Soar Like Eagles (Part 27)
Four Perspectives of One Man - John 9:1-41

Is life simply a large accident, a giant game of chance? The question
as to why events happen in our lives has been posed repeatedly.
It has been the theme of classic movies and literature, and it is
asked daily by real people, especially in moments of tragedy and loss.
Jesus offered a unique way of addressing the question of "Why?" in our
study today.
In our study we find one of the best attested miracles or Scripture.
Not only do we read the test-money of the one upon whom the miracle
was performed, but that of his parents and friends, as well as the reluctant
Pharisees. The evidence was examined from every possible angle and the
proof was unquestionable. If it were not so tragic, this chapter would be
comical. Here is a man blind from birth healed by the Nazarene and the
Pharisees, rather than accept the evident fact that Jesus healed him,
chose to question the man's former blindness!
Next, his parents, out of cowardice, "pass the buck" and will not
take sides with their son. And in verses 24-34, this common-sense man
makes the learned Pharisees look ridiculous! He becomes the questioner
instead of the questioned.
The healing of this blind man is an illustration of the progress of
the conflict between Jesus and His opponents, and is an outstanding
example of the development of belief and unbelief:
- the belief is exemplified in the man
- the unbelief is exemplified in the reaction of the Pharisees, who
examined and finally excommunicated the man

This episode was:
- sign demonstrating Jesus' power
- an interview which afforded another instance of His dealing with men
- a crisis which brought fresh response, positive and negative, to His
ministry

* THE CASE
It is my understanding that a person goes blind in the United States
every 20 minutes. This man was born blind! but the greatest miracle will
not be the fact that his eyes were opened...the great event was his heart
opening to Jesus
It cost him everything to confess Jesus as the Son of God, but he was
willing to do it.
The action was opened by the contact which Jesus made with a beggar
who was sitting by the roadside in Jerusalem. Beggars were common in the
Orient and Jesus healed many cases (Mark 8:23. 10:46).
He also mentions this fact as one of the marks of the Messiah in the
message He sends back to John the Baptist in Matthew 11:1-6: "After Jesus
had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to
teach and preach in the towns of Galilee. {2} When John heard in prison
what Christ was doing, he sent his disciples {3} to ask him, "Are you the
one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?" {4} Jesus
replied, "Go back and report to John what you hear and see: {5} The blind
receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf
hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. {6}
Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me.""
Let's note the different way the blind man was viewed by those around
him.
- To the disciples, he was a theological analysis:
"As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. {2} His 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 work of God might be displayed in his life. {4}
As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is
coming, when no one can work. {5} While I am in the world, I am the light
of the world.""
The question recognized his miserable plight, and it's very clear that
the disciples felt certain that someone had sinned to bring it about.
The book of Job shows that this is not always the case and Jesus
showed it also in Luke 13:1-5: "Now there were some present at that time
who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with
their sacrifices. {2} Jesus answered, "Do you think that these Galileans
were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered
this way? {3} I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all
perish. {4} Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on
them--do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in
Jerusalem? {5} I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all
perish.""
It's very clear that they were more interested in solving the abstract
problem than in ministering to the individual who had aroused it. They
regarded him as a sinner who was less important than their debate!
Affliction, sorrow, pain, disappointment, and loss are always
opportunities to display God's grace. It enables the suffer to show God
in action. When trouble and disaster fall upon a man who does not know
God, that may' might collapse from the burden. But when they fall on a
man who walks with God they bring out the strength and the beauty, and
the endurance and the nobility, which are within a man's heart when God
is there.
It is told that when an old saint was dying in an agony of pain, he
sent for his family, saying: "Come and see how a Christian can die." It
is when life hits us a terrible blow that we can show the world how a
Christian can live and, if need be, die.
The man born blind from birth was in darkness, but Christ came to
provide light. How it must have cheered the heart of the blind man to
hear these words! God gave men the day for work and the night for rest:
we must all do God's work while there is time to do it.

