The Man Born Blind Is Healed (Verses 1-12)

Here we have before us one of the great miracles of our Lord. It is a miracle that is unique to John’s Gospel. The portion of Scripture tells us how Christ gave physical sight to a man who had been blind from birth. This is a very sad case. There a few afflictions more serious than the one in the passage. Blindness cuts us off from some of the enjoyments of this life. It cause us to retreat into our own world and makes us completely depend on others for even the simplest tasks that most of us take for granted. However, having said that it must be said that there are many people who are blind that lead fulfilling lives, even Christians. Someone who was born blind will have no experience of losing sight. Let us just pause for a moment and appreciate the fact that some people are born without something many of us take for granted. Often we do not fully appreciate something until we lose it. For those who have sight we do not know what it is like to not have sight.

Blindness like every other infirmity is a result of the fall in the Garden of Eden. If Adam had never fallen there would be no such thing as blindness, deafness or dumbness. The many sicknesses, defects, and diseases that our flesh is subject to came as a result of Adam’s fall. Romans 5:12 says, “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.”

The second thing we should observe from the passage is the lesson Christ gives us about using opportunities that are presented to us. Our Lord said, “I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work” (Verse 4). Christ knew that His earthly ministry was to last only three years and He wanted to take every opportunity to be about His Father’s work.

Life is short; here one moment and gone the next. We ought to take every opportunity we can to share Christ and the Gospel with the lost and dying. Let us take care that we use our time wisely. God has lent us the time of our lifespan; it may soon be over. Our daylight will soon be gone.

The third thing we ought to draw our attention to is the means which Christ used to preform His miracles. Christ could have healed the blind man with the touch of his finger or the command to be healed in response to a word of power. However, we are told that Christ spat on the ground and made clay. He then anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. Christ then told the man to go and wash in the pool of Siloam. When the man returned he “came seeing.”  

The lesson we need to learn here is this. Have we been healed by Christ. Do we have eyes to see our need of Christ. We may have physical sight, but our spiritual eyes can still be blind. Has Christ opened our spiritual eyes. Ephesians 1:18 says, “The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints.” The true reading is “of your heart”,for which the words “of your understanding” appear in our Authorised Version. The “eyes of your heart” is a metaphor for spiritual understanding. Pray for God to open your heart to His truths. Paul explains it like this, “While 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” (2 Cor. 4:18). This teaches us the importance of focusing on spiritual matters rather than material things. The “unseen” represents the spiritual realm and eternal truths that are not visible to the human eye. This includes the presence of God, the work of the Holy Spirit, and the hope of eternal life.

We should also take note of the power that Christ has. We see our Lord doing something here that seems to be impossible. Things that are impossible for men are possible with God. It is impossible for a mere man to raise from the dead. It is impossible for a mere man to walk on walk or to feed thousands of people with just a few loaves of bread and a few fish. However, with God the impossible is possible. Here is just one of many examples found throughout Holy Scripture where that is true. Here we see a man born blind healed by Christ and having sight for the first time. He actually gave eyesight to one who was born blind. Christ truly does have all power in heaven and earth.

Christ can open the eyes of the most sinful and ignorant and cause them to see things that they never saw before. He can send light into the darkness of the human heart and cause both spiritual and physical blindness to cease. May we come daily to Christ for spiritual insight and wisdom in all matters of life.

Controversy Over The Man (Verses 13-25)

We now see how little the Jewish leaders understood the meaning and purpose of the Sabbath. We also see the great lengths to which they went to discredit the miracle of Christ giving sight to the blind man. We read that the Pharisees found fault because the miraculous healing took place on the Sabbath. They said, “This man is not of God, because He keepeth not the Sabbath day.” A work of healing and a work of mercy had been done on the Sabbath, of that there was no doubt. The blind-hearted enemies of Christ saw no good nor beauty in the act. They called it a breach of the Fourth Commandment.

The Sabbath was a day set apart from others to be kept holy under the law. However, the Sabbath was never meant to prevent works of mercy and necessity. To heal a man on the Sabbath was no breach of the law. In trying to find fault with Christ all they did was expose their own ignorance of the law that they professed to know so well. They had forgotten that it is a great sin to add to a commandment just as it is to take away from it.

We read that the Jews had agreed that if anyone should say Jesus is the Christ they would be punished by being put out of the synagogue; which was a serious matter for a Jew. They were determined to not believe. They decided in their hearts and minds that no amount of evidence or witnesses would convince them that the Lord Jesus is the Messiah. This is the most dangerous state of mind to be in. It does not damage only the mind, but the heart and soul of a man. They were not willing to listen to the voice of truth. They were not willing to hear anything good said of Christ. They had already made their mind up concerning Him and nothing would change that.

The state of mind that we ought to adopt is the same as that of the Bereans. When they heard Paul preach they listened carefully and took it seriously. They received the Word with gladness and “readiness of mind.” They “searched the Scriptures” and applied God’s truth to themselves. Happy are those who do likewise. Acts 17:11-12 says, “These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. Therefore many of them believed; also of honourable women which were Greeks, and of men, not a few.

