Light | John 9:1-41

John 9

¹As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. ²His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

³“Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. ⁴As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. ⁵While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

⁶After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. 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.

⁸His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, “Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?” ⁹Some claimed that he was.

Others said, “No, he only looks like him.”

But he himself insisted, “I am the man.”

¹⁰“How then were your eyes opened?” they asked.

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.”

¹²“Where is this man?” they asked him.

“I don’t know,” he said.

¹³ They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. ¹⁴Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man’s eyes was a Sabbath. 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.”

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 perform such signs?” So they were divided.

¹⁷Then 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.”

¹⁸They still did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they sent for the man’s parents. ¹⁹“Is this your son?” they asked. “Is this the one you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see?”

²⁰“We know he is our son,” the parents answered, “and we know he was born blind. 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.” ²²His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders, who already had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. ²³That was why his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”

²⁴A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. “Give glory to God by telling the truth,” they said. “We know this man is a sinner.”

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!”

²⁶Then they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”

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?”

²⁸Then they hurled insults at him and said, “You are this fellow’s disciple! We are disciples of Moses! ²⁹We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don’t even know where he comes from.”

³⁰The man answered, “Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. ³¹We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will. ³²Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. ³³If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”

³⁴To this they replied, “You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!” And they threw him out.

³⁵Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”

³⁶“Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.”

³⁷Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.”

³⁸Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.

³⁹Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”

⁴⁰Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we blind too?”

⁴¹Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.

1. Framework of this Chapter: Jesus is the Light of the World.

John 9:5

While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.

In chapter 8 Jesus already declares himself to be the light of the world.

John 8:12

I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.

Jesus is a moving light. A light that we are supposed to follow. It just does not shine, but he is a moving light, we follow him.

It is a blinding light. This light not only gives light to blind eyes but it also brings darkness upon those who think they can see. It is a blinding light.

John 9:39

³⁹Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”

Do we have such a light in the OT?

John 7 it is the feast of tabernacles, the celebration of the experience of God’s people back in the Exodus. There was a light back there. That is a theophany (a manifestation of a living God) a pillar of light that God’s people were to follow, a light which remarkably not only illumine the path of his people but brought darkness to their enemies in judgement.

Jesus gives us a spiritual lesson from healing the blind man that the blindness is about all of us. You and I are blind and we need a doctor, the physician of our souls to come and to open up our eyes that we might at last see. In other words, this miracle is a miraculous sign. As with every sign or sign post, it points beyond and in this case it points to our own situation, but particularly it points to the identity of Jesus as the answer to our problems.

It reminds us of the opening claim in chapter 1 of the Gospel of John:

John 1:8-13

⁹The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. ¹⁰He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. ¹¹He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. ¹²Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—¹³children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

Jesus in this chapter is helping us to see that you and I are in need healing for our spiritual vision that we might see Christ for who he is for our own need for him.

The takeaway of this chapter is that there are really two categories of humanity and it is not those who are blind versus those who see: It is rather those who are blind and know it versus those who claim to be able to see, but in fact are blind; the blind man versus the Pharisees.

John 9:40-41

⁴⁰Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we blind too?”

⁴¹Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.

In any case, it is a wonderful visual aid that points beyond itself, it points to the king of eternity but this man is naturally a representative of the human condition. It reminds all of us are in this position, we are blind needing to be healed of that blindness, that distinction, the real distinction those who think they can see and those who own up to the fact that no they cannot unless Christ open their eyes.

2. The Problem Of Evil

John 9:1-3

¹As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. ²His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

³“Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.

We all struggle with the problem of evil. The question many ask is, “If God exists, why is there so much evil in this world?”

Every place where the Bible deals with the topic, it acknowledges suffering, hardship, and anguish as offensive and hateful intrusions into the human experience, an assault against our true humanity.

How can we know how God feels about our plight? What is God doing when a man does evil to his fellow man? See the light of God in the OT:

Israel was suffering under the oppression of Egyptian slavery. The Egyptians were pressing them with forced labour, working them ruthlessly, Exodus 1:14. God’s people were being tormented by their oppressors and ultimately though they thrived and even grew and multiplied under this anguish, Pharoah in the end came up with a program of genocide against God’s people. Pharoah orders the death of all the male children of Israel.

How does God think about genocide? Does God care? All you have to do is look at the light. Look at what God did when he manifests himself in a pillar of fire and cloud and comes into space and time and reveals his perfect will. The presence of God in that fiery cloud rescued Israel out of the house of bondage. He delivered them not only from their oppression and all their hardships, but delivered them to himself to a way of life. He protected them from drought, evil. He provided supernaturally for them manna, water, and flesh.