- To the neighbors, he was a beggar.
"His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked
"Isn't this the same man who used to sit and beg'" (9) Some claimed that
he was. Others said. "No, he only looks like him. " But he himself
insisted, "I am the man. "
He had likely been dependent upon their generation for his support, and
while they probably held no hard feelings toward him, they regarded him
more or less of a nuisance He was unproductive, contributing nothing to
the life of the community, and was "one more mouth to feed." They were
not necessarily unkind...but they were indifferent

- To the Pharisees, he was a tool to trap Jesus.
"They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. {14} Now
the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man's eyes was a
Sabbath. {15} Therefore 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.""
They had no interest in the man, but were eager to employ him as a
witness, if possible. Since the healing was performed on the Sabbath, he
would be useful to them in incriminating Jesus.
Later, when they found he was not useful for this purpose, they cast
him off and excommunicated him.

- To Jesus: He viewed him as a man
To Jesus, he was a man who needed help! He felt that the man's
condition called for action rather than debate or discussion.
"Having said 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."
This is the only miracle recorded we have by Jesus on one defective
from birth. And verse 3 ("but this happened so that the work of God might
be displayed in his life'?) ought to give comfort to all afflicted today:
God's purposes on this earth can be fulfilled through the most difficult
of circumstances.

THE CURE
The motive for the cure was compassion. Jesus had little to gain by
performing the miracle, since He needed to offer no further proof to the
multitude of what He could do.
He must have realized that healing this man on the Sabbath would cause
an even more violent protest from the rulers than had the healing of the
man at the pool earlier in His ministry. Nevertheless, He did it because
of His concern for the individual.
One thing is for certain: the cure was undeniable! Nobody who knew this
man challenged its reality.

All acknowledged:
- that he had been born blind
- that the man who was professedly cured was identical with the blind
beggar and that he could actually see

There are some questions we might attempt to answer before discussing
the results of this healing:

1. Why did Christ anoint the man's eyes with mud made from spittle? The
Jews believed there were medicinal qualities in spittle, especially if it
was from a distinguished person.
And there were definite traditions observed by the Pharisees which
prohibited the application of medications on the Sabbath; the law read:
"as to fasting spittle, it is not lawful to put it so much as upon the
eyelids."
Perhaps Jesus wanted to challenge their binding of traditions as
"matters of life and death." It could also have been because He wanted to
give the blind man some symbolic or expressive action in order that he
might know the power to heal his blindness came from Jesus.
One thing is for certain: Jesus took the methods and customs of his
time and used them to gain the confidence of his patient. Touch and
hearing would be this man's chief avenues of contact with the outside
world. He had already heard the conversation between Jesus and the
disciples, and would have thought it not too reassuring.
The man could have been healed without the clay and spittle, but the
Lord deals with individuals differently. He works in mysterious ways, His
wonders to perform. Christ said "go" and the man went...obedience
to the plan of God brought happiness.
2. Why did Jesus send him to the pool of Siloam?
The pool of Siloam was one of the landmarks of Jerusalem, and was the
result of one of the great engineering feats of the ancient world.
The water supply of Jerusalem had always been precarious in the event
of a siege. It came mainly from the Virgin's Fountain or the Spring
Gihon, which was situated in the Kidron Valley. A staircase of 33
rock-cut steps led down to it; and there, from a stone basin, people drew
the water.
It was just inside the southeast portion of the city wall and quite a
distance from the temple. There were certainly other facilities much
handier where the man might wash.

There are two likely reasons:
1. He sent the man there to test his faith. Faith must be tested and
expressed. Neither the mud nor the water had any medicinal qualities
except as Jesus used them miraculously.
2. This pool probably had some symbolic, typical, or spiritual Messianic
significance to the Jews.

THE CONFESSION
As we look closely at this blind man's confession
of faith, we will notice, initially, that it was positive and that his
different statements are filled with facts in simple and direct language.
And notice the use of the words "I" and "me." The miracle was part of
this man's firsthand knowledge, and his witness could not be set aside.
""How then were your eyes opened?" they demanded. {11} He 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."
Since the Pharisees were the custodians of the faith, it was right
that the healed man be brought to them for investigation. The fact that
they studied this miracle in such detail is only further proof that Jesus
did indeed heal the man!

Notice the testimony:
- he had been born blind
- a man named Jesus anointed his eyes and commanded him to wash in Siloam

- he washed
- he returned seeing

Three groups of people questioned the blind man, and it's important
that we note the different levels of faith displayed by the healed man:

- The neighbors, motivated by curiosity.
They just wanted to know what had happened. The blind man responded
with the facts.

