The Seeing Blind (John 9:35–41)

Series: “John: Life in Christ’s Name”Text: John 9:35–41

By: Shaun Marksbury Date: October 22, 2023

Venue: Living Water Baptist ChurchOccasion: AM Service

Introduction

The eye is an incredible instrument. As one resource notes, “No scientific instrument is as sensitive to the light as a person’s eye. And in the dark, its sensitivity increases 100,000 times; one can detect a faint glow, less than a thousandth as bright as a candle’s flame. He can see light from the stars, and the nearest of all stars is 25 billion miles away!” More could be said to that, but the human eye stands as a testament to the intelligence of its Creator.

Yet, just as sin has created problems with the eyes of individuals, it also causes people to use them incorrectly. As one story goes, “Augustine was once accosted by a heathen who showed him his idol and said, ‘Here is my god; where is thine?’ Augustine replied, ‘I cannot show you my God; not because there is no God to show but because you have no eyes to see Him.’ ” Folks have eyes, but they are not eyes which are capable of seeing God.

Today, we are finally completing the account of the blind man. We've seen Jesus heal this man, a unique healing in that he had a congenital condition. He was born blind, and there is no recording of any other person being healed of that specific malady. Yet, what should be a moment of rejoicing for this man quickly became a moment of sorrow as neighbors and religious leaders pepper him with questions, deciding they should shun him from their lives.

Even so, this challenge forced him to use his eyes in a different way, in a way that would look upon Jesus eventually with full belief. In fact, even though he had never been able to use his eyes before, he uses them more accurately than those who could see their whole lives. The sad reality is that many people have eyes, but they never use them correctly.

Jesus is the test of whether someone uses his eyes correctly. As such, in this passage, we’ll note a special irony. Today, the blind will become the seeing, and the seeing will become the blind. Let’s consider this:

First, the Blind Become the Seeing (vv. 35–38)

Jesus heard that they had put him out, and finding him, He said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” He answered, “Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?” Jesus said to him, “You have both seen Him, and He is the one who is talking with you.” And he said, “Lord, I believe.” And he worshiped Him.

We considered last time what it means to be put out of the synagogue. There’s some equivalence with it to our practice of church discipline. However, in this case, we see an unforgiving and tyrannical process, one devoid of true godliness and anti-Christ to the core.

As one commentator notes,

“By this example, we are taught how trivial and how little to be dreaded are the excommunications of the enemies of Christ. If we are cast out from that assembly in which Christ reigns, it is a dreadful judgment which is executed against us, that we are delivered to Satan, (1 Cor. 5:5,) because we are banished from the kingdom of the Son of God. But so far are we from having any reason to dread that tyrannical judgment by which wicked men insult the servants of Christ, that, even though no man should drive us out, we ought of our own accord to flee from that place in which Christ does not preside by his word and Spirit.”

Note again that our Lord does not leave this man comfortless. He finds him, knowing just what heartache he now experiences. Our Lord always takes the initiative to find us our low estate. We often talk of people searching for God, but the good news is that He comes and finds us when we need Him! Moreover, our Lord doesn’t have to search as we would for a lost person, for He knows exactly where we are.

So, Once Jesus comes to the man, He asks Him that important question: “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” If you have a King James or New King James Version, the identification is slightly different: “Son of God.” This is due to an error in the manuscript that has since been corrected; it should be “Son of Man.” This is a messianic title that goes back to Daniel 7, so this man would understand Jesus as asking if he believes in the Messiah.

This is, of course, the vital question! And Jesus doesn’t ask this in private; as we’ll note in a few minutes, others are around to hear the man’s response. So, Jesus is asking this man to make a public declaration. Remember that this man has already proved himself concerned about spiritual matters and growing in his knowledge of Jesus. So, he’s ready for this question publicly, which the Lord also knows — this question is framed in such a way to expect a positive response. Our Lord draws true faith from us.

That this man is ready to believe is evident to the rest of us in the next verse. He replies to Jesus, saying, “Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?” That word, “Lord,” can be translated “sir,” and that may be the best understanding in this case — “Who is He, sir, that I may believe in Him?” That’s because the formerly blind man wouldn’t know for certain who Jesus is or that He is the Messiah without revelation. He was literally blind when he first encountered Jesus, and he may not be certain yet if Jesus is a prophet or something more.

Saving faith must have an object. As one study notes, “Jesus, not faith, saves. Faith is only a channel to the worthy object, the Lord Jesus Christ.” Moreover, as Romans 10:14 says, “How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?” In this case, this man is about to the word from the Living Word.

In v. 37, Jesus said to him, “You have both seen Him, and He is the one who is talking with you.” Jesus says those new eyes have already seen the Messiah, for He’s the one speaking! He was just as clear with the woman at the well (John 4:26), and now He reveals Himself to this man.

This would be an amazing revelation to receive! As another study notes, “This poor man was solicitously enquiring after the Saviour, when at the same time he saw him, and was talking with him. Note, Jesus Christ is often nearer the souls that seek him than they themselves are aware of. Doubting Christians are sometimes saying, Where is the Lord? and fearing that they are cast out from his sight when at the same time it is he that talks with them, and puts strength into them.” The man may have been downcast for being put out of the synagogue, but he’s now learned the most important religious news anyone can receive — the Lord Messiah is right there with him!

So, in v. 38, the man responds with those words of faith: “Lord, I believe.” In this context, “Lord” would be the proper translation. When the Lord is at work in someone’s life, they respond with faith.

Note that we can see this man’s faith by his works. First, he’s willing to say he believes in Jesus in front of all the listening ears, many of which are negative toward Jesus. Second, he worships the Lord, literally falling down before Him. Every time John uses this term, it means worship, and it’s in relation to God. As one commentary notes of this man, “His worship of Jesus replaced his worship in the synagogue.”