We also see from the text that the Jewish leaders tried to convince the man who had been healed by Christ that nothing really happened to him. They got a plain and clear answer from the man, “One thing I know, that whereas I was blind, now I see.” The man had no idea how he was healed. He did not speak about whether the person who healed him was a sinner or not. He knew only one thing, that once he was blind, but now he can see. This ought to remind us of John Newton’s hymn, Amazing grace. “Amazing grace! how sweet the sound, That saved a wretch; like me! I once was lost, but now am found, Was blind, but now I see.” The grace of God is indeed amazing. He saves wretched sinners. May we not rest till we know within our hearts the saving work of God’s grace through the Holy Spirit.

Jesus Affirms His Deity (Verses 26-41)

Here we have one of the clearest passages in the New Testament where Jesus says he is the Son of God. We also learn how much wiser the poor are than the rich. The man that Christ healed of his blindness was undoubtedly a poor man. The Scriptures tell us that he sat and begged (v8). Despite this he saw things that the proud Jewish leaders could not see. From the day of his healing his life was completely changed for the better. He had eyes to see, and yet the Pharisees who had eyes were blind to the spiritual truth of Christ.

It is true that often the last to see and learn spiritual truths are those who have earthly power and authority. The position they hold often blinds them to their need of Christ and closes their eyes to the truth of Scripture. They think that because of the position they hold that they are right and all other men are wrong. There is a danger in holding positions of power and influence because it sometimes causes the person to have a strong sense of self-importance and causes pride to rise in their heart.

The Christian poor man need never feel ashamed of his poverty. It is not a sin to be poor, but to be proud, worldly-minded and unbelieving is a sin. The riches that many have are often veils over the eyes of men’s souls and prevent them from seeing Christ. You may be the poorest man in all of Christendom, but if you have Christ you are rich. You are rich in Christ. If you have Christ as your Lord and Saviour you have everything that you need. No amount of riches, money, position and power can buy what you have in Christ. Better to go to the grave as a poor man with Christ in your heart than to go with all the riches of this world and not have Christ. It is true that you were born into the world as a naked and helpless babe and you will leave this world in a similar manner. You cannot take your earthly riches with you when you die. You cannot take your riches and buy a place in Heaven. Only Christ can give you a place in Heaven. Only Christ can buy a place for you at the Father’s table. Only Christ can wash away your sin and declare you free from the guilt of sin.

A second thing we see in these verses is the cruel and unjust way unconverted men treat those who disagree with them. When the Jewish leaders could not frighten the man who had been healed by Christ they put him out of the Jewish community. As the man refused to deny what he knew to be true he was excommunicated and put to an open shame. This was an unjust punishment by unjust men. The man was now cut off from all the benefits and privileges of being part of the Jewish community. He would have been treated with suspicion and subjected to public scorn. However, whatever the Jewish leaders did to him they could not harm his soul nor change the truth of Christ’s great healing miracle.

The children of God in every age have only too frequently been treated unjustly by spiritually blind people in positions of power and authority. The list of names is long of those who have been excommunicated, persecuted and imprisoned who seek to live a godly life. Unjust the treatment may be, but the cannot harm their souls.

We also see the kindness of Christ in these verses. We are told that He came to the man with words of comfort. Christ knew how heavy an affliction excommunication was to a Jew. In the response to the question, “Who is the Son of God?” Christ says plainly, “Thou hast both seen Him, and it is He that talketh with thee.” Christ sees all that His people go through for His sake and He does something about it. He comes to His people in their hour of need with words of comfort and hope. In times when men forsake us Christ draws near and says, “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness” (Isa. 41:10).

The rulers of the Jews were fully convinced that they knew all religious truth. The thought that they lacked knowledge or insight in any such matter was repugnant to them. The suggestion that they could be wrong was treated with scorn and harsh words. “Are we blind also?” they asked. The sobering answer came. “If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.”

This ought to remind us of some of the events that kick stated the Reformation in Europe. For example, there was a time in England where the vast majority of common folk could not read nor write. They were at the mercy of the priests who taught them what they claimed to be true. The Holy Scriptures were Latin; a language that the common people could not read nor understand. Only learned and educated people could read the Scriptures for themselves.  

This was a problem, a rather big problem because no one was able to challenge the teachings of the priests as they did not have access to the Bible in their common tongue. A man by the name of William Tyndale source to bring an end to biblical illiteracy in England. He famously wanted to cause the ploughboy to know more of the Scriptures than learned priests and clergy. He risked his life to translate the Bible into English; an act that was illegal at the time. To be caught with the Holy Scriptures in English was a crime punishable by death. Tyndale had a deep love for the Scriptures and the people of England that he thought translating the Bible into English was worth dying for.

Knowledge that only sticks in the head is useless and vain. Knowledge is only useful if it influences the heart. Let us use whatever knowledge we have of Christ to penetrate our hearts and lives. May we ask God to continually give us spiritual knowledge like a flowing river. May our prayer be, “Lord, teach me they ways and give me knowledge of understanding.”