- The Pharisees, whose motive was controversy
The fact of the Sabbath Day was a more important matter than whether
or how the thing was done. Jesus must be a sinner, since He'd broken a
law by healing on the Sabbath, they supposed.
The healed man's response: he is a prophet! Moses, Elijah, and Elisha
did perform miracles. The Jewish people would look upon their prophets as
men of God who could do wonderful things by the power of God.
But the Pharisees did not want to see Jesus given that kind of high
designation.
"Some 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. {17} Finally 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.""
We must admire the courage of this man to stand up to this group of
rebellious people. It is not always easy to be a Christian witness...it
takes courage to stand against sin and against the world that delights in
sin.
Verses 18-34 give us the reaction to the statement in verse 17; stage by
stage the objections of unbelief are beaten back.

- The man's parents
"The Jews 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. {21} But 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." {22} His 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 would be put out of the synagogue. {23} That was why
his parents said, "He is of age; ask him.""
The parents were afraid to say much, but they did identify him as
their son and they affirmed that he had been born blind. Without a doubt,
this was not a case of mistaken identity.
They appealed to their son's age and maturity for any future
answers...and would claim nothing more.

- The healed man
The Pharisees wanted someone (anyone!?) to admit that Jesus was a
sinner...but the man simply restates the facts and concludes that no
sinner could heal a blind man.
"A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. "Give glory
to God, " they said. "We know this man is a sinner." {25} He replied,
"Whether he is a sinner or not, I don't know. One thing I do know. I was
blind but now I see!" {26} Then they asked him, "What did he do to you?
How did he open your eyes?" {27} He 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?""
Anxious to settle the case, the Pharisees did call the man in; and
this time, they put him under oath. "Give God the praise" is a form of
Jewish "swearing in" at court.
His response is both wonderful and simple: I was blind, now I see! He
did not debate the character of Jesus, because that was beyond his
knowledge and experience. But he could see!
We admire the boldness of the man in asking those irate leaders if they
wanted to follow Jesus!

THE CONSEQUENCES
This miracle illustrated clearly the consequences of belief and
unbelief. Persistent faith brought healing and progressive enlightenment.
As the blind man acted on the simple imperative of Jesus, he
progressed from one step of faith to another, until Jesus' voluntary
revelation of Himself brought the man to its highest attainment and
reward.
The poor beggar is not awed by the presence of the Pharisees. He is a
man with a good and honest heart upon which the truth has fallen and is
slowly bringing forth fruit.
It's fair to say that this man is more amazed at the willful blindness
of the Pharisees than anything else. He is sincere, honest and
logical...and it gets him into trouble.
"Then they hurled insults at him and said, "You are this fellow's
disciple! We are disciples of Moses! {29} We know that God spoke to
Moses, but as for this fellow, we don't even know where he comes from."
{30} The man answered, "Now that is remarkable! You don't know where he
comes from, yet he opened my eyes. {31} We know that God does not listen
to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will. {32} Nobody
has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. {33} If this man
were not from God, he could do nothing." {34} To this they replied, "You
were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!" And they threw
him out."
The unbelief of the Pharisees began with a misunderstanding of the law
and of Jesus. The law was for them a tradition to be kept, a dead letter,
not a living voice. It resulted in a prejudice that blinded them to
anything but their on pre-conceived opmlons.
Pride (vs. 29) and bigotry (vs. 34) caused them to drive away the very
man from whom they might have taken lessons offaith.
The only way they could think to maintain their self-begotten
prestige was to attack the character of the beggar and excommunicate him.

This is the normal procedure for the rulers of the Jews--if they could
not disprove the miracles attesting to Christ's message, they would
threaten the messengers or do them bodily harm (Acts 4: 16-21).

