Chapter 9
The man who was born blind
is restored to sight
1 And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth.
2 And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?
3 Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.
4 I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.
5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.
6 When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay,
7 And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing.
8 The neighbours therefore, and they which before had seen him that he was blind, said, Is not this he that sat and begged?
9 Some said, This is he: others said, He is like him: but he said, I am he.
10 Therefore said they unto him, How were thine eyes opened?
11 He answered and said, A man that is called Jesus made clay, and anointed mine eyes, and said unto me, Go to the pool of Siloam, and wash: and I went and washed, and I received sight.
12 Then said they unto him, Where is he? He said, I know not.
He is brought to the Pharisees
13 They brought to the Pharisees him that aforetime was blind.
14 And it was the sabbath day when Jesus made the clay, and opened his eyes.
15 Then again the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. He said unto them, He put clay upon mine eyes, and I washed, and do see.
16 Therefore said some of the Pharisees, This man is not of God, because he keepeth not the sabbath day. Others said, How can a man that is a sinner do such miracles? And there was a division among them.
17 They say unto the blind man again, What sayest thou of him, that he hath opened thine eyes? He said, He is a prophet.
18 But the Jews did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind, and received his sight, until they called the parents of him that had received his sight.
19 And they asked them, saying, Is this your son, who ye say was born blind? how then doth he now see?
20 His parents answered them and said, We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind:
21 But by what means he now seeth, we know not; or who hath opened his eyes, we know not: he is of age; ask him: he shall speak for himself.
22 These words spake his parents, because they feared the Jews: for the Jews had agreed already, that if any man did confess that he was Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue.
23 Therefore said his parents, He is of age; ask him.
24 Then again called they the man that was blind, and said unto him, Give God the praise: we know that this man is a sinner.
25 He answered and said, Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.
26 Then said they to him again, What did he to thee? how opened he thine eyes?
27 He answered them, I have told you already, and ye did not hear: wherefore would ye hear it again? will ye also be his disciples?
28 Then they reviled him, and said, Thou art his disciple; but we are Moses' disciples.
29 We know that God spake unto Moses: as for this fellow, we know not from whence he is.
30 The man answered and said unto them, Why herein is a marvellous thing, that ye know not from whence he is, and yet he hath opened mine eyes.
31 Now we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth.
32 Since the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind.
33 If this man were not of God, he could do nothing.
34 They answered and said unto him, Thou wast altogether born in sins, and dost thou teach us? And they cast him out.
but he is received by Christ
35 Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when he had found him, he said unto him, Dost thou believe on the Son of God?
36 He answered and said, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him?
37 And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee.
38 And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him.
Those whom Christ enlightens
39 And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.
40 And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also?
41 Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.
This chapter is about the miracle of Jesus giving a man sight so that he could believe on Him. It is a parable in practice. Jesus is the Light of the World who reveals God the Father and gives eternal life. (verse 5)
1 Jesus is so often portrayed as being en route, but always with a purpose, never by accident.
2 The disciples equated physical disability with sin in a person's life. They rightly saw that the disease of sin was inherited, but mistakenly believed physical disability was a punishment of God. We are all contaminated with the sin of Adam, but we are not all disabled physically.
3 Jesus corrected the disciples by saying words to the effect that the blind man was in this condition so that he would believe in Him. (Verse 38) Others would see the miracle about to be done and they would understand what happened.
4 Jesus was conscious of the shortness of the time remaining before He would be crucified. While He was in the world, there was light, but when crucified, He would no longer be able to carry on His ministry in the form of a Man. (John 11:9,10) He was to ask His Father to give the Holy Spirit (the third Person of the Trinity) for the continuence of it. (14:16-18, 15:26, Acts 2:4)
5 Here is another of the I AM declarations about being Yahweh. (6:41, 8:58)
6 To use clay would be most people's last choice for opening the eyes of a blind person. The knife of a surgeon, maybe, but not clay!
7 Here there are the requirements of faith and obedience. The filthy clay is washed off, symbolic of the pollution of sin being washed away from the man's body. The veil of blindness had been taken away and the man was able to see God.
8, 9 To those who had previously known him, the blind man appeared different, but the man identified himself by using his voice, declaring it was indeed him. New Christians are sometimes difficult to recognize, because they have become new creatures. (2 Corinthians 5:17)
10 They were curious to know how he, who had been born blind, at long last, had received his sight.
11 He knew Jesus by name and quoted what He had told him to do and that he had done it, with the miraculous result. This should be our example.
12 They too, wanted to know where they could find Jesus.
13, 14 The man's neighbours (verse 8) brought him before the Pharisees for a formal hearing, probably because a 'work' (making of the clay) which contravened the Jewish Sabbath laws, had been done by Jesus.
15 This time the Pharisees asked how he had received his sight.
16 They were divided about the real nature of Jesus. Was He a man or was He the Son of God, Whom He claimed to be? (8:58)
17 They asked the man who he thought Jesus was. He replied, "a prophet".
18 It was beyond their comprehension that Jesus had actually given this man his sight, so they called in the best witnesses to support their mistrust in the man's testimony.
19, 20 His parents confirmed the factual evidence of their son's blindness from birth.
21-23 Obviously the parents lied, saying they did not know how their son had received his sight. This was because of the stigma of being thrown out of the synogue - it would have cast aspersions on their integrity and damaged their status and esteem.
24 The Pharisees were ironically right in saying, "Give God the praise," but blasphemous in their rejection of Christ.
25 The fact of the man's miraculous healing could not be denied.
26 Still in their unbelief that the man and his parents had lied about his blindness from birth, the Pharisees continued to test the man's resolve in keeping to his story.
27 Replying with incredible boldness, the man countered their questions by asking if they wanted to become disciples of the 'Prophet'!
28 They recognized that the man had faith in Jesus and revealed their unbelief and their ignorance about Moses.
29 Their ignorance is also evident regarding the true nature of Jesus - that He came from God.
30 The man was amazed at the lack of their insight - these were the very teachers to whom all went for guidance. ( 3:10)
31-33 He continued, in his boldness, to lecture the 'masters of Israel', presenting a rational argument that Jesus had come from God - that He was God's Prophet.
34 Setting themselves up in their self-righteous position, they defamed the man by retorting he was a sinner, and therefore was not qualified to speak on these matters. They excommunicated him from the synagoue.
35-38 Jesus went to the man to comfort and help him understand what had happened to him. It was not just a matter of the man receiving his physical sight, which enabled him to see Jesus, but for him to 'know' he had been given 'new life' by the Lord of Life. His eyes had been opened by grace (God's unmerited favour) and he had been given faith .(Ephesians 2:8,9) Once in this position of knowing his relationship with Jesus, he, there and then, worshiped Him. (Matthew 2:11)
39 Although all Christians will be answerable to Christ for their conduct, they will not be judged by Him for condemnation, since they have been saved. (5:22, 27; Matthew 16:27; 2 Corinthians 5:10 ) Jesus stated His purpose was to save those who were blind - those who could not see the Truth - Jesus Himself. Those who falsely claimed to follow Christ would remain blind.
40 Being astute enough to grasp the literal meaning of what Jesus said, the Pharisees were indignant that He pointed to their blindness.
41 Claiming to have insight of God, but not having so, was a greater condemnation for the Pharisees.