Blind Given Sight

Blindness Illustration: Blindfold someone and have them do multiple tasks

As you can see, it’s incredibly difficult to do some things when you’re blind. Now, imagine being blind from birth

It would be so hard to exist! Not impossible, but very difficult.

This is the experience of one man who has an interaction with Jesus.

John 9:1–41 “As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” Having said these things, he spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man’s eyes with the mud and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing. The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar were saying, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” Some said, “It is he.” Others said, “No, but he is like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.” So they said to him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud and anointed my eyes and s…”

The Miracle:

The disciples in vs. 1 were probably asking a common question.

They believed that any physical deformity was due to a sin that someone committed. For them, sin had serious consequences in their lives physically.

The problem with this view, however, is that it can make someone who is in physical pain seem sub-human.

So, this man was a beggar who was probably hated by many and wasn’t allowed in the temple.

Jesus heals the man

John actually tells us that the man was born blind SO THAT Jesus could heal him and thus give glory to God in his healing.

Jesus heals an impossible disease with an unconventional solution.

People who were born blind still almost never are able to see. The only real way is if a baby is born with a lot of cataracts and is unable to see. Outside of that, if you’re born blind, you will never see.

So, Jesus heals this guy by rubbing dirt and spit in his eyes?!

Why do you think Jesus uses mud?

That doesn’t make sense! No doctor has ever prescribed that solution!

But, Jesus was showing His power, and He kept us from worshipping the mud.

It was dirt from the ground, it’s not special!

But, Jesus anointed the man with it, so it worked.

Jesus shows that He’s Lord over disease.

The Trial

So, the people who know this guy bring him to the Pharisees.

The Pharisees don’t like it, nor do they believe it.

They ask him multiple times, they talk to his parents, and eventually they just throw him out of the synagogue.

Why?

The man, for his part, is an excellent evangelist!

All that he does is tell the truth and asks good questions, but it gets pretty difficult for the hyper educated Pharisees that have to deal with him.

The Jews are fighting against truth, so they can’t keep up.

They even ask him in vs. 34 if he thinks that he can teach them, when it’s very clear that he can!

But even he doesn’t have it figured out.

In vs. 17, he calls Jesus a prophet, which will change in vs. 38

But, he knows one thing, and this is the central verse of the passage.

vs. 25: I may not know everything, but I know that Jesus healed me.

And so, they throw him out of the synagogue, so they don't have to deal with his stuff

The Invitation

Jesus then finds this man and asks him if he believes.

The man must have looked around and thought, “well sure, if you can point Him out to me!”

When he learns who it is that he’s speaking to, he changed the title of Jesus

He calls Jesus Lord, and he worships Jesus.

Both of those things are reserved only for God.

And so, Jesus says that He came that the blind may see and the sighted may become blind.

And it’s in that moment that we “see” the real point of all of this.

In every miracle that Jesus ever committed, there’s always a greater point.

Jesus heals us of our true blindness

He’s said from the beginning, this man came so that God may be glorified, and he does that in more than just the physical miracle.

We see from this passage that we are blind. We can’t see God, we can’t have a relationship with Him, and we can’t see our sin without Him, but Christ came to heal our blindness so that we might love Him!

Jesus brings you out of the darkness of blindness and sin and into the light of new life with Him.

What will you do with this sight?

You’ve been given something precious: a new life where there once was blindness, what will you do with it?

This man did a few things

He believed

He worshipped

He invited others in

You might think you’ve got sight, but so did the Pharisees! If we don’t let God change us and live like new people, can we really say we see?

Questions

What is your favorite Thanksgiving food?

Do you find telling people about Jesus easy or difficult? Why?

Read vs. 25. Do you have anything in your life that you can point to to say, “I may not know everything, but I know Jesus saved me?” [Leaders: Students are going to want to take this as a more physical miracle, but encourage them to look deeper into the miracles of salvation and sanctification and the presence of God; not everyone was healed from blindness!]

Dylan said in the sermon that we are blind. How would you define this blindness?