Two forms of discipline were possible:
(1) the temporary exclusion, which cut off a man from fellowship until
his penitence warranted restoration; it lasted only 30 days; (2) the
permanent ban, which pronounced a curse on him and put him out forever.
It might even be determined that this one could even be denied the
privilege of dealing with local merchants.
Nothing could be more humiliating for a Jew than being excommunicated
from the synagogue!
The first one is likely here, since a vote of the Sanhedrin was
necessary for the second. When Jesus heard of the unfortunate results, he
was moved with pity and sought out the man. His question was simple and
to the point: (35) "Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when
he found him, he said. '"Do you believe in the Son of Man?"
The man was unwilling to commit himself without knowing why and more:
(36)"Who is he, sir?" the man asked. "Tell me so that I may believe in
him."
Upon getting Jesus' answer, he immediately responded, which represents
the final stage of belief: "Jesus said. "You have now seen him; in fact,
he is the one speaking with you. " (38) Then the man said, "Lord, I
believe, " and he worshiped him. (39) Jesus said "For judgment I have
come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will
become blind."
The story ends with a rhetorical question posed by some Phahsees:
(40) "Some pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked,
"What? Are we blind, too? (41) Jesus said, "lf you were blind, you would
not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt
remains."
They expected Jesus to esempt them from the con-
demnation of His previous statement (vs. 39). His reply was devastating:
if they really were blind, and admitted the fact, their confession would
lead to the
removal of their sin.
Their inability to discern their own failure as evidenced by their
complacent assumption of spritual sight aggravated the situation and made
their sin all the more lasting!
While the blind man gained physical and spiritual light through
faith, the Pharisees lost the light they had and lapsed into complete
spiritual darkness.

Closing Thought
When I think about those who have "displayed the works of God" in
suffering, several people come to mind.
One is a young man who has limited mental ability. I am sure that his
mother and father must have asked themselves and God a million times why
their son was born this way. I will always remember the night of their
son's baptism, when he responded to the invitation at the conclusion of a
sermon. There was not a dry eye in the assembly when he confessed his
faith in Jesus and said with beautiful simplicity "I just want to do what
God wants me to do." In that moment the work of God was displayed in that
young man's life.
I also think of a preacher I once heard soon after he was told that he
had a potentially terminal disease. He told the church that his prayer to
God was that he might get well; but if he could not get well, his prayer
would be that God would help him show the church how to die. A few months
later he did just that; in his dying the work of God was displayed!
Another example of one who displayed the work of God in suffering is a
Christian woman who struggled for years with cancer and recently went on
to be with the Lord. Many times I heard people ask "Why?" In looking back
on her years of illness, I am convinced that she demonstrated the work of
God through her illness in a way that few people ever do in their good
health.
The ultimate example of living with purpose, of course, is Jesus on
the cross. It was unfair, and it was cruel. It was, in many ways, a
tragedy; yet Jesus hung on the cross so that the "works of God might be
displayed" in His life and death.
No one I have ever met can explain why Jesus had to suffer on the
cross. I do not believe we will understand that completely until we reach
heaven. Even a small child, however, can appreciate the fact that the
work of God was displayed in a marvelous way because Jesus went to the
cross. He lived and died for the purposes of God.
All of us face something that could cause us to believe that God has
turned His back on us and that we could not possibly be used for the
glory of God. Some may say, "But I am divorced": "I struggle in my
marriage"; "I have problems with my children"; "I am ill"; or "I am too
old /young. " Jesus walks into our world and says, in essence, "I will
not tell you why you face the difficulties you are now facing, but I will
tell you this: The work of God can be displayed in your life in spite of
your problems--perhaps even because of your problems!"
An example of this is Paul, who was tormented by his familiar "thorn
in the flesh" (2 Corinthians 12:7). Three times he asked the Lord to
remove it.
I am sure that Paul imagined how much more he could accomplish for God
if only he were free from his affliction, yet the Lord refused to remove
Paul's thorn in the flesh.
Instead, God left him with this message: "My grace is sufficient for
you, for power is perfected in weakness" (2 Corinthians 12:9).
Paul finally accepted God's decision that he could better demonstrate
God's power through weakness than through strength and good health.

In this Paul gave us a model to follow in dealing with afflictions.
First, we ask God to deliver us from our pain. This is our natural human
reflex to pain, and it is right to cry out for deliverance. The second
step for the Christian, however, is to say to God, "Come what may, You be
glorified in my life." Whatever our situations, we can all be used to
display the work of God!


JOHN 9 IN REVIEW
This chapter presents the sixth of seven special miracles recorded in
John’s Gospel as witnesses to Christ’s deity (20:30-31). The first three
signs show how a person is saved: through the Word (water to wine), by
faith (healing the nobleman’s son), and by grace (healing the impotent
man). The last four signs show the results of salvation: satisfaction
(feeding the 5,000), peace (stilling the storm), light (healing the blind
man), and life (raising Lazarus).

