See here,” saith Dr. Whitby, “a blind man and

unlearned judging more rightly of divine things than the whole learned council

of the Pharisees, whence we learn that we are not always to be led by the

authority of councils, popes, or bishops; and that it is not absurd for laymen

sometimes to vary from their opinions, these overseers being sometimes guilty of

great oversights.”

4. So often in history it is the leaders of religion who are the least aware of what

God is doing in the world around them. Anne Graham Lotz, as the daughter of

Billy Graham, had a terrible time in her ministry because of the leaders in the

church who opposed her being a public speaker. She gives us this interesting

testimony that revolves around this very passage we are studying. She wrote,

"God told me to tell you that you are supposed to marry me." I received that

astonishing bit of information on a lined sheet of notebook paper that had food

stains on it when I was fourteen years of age! It was a personal letter to me from

some delusional young man that had been forwarded from my father's

organization. I remember writing back rather crisply, "Well, He hasn't told

me!" As amusing as that incident was, a similar attitude was conveyed to me at

the beginning of my ministry that was not so humorous. Some church leaders

publicly expressed disapproval of my ministry because I was willing to speak

when there were men in the audience. And their stand was based on what they

said God says.

A typical argument from one of these men was something like this: "God told me

that you as a woman are not to speak to an audience in which there are men.

God has also told me women are not to be preachers." My initial reaction was

the same as it was when I was fourteen: "Well, God hasn't told me!" But because

this argument was made by those with seminary degrees and reputations for

being spiritual, by godly men who held positions as shepherds in their

congregations, this little sheep needed to hear her Shepherd's voice. I did not

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want to hear what others said He said. I wanted to hear from Him directly. I

wanted to hear His voice in the ears of my spirit.

Do you have a similar dilemma in your life? Have you been confronted with

those who, in essence, have said, "God told me to tell you if you only had more

faith, you would be healed," or "If God really loved you, that bad thing would

not have happened to you," or "It's God's will that your loved one died"? Such

"words of knowledge" spoken by sincere people within our circle of Christian

friends can put us in a tailspin of emotional devastation and spiritual doubt. It is

especially traumatic and confusing when those words are uttered by someone in

a position of religious leadership. How can you and I know which voice speaks

the truth and is therefore authentic? The Bible tells us that God does speak to

His children and that we will hear and know His voice even as sheep hear and

know the voice of their shepherd.

God speaks primarily through the Scriptures, and at times, through other

people-which is where we must be careful. One of the most familiar teachings of

Jesus is one He launched into after a confrontation with the "shepherds," or

religious leaders, of His day who professed to speak for God. John recorded that

the confrontation had taken place after an incident involving one of the many

blind beggars in the city. Jesus had been walking through the congested streets

of Jerusalem when His attention was caught by a beggar who had been born

blind. Stopping, Jesus had patiently explained to His disciples and to the man

that the blindness was the result of no one's fault. Instead, it was an opportunity

to reveal the glory of God. The resulting display of God's glory as Jesus created

sight in eyes that had never seen before should have caused everyone, including

the religious authorities-especially the religious authorities!-to fall at His feet in

worship. Instead, it provoked a confrontational exchange between the man and

the religious leaders that resulted in the man's excommunication from the

temple. Try to enter into the drama of the former blind beggar's experience:

In one day, the former blind man's life had turned upside down and inside out.

As he must have wandered in a daze through the narrow, crowded streets, surely

he tried to comprehend all he had experienced, realizing that although he had

gained his physical sight he had lost any social acceptance he would ever hope to

have. Did he wage an almost superhuman battle to force his attention away from

all he was seeing for the first time to all the thoughts he was thinking for the first

time? And where would he go? Back to the alleyway where he had begged all of

his life? Back to his home where his parents resented the disgrace he had

brought on the family? Back to his "friends" who had turned him over to the

authorities in the first place? Since he had received his sight, not one person had

congratulated him or shaken his hand or slapped him on the back or even smiled

joy and approval. Having lived in a world of darkness all of his life, surely he

had never felt so alone as he did in the light. Until he heard that familiar voice. It

was coming from an ordinary-looking Man standing in front of him-

a Man Who had heard of his excommunication from the temple,

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a Man Who knew what it was to be lonely in a crowd,

a Man Who understood what it felt like to be treated like a criminal because of

God's presence in His life,

a Man Who would Himself experience being outcast, not just from the temple

and the city, but from the human heart-

a Man Who had heard, Who understood, Who loved, and Who had searched

until He found the formerly blind beggar to whom He had given sight.

Praise God! Jesus draws near to those who are afflicted and persecuted and

criticized and ostracized. Jesus draws near to those who are suffering-especially

when the suffering is for His sake. As the former beggar heard the voice he

would never forget, did his heart leap? Did his newly focused eyes cling to the

Man's face, drinking in every detail, listening to every syllable, as the Man gently

inquired, "Do you believe the Son of Man?" Eagerly the man responded, "Who

is he, sir? . . . Tell me so that I may believe in him." And "Jesus said, 'You have

now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.' Then the man said,

'Lord, I believe,' and he worshiped him" (9:35-38).

Jesus then gave a scathing condemnation of the Pharisees who had stood in

judgment over the man and were still hounding him. He declared that the man

who had been blind could now see, not only physically, but also spiritually

because he recognized Jesus as the Son of God and placed his faith in Him. But

the Pharisees, who claimed with all of their religious training and knowledge and

experience that they could see spiritually, remained blind because they rejected

the truth of Who Jesus is (9:39-41). The haughty, superpious, elaborately dressed

Pharisees who had slipped through the temple courtyard to spy on the beggar

caught him in conversation with Jesus. So Jesus used what was inevitably

another imminent confrontation with the religious leaders to make a point that I

believe needs to resonate in the ears of Christians today. With eyes that surely

flashed with righteous indignation, and with the same breath that indicted the

religious leaders for their spiritual blindness, Jesus warned His followers that

not all religious leaders, or "shepherds," were authentic."

5. My response to the above testimony is that I too have had people of authority

tell me that certain authors were not people I should read, and I went and did it

anyway and discovered they were far superior in Biblical insight and wisdom

than those who warned me against them. I learned, as did Anne Graham Lotz,

that there is much prejudice in the Christian world, and we cannot rely on the

subjective opinions of Christian leaders. We need to be students of the Word,

and listen for the voice of the Shepherd, or we will be led by the prejudices of

others rather than by the Scriptures. It would be folly to say we ought not to

listen to authorities, for they are more often right than wrong, but it is equally

folly to listen to them in areas that reveal their prejudices, and where they seek

to twist the Scriptures to suit those prejudices. This healed blind man was fully

aware of just how blind these leaders were, and he had the wisdom to cast them

out as his guides before they cast him out as a rebel.

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31We know that God does not listen to sinners.

He listens to the godly man who does his will.

1. This uneducated man uses common sense logic to confound these learned men.

He says we all know one thing for sure, and that is that God is not in the business

of listening to sinners and doing miracles through them. Where are the godless

men going around like Jesus and doing wonders that only God could do? It is the

godly man whom God will use to do such wonders, and not the ungodly, as you

are determined to call Jesus. You are saying that Jesus is a sinner that God is

using in this wonderful way, when you know he cannot be a sinner and be so

used. Listen to yourselves, and you will see how mixed up you are when it comes

to being honest about this man Jesus. You have to make a choice. He is either a

sinner and, therefore, he cannot be doing miracles in the power of God, or he is a

godly man who is doing the will of God by his wondrous power. The first choice

does not fit the facts, for he is doing miracles that show forth the glory of God.

Common sense says the second choice is the only one that makes sense.

2. Barclay wrote, "They were annoyed because they could not meet the man's

argument which was based on scripture It was: "Jesus has done a very

wonderful thing; the fact that he has done it means that God hears him; now

God never hears the prayers of a bad man; therefore Jesus cannot be a bad

man." The fact that God did not hear the prayer of a bad man is a basic thought

of the Old Testament. When Job is speaking of the hypocrite, he says: "Will God

hear his cry when trouble comes upon him?" (Jb.27:9). The psalmist says: "If I

had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened."

(Ps.66:18). Isaiah hears God say to the sinning people: "When you spread forth

your hands (the Jews prayed with the hands stretched out, palms upwards), I

will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not

listen; your hands are full of blood" (Isa.1:15). Ezekiel says of the disobedient

people: "Though they cry in my ears with a loud voice, I will not hear them"

(Eze.8:18). Conversely they believed that the prayer of a good man was always

heard. "The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous, and his ears toward their

cry" (Ps.34:15). "He fulfils the desire of all who fear him, he also hears their cry,

and saves them." (Ps.145:19). "The Lord is far from the wicked; but he hears the

prayer of the righteous" (Prov.15:29). The man who had been blind presented

the Pharisees with an argument which they could not answer.

3. Calvin wrote, "It is the uniform doctrine of Scripture, that God does not listen

to any but those who call upon him with truth and sincerity. For while faith

alone opens the door to us to go to God, it is certain that all wicked men are

excluded from approaching to him; and he even declares that he detests their

prayers, (Proverbs 28:9,) as he abhors their sacrifices, (Proverbs 15:8.) It is by a

special privilege that he invites his children to himself; and it is the Spirit of

adoption alone that crieth out in our hearts, Abba, Father, (Romans 8:15;

Galatians 4:6.) In short, no man is properly disposed to pray to God, unless his

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heart be purified by faith. But wicked men profane the sacred name of God by

their prayers, and therefore they deserve rather to be punished for this sacrilege,

than to obtain any thing for salvation. Accordingly, the blind man does not

reason inconclusively, that Christ has come from God, because God lends a

favorable ear to his prayers."

Pink does not agree with Calvin and many others in the way they use this verse.

He writes, "This verse like many another must not be divorced from its setting.

Taken absolutely, these words "God heareth not sinners,’’ are not true. God

"heard" the cry of Ishmael (Gen. 21:17); He "heard" the groanings of the

children of Israel in Egypt, long before He redeemed them (Ex. 2:24); He

"heard" and answered the prayer of the wicked Manasseh (2 Chron. 33:10-13)."

The entire argument over the issue of God answering the prayer of sinners is

settled with this one chapter in

II Chron. 33. Read this chapter and you will see God answering the prayer of

one of the worst sinners and most wicked rebellious men in all of Bible history.

We need to go on to see more, however, for those who hold to the view that God

would never do this are not convinced just because God does it once. We must

pile up the evidence to persuade the stubborn doubters.

4. BELIEVE IT OR NOT

This text is used to prove that God will not hear the prayers of those who are not

believers, and thus denies that God ever responds to anyone who is not a

Christian. The most absolute author on this issue who takes this statement as an

absolute that God does not hear sinners is Dr. Lester Hutson. His opening

paragraph should give you an idea of just how strong his opinion is on this issue.

He writes, "We believe that prayer is exclusively for the children of God. We

reject the contention that any unbeliever can pray a prayer which God would

hear. (Note that in this study we use the word hear in the sense of honor or

respect. We recognize full well that God knows of the prayers of all men: even

the prayers of unbelievers are audible unto Him. Consider Ps. 139:1-12 and Heb.

