John 9:1–7 Sermon
Sermon Text
Outline
Outline
1. The Setting “Introduction” (v.1)
2. The “Theological” Question (v.2)
3. The Answer (v.3-7)
3. The Answer (v.3-7)
1. The Setting “Introduction” (v.1)
Verse 1 As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth.
Focus: Where was Jesus passing by?
Focus: This man was blind from birth
What we see from verse 1 is that this man was born and raised with blindness.
9:1. As he went along is sufficiently vague as a connector that very little precise information about time and place can be deduced. Because of the connections ch. 9 has with chs. 8 and 10 (cf. notes, above), we must suppose Jesus is still in Jerusalem, presumably at some point between the Feast of Tabernacles and the Feast of Dedication. How it became known that the man was blind from birth is not disclosed. Granted the symbolism of the chapter, it is likely that this detail, in addition to heightening the effect of the miracle, signals that human beings are spiritually blind from birth Cf. notes on 12:37ff.
JOHN 9
The Holistic Healing of a Man Born Blind
The healing of a blind man takes place soon after the feast of Tabernacles, marking the messianic day when there will be recovery of sight for the blind (Isa 61:1). John’s presentation of this sixth sign contains eight scenes (9:1–5, 6–7, 8–12, 13–17, 18–23, 24–34, 35–39, 40–41). A study of John 9 in three parts will reveal to us how a man born blind received holistic healing from Jesus and how, in the process, he came to perceive Jesus as the Son of Man who is to be worshipped.
John 9:1–12
9:1–12 Stories of Jesus giving sight to a blind man are found in all four Gospels (see, for instance, Matt. 9:27–31; Mark 10:46–52; Luke 18:35–42. Clay and spittle are also used as a healing medium in Mark 7:33; 8:23). In the pattern of many miracle stories, verses 1–5 describe the situation of need that evokes the miracle. Here, however, the situation of need includes not only the blind man’s condition but the theological response of the disciples. The connection the disciples make between sinful actions and illness (v. 2) is rejected by Jesus (vv. 3–4). The man’s blindness is an occasion that will reveal God’s presence in Jesus (v. 3). In the Fourth Gospel, “sin” is not a moral category about behavior but a theological category about one’s response to the revelation of God in Jesus (see discussion of 1:29 and 5:14). Jesus’ subsequent actions are a response to the disciple’s perspective on sin as well as to the condition of the blind man himself. The opening phrase of verse 6 explicitly links Jesus’ words in verses 2–5 with the miracle that is narrated here. The situation of need is one of both physical healing and theological insight.
As was the case with the paralytic (see chap. 5), this healing is all Jesus’ initiative. The blind man has not even spoken in the story. The man’s agency becomes a key part of the story after his healing. In the very brief narration of verse 7, we see the blind man responding immediately and exactly to Jesus’ commands. As a result, he “came back able to see.”
9:1 a man blind from birth That the man was born blind makes his healing that much more miraculous. This detail parallels the length of time (38 years) the lame man healed earlier had been disabled (5:5).
The severity of the disability is only one of many parallels between these two healing narratives in ch. 5 and John 9. Both healings involve pools of water (5:2; 9:7), and both take place on a Sabbath (5:9; 9:14).
9:2 Rabbi See note on 1:38.
The Healing of the Blind Man (1–7)
The synoptics are full of stories of Jesus healing blind people. This could almost be considered a hallmark of his ministry (Matt. 11:5; Luke 4:17; 7:22). Jesus healed the blind man Bartimaeus in Jericho (Mark 10:46–52; Luke 18:35–43), two blind men in Galilee (Matt. 9:27–31), a blind man without speech elsewhere, possibly in Capernaum (Matt. 12:22–23), a blind man in Bethsaida (Mark 8:22–26), and one more in Jerusalem following his cleansing of the temple (Matt. 21:14). Blindness was far more common than we would think in antiquity. Eye disease had few cures and unsanitary conditions (especially in water) increased risks considerably. In Jesus’ day blindness was so well-known, that Jesus includes the blind in his parables about whom to invite to parties (Luke 14:13). He can even use it metaphorically to represent spiritual darkness precisely as he does in John 9 (Matt. 15:14; 23:16, 17, 19, 24, 26; Luke 6:39).
