I was blind but now I see | John 9:1-41

INTRODUCTION

As John 9 opens, we see a man born blind. He has never seen his mother’s face, never seen his pet, never played candy crush or talking tom, never seen the beauty of the sunrise or sunset. The Blind man sometimes felt the sweet fragrance of the rose but had never seen the beauty of the bloom. Here was a man who had been blind from the day he was born. Life is very difficult for a blind person. There is no safety for them. They are vulnerable. No one respected them.

John 9:1 And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. Jesus saw the blind man. Jesus sees what people generally don’t see. John 9:2 And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? 

Well Jesus’ disciples made a wrong assumption here and Jesus gives an answer. John 9:3 Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: With one statement, Jesus completely obliterates that whole generational curse system. Somebody can have a severe, congenital, life-long illness that has nothing to do with his own sin or the sins of his parents.

You’ve heard people talk about generational curses, the curse that passes from one generation to another. If you believe in Jesus, there is no curse that passes on to you.

Ezekiel 18:1-3 ¹The word of the Lord came to me: ²“What do you people mean by quoting this proverb about the land of Israel: “‘The parents eat sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge’? 

Ezekiel 18:20 The one who sins is the one who will die. The child will not share the guilt of the parent, nor will the parent share the guilt of the child. The righteousness of the righteous will be credited to them, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against them.

But the Jews then had a false theology where generations could be cursed like today. So, they want to know: Did the man sin somehow or did his parents sin, and now he’s cursed with blindness? One statement, it completely obliterates that whole generational curse system.

Then Jesus did something strange. John 9:6-7 ⁶When 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, (Understand, the blind man has not asked Jesus anything at this point. But Jesus is God. He knows everyone’s needs. So without the man asking him for anything, Jesus anointed his eyes with clay and told him to go. He did not take him there. The man is blind.)  ⁷And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing. 

When he came back Jesus was not there; Jesus moved on. John 9:8 The neighbours therefore, and they which before had seen him that he was blind, said, Is not this he that sat and begged? He does not act like he was blind now. John 9:9-10 ⁹Some said, This is he: others said, He is like him: but he said, I am he. ¹⁰Therefore said they unto him, How were thine eyes opened? 

The man really did not know but he stated what happened to him. John 9:11 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.

This blind man now sees. He does not know the explanation of anything. He just knows the facts of what happened in his simplicity and openness he simply states everything he knows about it.

John 9:12-14 ¹²Then said they unto him, Where is he? He said, I know not. ¹³They brought to the Pharisees him that aforetime was blind. ¹⁴And it was the sabbath day when Jesus made the clay, and opened his eyes. It was a big mistake according to them because Jesus healed on the Sabbath. God who made the Sabbath according to them did heal on the Sabbath. He is the Lord of the Sabbath. It was a day of rest. Actually speaking around the Sabbath they had made a lot of manmade rules and regulations for the Sabbath which were not part of the OT law. Now Jesus did good on the Sabbath but in the process broke some of the manmade rules of the Sabbath. So Jesus was in trouble with the Pharisees.

John 9:15-16 ¹⁵Then 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. ¹⁶Therefore said some of the Pharisees, This man is not of God, because he keepeth not the sabbath day. Others said, How can a man that is a sinner do such miracles? And there was a division among them.

John 9:17 They say unto the blind man again, What sayest thou of him, that he hath opened thine eyes? He said, He is a prophet. Jesus healed me. He is a prophet. So out of what light he has or what he knows about Jesus, he announces Jesus is a prophet.

Then the Jews reacted to that. They did not believe this man, so they called the man’s parents. Now here come his parents. Now he has not seen his parents and he longs to see them for the first time. John 9:18-21 ¹⁸But 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. ¹⁹And they asked them, saying, Is this your son, who ye say was born blind? how then doth he now see? (How can he see now?) ²⁰His parents answered them and said, We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind: ²¹But 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.

That must have hurt his heart. I am sure their parents have blessed him a lot; they have looked after him a great deal in his life. He is now a beggar in his adulthood but all through his childhood they took good care of him as best as they could. Now they summon his parents and even now they acknowledged him as their son but they just slipped that question away of his healing telling them to ask him.

John 9:22-23 ²²These 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. ²³Therefore said his parents, He is of age; ask him. So here is this man, whose own mother and father who he has not seen before, now stand before him and they will not stand up for him because they are afraid. So, here he is, abandoned in his spirit by his parents and oh how that must have hurt him.

John 9:17 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.

The man answers again out of the little light he has about Jesus answers: John 9:25 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. Incidentally, l love that response. That is all our testimony. Let me ask you: Is that the testimony of your heart today? If so, you should be able to give that response joyfully, “Once I was blind but now I can see.” Once we were all spiritually blind but now we can see. But this man told about his physical blindness. He is not yet born again.

The Pharisees then keep asking over and over the same thing. John 9:26-27 ²⁶Then said they to him again, What did he to thee? how opened he thine eyes? ²⁷He answered them, I have told you already, and ye did not hear: wherefore would ye hear it again? will ye also be his disciples? This man was witty and smart with his words. And he faced up these Pharisees and he says, “How many times do I have to tell you? But I have already told you. What do you keep asking? Is it because you want to believe on him too? You want to be his disciples too?” They got very angry when he said that. They called him a sinner and threw him out of the assembly.