4:13. So, in this sense God hears (or knows) all prayers; but He only honors or

respects the prayers of believers, who are His children). We believe the idea that

an unbeliever, even a sinner desiring to be saved from the penalty of sin, can

pray and God will hear him is without scriptural foundation. Thus, we do not

believe in the so called "sinner's prayer", which some claim is an exception to

God's teaching that He hears not sinners."

Calvin implies as much, and some great preachers of our day teach this, and

many sermons are preached with this as their theme. A good number of those

who give answers to questions that Christians ask them on the internet also teach

that God does not hear or respond to the prayers of non-Christians. Each of

them goes on to quote the many Bible verses that deal with unanswered prayer

due to the wickedness of those praying, who are primarily God's people who

have gone astray into idolatry. This is a radical teaching that flies in the face of

the facts, and so my desire is to show what Scripture teaches on this issue.

First of all we need to see that this text has nothing to do with the issue. The

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healed man knows they are saying Jesus is a sinner for healing on the Sabbath,

but he responds that sinners do not pray like this and see miracles. Only a man

of God can pray and see wonders like this. He is simply saying that the evidence

is that this is a man of God and not a sinner. Sinners do not go around doing

miracles in answer to prayer like this man is doing. Face the facts and admit you

are wrong about him. He is not a sinner but a man of God whom God is using in

a marvelous way. This defense of the character of Jesus is used to conclude that

God just does not pay any attention to the prayers of unbelievers, but what does

God say about it? To use this text to dismiss all of the Scriptures that reveal God

does respond to the prayers of sinners is a clear case of abuse of the text. G.

Campbell Morgan, the Prince of Expositors said, "Nothing is more to be

deprecated than the habit of formulating systems upon disjointed Scripture

phrases apart from their connection with the context." That is what is being

done with this text, and you will see it as we now list the texts that reveal God

does hear and respond to the prayers of sinners, and those who are not yet a part

of his family of believers.

1. First we look at the famous sinners prayer. Luke 18:9-14 And he spake this

parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and

despised others: 10 Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee,

and the other a publican. 11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself,

God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust,

adulterers, or even as this publican. 12 I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all

that I possess. 13 And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much

as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me

a sinner. 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the

other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth

himself shall be exalted. (KJV)" Millions of sinners who are far from the

kingdom of God come into the kingdom by a prayer of repentance in which they

confess their sin and cry out for the mercy of God. This is one prayer of the

sinner that God always hears and welcomes. Even most of the opponents of what

I am trying to establish accept this exception.

2. Cornelius's prayers were heard. He was a godly pagan who sought for more

knowledge of God, and God gave him the Gospel through Peter. God spoke to

him to prepare him and we read in Acts 10:4 "And when he looked on him, he

was afraid, and said, What is it, Lord? And he said unto him, Thy prayers and

thine alms are come up for a memorial before God." (KJV) God heard these

prayers of a man who was not a believer. He believed in God, but did not know

Christ until Peter shared the Gospel with him. He was heard by God before he

became a believer, and this opens up the door to the possibility of God hearing

the prayers of masses of those outside of the kingdom of God. After Peter talked

with Cornelius and heard his testimony he says in verse 34, "I now realize how

true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation

who fear him and do what is right." Peter accepts the reality that God works all

over the world with people who are truly God fearing people who want to do the

right thing. God is hearing their prayers, as he did those of Cornelius.

Peter learned a lesson that he passed on in 1 Pet 3:12 "For the eyes of the Lord

are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of

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the Lord is against them that do evil." Even pagan people who are good people

can have their prayers answered. Naturally God is not answering prayers said by

evil people to promote their evil, but not all unbelievers are evil people, for the

Bible has many pagans in the Old Testament who were good and just and God

used them and gave them blessings.

Peter, you will recall was prejudiced against Gentiles in the Acts 10 chapter that

deals with Cornelius, and God was teaching him a lesson that changed his whole

spirit toward Gentiles. Those who have prejudice against unbelievers need to

learn that same lesson that Peter had to learn. Some have not yet gotten there in

spiritual maturity, and that is the case in the following story. In Capetown, South

Africa an official of a church confronted a Zulu entering the building and said,

"Don't you know this church is for whites only?" the Zulu replied, "I'm just

toing in to sweep the church sir." He responded, "That's all right then, but

heaven help you if I catch you praying."

3. O Thou who dost hear prayer, To Thee all men come. (NASB) Psalms 65:2

Mark 11:17 And He began to teach and say to them, "Is it not written, 'MY

HOUSE SHALL BE CALLED A HOUSE OF PRAYER FOR ALL THE

NATIONS '? But you have made it a ROBBERS' DEN." The temple had a place

for Gentiles to come and pray, and none was to be excluded from this

opportunity to pray.

4. I Tim. 2:2-4 " It is proper to pray and give thanks for all men

1 I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and

giving of thanks, be made for all men;

2 For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and

peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.

3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour;

4 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the

truth.

It can be assumed that God was open to hear the prayers that he commends, and

so some of these people who are being prayed for are not believers, and they

would be offering their own prayers as well, and so many of their prayers would

be answered, for the Christians would be praying for them as well. The point is

many prayers of the non-believer are answered by the grace of God for the good

of all who are under their authority. And if they pray for guidance in the

decisions they need to make, the will be guided by God for the good of the people

they rule, and so they are getting answers to their prayers.

5. Mark 7:24-30

24 And from thence he arose, and went into the borders of Tyre and Sidon, and

entered into an house, and would have no man know it: but he could not be hid.

25 For a certain woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit, heard of

him, and came and fell at his feet:

26 The woman was a Greek, a Syrophenician by nation; and she besought him

that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter.

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27 But Jesus said unto her, Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to

take the children's bread, and to cast it unto the dogs.

28 And she answered and said unto him, Yes, Lord: yet the dogs under the table

eat of the children's crumbs.

29 And he said unto her, For this saying go thy way; the devil is gone out of thy

daughter.

30 And when she was come to her house, she found the devil gone out, and her

daughter laid upon the bed.

Here we have a clear case of Jesus answering the prayer of a person who was

outside of the people of God. She was a sinner whose prayer was heard and

answered. We have no idea what kind of religion she followed, and to what god

she may have often prayed, but when she persisted in her request to Jesus he

relented and answered her plea for mercy and healed her daughter. He gave her

a miracle, and who knows how many others outside of the people of God have

had such answers to their prayers because of the mercy of Christ?

6. Matt. 5:44-45, "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them

that hate you and pray for them that despitefully use you, and persecute you;

that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven." It follows that if

God wants us to love and bless our enemies, he should be willing to do the same,

and so God has to be willing to hear and grant answers to some of the prayers of

those who do not love him, but serve other gods. Who dares to say that God will

never do what he expects us to do in being a blessing to those who are our

enemies? Sometimes it is the goodness of God in healing or some other blessing

that leads the sinner to repentence. They are overwhelmed by the grace of God

who will answer a prayer of one who has shown no love or respect for him. Will

you refuse an unbelieve who comes to you with a need you can meet? No, you

will not, for by being kind you have an opportunity to share your faith. If you

seek by kindness to respond to the sinners requests, you make yourself greater

and more loving than God if you teach that he will not do what you do, and

respond to the sinners prayer for help and guidance. There are those who will

say to the sinner, I will not help you, for God will not respond to your prayer,

and so why should I. Such people are teaching the blasphemy that God will not

practice what he preaches to his people, and that he will choose to live on a lower

level of love than he demands of his people. All of the texts you can quote about

God not hearing the prayers of the wicked are dealing mostly with his own

people who are under judgment for their idolatry and other folly, and are not

dealing with the unbeliever who is seeking the favor of God in the sincere hope

that God will hear and have mercy. God will not respond to believer or

unbeliever to aid them in doing what is evil or contrary to his will, but he will

gladly respond with common grace and providential guidance in the lives of both

believers and unbelievers in goals that are consistent with his will. There have

been pagans by the millions who have prayed "God, spare my child from

starvation." And by the grace of God there are Christian organizations who

supply food to masses of these pagan people, and their children are saved

physically so they can grow up to hear the Gospel and be saved spiritually as

well. God is hearing and answering pagan prayers by the millions all over the

world daily. The bottom line is this: Can I respond to the prayer of the sinner? If

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the answer is yes, then it is also yes for God, for He is the one who desires me to

so respond.

The healed man is just saying that God would not have healed him if Jesus had

been an evil man, for God does not cooperate with those who are evil. This is not

a theological statement meant to deny all of the other passages of the Bible that

reveal God’s love and grace shown to the unbeliever. To reject the whole

revelation of God’s nature in relation to the world based on this text is to abuse

the Word of God and reject the teachings of Jesus by holding the words of this

man in higher esteem than those of the Son of God. To elevate this to the level of

a universal principle is to put God in a box of your own making, and cease to

listen to the rest of His Word.

7. Jesus is my authority on this issue, and no one else. He goes on in Matt.

5:46-48, “If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even

the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you

doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as

your heavenly Father is perfect.” The most ungodly people are still willing to

pitch in and help out those who love them and care for them, and who are in

their status of life. If we do not rise above this and become willing to respond to

the cries of those who are totally different and even anti-Christian, then we are

no better than the world. And if the God of the Bible will not ever respond to the

prayer of the unbeliever, then he is living in direct violation to his own standard

revealed through His Son. Jesus never asked any of the masses he healed to

identify themselves as believers. He healed because healing was needed, and he

asked for no qualifications. If you study healing you will discover that non-

Christians have had some marvelous answers to their prayers for healing. It is

Pharisaical to think that God only cares for Christians, and has no concern for

those who are not his people. We need to be reminded that God so loved the

world, and that Jesus died for the sins of the world.

8. Watchman Nee tells the story in his book Kneeling Christian that shows that a

heathen can come to a Christian and get his prayer answered, for that is what we

see in Cornelius and what we see in all who came to Jesus even when they were

not convinced of his being the Messiah. They never even came back to thank him

for a miracle, but their prayers were answered for healing. Healing takes place

in unbelievers because God is good even to his enemies. The following story can

be multiplied over and over by missionaries around the world. Here is the story:

Some little time ago, a Chinese boy of twelve years old, named Ma-Na-Si, a

boarder in the mission school at Chefoo, went home for the holidays. He is the

son of a native pastor. Whilst standing on the doorstep of his father's house he

espied a horseman galloping towards him. The man -- a heathen -- was in a great

state of perturbation. He eagerly enquired for the "Jesus-man" -- the pastor. The

boy told him that his father was away from home. The poor man was much

distressed, and hurriedly explained the cause of his visit. He had been sent from

a heathen village some miles away to fetch the "holy man" to cast a devil out of

the daughter-in-law of a heathen friend. He poured out his sad story of this

young woman, torn by devils, raving and reviling, pulling out her hair, clawing

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her face, tearing her clothes, smashing up furniture, and dashing away dishes of

food. He told of her spirit of sacrilege, and outrageous impiety, and brazen

blasphemy and how these outbursts were followed by foaming at the mouth, and

great exhaustion, both physical and mental "But my father is not at home," the

boy kept reiterating. At length the frenzied man seemed to understand. Suddenly

he fell on his knees, and, stretching out his hands in desperation, cried, "You,

too, are a Jesus-man; will you come ?"

