Will the Real Blind Man Please Stand Up

In the Gospel of John Chapter 9 Jesus heals a blind man, which starts a series of events that leads once again to a conflict with the Jewish leaders.  

Jesus healed this man on the Sabbath, and this will cause the Pharisees to bristle because they will see this as a violation of the commandment to do not work on the Sabbath.

First there was confusion as people see this man no longer begging and able to see.

Joh 9:8 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."

They ask him how it is that he can now see. He tells them Jesus put spit and mud in his eyes and told him to wash it off at the Pool of Siloam.

Neighbors bring the man to the Pharisees, and the Pharisees question him about how he was healed.

But they argued that this healing could not be of God, after all God would never lead anyone to break the Sabbath by doing the work of healing. But others were arguing that only God could do a miracle like this. There was confusion and disagreement.

Joh 9:6 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.

But this verse seems to show us that some of the Pharisees were starting to wonder if maybe Jesus could be the Messiah. “How can a sinner do such miraculous signs?”

Because they were divided, they turn to the man who had been healed of blindness and they ask him what he thought about Jesus.  The man says that he thinks Jesus is a prophet.

 It is interesting that the chapter shows us how this blind man’s faith progresses and changes over time. At this point he sees Jesus as a prophet, but that will soon change.

Then we are told an important point.  The argument was being made by some of the Pharisees that the blind man had never been blind in the first place.  So, they call in his parents to see if they can verify whether he was born blind.

Joh 9:18 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."

So, after the parents verify that he really was born blind, the Pharisees turn back to questioning the man who had been healed of blindness.  The man gives one of the great lines of the bible.

Joh 9:24 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!"

I love it, he says I don’t know exactly who Jesus is, but I do know that I was once blind and now I can see.

The man ridicules them for their many questions.

Joh 9:26 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?"

It is funny because this man knows they hate Jesus, but he pokes fun at them by asking if their many questions were because they wanted to become his disciple too. Hilarious!

Joh 9:28 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.

Again, the man gives the Pharisees a sarcastic jab, then he lays down some suburb logic, and I have to believe these words were from the Holy Spirit speaking through the man to the Pharisees.

This unlearned man schools these religious scholars.  

Joh 9:31 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."

The Pharisees throw the man out, but Jesus later finds him.

Think about the picture this passage shows us.  As a blind man he was mostly rejected by society.  Now he can see, and the religious leaders still reject him.

The implied truth of this passage is that the blind man can now see because of Jesus, but the Pharisees are blind still.

Jesus asked the man do you believe in the Son of Man?

Joh 9:36 "Who is he, sir?" the man asked. "Tell me so that I may believe in him." 37 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 Pharisees know Jesus was talking about them. Jesus was saying that even though they could see, they were blind.

 40 Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, "What? Are we blind too?"  41 Jesus said, "If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.

Jesus says that your guilt is in the fact that you are so blind that you can’t see you are blind.
We could title this chapter “Will the Real Blind Man Please Stand Up”.

It shows us a blind man who was healed, and it shows us a whole room of men whose eyes were working but were blind as a bat.