Isaiah 63:8b-9

and so he became their Savior.

⁹In all their distress he too was distressed,

and the angel of his presence saved them.

In his love and mercy he redeemed them;

he lifted them up and carried them

all the days of old.

We have the fuller revelation as we move from glory to greater glory, the truth to greater truth in the revelation of the life of God in the face of Christ.

“While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

You want to know what God thinks of your sorrows? Look at Jesus  Into the evil of the world, Christ comes and provides the light, the healing, and deliverance from evil as a foretaste of what is about to come in his eternal kingdom.

In this world, not all will be healed. I believe in healing even today. We can see God heal some but for some they live with the same condition. Every healing is a foretaste of eternity.

John the Baptist on one occasion as he was in prison sent some of his assistants to ask are you the one that was promised or should we wait for another.

Luke 7:18-23

¹⁸John’s disciples told him about all these things. Calling two of them, ¹⁹he sent them to the Lord to ask, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”

²⁰When the men came to Jesus, they said, “John the Baptist sent us to you to ask, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?’”

²¹At that very time Jesus cured many who had diseases, sicknesses and evil spirits, and gave sight to many who were blind. ²²So he replied to the messengers, “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. ²³Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.”

What is there to stumble or be offended in that list? The offence or stumbling is the obvious stumble regarding John’s situation. John is still rotting in prison. John is perhaps comforted that the blind receive their sight, but he is thrust in the darkness of prison. He may be happy that the lame are walking but he is unable to walk. He is stuck there in the shackles. He may be encouraged that even the dead are resurrected, but he himself is about to face death. In fact there will soon be a beheading of John at the order of the king’s daughter.

Does John love those lepers more than he loves Jesus, the ones he cured, the blind people who were given sight. Of course you could even ask the question, does Jesus love the blind man, a little later as he does now because sooner or later those eyes are going to be shut again in blindness when he is laid to rest and buried. The man who resurrected will die again. Those who are lame are one day going to be paralysed with death. Does Jesus love for us end at the grave? Of course, nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ, the answer is no. The healings in this life sovereignly appointed by the Saviour, not experienced by all, the deliverances, the jail breaks that Peter got and John got but John the Baptist did not get. These are just foretaste of the ultimate deliverance that the Saviour is holding out for.

He does not want to just improve our vision. He wants resurrection vision, not improve our health but resurrected bodies like unto his, and so every healing is just a foretaste and so also letting God be God means acknowledging not all are healed even though all are loved, and all have this hope to which they press on.

Not all are healed in the Bible:

Take for example Elisha the prophet. Elijah his predecessor Elijah the prophet was a great man of God, but the Bible tells us that Elisha the successor had twice the spirit that Elijah had on him. The miracles that are attributed to Elijah the predecessor in almost every case are escalated and trumped by the miracles performed by Elisha the successor. Elijah fed one widow of Zarephath. Elisha fed a 100 hungry people multiplying the loaves and on and on it goes. Elijah the predecessor was allowed to pass from this life to the next being taken up into the clouds with chariots and horses and angelic beings. What about Elisha the one who has twice the spirit? The Bible tells us of Elisha that rather than being taken up in heavenly chariot, he died of an illness from which he suffered. This was God’s prophet, twice the spirit, but he suffers from an illness that finally claimed his life.

The New Testament likewise speaks of those who did not experience healing. There is Trophimus that Paul leaves sick at Miletus. Paul who had been used by God to bring healing to many must surely have wished it for Trophimus.

Timothy, Paul’s special assistant in 1 Timothy 5, Paul writes to Timothy, “stop drinking only water and use a little wine because of your stomach and your frequent illnesses.” Surely Paul must have wished for healing for Timothy but he was sick.

Paul likewise himself he writes to the church in Galatia:

Galatians 4:13-15

¹³As you know, it was because of an illness that I first preached the gospel to you, ¹⁴and even though my illness was a trial to you, you did not treat me with contempt or scorn. Instead, you welcomed me as if I were an angel of God, as if I were Christ Jesus himself. ¹⁵Where, then, is your blessing of me now? I can testify that, if you could have done so, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me.

Apparently his problem was something having to do with vision.

Healing will come in resurrection. In this life it is according to the will of God who is omnipotent and caring and can certainly provide healing according to his will.