Think of it -- a boy of twelve! Yes, but even a lad, when fully yielded to his

Savior, is not fearful of being used by that Savior. There was but one moment of

surprise, and a moment of hesitation, and then the laddie put himself wholly at

his Master's disposal. Like little Samuel of old he was willing to obey God in all

things. He accepted the earnest entreaty as a call from God. The heathen

stranger sprang into the saddle, and, swinging the Christian boy up behind him,

he galloped away.

Ma-Na-Si began to think over things. He had accepted an invitation to cast out a

devil in the name of Christ Jesus. But was he worthy to be used of God in this

way? Was his heart pure and his faith strong? As they galloped along he

carefully searched his own heart for sin to be confessed and repented of. Then he

prayed for guidance what to say and how to act, and tried to recall Bible

instances of demoniacal possession and how they were dealt with. Then he

simply and humbly cast himself upon the God of power and of mercy, asking His

help for the glory of the Lord Jesus. On arrival at the house they found that

some of the members of the family were by main force holding down the tortured

woman upon the bed. Although she had not been told that a messenger had gone

for the native pastor, yet as soon as she heard footsteps in the court outside she

cried, "All of you get out of my way quickly, so that I can escape. I must flee! A

'Jesus-man' is coming. I cannot endure him. His name is Ma-Na-Si."

Ma-Na-Si entered the room, and after a ceremonial bow knelt down and began

to pray. Then he sang a Christian hymn to the praise of the Lord Jesus. Then, in

the name of the Risen Lord, glorified and omnipotent, he commanded the demon

to come out of the woman. At once she was calm, though prostrate with

weakness. From that day she was perfectly whole. She was amazed when they

told her that she had uttered the name of the Christian boy, for she had never

heard of it or read of it before, for the whole of that village was heathen. But that

day was veritably a "beginning of days" to those people, for from it the Word of

the Lord had free course and was glorified.

Beloved reader, I do not know how this little narrative affects you. It is one that

moves me to the very depths of my being. It seems to me that most of us know so

little of the power of God -- so little of His overwhelming, irresistible love. Oh,

what love is His! Now, every time we pray, that wonderful love envelops us in a

special way."

9. Rev. Richard D. Phillips rejects the teaching that God limits his grace to

believers. He gives us these insights into possible answers to prayer in the lives of

apostates.

He writes, "Hebrews chapter 6, in a difficult passage, tells the story of people

who had made false professions of faith, church members who later fell away

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and thus showed that they never had been saved. Yet its description nonetheless

speaks of considerable spiritual experience. Though unsaved, they have, through

their participation in the church, “tasted of the heavenly gift, shared in the Holy

Spirit, and tasted of the goodness of the Word of God and the powers of the age

to come.” I don’t see why such people might not have had prayers answered by

our gracious God, even though they turned out not to have ever been born again.

One category we hear little about today is that of common grace. God is good to

all his creation. He is the God of every living creature. God may do all sorts of

good to even his enemies, including answering their prayers, simply because it

brings him glory. One thing that concerns me about the teaching that non-

Christians cannot pray is the logical implication that we should not invite or

encourage them to pray in times of need. It is true that a sinner’s greatest need is

salvation through faith in Christ, and yet a non-Christian neighbor may receive

terrible news of a sickness or the loss of a job, and we should invite them to take

their cares in prayer to the only true God. How do we know that God is not

leading them to himself, starting a relationship in this way that will lead to

salvation."

10. Rabbi Kenneth L. Cohen writes that, "when religion causes us to forget that

other people are created in the divine image, when we are prepared to sacrifice

others on the altar of our beliefs, we become fanatics. When we use religion to

make God small like ourselves...we are fanatics." Their is something arrogant

about a Christian who thinks that God limits his love and grace to them alone,

for this does make God small, and not the God of the Bible. I cannot imagine

God saying as a non-Christian approaches him in prayer, “I know my Son died

for the sins of this man, but he is on too low a level for me to bother, and so I will

not give him any encouragement as he seeks to find me and come to know what I

have done for him in Christ.”

11. An unknown author wrote, "One case well known to the writer may be given

as an illustration. My friend told me that he had been an atheist many years.

Whilst an infidel, he had been singing for forty years in a church choir because

he was fond of music. His aged father became seriously ill two or three years ago,

and lay in great pain. The doctors were helpless to relieve the sufferer. In his

distress for his father, the infidel choirman fell on his knees and cried, "O God, if

there is a God, show Thy power by taking away, my father's pain!" God heard

the man's piteous cry, and removed the pain immediately. The "atheist" praised

God, and hurried off to his vicar to find out the way of salvation! Today he is

out-and-out for Christ, giving his whole time to work for his newly-found

Savior."

12. Another radical example is the following: "Although possessed of beauty,

wealth, position and friends, she found that none of them satisfied, and at length,

in her utter misery, she sought God. Yet her first utterance to Him was an

expression of open rebellion to and hatred of Him! Listen to it -- it is not the

prayer of a "child": --

"O God, if Thou art a God: I do not love Thee; I do not want Thee; I do not

believe there is any happiness in Thee: but I am miserable as I am. Give me what

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I do not seek; give me what I do not want. If Thou canst, make me happy. I am

miserable as I am. I am tired of this world; if there is anything better, give it

me."

What a "prayer"! Yet God heard and answered. He forgave the wanderer and

made her radiantly happy and gloriously fruitful in His service.

In even savage bosoms

There are longings, servings, yearnings

For the good they comprehend not.

And their feeble hands and helpless.

Groping blindly in the darkness,

Touch God's right hand in the darkness,

And are lifted up and strengthened.

13. Paul had just the opposite view of the narrowness that says God hears only

the prayers of the Christian, for he says God is happy to hear the prayers of all

people, for his delight is when people seek him and try to find him. Note that

Paul considered all men the offspring of God in the sense of his being their

Creator. They are made in his image, and so have a basis for seeking him in

prayer. Read this well known passage in Acts 17:22-28, "Paul then stood up in

the meeting of the Areopagus and said: "Men of Athens! I see that in every way

you are very religious. 23For as I walked around and looked carefully at your

objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN

UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to

proclaim to you. 24"The God who made the world and everything in it is the

Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. 25And he

is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives

all men life and breath and everything else. 26From one man he made every

nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the

times set for them and the exact places where they should live. 27God did this so

that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he

is not far from each one of us. 28'For in him we live and move and have our

being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.'" Paul does

not hesitate to quote a pagan poet, for he knew pagans can have wisdom, and

they can have some relationship to God. It it not the same as those who are fully

redeemed children, but still it is a relationship that he acknowledged, and God

interacts with these offspring, and hears their prayers.

14. The concept of common grace is too vast a subject to deal with in depth, but a

little light on it opens up the obvious reality that God answers the prayers of

many who are not Christians. Here are just a couple of paragraphs on the

subject. "Scripture is full of examples of God's providential goodness,

particularly in the Psalms. "The Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all that

he has made. You open your hand; you satisfy the desire of every living thing"

(Ps. 145:9, 16). Some Christians think that regeneration confers special benefits

that render believers superior artists, politicians, businesspeople, and even

parents. But both these Scriptures and experience confirm that unbelievers may

excel in their vocations and believers may fail in theirs. In the field of common

endeavor ruled by God's creation and providence, there is no difference in

principle between believers and unbelievers in terms of gifts and abilities.

Of course, we must not confuse common grace with God's special or saving

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grace.

Common grace benefits fallen humanity in the sphere of creation but not in the

sphere of redemption. It does not save evildoers nor does it redeem art, culture,

the state, or families. Unlike saving grace, it is restricted to this world before the

last judgment and will not stay God's hand of justice on that dreadful day. But

this reality does not mean that it is at odds with saving grace. As Murray says,

"Special grace does not annihilate but rather brings its redemptive, regenerative

and sanctifying influence to bear on every natural or common gift; it transforms

all activities and departments of life; it brings every good gift into the service of

the kingdom of God. Christianity is not a flight from nature; it is the renewal

and sanctification of nature." He rightly observes that this perspective challenges

ascetic and monastic versions of spirituality because "its practical outlook has

been, 'For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be

received with thanksgiving: for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer' (1

Tim. 4:4, 5)."

Not only can unbelievers, by common grace, sustain their own goods, truths, and

beauties; they can also enrich believers' lives. One example of Calvin's

theological balance is that he can appreciate not only the depth of human

depravity but also the depth of human dignity because of his awareness of God's

creation and common grace. In a celebrated passage, he pleads against the

fanaticism that would forbid all secular influence on Christians, concluding that

when we disparage the truth, goodness, and beauty found among unbelievers, we

are heaping contempt on the Holy Spirit himself:"

15. Consider this text of Luke 6:35 where we are told of God's kindness to those

who are not thankful, but are evil. "But love ye your enemies, and do good, and

lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be

the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil." If

God is kind to those who are unthankful and evil, then it is obvious that he will

at times answer their prayers. And finally, consider "For he saith to Moses, I will

have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I

will have compassion…. Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy,

and whom he will he hardeneth" (Rom. 9:15, 18). God is not limited to anyone's

theology and judgments. He can respond to anyone's prayer or not, and it is folly

and presumption for any man to say God will not answer the prayer of a non-

Christian, for that is a matter of his sovereign choice and not for any man to

determine. The evidence, however, makes it clear that he will choose sometimes

to make a favorable response to the prayers of unbelievers. Those who claim that

he does not do so should at least be as honest as the student who handed in his

exam paper with this note: "The views expressed in this paper are my own, and

not necessarily those of the textbook." Scripture is our textbook, and it is the

final judge on this issue, and it is plain to me that it teaches that God in his grace

and mercy does answer prayers that come from those who are not believers.

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32Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of

a man born blind.

Barnes wrote, "Neither Moses nor any of the prophets had ever done this. No

instance of this kind is recorded in the Old Testament. As this was a miracle

which had never been performed, the man argued justly that he who had done it

must be from God. As Jesus did it not by surgical operations, but by clay, it

showed that he had power of working miracles by any means. It may be also

remarked that the restoration of sight to the blind by surgical operations was

never performed until the year 1728. Dr. Cheselden, an English surgeon, was the

first who attempted it successfully, who was enabled to remove a cataract from

the eye of a young man, and to restore sight. This fact shows the difficulty of the

operation when the most skilful natural means are employed, and the greatness

of the miracle performed by the Saviour."

33If this man were not from God, he could do

nothing."