The man Jesus encounters at Tabernacles had been unable to see since birth (1). This leads his disciples to ask about the origin of his suffering (2). They assume that there must be a connection between sin and suffering and so they probe who was responsible, he or his parents. But Jesus rejects this entire line of questioning (3) and explains how God will be glorified in the man’s life.
Jesus mixes saliva and soil to produce a mud plaster which he applies to the man’s eyes (6). In antiquity there was enormous superstition attached to the spittle of a renowned person. Jesus’ action was not unusual. Both the Greek cult of healing and Jewish popular belief gave spittle magical power, although the Rabbis were generally critical of such belief. Mark records two other instances where Jesus did the same thing (Mark 7:32–35; 8:22–25). Jesus then tells the man to go and wash in the Pool of Siloam (7). The man is obedient (7) and is healed. John reports no fanfare or disturbance.
John mentions parenthetically that “Siloam” means “sent” in Hebrew. This pool was at the south end of the city of Jerusalem and is an important detail for two reasons. First, it was the source of water in the Tabernacles ceremony we noted at the end of John 7. This is the pool built after Hezekiah redirected the Gihon spring by tunneling west under the city of David. It was the only source of spring water in the city and thus had religious ceremonial value. If Jesus is the source of Tabernacles water (7:37–39), this man has now experienced Tabernacles water in a profound way. Second, the name of the pool (Heb. “sent”) bears symbolic importance for Jesus. Throughout the gospel, Jesus is described as the “one who is sent” by God over twenty times (4:34; 5:23, 37; 7:28; 8:26; 12:44; 14:24; etc.). Therefore the blind man is being told to go wash in the place called “sent,” by the One who “was sent” by God. Jesus then is the source of his healing, not the pool. Some scholars point out that in Judaism during this period, “shiloah” had messianic overtones. Isa. 8:6 says, “Because this people has rejected the gently flowing waters of Shiloah …” which the LXX translates “Siloam.” A similar name appears in Gen. 49:10 (Shiloh) and these were interpreted by Jews and Christians as messianic. Here in our present passage Judaism is rejecting Jesus just as in Isaiah 8 they rejected “Shiloah.” Both are “sent.”
9:2 Rabbi See note on 1:38.
who sinned Reflects the belief that congenital disabilities were the result of sin on the part of the individual or his parents.
This way of thinking derived from the desire to avoid making God responsible for afflicting suffering on the innocent. Wicked, sinful behavior led to suffering and punishment. The innocent should not suffer. Despite the popularity of these beliefs, the Bible does not teach a uniform cause-and-effect relationship between sin and suffering. For example, the main point of the OT book of Job is to demonstrate the theological possibility of righteous, innocent suffering. Elsewhere, Jesus also affirms that sin and disaster are not always directly related (Luke 13:2–3).
2. The “Theological” Question (v.2)
Verse 2 And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
THEOLOGY theā̈lʹ-ə-Jē[ < théos-‘god’ + lógos-‘word’]. “Theology” etymologically means “a word about God” (the term does not occur in the RSV, AV, or NEB). The God of Christian theology is the OT God, the Father of Jesus Christ, and the word is the divine Word which became flesh in Jesus Christ. Jesus, as witnessed to in the Holy Scriptures, is the revelation of all God’s ways and works with humanity. Christian theology, therefore, is concerned not with human words and thoughts about a god, but with all God’s creative and redemptive ways and works with humanity in Jesus Christ.
Rabʹbi [teacher], a title of respect given by the Jews to their teachers, and often addressed to our Lord (Matt. 23:7, 8; 26:25, 49; Mark 9:5; 11:21; 14:45; John 1:38, 49; 3:2, 26: 4:31; 6:25; 9:2; 11:8). Another form of the title was rabboni (Mark 10:51; John 20:16). The title rabbi is not known to have been used before the reign of Herod the Great, and is thought to have taken its rise about the time of the disputes between the rival schools of Hillel and Shammai.
Focus: They assumed that the man’s blindness was caused by sin
What we see in their question also is an assumption.