Remember, Jesus was not there when all this happened. John 9:35 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? It is at this point that this formerly blind man comes to the point of salvation. John 9:36-38 ³⁶He answered and said, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him? ³⁷And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee. ³⁸And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him. First, his physical blindness was open and now his spiritual blindness is open. I want to give some general practical lessons for us today. How can we use this in our life today?

1. Jesus cares

I don’t know if that means much to you. There are some who are here in this auditorium and there looking at me through television who need to hear these words again at this moment, “Jesus cares for you.”

Why do I say that? John 9:1 And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. As far as we know this man was not crying out for help. The blind man can’t see anything. He doesn’t know anything about Jesus coming by. But Jesus sees him.

John 9:6-7 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 ⁷And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam. Again, there is no request from the man recorded for us here. Jesus saw this poor blind man and he cared.

His parents, his father and his mother were so afraid of the authorities, so afraid of being cast out of the synagogue that they passed the bug to him, but Jesus cared for him.

My dear friend, I don’t know what is going on in your life today. But let me assure you that Jesus cares. Wherever you are, whatever you are hurting from, regardless of how deep the hurt is, even if you have been abandoned by every other person on this planet, I want you to know that there is somebody who knows you and cares for you.

2. Your struggles have a bigger Purpose.

When we are struggling with something like financial difficulties, sickness, loss, death etc; those things rivet our attention so much that it is hard for us to proceed beyond the horizon of those circumstances or that events. But my dear friend we learn from this passage of scripture that there is a far greater purpose in life that often transcends our immediate circumstances which we are not aware of many times.

John 9:2-3 ²And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? ³Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: (I think they have all sinned in this life because we all have sinned but Jesus is saying the real reason behind his problem.) but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.

Did you know that in the greater picture this man’s blindness was a blessing to him? Eventually, his blindness led him to believe in God. Well, he could have said, “I wish I could have had my sight from my childhood on. Why am I suffering in life when everyone is enjoying?” Had this man not had his blindness; this man may have never come to know Jesus as his saviour.

In the hard things that come in life, there is a greater purpose than what you can see at that moment and we need to trust Jesus in those circumstances and place our faith and our rest in him.

3. God often works in ways other than the obvious.

We sometimes pray about something and we know how it has to be done, so you ask God to do it. Oftentimes, God does not do it the way we want it, he may do it in some way that you have no anticipation of.

Now I would think that if this blind man would have expected Jesus to heal him he would have expected Jesus to tell him, “Be healed.” That kind of healing has happened in Jesus’ ministry. But here Jesus did something very strange. He spits on the ground, and made clay out of the spit and the dust. Jesus anointed the man’s eyes and told the blind man, “Go to the pool of Siloam and wash.” The blind man did it and he could see just as well as Jesus had said, “Be healed.”

Dear friend, if you are praying for something and God is not answering the way that you have been praying, understand that God knows better and he works in ways which we would never predict. Trust the Lord in what you are praying about and let God work in his own ways.

4. God helps the humble and obedient.

All the way through this event, this man had a humble and obedient spirit. He never questioned Jesus when he put the clay on his eyes, never questioned Jesus when Jesus asked him to go to the pool. The blind man just obeyed what Jesus told him to do and he was healed.

See his humility after his healing. John 9:8-9 ⁸The neighbours therefore, and they which before had seen him that he was blind, said, Is not this he that sat and begged? (That is not very nice to say that) ⁹Some said, This is he: others said, He is like him: but he said, I am he. Yes, I am the beggar. I am the blind man. So all the way through this event he admitted what he was. He was totally candid, honest, and open.

After his healing, he faithfully told the facts of the case when he was asked over and over to the point of harassment. This man had an obedient and humble spirit. Jesus helped him. If you will have a humble, submissive, obedient spirit; Jesus will help you.

5. We can limit God’s work in our lives.

Many times it is we who limit God’s work in our lives. In this story, there are many around Jesus: The Pharisees, the disciples, the crowd, the relatives of this man, and the other beggars around him. But it was only this man who received the deliverance.

Pharisees limited God with their tradition.

Don’t limit God with your tradition. Remember the Sabbath day mattered but they so much revolved around the traditions of the Sabbath that they forgot God who made the Sabbath. Don’t limit God in your life. Don’t limit God according to the customs and traditions of this world and our culture. Jesus could not perform any healing to the proud Pharisees.

The crowd limited God in their unbelief.

There was always a crowd with Jesus but they limited God because they were divided in unbelief. John 7:43 So there was a division among the people because of him.

John 9:16 And there was a division among them.

Jesus has the power to heal and restore your life. We come Sunday after Sunday and worship God, experiencing his power and presence in our lives but most of the time many of us are unable to receive the deliverance because of unbelief. We come to Jesus but you are divided in our minds. Sometimes our heart is swayed in that direction by the Holy Spirit, and then we go out and are lost in unbelief. If you want to receive something from God you got to believe in Jesus.

6. Jesus can restore our spiritual blindness.

If you clearly see, two times in this passage God restored this man’s blindness. First Jesus restored his physical blindness and then Jesus restored his spiritual blindness. John 9:35-38 ³⁵Jesus 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? ³⁶He answered and said, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him? ³⁷And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee. ³⁸And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him. Jesus can restore our spiritual blindness.

Let me ask you: Do you believe that you are a sinner? Do you believe that Jesus is the Son of God? Do you believe that Jesus died for you and rose from the grave? Then call upon him, accept him as the saviour of your life and you will be born again, given eternal life, taken from the darkness of sin into eternal life and light.

At the end of this story, the formerly blind man is truly crying out “I was blind but now I can see.”

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