1. Intervarsity Commentary says, "On the surface this story may look like a

showdown between personal experience and Scripture, but it is more

complicated than that. The man's statement that if Jesus were not from God, he

could do nothing (v. 33) is not true, strictly speaking. The works of the Egyptian

magicians show as much (Ex 7:11, 22; 8:7). Indeed, Jesus warns against false

Christs and false prophets who "will appear and perform great signs and

miracles to deceive even the elect" (Mt 24:24) and speaks of those who prophesy

in his name, cast out demons in his name and do many mighty works in his

name, whom he does not know at all (Mt 7:22-23). So much for experience being

an infallible guide! But then the Scriptures, in and of themselves, are not an

infallible guide either, as the example of the Jewish opponents reveal. It depends

on one's interpretation. The Christian claim is that the Scriptures are an organic

whole that make sense when interpreted in the light of Jesus the Christ under the

guidance the Spirit has provided the church (Jn 14:26; 15:26). The bottom line is

that we need God to guide our understanding of both the Scripture and our

experience. Once again we see the importance of humility and openness to God

as a core attribute of true discipleship. If the opponents of Jesus had really been

loyal to God, open to him and holding to his truth, then they would have been

able to see him when he came, as did Nathanael, the true Israelite."

2. Here was a man who had received a marvelous miracle, and one who was open

to following Jesus as his Master, but he makes a statement that will not hold up

to all the evidence, even though it is in defense of Jesus. This becomes an

important warning to all of us to take note, for even the best of godly men, and

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women, can make statements that are exaggerations, and, in the big picture are

false. That is why we need to examine even the positive things people say to see if

they are the truth, or are they exaggerations that confuse the truth. We are so

prone to love positive things that we do not question them, and this is not good.

34To this they replied, "You were steeped in sin

at birth; how dare you lecture us!" And they

threw him out.

1. This is what you do when your opponent has you backed into a corner with an

argument that is so solid that there is no way to refute it. You scream and start

calling him names and end the debate, for it is too embarrassing to admit that he

has you without a comeback. You do not admit defeat, but call the one who has

defeated you a scum bag not worthy of debating. You do all you can to make the

opponent look bad so people do not see how bad you look. Such is the way the

Pharisee deals with irrefutable evidence. The only way to deal with truth that

you hate is to cast it out of your presence, and that is what they did. It is no

wonder that even God could not get through to these leaders who ended up

killing the Son of God. Calvin points out that we are never wise when we are too

proud to listen to an inferior person with a message that God may have to us

from him. God often uses those of less stature and education to teach his people,

and we ought not to let foolish pride shut out the truth that comes through

anyone. Pink wrote, "Alas, how tragically does history repeat itself. These men

were too arrogant to receive anything from this poor beggar. They were

graduates from honored seats of learning, therefore was it far too much beneath

their dignity to be instructed by this unsophisticated disciple of Christ."

2. Here is what you get when you have blind men examining the evidence. They

did all they could to get to the bottom of this event, and all of the evidence

pointed to it being a marvelous miracle done by Jesus who claims his power is

from God. The case should be closed with adoring worship of the presence of

God in Jesus Christ, but it is closed by these blind leaders by throwing the

evidence out and shutting themselves off from any of the clear light of the whole

event. They had not one slight detail of doubt to hang on to for their rejection,

but they, nevertheless, rejected the whole account as the worthless ravings of a

man steeped in sin from birth. How can we trust a man who was so sinful that he

was born blind is their way of seeing things, and so they gave him the boot.

Better that we see him as evil than that we see ourselves as blind.

3. Bob Deffinbaugh wrote, "There was an obvious note of sarcasm in this

indictment of the Pharisees by the one who had been healed. How could they

possibly conclude that He was not sent from God when He did that which no

other prophet had done? How could they defend their position as religious

leaders when they had no explanation for His appearance or actions? Their

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position was so weak and indefensible that even this untrained layman could

shoot holes in it. He had lost all respect for their authority, and no longer feared

whatever penalty they might mete out to him. He wanted no part of their religion

anyway. Let them throw him out."

4. John MacArthur wrote, "And they refused to believe that Jesus had done it

because the Pharisees had already concluded that Jesus was a sinner. How did

they know that? They just decided it, they didn't have to be told. They knew

everything. So they had decided that Jesus was not the Son of God, He was a

fake and that He couldn't have done this miracle. So they denied the testimony of

the blind man and they kept harassing the blind man. The more they harassed

him, the stronger his testimony became till finally they had deteriorated to the

lowest levels of conflict. They started calling him names, cursing him. And then

they picked him up bodily and threw him out of the building they were in and

unsynagogued him. Which means they put him out of the life of Israel. They

eliminated him. They wouldn't tolerate his testimony for Christ. They would not

tolerate it because they said...they made a rule: if anybody said Christ is the

Messiah, they're out of the synagogue...aposunagogos, unsynagogued. And they

did it to him. His testimony was clear and concise and they rejected it and threw

him out."

5. J. C. Ryle wrote, "These verses show us, secondly, the desperate lengths to

which prejudice will sometimes carry wicked men. We read that the "Jews agreed

that if any man did confess that Jesus was Christ, he should be put out of the

synagogue." They were determined not to believe. They were resolved that no

evidence should change their minds, and no proofs influence their will. They

were like men who shut their eyes and tie a bandage over them, and refuse to

have it untied. Just as in after times they stopped their ears when Stephen

preached, and refused to listen when Paul made his defense, so they behaved at

this period of our Lord's ministry.

Of all states of mind into which unconverted men can fall, this is by far the most

dangerous to the soul. So long as a person is open, fair, and honest-minded, there

is hope for him, however ignorant he may be. He may be much in the dark at

present. But is he willing to follow the light, if set before him? He may be

walking in the broad road with all his might. But is he ready to listen to any one

who will show him a more excellent way? In a word, is he teachable, childlike,

and unfettered by prejudice? If these questions can be answered satisfactorily,

we never need despair about the man's soul."

6. We note here that Jesus delivered this man from blindness, but he did not

spare him from having to deal with the Pharisees, and getting himself kicked out

of the fellowship of God's people. Jesus seldom delivers from all obstacles

because they are part of the process of getting us to make a clear cut commitment

to him. An elderly woman watching a tennis match for the first time saw how

ofter the ball hit the net, and she declared, "Why in the world don't they take

down that blasted net?" She could not comprehend that the net was indeed a

pain, and the players did hate to hit it, but the whole meaning of the game rode

on that obstacle being there, and the exhilaration of not hitting it as ofter as the

other guy. Obstacles are often what gives life greater meaning by overcoming

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them, and this blind man did a great job of holding his own against the far better

trained Pharisees. He had to look back and thank God for the courage he had to

stand up to them.

7. Henry wrote, "How they disdain to learn of him, or to receive instruction from

him: Dost thou teach us? A mighty emphasis must be laid here upon thou and us.

“What! wilt thou, a silly sorry fellow, ignorant and illiterate, that hast not seen

the light of the sun a day to an end, a beggar by the way-side, of the very dregs

and refuse of the town, wilt thou pretend to teach us, that are the sages of the law

and grandees of the church, that sit in Moses's chair and are masters in Israel?”

Note, Proud men scorn to be taught, especially by their inferiors, whereas we

should never think ourselves too old, nor too wise, nor too good, to learn. Those

that have much wealth would have more; and why not those that have much

knowledge? And those are to be valued by whom we may improve in learning.

What a poor excuse was this for the Pharisees' infidelity, that it would be a

disparagement to them to be instructed, and informed, and convinced, by such a

silly fellow as this!

Spiritual Blindness

35Jesus heard that they had thrown him out,

and when he found him, he said, "Do you

believe in the Son of Man?"

1. Jesus just happened to find this man along the way the first time, but here he

goes in search of him, for he heard of his being cast out of the synagogue. This

man had been healed by a great miracle, but now he is suffering a great loss due

to his refusal to deny it was from God. Jesus has compassion again and goes in

search of the man, for he is determined that this man will find far more than

what he has lost. He goes to make sure that he will be a part of his eternal

kingdom where he will never be cast out. Edward Markquart writes, "Up to this

point, the man born blind did not know that Jesus was the Son of man, the

Messiah, the Anointed leader, the Son of God. According to the story, it was at

this point that the blind man finally began to comprehend the true identity of

Jesus and worshipped him. This story is not an example of “faith healing.” The

gospel does not mention nor emphasize that this blind man had faith in Jesus

before his healing and that his faith has made him well. Rather, the blind man

did not know the identity of Jesus. He did not know the identity of Jesus nor did

his parents nor did his friends. But Jesus still healed him."

2. Jesus was always asking questions of people, and that is because questions get

them to thinking and acting in ways that bring out into the open who they really

are. He asks this man if he believes in the Son of Man, which means, of course,

do you believe in me. Spurgeon writes on this question: "This is the way by

which God's mercy enters the heart of man, and therefore the Lord Jesus Christ

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himself begins there; and in all our dealings with the unconverted, it will be wise

for us also to begin there. That is the place where the decisive battle will have to

be fought; for, upon the believing or the non-believing on the Son of God, the

eternal destiny of each individual will turn. "He that believeth on the Son hath

everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath

of God abideth on him." That wrath abides even now upon him if the life of God

is not in him. Let us hammer away at that all-important point of faith in Christ.

This is the Thermopylae, of Christian experience. If this pass can be stormed and

carried, we can capture the citadel of men's hearts; but if unbelief continues to

guard that narrow passage to eternal life and to hold it against the gospel and its

invitations, and exhortations, and promises, and threatenings, then nothing

whatever can be done. So, in this enquiry of our Lord, we have most instructive

teaching. His object, no doubt, was to bless this man by working in him saving

faith, and therefore he said to him, "Dost thou believe on the Son of God?"

3. Barnes wrote, "Dost thou believe on the Son of God? Hitherto he had

understood little of the true character of Jesus. He believed that he had power to

heal him, and he inferred that he must be a prophet, John 9:17. He believed

according to the light he had, and he now showed that he was prepared to believe

all that Jesus said. This is the nature of true faith. It believes all that God has

made known, and it is prepared to receive all that he will teach. The phrase Son

of God here is equivalent to the Messiah.

4. Calvin writes of the being cast out of the Catholic church in his day. He wrote,

"We have known the same thing by experience in our own time; for when Dr

Martin Luther, and other persons of the same class, were beginning to reprove

the grosser abuses of the Pope, they scarcely had the slightest relish for pure

Christianity; but after that the Pope had thundered against them, and cast them

out of the Roman synagogue by terrific bulls, Christ stretched out his hand, and

made himself fully known to them. So there is nothing better for us than to be at

a very great distance from the enemies of the Gospel, that Christ may approach

nearer to us." The point is, it is not always a bad thing to be an outcast, for by

being cast out of the synagogue this man got the opportunity to be among the

first of those who would become a part of the church of Christ.

36"Who is he, sir?" the man asked. "Tell me so

that I may believe in him."

1. This man was ready and willing to believe anything Jesus told him to believe,

for he had received the greatest gift of his life from this man. He was eager to

believe, and so wanted more information to have a foundation for his belief. You

cannot believe anything or anyone without some knowledge. Faith comes by

hearing and hearing by the Word of God. People need to have knowledge of

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truth to believe in truth. That is what he wanted, some knowledge of who he was

to believe in.