Jesus did not come to explain our problem of suffering. He came to solve it. How could God then allow this evil to happen? Have an eternal perspective. Don’t think that just because God is just, this life is just. God is fair, this life is not fair. This life is not fair, but eternal life is. This world is not fair but the world to come is fair. Remember the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. There is a reverse side to the present world. The Good news to the poor have a reverse side. The evil of this world is the spiral effect of man’s sin. That is why the second Adam, Jesus is preparing for us an eternity where there will not be any evil.

3. The Compassion of Jesus.

This text is rightly understood as one more proof of Jesus love. A love that encompasses all of our being including the physical needs with which we all struggle and this man in particular.

Jesus Shows Compassion to this Man. Jesus shows compassion for those who are suffering.

As he went along he saw a man blind from birth. He could have just kind of left it at that. This man has been dealing with this since birth. I guess he has pretty much gotten used to it by now. He is not even asking to be healed. Where he is located is on the path that people take to the feast of tabernacles. This is a lucrative time for those who are seeking alms.

Christ shows compassion to this man who was suffering from this physical disability. The gospel to emphasises the compassion of Jesus aspect of Jesus ministry and gospel of Mark 1:40-42 when he was travelling through Galilee. He came upon a man with leprosy and the Bible tells us the man said to Jesus falling at his knees, “If you are willing you can make me clean. Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man, I am willing he said, be clean.

In Matthew 14, after John the Baptist was martyred, Jesus was seeking to get away and to go to a solitary place with his disciples and so he crossed the Sea of Galilee, but the crowds followed along the shoreline and when Jesus came back ashore, they all were, but rather than feeling resentment their intrusion on his time, the Bible says, “when Jesus landed and saw a large crowd he had compassion on them and healed their sick.”

Likewise with the healing of the two men by the roadside as they left Jericho even as Jesus was making his way to be crucified Jesus responded to the prayer, “Lord, Son of David have mercy on me; Lk: 18:38” The Bible says Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes and immediately they received their sight and followed him.

Jesus could have concluded: Nothing can be done about it, he is happy enough. But in fact Jesus loved this man. Jesus loves you, body and soul. Jesus cares for our physical issues and the needs. He came to redeem us body and soul and the future plan, the hope for Christians then is a hope for resurrection.

Philippians 3:20-21

²⁰But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, ²¹who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

They are what Paul calls bodies of humiliation, susceptible to disease, death, and decay but they are nevertheless precious in God’s sight who made us and has redeemed us.

What is our only comfort in life and death brothers and sisters? That I belong body and soul in life and in death not to myself but to my Faithful Saviour Jesus Christ. His blood paid for it all. Your problems whether physical or spiritual are now his and he has compassion on us.

4. The Greatness of Jesus.

This miracle also displays for us the greatness of Jesus. The Sovereign power, the omnipotence of the incarnate son of God. Jesus heals this man born blind, it is an astonishing display of his power.

Then in the entire Old Testament covering a period from Abraham, at least for 1500 years, there is not a single example of anyone who was blind being given sight. No one had ever been given vision who was born blind until this moment, and it was going to be a hallmark of the inbreaking of eternity and the coming of the Messiah and the Messianic age that in fact there would be this kind of miracle.

Isaiah predicts that the Messiah the servant of the Lord will give sight to the blind. That is why they were looking forward to this and recognized that indeed the great prophet that was promised, the second Moses has arrived in the Saviour who came to do this kind of miracle.

When at last the Pharisees could not deny that the miracle had taken place, the default position was he must be doing it by the power of the demons, by satanic power.

John 10:21

But others said, “These are not the sayings of a man possessed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”

You see the Bible recognises that Satan and the demons are not just the opposite of God. Satan and the demons are creatures rather than the creator. They cannot create something out of nothing.

The reality is demons and Satan are more into destruction than construction. You just cannot have the anyone give you sight. That takes the God who is the creator of heaven and earth and who created you in your mother’s womb, it takes him to be able to do that, and so the theory falls under its own weight. There are severe limitations to what Satan can do and things they cannot do.

How did this Miracle happen?

Instrumentally from the man’s point of view how it happened was really faith. Yes it was Jesus, but the man receives this in his response of faith.

John 9:6-7

⁶After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. 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.

1. Jesus’s healing power

I know it sounds strange to us I don’t think any of you would welcome for anyone to spit on the ground and then put it in your, but in the Bible this is not spitting at him.

You know why animals instinctively lick their wounds? Saliva is an amazingly effective healing agent. Saliva is antiviral, antibacterial and anti-inflammatory according to research. Saliva cleans the wound and applies several different enzymes that destroy the cells walls of bacteria.