After Jesus left the temple, he saw a man born blind begging (9:1, 8). Jewish society believed that sickness and sufferings often come because of the sins of the individuals (2 Kgs 14:6; Mark 2:5; John 5:14) or because of the sins of the parents (Exod 20:5; Deut 5:9). Therefore, the disciples ask Jesus whose sin was the cause of the man being born blind (9:2).
9:2. The disciples assume, like most Palestinian Jews of their day, that sin and suffering are intimately connected. In one sense, they are correct; they are simply working out the entailments of the fall (Gn. 3). If rabbis argued that there is no death without sin (B. Shabbath 55a; proved by referring to Ezk. 18:20) and no suffering without guilt (citing Ps. 89:32), Paul in the New Testament would certainly agree (Rom. 1–2; 3:10ff.). But once theologians move from generalizing statements about the origin of the human race’s maladies to tight connections between the sins and the sufferings of an individual, they go beyond the biblical evidence (whether from the Old Testament or the New). That a specific illness or experience of suffering can be the direct consequence of a specific sin, few would deny (e.g. Miriam’s revolt, Nu. 12; notes on Jn. 5:14; cf. 1 Cor. 11:30). That it is invariably so, numerous biblical texts flatly deny (e.g. Job; Gal. 4:13; 2 Cor. 12:7).
9:2 Rabbi See note on 1:38.
who sinned Reflects the belief that congenital disabilities were the result of sin on the part of the individual or his parents.
This way of thinking derived from the desire to avoid making God responsible for afflicting suffering on the innocent. Wicked, sinful behavior led to suffering and punishment. The innocent should not suffer. Despite the popularity of these beliefs, the Bible does not teach a uniform cause-and-effect relationship between sin and suffering. For example, the main point of the OT book of Job is to demonstrate the theological possibility of righteous, innocent suffering. Elsewhere, Jesus also affirms that sin and disaster are not always directly related (Luke 13:2–3).
3. The Answer (v.3-7)
Verse 3 Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.
Focus: Jesus began to remove what they thought was the cause to him being blind
The assumption found in their question was corrected.
It was not that this man sinned.
It wasn’t his parents.
Which brings a good and much needed point.
Jesus’ injunction, “We must work the works of him who sent me” (9:4), includes also his followers in doing God’s works. The plural “works” denotes not only physical healing, but also spiritual insight. The work of bringing holistic healing to the sick and suffering is not optional, but is divine commandment, as the word “must [work]” shows. This divine work cannot be done on their own, but only with Jesus (15:5).
Verse 4 We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work.
What are the works of Him who sent Jesus?
We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day
night is coming, when no one can work.
9:4 while it is day Jesus’ enigmatic saying invokes the opposition of light and darkness. They must accomplish the mission while the light of the world (John 8:12; 9:5) is still among them.
It needs to be done during the day when light is available. Jesus hints at his departure from the world (7:33; 8:21), as he warns that night comes when no one can work in dark hours (9:4).
Verse 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.
Verse 6 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
This is confirmed by Jesus’ statement, “As long as I am in the world, I am the Light of the world” (9:5; cf. 8:12; 12:35–36). Thus, Jesus thrusts the urgency to illuminate the world by bringing holistic healing to the suffering humanity.
9:6 he spat Saliva was associated with magical practices in the Graeco-Roman world. Compare Mark 8:23.
Miracles Unique to John’s Gospel
Water to Wine, John 2:1–11
Official’s Son Healed, 4:46–52
Paralytic Healed, 5:1–13
Blind Man Healed, 9:1–12
Lazarus Raised, 11:38–44
Great Catch of Fish, 21:1–14
Verse 7 and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing.
The narrator gives the meaning of “Siloam” as “sent one” (9:7), pointing to Jesus, who was sent by God, as the source of healing. John deliberately connects Jesus with the pool of Siloam, from where water was drawn for the purifying ceremony at the feast of Tabernacles, to reveal him as the one who replaces the water in Siloam with his power to bring wholeness to human life.
9:7 wash Compare Elisha’s healing of Naaman the Syrian in 2 Kgs 5:10–13.