2. MacArthure wrote, "Boy, I like that, that is really terrific. That is outstanding.

That man is really right there. He is one of the most prepared people I've ever

met. That guy is so ready for salvation, it's just a matter of "Lord, what do I do

now?" he is literally a little ball of faith waiting to stick somewhere. He just

wants to know where do I attach. That's all. I believe, I'm ready, point it out.

Listen, he had so much confidence in Jesus, he would...if Jesus said, "There's the

Son of God," whish...he'd be there. If Jesus said, "There's..." swish...he'd

just...whatever you say....where? I'll go."

37Jesus said, "You have now seen him; in fact,

he is the one speaking with you."

1. Some point out that the blind man went home after he was healed, and did not

come back to Jesus, and so he heard the voice of Jesus, but did not see him. This

could be the first time that he laid his new seeing eyes on Jesus. Jesus says, you

are looking at him now, and he is the one speaking to you. Now you both hear

and see the one who gave you the gift of sight.

2. Pink points out this interesting fact: "This is one of the four instances in this

Gospel where the Lord Jesus expressly declared His Divine Sonship. In verse 25

He foretold that "the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that

hear shall live." Here He says "Dost thou believe on the Son of God?... it is he

that talketh with thee." In John 10:36 He asked "Say ye of him, whom the

Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I

said, I am the Son of God?" In John 11:4 He told His disciples "This sickness is

not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified

thereby." Nowhere in the other Gospels does He explicitly affirm that He was the

Son of God. John’s record of each of these four utterances of the Savior is in

beautiful accord with the special theme and design of his Gospel."

38Then the man said, "Lord, I believe," and he

worshiped him.

1. He needed no more persuasion, for seeing the man who did this for him made

him believe on the spot, and in that emotional moment when he had that miracle

worker in his presence. He had to be the easiest convert in history, for he

believed the moment he saw the Savior. He knew before this that he had to be a

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prophet at least to be able to do what he did, and he knew he had to be a man of

God, but now in the presence of Jesus he knew he was the Messiah, the Son of

God, and the only one he ever met who was worthy of worship. When he said,

"Lord, I believe," he no doubt fell on his knees, or on his face, and in this

position of worship acknowledge Jesus as the Lord of his life.

A number of versions make it clear that he did fall in his worship: "The Syriac

renders the phrase, "he worshipped him," thus: "and, casting himself down, he

adored him." The Persic, "and he bowed down and adored Christ." The Arabic,

"and he adored him." The Latin Vulgate, "and, falling down, he adored him."

2. If Jesus was not the Son of God he would have rebuked the man and told him

to stand up and not give him adoration that belongs to God only. Jesus did not

do so, and by this silence and acceptance of worship acknowledges that he is

God, and that he is one who is worthy of worship, praise and thanksgiving.

3. Edward Marquart wrote, "That is what Jesus wants from us as well. Jesus

wants us to come to that time in our lives when our spiritual blindness is healed

and we call him “Lord.” This is what Jesus wants from us. Jesus wants to heal

our blindness so that we too can believe in Christ and worship him as our Lord.

That is what the Gospel of John and Christianity is all about. When Jesus heals

our spiritual blindness, we gradually perceive who Jesus is. His Spirit, the Spirit

of his love, then fills us. Like the healed blind man, we come to believe and

worship him."

4. William Barclay concludes his study of this chapter with his study of the

progressive revelation of the healed blind man.

"Before we leave this very wonderful chapter we would do well to read it again,

this time straight through from start to finish. If we do so read it with care and

attention, we will see the loveliest progression in the blind man's idea of Jesus. It

goes through three stages, each one higher than the last.

(i) He began by calling Jesus a man. "A man that is called Jesus opened mine

eyes" (Jn. 9:11). He began by thinking of Jesus as a wonderful man. He had

never met anyone who could do the kind of things Jesus did; and he began by

thinking of Jesus as supreme among men.

We do well sometimes to think of the sheer magnificence of the manhood of

Jesus. In any gallery of the world's heroes he must find a place. In any anthology

of the loveliest lives ever lived, his would have to be included. In any collection of

the world's greatest literature his parables would have to be listed. Shakespeare

makes Mark Antony say of Brutus:

"His life was gentle, and the elements So mix'd in him that Nature might stand

up And say to all the world, `This was a man!'"

Whatever else is in doubt, there is never any doubt that Jesus was a man among

men.

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(ii) He went on to call Jesus a prophet. When asked his opinion of Jesus in view

of the fact that he had given him his sight, his answer was: "He is a prophet"

(Jn. 9:17). Now a prophet is a man who brings God's message to men. "Surely

the Lord God does nothing," said Amos, "without revealing his secret to his

servants the prophets" (Am.3:7). A prophet is a man who lives close to God and

has penetrated into his inner councils. When we read the wisdom of the words of

Jesus, we are bound to say: "This is a prophet!" Whatever else may be in doubt,

this is true--if men followed the teachings of Jesus, all personal, all social, all

national, all international problems would be solved. If ever any man had the

right to be called a prophet, Jesus has.

(iii) Finally the blind man came to confess that Jesus was the Son of God He

came to see that human categories were not adequate to describe him. Napoleon

was once in a company in which a number of clever skeptics were discussing

Jesus. They dismissed him as a very great man and nothing more. "Gentlemen."

said Napoleon, "I know men, and Jesus Christ was more than a man."

"If Jesus Christ is a man And only a man--I say That of all mankind I cleave to

him And to him will I cleave alway. If Jesus Christ is a god-- And the only God--I

swear I will follow him through heaven and hell, The earth, the sea, and the air!"

It is a tremendous thing about Jesus that the more we know him the greater he

becomes. The trouble with human relationships is that often the better we know

a person the more we know his weaknesses and his failings; but the more we

know Jesus, the greater the wonder becomes; and that will be true, not only in

time, but also in eternity."

5. Intervarsity Commentary says, "This coming to faith is the crucial point of

this story. In the physical healing of the man's eyes we see the agent of creation

at work within his world. But the even more astounding work takes place as

Jesus leads the man to faith in himself, for this is not just a creative work on the

man's body, but the bringing of that essential life that was lost in Eden. That life

had existed by virtue of the relationship of intimacy between Creator and

created, and now in this man's worship of God in Jesus we see the return to the

proper relationship that had been severed by the rebellion. The worship of the

man who has found God in Christ is his entrance into eternal life (17:3)."

6. Calvin has some mixed feelings about the level of his faith at this point as he

writes, "And he worshipped him. It may be asked, Did the blind man honor or

worship Christ as God? The word which the Evangelist employs

(prosekunesei) means nothing more than to express respect and homage by

bending the knee, or by other signs. For my own part, certainly, I

think that it denotes something rare and uncommon; namely, that the

blind man gave far more honor to Christ than to an ordinary man, or

even to a prophet. And yet I do not think that at that time he had made

such progress as to know that Christ was God manifested in the flesh.

What then is meant by worship? The blind man, convinced that Jesus was

the Son of God, nearly lost the command of himself, and, in rapturous

admiration, bowed down before him."

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7. Henry wrote, "The poor man readily entertains this surprising revelation,

and, in a transport of joy and wonder, he said, Lord, I believe, and he worshipped

him. (1.) He professed his faith in Christ: Lord, I believe thee to be the Son of God.

He would not dispute any thing that he said who had shown such mercy to him,

and wrought such a miracle for him, nor doubt of the truth of a doctrine which

was confirmed by such signs. Believing with the heart, he thus confesses with the

mouth; and now the bruised reed was become a cedar. (2.) He paid his homage to

him: He worshipped him, not only gave him the civil respect due to a great man,

and the acknowledgments owing to a kind benefactor, but herein gave him divine

honour, and worshipped him as the Son of God manifested in the flesh. None but

God is to be worshipped; so that in worshipping Jesus he owned him to be God.

Note, True faith will show itself in a humble adoration of the Lord Jesus. Those

who believe in him will see all the reason in the world to worship him. We never

read any more of this man; but, it is very likely, from henceforth he became a

constant follower of Christ."

39Jesus said, "For judgment I have come into

this world, so that the blind will see and those

who see will become blind."

1. Jesus hit us here with a great paradox, for he says that one of the purposes of

his coming into the world was that the blind might see, and that those who see

might become blind. So Jesus opens eyes and shuts them at the same time. He

heals blindness and causes blindness. He opened the eyes of the blind man so that

he could see physically and spiritually, and he saw his way into heaven by faith

in Christ. He closed up the eyes of the Pharisees, however, so that they did not

see the obvious in front of their face. They were blinded by their prejudice and

missed their chance of seeing the way of salvation. The door was open in front of

them, but they could not see it because they were being judged for their stubborn

refusal to see what God was doing through Jesus. The world is composed of the

blind who see, and the seeing who are blind.

2. THE BLIND WHO SEE

John Milton went blind in his old age, but he could see with purer light than ever

before. He wrote,

" I AM old and blind!

Men point at me as smitten by God's frown;

Afflicted and deserted of my kind,

Yet am I not cast down.

I am weak, yet strong; 5

I murmur not that I no longer see;

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Poor, old, and helpless, I the more belong,

Father Supreme! to Thee.

All-merciful One!

When men are furthest, then art Thou most near,

When friends pass by, my weaknesses to shun,

Thy chariot I hear.

Thy glorious face

Is leaning toward me, and its holy light

Shines in upon my lonely dwelling-place,—

And there is no more night."

Another poet wrote,

Give unto me thy light, O God,

For I am blind to Thee;

My way is dark, my path is rough,

Send Thy Spirit to me;

Take all my hate and sin away

And give me sight to see.

Henry Van Dyke states what ought to be the attitude of every believer as he

comes to the Scriptures.

Grant us the knowledge that we need

To solve the questions of the mind.

Light Thou our candles while we read,

To keep our hearts from going blind.

Enlarge our vision to behold

The wonders Thou hast wrought of old!

Edwin Markham wrote,

We all are blind, until we see that in the human plan,

Nothing is worth the making, if it does not make the man.

3. Barclay wrote, "Jesus came into this world for judgment. Whenever a man is

confronted with Jesus, that man at once passes a judgment on himself. If he sees

in Jesus nothing to desire, nothing to admire, nothing to love, then he has

condemned himself. If he sees in Jesus something to wonder at, something to

respond to, something to reach out to, then he is on the way to God. The man

who is conscious of his own blindness, and who longs to see better and to know

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more, is the man whose eyes can be opened and who can be led more and more

deeply into the truth. The man who thinks he knows it all, the man who does not

realize that he cannot see, is the man who is truly blind and beyond hope and

help. Only the man who realizes his own weakness can become strong. Only the

man who realizes his own blindness can learn to see. Only the man who realizes

his own sin can be forgiven."

4. THE SEEING WHO ARE BLIND

Paul was a great leader and learned man before he bacame a Christian, but he

was, like most Pharisees, blind to the reality of the incarnation of the Son of God

in Jesus Christ. The Lord confronted him on the road to Demascus and knocked

him blind, but his blindness led him to see for the first time who Jesus really was.

Jesus then gave him a commission to go and help other blind people see the light

in Christ. In Acts 26:15 to 18 we read Paul's testimony, " "Then I asked, 'Who

are you, Lord?' " 'I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,' the Lord replied.