But this miracle is not about the healing power of spit. Is not the spit, it is the one from whom the spit came. Blood is not the greatest cleansing agent either, but if it is the blood of Jesus it will cleans you of your sin. It is the one from whom this expression of love came that makes all the difference in the world in the Sovereign effects that it has as he brought healing.

2. The Faith of this man:

This man has to walk from the temple to the pool of Siloam. He is blind, it’s the feast of tabernacles. The whole way must have been pushing and shoving going in the opposite direction of the traffic. Every single step of this walk would have been a reaffirmation of faith. This man is leaving the lucrative begging opportunity that he had at the temple where all the worshippers are about to pass by. He left it, turned around going to Siloam. He himself knows no one who has been born sightless has ever got into the place where they can see, it has never happened. He must be wondering this is ridiculous. Why am I doing this I am just setting myself up for failure? Why get my hopes up about it, and not only will I lose that which I might have gained by begging. In fact I am going to lose face because people are going to say well what happened and then I will say nothing and well I will be blamed once again. Must be you did something wrong. It was a ridiculous humiliating thing to do.

But it is not really blind faith that explains it. This is a faith that has its reasons and you should appreciate it.

3. It is a Faith that has Reasons

Remember he heard the conversation between Jesus and his disciples. Rabbi who sinned? This man or his parents that he was born blind. Then he hears as he is overhearing, neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.

Can you imagine being that man, all your life long people have been pointing the finger at you, they have been saying what the Pharisees later say to him, “You are steeped in sin at birth, look at you this pathetic life. You must have done something horrible and disgusting or your parents did. It is all your fault.”

Finally to hear: “You did not sin and your parents did not sin, sin have nothing to do with that.” Can you imagine the weight of false guilt that was removed from this man’s shoulders as he listened to Jesus the Saviour of the world say that?

So this man did what is ridiculous. He did what is laughable to himself and everyone else, and God honoured it.

CONCLUSION

We live by faith and not by sight, this is so typical of the Lord, in your life and in mine he asks us to do something even if it seems ridiculous to us and honours the faithful obedience of that which he requires of us. The disciples remember how they had been fishing all night, Jesus then tells Peter take the boat out into the deep water and let down the nets for a catch. Simon answered, master we worked hard all night and have not caught anything, but because you say so I will let down the nets and of course the catch was so enormous it almost sank two boats.

Like Naaman the Syrian with his leprosy whom Elisha told go wash in the Jordan and his leprosy was cleansed once he humbled himself enough to obey. It is the same way with all of us.

This is not to justify you going home, closing your eyes and trying to dream of something Jesus is telling you to do, convince yourself he said it and then going and doing it. It is what Jesus actually said to this man that counts and it is what he actually says to you through his word that may seem foolish.

He says for example for you receive Christ or to get baptised. I know that looks odd. It is embarrassing to get in front of a congregation and confess your faith, but you know what he says to do it, why would not we.

Acts 22:16

And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name.’

What about when you are sick? In James 5 he tells us if things are really serious call on the elders of the church. Our elders come when people ask for prayer and anointing with oil. You might think what good is that going to do. Even the doctors said it was hopeless. We live by faith and faith lives by exercise. Are you exercising your faith, may it be so.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, the healing of the blind man in John 9 reveals Jesus as the Light of the World, displaying his compassion and power. It challenges us to trust in his sovereignty and follow him with unwavering faith.

Life Application

Follow Jesus as the Light of the World. Just as Jesus declared himself to be the light of the world, we are called to follow him. Let his light guide our steps in life, leading us away from darkness and into his truth.

Acknowledge Our Spiritual Blindness. Like the blind man in John 9, recognize our spiritual blindness and our need for Jesus to open our eyes. Only through faith in him can we truly see and understand God’s plan for our lives.

Trust in God’s Compassion. Jesus showed compassion to the blind man, and he shows the same compassion to us. Trust in God’s love and care for you, knowing that he sees your suffering and wants to bring healing and wholeness to your life.

Prioritize Spiritual Growth. While physical needs are important, prioritize spiritual growth above all else. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, trusting that God will provide for your physical needs as well.

Live with an Eternal Perspective. Remember that this life is temporary, but eternity is forever. Keep your focus on the things that matter most—your relationship with God and the hope of eternal life through Jesus Christ.

Exercise Faith in Action. Like the blind man’s obedient faith, act in faith even when circumstances seem impossible. Step out in obedience to God’s word, trusting that he will work miracles in your life.