I. The Cure (9:1-7)
A. The man has the characteristics of the lost sinner.
(1) He was blind (Eph. 4:18; John 3:3; 2 Cor. 4:3-6). The unsaved, though
intellectual like Nicodemus, can never see or understand spiritual
things. See 1 Cor. 2:14-16.

(2) He was begging. The unsaved are poor in God’s sight, though perhaps
rich in the eyes of the world. They are begging for something to satisfy
their deepest needs.

(3) He was helpless. He could not cure himself; others could not cure
him.

B. The cure shows how Christ saves a sinner.
(1) He came to the man in grace. Christ could have passed him by, for it
was the Sabbath and He was supposed to rest (v. 14). While the disciples
argued about the cause of the blindness, Jesus did something for the man.

(2) He irritated the man. A speck of dirt irritates the eye; imagine how
cakes of clay must have felt. But the dirt in his eyes encouraged him to
go wash. It is just so with the preaching of the Word: it irritates
sinners with conviction so that they want to do something about their
sins. (See Acts 2:37.)

(3) He cured the man by His power. The man proved his faith in Christ by
being obedient to the Word. "Religion" today wants to give men
substitutes for salvation, but only Christ can deliver from the darkness
of sin and hell.

(4) The cure glorified God. All true conversions are for God’s glory
alone. See Eph. 1:6, 12, 14; 2:8-10.

(5) The cure was noticed by others. His parents and neighbors saw a
change in his life. So it is when a person is born again—others see the
difference it makes (2 Cor. 5:17).

II. The Controversy (9:8-34)
The religious leaders had let it be known that anyone who confessed
Christ openly would be cast out of the synagogue (v. 22). This meant, of
course, losing friends and family and all the benefits of the Jewish
religion. It was this declaration that forced the blind man’s parents and
neighbors to "beat around the bush" when asked about his amazing cure.

The son’s simple confession in v. 11 exalted Christ, though at that time
he did not fully know who "the man called Jesus" really was.
The Pharisees attacked Christ by saying He was not of God (v. 16) and
calling Him a sinner (v. 24). The son told what he knew (v. 25) and
showed the Pharisees how foolish their thinking was (vv. 30-33). The
simple-hearted believer knows more spiritual truth than unsaved educated
theologians. (See Ps. 119:97-104.) The final result: they excommunicated
the man from the synagogue.

It would have been easy for the son to hide his confession and thus avoid
controversy, but he fearlessly stood his ground. He knew what a
difference Christ had made in his life, and he could not deny it.
Everyone who has met Christ and trusted Him should make it known openly.

III. His Confession (9:35-41)
The man did not realize it then, but the safest place for him was outside
the Jewish religious fold. The Jews cast him out, but Christ took him in!
Like Paul (see Phil. 3:1-10), this man "lost his religion" but found
salvation and went to heaven.

Note carefully how this man grew in his knowledge of Christ:
(1) "A man called Jesus" (v. 11) was all he knew when Christ healed him.
(2) "A prophet" (v. 17) is what the man called Him when the Pharisees
questioned him.
(3) "A man of God" (vv. 31-33) is what he concluded Jesus to be.
(4) "The Son of God" (vv. 35-38) was his final and complete confession of
faith. (See 20:30-31.)

"The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever
brighter till the full light of day," states Prov. 4:18 (NIV), and this
man’s growth in "light" proves it.

A Christian is one who has light in his heart (2 Cor. 4:6) and who is a
light in the world (Matt. 5:14). He walks in the light (1 John 1) and
produces the fruit of light (Eph. 5:8-9). The man’s "Lord, I believe!"
was the turning point in his life.

The same light that leads one person can blind another (vv. 39-41). The
Pharisees admitted that they could see, and therefore they were guilty
because they rejected the evidence and would not receive Christ. The
Gospel brings about different reactions from different kinds of hearts:
the blind sinner receives the truth and sees; the self-righteous
religious person rejects the truth and becomes even more blind
spiritually. It is a dangerous thing to reject the light.

Last modified: April 18, 2006