16'Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a

servant and as a witness of what you have seen of me and what I will show you.

17I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending

you to them 18to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from

the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a

place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.'" The point is, all people

not in the kingdom of God by faith in Christ are normal seeing people, but they

are blind to the most important truth in life, and it was Paul's God given task to

take the Gospel to these people, both Jews and Gentiles, that they might see and

no longer be blind. Helping blind people see is the ministry of the whole church.

5. It is not only the lost, but even the saved, who can be blind and in need of

radical enlightenment to be able to see God's will and purpose. In Rev.3:17-18

we read these words of Jesus to his church, "You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired

wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched,

pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 18I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the

fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your

shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see." Blind

believers are a reality in every age, and so there is never an end to the need for

more light from God's Word to keep believers on the right path.

6. Gene Bartlett tells of being in the college library and saw an olf friend. He ask

why he was there and was told that he was waiting for his girlfriend to come

from her dormitory to meet him there. It was the only place she could go to get

out of the dormitory. Another girl came and told him his girlfriend would be 20

minutes late. The friend looked as if tragedy had struck. He said, "Can you beat

it? I am stuck in the library for 20 minutes with nothing to do." Bartlett says he

was in the midst of the greatest learning center in the world and had nothing to

do. He was blind to all the riches at his fingertips, and felt no need to take

advantage of the opportunity to enrich his life.

7. Harry Kemp wrote,

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THE SPRING blew trumpets of color;

Her Green sang in my brain—

I heard a blind man groping

“Tap—tap” with his cane;

I pitied him in his blindness;

But can I boast, “I see”?

Perhaps there walks a spirit

Close by, who pities me,—

A spirit who hears me tapping

The five-sensed cane of mind

Amid such unguessed glories—

That I am worse than blind.

8. Barnes wrote, "For judgment. The word judgment, here, has been by some

understood in the sense of condemnation-- "The effect of my coming is to

condemn the world." But this meaning does not agree with those places where

Jesus says that he came not to condemn the world, John 3:17; 12:47; 5:45. To

judge is to express an opinion in a judicial manner, and also to express any

sentiment about any person or thing, John 7:24; 5:30; Luke 8:43. The meaning

here may be thus expressed:

"I came to declare the condition of men; to show them their duty

and danger. My coming will have this effect, that some will be

reformed and saved, and some more deeply condemned."

That they, &c. The Saviour does not affirm that this was the design of his coming,

but that such would be the effect or result. He came to declare the truth, and the

effect would be, &c. Similar instances of expression frequently occur. Comp.

Matthew 11:25; 10:34: "I came not to send peace, but a sword "--that is, such

will be the effect of my coming.

That they which see not. Jesus took this illustration, as he commonly did, from

the case before him; but it is evident that he meant it to be taken in a spiritual

sense. He refers to those who are blind and ignorant by sin; whose minds have

been darkened, but who are desirous of seeing.

Might see. Might discern the path of truth, of duty, and of salvation, John 10:9.

They which see. They who suppose they see; who are proud, self-confident, and

despisers of the truth. Such were evidently the Pharisees.

Might be made blind. Such would be the effect of his preaching.

It would exasperate them, and their pride and opposition to him would confirm

them more and more in their erroneous views. This is always the effect of truth.

Where it does not soften it hardens the heart; where it does not convert, it sinks

into deeper blindness and condemnation."

9. Calvin wrote, "It is true that we are all born blind, but still, amidst the

darkness

of corrupted and depraved nature, some sparks continue to shine, so

that men differ from brute beasts. Now, if any man, elated by proud

confidence in his own opinion, refuses to submit to God, he will seem

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-- apart from Christ -- to be wise, but the brightness of Christ will

strike him with dismay; for never does the vanity of the human mind

begin to be discovered, until heavenly wisdom is brought into view. But

Christ intended, as I have already suggested, to express something more

by these words. For hypocrites do not so obstinately resist God before

Christ shines; but as soon as the light is brought near them, then do

they, in open war, and -- as it were, with unfurled banner, --

rise up against God. It is in consequence of this depravity and

ingratitude, therefore, that they become doubly blind, and that God, in

righteous vengeance, entirely puts out their eyes, which were formerly

destitute of the true light."

"We ought to be the more careful that none of us, through a foolish and

extravagant opinion of his wisdom, draw down upon himself this dreadful

punishment. But experience shows us the truth of this statement which

Christ uttered; for we see many persons struck with giddiness and rage,

for no other reason but because they cannot endure the rising of the

Sun of righteousness. Adam lived, and was endued with the true light of

understanding, while he lost that divine blessing by desiring to see

more than was allowed him. Now if, while we are plunged in blindness

and thus humbled by the Lord, we still flatter ourselves in our

darkness, and oppose our mad views to heavenly wisdom, we need not

wonder if the vengeance of God fall heavily upon us, so that we are

rendered doubly blind This very punishment was formerly inflicted on

the wicked and unbelievers [280] under the Law; for Isaiah is sent to

blind the ancient people, that seeing they may not see: blind the heart of

this people, and shut their ears, (Isaiah 6:9.)"

10. John MacArthur wrote, "Now the whole subject of blindness is a very

important subject in the Bible. All through Scripture, blindness is a spiritual

metaphor. And it is used to represent the spiritual inability to see God's truth. As

a man is physically blind, he cannot see God's visible revelation. That is he can't

see the trees and the earth and the sky. But as a man is spiritually blind, he

cannot see God's invisible revelation; love, truth, holiness, forgiveness, blessing,

eternal life, grace, joy, peace, etc. As the blind does not see the vast blue of the

clear sky, so the blind spirit does not see the vast holiness and purity of God. As

the blind eye does not perceive the blanket of green that covers the earth, so the

blind spirit cannot see the grace of God. As the blind eye does not see the

immensity of creation, so the blind spirit does not see the limitless power of God.

And as the blind eye sees no rainbow of colors that speckles the earth, so the

blind spirit sees not the love of God which colors every revelation. As the blind

eye cannot see light, so the blind spirit cannot see the light, the light of the world,

Jesus Christ." "So, the world is divided into two groups: those that are in

darkness, the spiritually blind and those that have sight, the spiritually seeing.

There are only two kinds of people. There's no half sight. There are no partially

blind. You either see or you are totally blind. My dad told me that my

grandfather used to say there's only two kinds of people in the world, the saints

and the ain'ts, and that's all. Now this entire issue of blindness and the entire

issue of sight is really what governs chapter 9 of John."

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11. Paul Tillich has a wonderful message on this text dealing with the goal of

seeing God and truth in Jesus Christ. I quote it in full, for it deals with a number

of paradoxes that Jesus is dealing with here. It is paradoxical that the blind see,

and that the seeing are blind. He writes, "The Bible of both Testaments, like

much other religious literature, speaks again and again of "seeing." "Come and

see." These words of the disciple sound through the writings of prophets and

apostles. We have seen: this is the message of Gospels and Epistles. It is not true

that religious faith is belief in things without evidence. The word "evidence"

means "seeing thoroughly." And we are asked to see. We have present with us

what we see; therefore, we want to see what we love, what is significant for us.

The great men of God wanted to see God; Moses asked this as the highest of all

favors of Jahveh. Isaiah was made the most powerful of the prophets after he

had seen God in the temple. Jesus blesses the pure in heart as those who will see

God. In the Fourth Gospel He says about Himself that He has seen the Father,

and that whoever has seen Him has also seen the Father. In pious imagery the

angels and the saints are described as those who see God face to face. And the

ultimate fulfillment, the end of all moving and striving, is pictured as the eternal

vision of God.

But doubts and questions arise when we look at our present human predicament.

Is faith not the opposite of vision? Must we not believe without seeing? Does

Jesus not bless those who have not seen and yet believe? Is not faith defined as

the evidence of things not seen? And does not Paul write, "We walk by faith, not

by sight"? "We look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are

not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are

not seen are eternal"? All this seems to indicate that faith must be based on

hearing and not on seeing. You hear about something you do not see. You believe

him who tells you. You accept the word of the authorities in humility and

obedience. You believe what the Bible says because the Bible says it. You accept

what the Church teaches because it is taught by the Church. You call the word of

the Bible and of the Church "Word of God." You hear, you believe, you obey,

but you do not see.

In former centuries there was a long-lasting struggle in the Church about the

religious significance of hearing and seeing. First, seeing prevailed, but then

hearing became more and more significant. Finally, in the days of the

Reformation hearing became completely victorious. The typical Protestant

church-buildings bear witness to this victory. They are halls to hear sermons,

emptied of everything to be seen of pictures and sculptures, of lights and stained

windows, of most of the sacramental activities. Around the desk of the preacher

a room was built to listen to the words of the law and the gospel. The eye could

not find a place to rest in contemplation. Hearing replaced seeing, obedience

replaced vision.

But Jesus says, "I came into this world, that those who do not see may see." And

the apostle says, "That which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked

upon—we proclaim to you." Both speak not about the future, but about

something they have seen and still see. And they certainly do not feel as do old

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and new theologians that there is a conflict between seeing and hearing, between

seeing and believing. "That which we have seen and heard," writes the apostle.

"Everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him," says Jesus. And most

important and surprising: That which we have seen with our eyes according to

our gospel is the Word, the eternal Word or Logos in whom God speaks, who

can be seen through the works of creation and who is visible in the man Jesus.

The Word can be seen, this is the highest unity of hearing and seeing, that is the

truth which can bridge the Protestant and the Catholic half-truths.

Seeing is the most astonishing of our natural powers. It receives the light, the

first of all that is created, and as the light does it conquers darkness and chaos. It

creates for us an ordered world, things distinguished from each other and from

us. Seeing shows us their unique countenance and the larger whole to which they

belong. Wherever we see, a piece of the original chaos is transformed into

creation. We distinguish, we recognize, we give a name, we know. "I have

seen"—that means in Greek "I know." From seeing, all science starts, to seeing

it must always return. We want to ask those who have seen with their eyes and

we ourselves want to see with our eyes. Only the human eye is able to see in this

way, to see a world in every small thing and to see a universe of all things.

Therefore the human eye is infinite in reach and irresistible in power. It is the

correlate to the light of creation.

But seeing means more than the creation of a world. Where we see we unite with

what we see. Seeing is a kind of union. As poetry has described it, we drink

colors and forms, forces and expressions. They become a part of ourselves. They

give abundance to the poverty of our loneliness. Even when we are unaware of

them they stream into us; but sometimes we notice them and welcome them and

desire more of them.

Not all seeing has this character of union. If we look at things and observe them

merely to control and to use them, no real union takes place. We keep them at a

distance. We try to bring them into our power, to use them for our purposes, as

means for our ends. There is no love in this kind of seeing. We glimpse the beings

that shall serve us coldly; we have for those which we use a look, curious or

indifferent, sensational or aggressive, hostile or cruel. There is abuse in the

looking at those which we use. It is a seeing that violates and separates. This is

the look of the masses who in medieval paintings are looking at the Crucified.