As such, it’s amazing to consider that our Lord allowed this. In front of spectators and nay-sayers, Jesus allows Himself to be worshiped. Remember when Cornelius fell down to worship Peter, Peter told him, “Stand up; I too am just a man” (Acts 10:25–26). Yet, Jesus allows this prostration in front of Him, and He allows it again with Thomas, who also refers to Jesus as “my God” (John 20:28). If Jesus is indeed God as the first chapter of this Gospel states, then our proper response is to worship Jesus.

So, we now see the completion of this man’s spiritual development. He identified Jesus as a man in v. 11, and then a prophet in v. 17, and then as the Messiah, offering Him his worship. His spiritual eyes develop, as it were, and he’s ready to publicly state and demonstrate his trust in Christ.

Jesus spoke about the importance of public acknowledgement. In Matthew 10:32–33, He says, “Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven.” Interestingly, both representations are there that day: the one who would confess Him before others, and those who would deny Him. That’s because the seeing there are actually becoming spiritually blind, as we note next.

Second, the Seeing Become the Blind (vv. 39–41)

And Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, so that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind.” Those of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these things and said to Him, “We are not blind too, are we?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but since you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.

Jesus says here that He has come for judgment, and that may confuse you. The term judgment here is different than we’ve seen before. The word is krima, different than in John 3:17 — “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge (krino) the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.” There, we read that Jesus did not come for a judgment of condemnation. Here, this kind of judgment is a sorting or sifting judgment.

So, judgment is an aspect of His first coming — just not in the same sense. He divides people. As Jesus said in Matthew 10:34, “Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword,” going on to say, “For I came to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man’s enemies will be the members of his household” (vv. 35–36). There will be those, like the formerly blind man, who come to believe in Jesus, and there will be others who oppose that belief. His presence brings that judgment.

Those who believe will have their eyes opened to a new reality — Jesus is Lord and Savior. That they can see this is all the grace of Christ. Those who refuse to believe, however, will find that that what truth they could see will even be taken away; they will become even more blind to the reality of Christ!

In fact, there is also that coming judgment that Jesus will bring. For instance, 2 Thessalonians 1:6–8 says, “For after all it is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.” Those who afflict the blind man here for holding to his faith will face the penalty if they don’t repent.

This man needed to hear this, for the road ahead of him will be more difficult because of his professed belief in Jesus. It is for the sake of this comfort that Jesus says this. He wants the man to know that He knows his suffering and will act on his behalf.

We need to hear this. Some of you young people are going to public school, for instance, and that is a dark place. There are other students who will mock you because of your faith in Jesus Christ, and there are teachers who will try to discourage it. Of course, this also exists in private schools and homeschool groups, as well. Some of you will go to colleges where this pressure to conform will intensify. You will work in jobs that may try to force you to attend training sessions and sign statements which go against the Bible. In the power of Christ, you can stand strong, and you need to hear that the Lord notices your suffering, as well, and will act on your behalf.

This talk of blindness and judgment bothers the Pharisees. (Did you not know that they’ve been listening this whole time? Of course they have!) Jesus’s words stir them enough for them to now speak up and ask their question in v. 40. They’re always in the shadows at this point, trying to find something to blame Jesus, and now they wonder at His words which seem to condemn them.

So, they pipe up now, as Jesus has just injured their pride. They understood Jesus to be implying that they, the wise and educated religious elite, were blind to the truth. They assume a negative response to their question, as if Jesus were to respond, “No, you Pharisees have no problem seeing the truth!”

Of course, this proves just how blind they are as they rely on their name and own resources. As Romans 2:19 says, they are confident that they “are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness.” Jesus had already said in Matthew 15:14 that “they are blind guides of the blind. And if a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit.” They have eyes, but they cannot see.

So, in v. 41, Jesus says, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but since you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.” Jesus doesn’t answer their question; He instead attacks their presupposition that they can see. Perhaps they thought themselves clever for understanding that Jesus had been talking about them. However, Jesus says that this only increases their condemnation.

If they had confessed to having a problem, things would be different. Even if they could not see their problems, but recognized their need for sight, they would not face the condemnation they do. A small child is born in sin but doesn’t know it; a person with a severe mental handicap likewise may not understand his state. Jesus happily pays for the sins of those who have no resources of their own, giving grace to the least of these.

However, the Pharisees claim they can see. They don’t need the carpenter Jesus and His rag-tag group of fishermen to take them by the hand! They think they know the truth! That means they can see and choose to ignore. Their willful ignorance has consequences.

So, Jesus says that their sin remains or abides. This is a sad state of affairs. Elsewhere, Jesus says that the Holy Spirit “abides” or “remains” with the believer (John 14:17). They could have eternal communion with God, but they choose to have eternal communion with their sin.

Conclusion

The most fearful reality is that there are many who have eyes, who think they see, but they can’t. Sometimes they put their faith in their religious knowledge. Sometimes, they put their faith in their academic knowledge. Others place their faith in the knowledge of others; if certain celebrities don’t believe in Jesus Christ or aren’t concerned with spiritual realities, then they think they shouldn’t be, either. And still others are just distracted by every bright toy and bouncy ball that comes along, never giving a moment’s thought to eternity. These are all examples of blindness.

You must recognize yourself to be without resources, like this blind man. You must also recognize that there is only one person who can save you, and that’s Jesus Christ. Put your full faith in Him, even if it means drawing negative attention to yourself from unbelievers. Ask Him to give you spiritual sight, saving you from your personal darkness, and then worship Him alone.