But even this kind of seeing creates some union, though union through

separation.

But the seeing that really unites is different. Our language has a word for it:

Intuition. This means seeing into. It is an intimate seeing, a grasping and being

grasped. It is a seeing shaped by love. Plato, the teacher of the centuries, whose

visions and words have deeply influenced the Fourth Gospel and the Church,

knew about the seeing which unites. He called the love which drives us to a

genuine intuition the "child of poverty and abundance." It is the love which fills

our want with the abundance of our world. But it fills us in such a way that the

disrupted multitude is not the last we see—a view which disrupts ourselves. The

last we see lies in that which unites, which is eternal in and above the transitory

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things. Into this view Plato wanted to initiate his followers.

This leads us to another characteristic of seeing, the most significant of all. We

never see only what we see; we always see something else with it and through it!

Seeing creates, seeing unites, and above all seeing goes beyond itself. If we look at

a stone we see directly only the colors and forms of the side which is turned

towards us. But with and through this limited surface we are aware of the

roundness, of the extension and mass of the structure of the whole thing. We see

beyond what we see. If we look at an animal we see directly the colors and forms

of its skin. But with it and through it we are aware of the tension and power of

its muscles, of its inner strivings which are covered as well as revealed by the

skin. We see not color spots, but a living being. If we look at a human face, we

see lines and shades, but with it and through it we see a unique, incomparable

personality whose expressions are visible in his face, whose character and destiny

have left traces which we understand and in which we can even read something

of his future. With and through colors and forms and movements we see

friendliness and coldness, hostility and devotion, anger and love, sadness and joy.

We see infinitely more than we see when we look into a human face. And we see

even beyond this into a new depth. Again the language gives us a help when it

speaks of con- templation. Con- templation means going into the temple, into the

sphere of the holy, into the deep roots of things, into their creative ground. We

see the mysterious powers which we call beauty and truth and goodness. We

cannot see them as such, we can see them only in things and events. We see them

with and through the shape of a rose and the movements of the stars and the

image of a friend. We can see them, but it is not necessary that we see them.

We can close our eyes, we can become blind. Some are blind to any beauty which

is more than a pleasant feeling, some are blind to any truth which is more than

correct observation and calculation, some are blind to any goodness which is

more than usefulness. And some are blind to any ground which is the unity of

these powers and which we call "holy." It is the ultimate, the last which we can

see with and through all things; and therefore it is the end of all seeing. It is the

light itself and therefore it is darkness for our eyes. Only "with and through"

can we see it, through things and men, through events and images. This seeing

and not seeing at the same time is what we call faith. Nobody can see God; but

we can see him "with and through." Here the conflict ends between seeing and

hearing. The word tells us where to see and when we have seen we pronounce

what we have seen and heard. In the state which we call faith, sound and vision

are united and perhaps this is the reason why the "holy" likes to be expressed in

music more than in any other medium. Music gives wings to both, word and

image, and goes beyond both of them.

But for a second time we are called down from the flight above to the lowliness of

our human situation. Our Gospel calls us blind, all of us. And Jesus says that we

are blind because we believe we see and do not know that we are blind; and He

threatens that we shall be thrown into more blindness if we insist that we are

seeing. The question is: Where of all places can and shall we see into the ground

of all Being? Who can lead our contemplation into the temple, into the holy

itself?

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Seeing gives us a "world," the order and unity of the many. But we see within

this order, disorder; within the unity, conflict threatening to explode the world

itself and to bring back the old darkness of the chaos. And order and chaos are

so mixed with each other that we often feel dizzy, without ground and meaning,

desiring to keep our eyes closed. Seeing unites us with what we see. But we see so

many things and beings with which we do not want to be united, towards which

we are indifferent or hostile, which are indifferent or hostile to us, which are

repulsive and which we hate to see just because every seeing unites, even if it is

through hate. And it may be even our own self that we do not want to see

because we are repelled by our image and because we hate it if we see it. Not in

love but in hate are we united with ourselves, and perhaps we want to deprive

ourselves of our eyes like Œdipus, of our eyes which first did not see what they

ought to see and now cannot stand to see what they must see. And is not that

which we love to see and that which we hate to see so mixed that we often praise

the poverty of not seeing?

Seeing is seeing with and through beings into their depth, into the good and the

true and into their holy ground. But which are the beings and images that shall

lead us to this temple? Those whom Jesus called blind believed they knew the

way to the temple, to the holy and the holiest. Innumerable temples all over the

world contain things and images with and through which we can see God. But

what we see are idols, fascinating, horrible, overwhelming in seductive beauty or

destructive power, demanding what cannot be fulfilled, promising what cannot

be given, giving what elevates and lowers at the same time. And this is so because

they hold us fast to themselves and do not lead us beyond. Our eyes are bound by

them, often bound by the demonic fascination they exercise and with which they

take possession of us. We contemplate them, we go into their temples, we unite

with them in self-surrender, and we leave them emptied, despairing, destroyed.

This is the great temptation of seeing. This is the reason why hearing was put

against seeing. It is the reason why images were destroyed again and again and

every image forbidden, why the temples were burned and God was called the

Infinite Void. But this cannot be the last word. Emptiness can be both light and

darkness; and we want light, the light which is life and vision.

Jesus also could have become an idol, a national and religious hero, fascinating

and destructive. This is what the disciples and the masses wanted Him to be.

They saw Him, they loved Him, they saw with and through Him the good and the

true, the holy itself. But they succumbed to the temptation of seeing. They kept to

that which must be sacrificed if God shall be seen with and through any mortal

being. And when He sacrificed Himself, they looked away in despair like those

whose image and idol is destroyed. But He was too strong; He drew their eyes

back to Him, but now to Him crucified. And they could stand it, for they saw

with Him and through Him the God who is really God. He who has seen Him has

seen the Father: This is true only of the Crucified. But of Him it is true.

Certainly He is not the only one to look at in intuition and contemplation. We are

not asked to stare at Him, as some do. We are not asked to look away from

everything for His sake, as some do.

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We are not asked to give up the abundance of His creation as some do. We are

not asked to refuse union with what we see as some do. But we are asked to see

with and through everything into the depth into which He shows the way. We

shall see into it unimpeded by that which tries to keep us, away from the last

depth. And when we are tired of seeing the abundance of the world with all its

disorder, its hate and separation, its demonic destruction, and if we are also

unable to look into the blinding light of the divine ground, then let us close our

eyes. And then it might happen that we see the picture of someone who looks at

us with eyes of infinite human depth and therefore of divine power and love. And

these eyes say to us "Come and see."

12. Maclaren wrote, "The proportionate length at which this miracle and its

accompanying effects are recorded, indicates very clearly the Evangelist's idea of

their relative importance. Two verses are given to the story of the miracle; all the

rest of the chapter to its preface and its issues. It was a great thing to heal a man

that was blind from his birth, but the story of the gradual illumination of his

spirit until it came to the full light of the perception of Christ as the Son of God,

was far more to the Evangelist, and ought to be far more to us than giving the

outward eye power to discern the outward light. The narrative has a prologue

and an epilogue, and the true point of view from which to look at it is found in

the solemn words with which our Lord closes the incident. 'For judgment am I

come into this world, that they which see not might see, and that they which see

might be made blind.'"

40Some Pharisees who were with him heard

him say this and asked, "What? Are we blind

too?"

1. They knew that Jesus was talking about them. Edward Markquart wrote, "At

the end of this story, the Pharisees questioned: “Are we blind?” And Jesus

answered, “You better believe it! You are blind!” The Pharisees countered Jesus,

“How do you say we are blind? We are the faithful pillars of our synagogue. We

faithfully attend worship each week. We pray every day. We give our ten

percent, our tithe. We know our Bibles. How can you say that we are blind even

though we worship faithfully, pray faithfully, give our money faithfully, and

know our Bibles better than most folks? How dare you say that we are blind?”

Jesus said, “I know you are very religious, but you still are blind.”

2. Calvin wrote,

"Are we also blind? This question arose from indignation, because they

thought that they were insulted by being classed with blind men; and,

at the same time, it shows a haughty contempt of the grace of Christ

accompanied by mockery, as if they had said, "Thou canst not rise to

reputation without involving us in disgrace; and is it to be endured

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that thou shouldst obtain honor for thyself by upbraiding us? As to the

promise thou makest of giving new light to the blind, go hence and

leave us with thy benefit; for we do not choose to receive sight from

thee on the condition of admitting that we have been hitherto blind."

Hence we perceive that hypocrisy has always been full of pride and of

venom. The pride is manifested by their being satisfied with

themselves, and refusing to have any thing taken from them; and the

venom, by their being enraged at Christ and arguing with him, because

he has pointed out their wound, as if he had inflicted on them a

grievous wound. Hence arises contempt of Christ and of the grace which

he offers to them."

"But as it is added in this passage, but now you say you see, in order

that the points of contrast may correspond to each other, it appears to

be more consistent to explain them to mean, that he is blind who, aware

of his own blindness, seeks a remedy to cure his disease. [281] In this

way the meaning will be, "If you would acknowledge your disease, it

would not be altogether incurable; but now because you think that you

are in perfect health, you continue in a desperate state."

3. Ernest Flores deals with the blind spot of the Pharisees. They just could not

see the obvious because of their blind spot in relation to Jesus. He gives a

humorous illustration of how people have blind spots that make them oblivious

to what is right in front of their face. He writes, "One of our young people passed

me a joke this morning that fits the occasion. Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson

went on a camping trip. After a good meal and a bottle of wine, they lay down

for the night and wen tot sleep. Some hours later, Holmes awoke and nudged his

faithful friend. "Watson, look up and tell me what you see." Watson replied, "I

see millions and millions of stars." "What does that tell you?" Watson pondered

for a minute. "Astronomically, it tells me that there are millions of galaxies and

potentially billions of planets. Astrologically, I observe that Saturn is in Leo.

Horologically, I deduce that the time is approximately a quarter past three.

Theologically, I can see that God is all-powerful and that we are small and

insignificant. Meteorologically, I suspect that we will have a beautiful day

tomorrow. Why, what does it tell you?" Holmes said, "Watson you idiot,

someone has stolen our tent." Sometimes we are blind to what is going on right

in our midst, and in a spiritual sense, we can be blind to what God is doing so

well for us."

"These Pharisees were religious leaders, well trained, educated, and respected in

the community. They could speak doctrine with the best of them. They were

known for their spirituality, for their religious observance. Good church member

material were these Pharisees. We often chide them for their hypocrisy, for their

outward displays of piety when God was looking at their inward feelings of

haughtiness and arrogance. But that outward stuff, those things that we with

mere mortal discernment can ascertain, well those things spoke very highly of

the Pharisees. Praying all the time, reading the scriptures on a daily basis,

strictly adhering to religious law. But what Jesus says here is that even if you are

spiritually gifted, there are still going to be some blind spots. Follow me to I

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Corinthians chapter 13, and let us see what Paul had to say about this same kind

of subject. I Corinthians 13 verse 1, "If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of

angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong, or a clanging cymbal. And if I

have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I

have all faith so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. I f I

give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but

do not have love, I gain nothing." No matter who you are, no matter your

theological training, no matter your years of experience at being a religious

person, everyone has a blind spot. And when you have a blind spot that you are

unwilling to check on, and maybe you're unwilling to admit you have a spiritual

blind spot, then you just might miss out on what God is doing right there in your

midst."

4. Some of the Pharisees did finally see the light and believed in Jesus, but most

of them, and especially the leaders remained blind to the end. Someone put these

Scriptures together with a brief comment. "2 Corinthians 3:14 "But their minds

were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the

reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ." So, the answer

for those who ask if they also are blind, depends on what they will do with Jesus.

And apparently some did believe, even though it was hard for them to make a

clean break from their religious group. John gives us some summary thoughts

about light, sight, and personal response, in a later chapter of his gospel. John

12:36-43 "While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of

light. These things spake Jesus, and departed, and did hide himself from them.

But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on

him: That the saying of Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake,

Lord, who hath believed our report? And to whom hath the arm of the Lord

been revealed? Therefore they could not believe, because that Esaias said again,

He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see

with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should

heal them. These things said Esaias, when he saw his glory, and spake of him.

Nevertheless among the chief rulers also many believed on him; but because of

the Pharisees they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the

synagogue: For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God." So,

whether you have eyesight or not, we all need the light of the world to guide us to

the healing of our souls by faith in him alone. Since the light of truth has come

into the world for all to see, those who do not believe that they are spiritually

blind, and therefore fail to receive their sight from the giver of light and life, will

remain in their sin."

41Jesus said, "If you were blind, you would not

be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can

see, your guilt remains.

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1. John MacArthur sees this as a turning point in the ministry of Jesus. This was

the last straw that broke the camel's back, and broke the effort of Jesus to try

and win the Jewish leaders over to the realm of belief in him. MacArthur wrote,

"Now you'd think that the people would say, "Oh, that settles it, this is the

Christ. I mean, how could we doubt it? I mean, it's got to be Him." But they

didn't. They were so locked in their ignorant unbelief that Jesus begins to

abandon them starting in chapter 9. And now you have that tragic account of

what Paul mentions in Romans 1 when he says God looked at these people who

had perverted what they knew of God and in three times Paul says this, "God

gave them up, God gave them up, God gave them over to a

reprobate...what?...mind." And here you have it right here, Jesus Christ just

backs off and says okay, that's all. Claim after claim after claim He stayed there

confronting them till they picked up stones to kill Him at the end of chapter 8

and He says that's it. After this miracle, a renewed hating antagonistic people

come after Jesus again. And Jesus abandons them and begins to gather a little

flock of believers and nourish them and prepare them for His departure in a few

months. This is a real crux in the gospel of John. He moves away from the mass

of Israel and the unbelieving Jewish leaders. And it's sad, it really is sad."

2. "There are none so blind as those who will not see." This was the Pharisees.

They claim to be able to see that Jesus is a sinner who breaks the law of God and

so is not from God. They see this clearly, and that is why they are condemned,

for they see only what their prejudice enables them to see, and this makes them

guilty of the greatest kind of blindness. People who are prejudice do not see that

they are being evil in their judgment. They feel perfectly okey with it, and see no

wrong it in, and that is what makes them all the more guilty of sin. Others are

truly ignorant and products of wrong teaching, but they are open for growth in

understanding, and are willing to confess their ignorance. These people are

blinded, but they will be forgiven and made to see the truth. It is those who are

locked into a false prejudice that they are fully convinced is the truth who will

remain blind and guilty, and such were the Pharisees. Barnes wrote, "Men's sins

will always be unpardoned while they are proud, and self-sufficient, and

confident of their own wisdom. If they will come with humble hearts and confess

their ignorance, God will forgive, enlighten, and guide them in the path to

heaven."

3. Barclay wrote, "The more knowledge a man has the more he is to be

condemned if he does not recognize the good when he sees it. If the Pharisees had

been brought up in ignorance, they could not have been condemned. Their

condemnation lay in the fact that they knew so much and claimed to see so well,

and yet failed to recognize God's Son when he came. The law that responsibility

is the other side of privilege is written into life."

4. It has profound inplications in relation to the issue of the lost masses of the

world. If one is truly blind, he is not guilty of sin. Jesus said in John 15:22, " If I

had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin..."This means that

those who do not have the light of truth, and live in blindness, as masses do, are

not held accountable for their sins. They will be judged according to the light

which they have, and this is why there are different levels of judgment. This is a

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vast issue best studied in the book of Romans, but this is one of the foundation

truths on which the mercy of God is built in relation to the blind of the world.

5. Intervarsity Commentary says, "We again see the great need for humility,

openness and recognition of need. The man has emphasized his ignorance (vv.

25, 36), while they have emphasized their knowledge (vv. 16, 22, 29). Those who

settle into blindness without a disposition of openness to God are "incurable

since they have deliberately rejected the only cure that exists" (Barrett

1978:366). In a similar situation Jesus refers to blasphemy against the Holy

Spirit (Mk 3:29), since in that case Jesus' opponents were seeing his gracious acts

and saying they were the work of the Beelzebub, the prince of demons. Such a sin

is unforgivable precisely because the person is looking at the character and work

of the one who is all good and calling it evil. This perception prevents one from

turning to God.

Intervarsity Commentary ends this chapter with these words, "So this story

offers many challenges. We need to realize our own utter poverty, blindness and

need apart from Christ. We need to see with his eyes the desperate condition of

all who have not been illumined by him, the light of the world. We need to

consider before God whether there are ways we reject the evidence of our own

experience because we have a faulty understanding of him and his ways. We

need to consider before God whether we have God too figured out--or, in this

day, whether we have the opposite tendency to think that everything is up for

grabs and there is no objective truth or that the Scriptures are not clear and

coherent when interpreted in the light of the guidance the Spirit has given to the

church. Finally, among many other connections that might be made, we need

Jesus to be our center of reference, like this blind man did, so that we are stable,

secure and bold no matter what hassles come to us due to our relationship with

Jesus, for we have experienced the goodness and mercy of God in Jesus."

6. The bottom line is, the real blindness in this world is not with those who

cannot see the light of the sun, but with those who will not see the light of the

Son. It is spiritual blindness that is the curse of God and the blindness that is

really caused by sin. There is nothing worse than to be given the light that leads

to eternal life, and then say I do not need it, for I am good enough, and I will take

my chances without trusting in somone else to be my Savior. This kind of pride is

blind to the only reality that really matters, for it is blind to their own folly, and

blind to the wonder of God's grace in providing a way through Jesus Christ to be

with him in heaven for all eternity. Our ultimate pity should not be for blind

people, for they ofen have lives of great meaning and joy, and the hope of eternal

life in Christ, but for the spiritually blind who never see Christ as the only Way

to eternal happiness.

7. Maclaren wrote, "The purpose of His coming is not to judge, but to save. But

if men will not let Him save, the effect of His coming will be to harm. Therefore,

His coming will separate men into two parts, as a magnet will draw all the iron

filings out of a heap and leave the brass. He comes not to judge, but His coming

does judge. He is set for the rise or for the fall of men, and is 'a discerner of the

thoughts and intents of the heart.' Light has a twofold effect. It is torture to the

diseased eye; it is gladdening to the sound one. Christ is the light, as He is also

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both the power of seeing and the thing seen. Therefore, it cannot but be that His

shining upon men's hearts shall judge them, and shall either enlighten or darken.

We all have eyes--the organs by which we may see 'the light of the knowledge of

the glory of God.' We have all blinded ourselves by our sin. Christ is come to

show us God, to be the light by which we see God, and to strengthen and restore

our faculty of seeing Him. If you welcome Him, and take Him into your hearts,

He will be at once light and eyesight to you. But if you turn away from Him He

will be blindness and darkness to you. He comes to pour eyesight on the blind,

but He comes therefore also, most assuredly, to make still blinder those who do

not know themselves to be blind, and conceit themselves to be clear-sighted. 'I

thank Thee, Father, that Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent,

and hast revealed them unto babes.'"

8. What a paradox were the Pharisees, for their very name had see in it, but they

could not see the light of the world when he stood in their face, and they could

not see his wondrous works as from God when the evidence was abundant. They

should have been called Pharinotsees, or Phariblinds. Oliver Wendell Holmes

said, "A man's ignorance is as much his private property, and as precious in his

own eyes as his family Bible." This describes the Pharisees perfectly, for they

clung to their ignorance to the end. Aldous Huxley said, "Facts don't cease to

exist just because they are ignored." Jesus was Lord, and this fact they ignored,

but the healed blind man saw it and the Savior he adored.

9. Pink wrote, " This receives explanation in John 15:22-24: "If I had not come

and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloak (excuse)

for their sin. He that hateth Me hateth My Father also. If I had not done among

them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have

they both seen and hated both Me and My Father." The simple meaning then of

these words of Christ to the Pharisees is this: "If you were sensible of your

blindness and really desired light, if you would take this place before Me,

salvation would be yours and no condemnation would rest upon you. But

because of your pride and self-sufficiency, because you refuse to acknowledge

your undone condition, your guilt remaineth."

10. The following is a poetic description of this whole account by Susan H.

Peterson.

Christ a blind man saw one day, as He went along his way.

His disciples asked, ““““Who sinned, that he blind from birth has been?””””

Jesus said, ““““Sin’’’’s not to blame, but God’’’’s work will now be plain.””””

Then He spit upon the ground, made some mud, and put it on.

““““Go and wash,”””” He then did say, and the blind man did obey.

He was blind no more; he now could see.

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All the people were confused when they heard about the news.

They said, ““““Blind you’’’’ve been for life. How then did you gain your sight?””””

He said, ““““Jesus————it was He. He made mud, I washed, now see.””””

Then the Pharisees complained, though the miracle was plain.

““““This man’’’’s not from God,”””” they claimed, ““““for the Sabbath He’’’’s

profaned.””””

They were blind from sin; they could not see.

The man’’’’s parents then were called and were asked to recount all.

They confessed he was their son, but knew not what Christ had done.

They said, ““““Ask him; let him tell. He’’’’s of age and can speak well.””””

So they summoned him once more. Said, ““““This Man’’’’s a sinner sure.””””

He said, ““““Whether He has blame, I know not, but this is plain:

Though I once was blind, I now can see!””””

Still the Pharisees did rail, asked him to repeat his tale.

Said, ““““His foll’’’’wer you’’’’ve become, though we don’’’’t know where He’’’’s

from.””””

He replied, ““““If not from God, this man could not do such good.””””

Then they drove him from that place. Jesus found him in disgrace.

Said, ““““The Son of Man now speaks; you have seen Him; now believe.””””

He said, ““““I believe; Lord, I believe!””””

Jesus came to judge the earth and show sin for what it’’’’s worth.

As He gave the blind man sight, He can cleanse us by His might.

But we must admit we’’’’re blind, or His healing we’’’’ll not find.

If we claim that we can see, we will ever guilty be.

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But when we in Him believe, He will then our guilt relieve.

We’’’’ll be blind no more when we believe.

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