Once Blind | John 9
John 9
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Chapter Notables:
Jesus heals a blind man; the disciples asks Jesus who’s fault it was why the man was born blind - verses 1-12
Pharisees question whether the man was born blind and call Jesus a sinner for healing on the Sabbath: “I was once blind, but now I see”. - verses 11-34
Jesus speaks to the once blind man about Himself and shares about “spiritual blindness”. - verses 35-41
Eyes That See | Lemuel Ayudtud
Science tells us that when somebody’s born blind most of the remaining senses become heightened. Hearing becomes keen, touch becomes more sensitive, and just overall the senses are more in tune. Of course the blind do not have the benefits of seeing the world around the them so they have the challenges that that presents. But those of us who can see may miss certain things around us because we’re just not paying attention.
In this chapter Jesus heals a man that was born blind. Before Jesus healed him, there was a discussion between the disciples and Jesus whether or not this man was born blind because of some failure or sins of his parents. Jesus corrects their thinking by saying that it was not the case. This man was born blind because there was a purpose: he will reveal the glory of God through his blindness.
Before delving into the heart of this blog, let me share this: there are some things that happens (or have happened) to us when we think that maybe God has something to do with it. Remember that God never desires evil on us. He never creates struggle or pain just for its sake. The desire of God is to see Himself glorified and us be bettered in the process. The disciples thought that it was the parents’ fault that this man was born blind, but Jesus teaches us an incredible principle when He corrected them.
Let’s continue.
The man was healed by Jesus by fashioning mud balls with His hands. He spat on the mud and put the mud ball in the man’s eye sockets. Jesus prayed and the mud balls became eye balls and with it received his eyesight.
Apparently, Jesus did not converse with a man intensively afterwards because when the Jewish leaders heard of this notable miracle, they asked the man who had healed him. This once blind man told them it was Jesus but had no further knowledge of who or where He was.
The healing was celebrated by the people but the Pharisees along with the Jewish leaders of the time took note that it was done on the Sabbath day. We already know what the Pharisees and the Jewish leaders thought about the healing. There had already been an instance of Jesus healing a man (that was pretty much invalid since he was young) again on the Sabbath. And they had wanted to kill Jesus for that.
This time not only did they want to kill Jesus but they also wanted to give the devil the glory for the miracle that God did. In their minds being healed on the Sabbath was not something God would do; and because Jesus breaking the law of the Sabbath, the healing was demonic. (We have to watch out for religious people who cannot celebrate the work of God because it does not lineup with the way they work for God.)
When we read the story the condition of the blind man was not the real issue. When we dig deeper we realize who had the real sight issues. The blind man may have had physical blindness, but the Pharisees and the religious leaders had a spiritual one. The blind man could not see his physical environment, but the Pharisees were blind to the spiritual one.
After the blind man was healed by Jesus, being able to see, he was quick to offer God praise and declare Jesus was indeed the Son of God, a prophet in Israel. With the Pharisees, though seeing the same miracle in the natural, could not see what God was doing in the spiritual. They were so blinded by their traditions and their misunderstanding of scriptures that they missed out on the greatest miracle: to see the Son of God before their eyes.
Sometimes our sight revolves around our circumstances. We only see the situation in front of us and not what God can do or is doing. Because of the depth of our struggle or our hurts or our weakness, there are times that we miss out on seeing the work of God right before our face. Sometimes our anger and our misunderstanding blind us from what God is doing among us. Our finances or burdens can be blinding.
What happens when our blindness is addressed by Jesus?
We become certain that our condition has been changed. The Pharisees and the leaders of that time wanted the once blind man to agree with them that Jesus was a sinner. The man, not yet fully introduced to the Lord, told the doubters and the naysayers, “Whether He’s a sinner or not, I don’t know, but ONE THING I KNOW I was once blind but now I see.” Once Jesus heals us, there’s only what He’s able to do that we know!
Faith in who God is resonates in us. When Jesus meets the man for the second time, Jesus asked Him if he believed in the Son of God. The man said, “Who is He so that I may believe.” Jesus told him, “The one you see and hear is He.” The Bible then tells us that the man said, “Lord, I believe.”
True worship truly happens when our spiritual blindness is healed by God. Once the man was told by Jesus who He was, the man worshiped Him.
As physical blindness heightens the other senses, spiritual sight opens us to the glory of what God is doing. Better to be blind in the physical than to be blind in the spiritual. May we always be worshipful that God has given us eyes to see. That we who were once blind because of sin can now see because of Him.
Lord, thank You for eyes to see, ears to hear, and a heart to understand. Let me always be grateful that You’ve given me the grace for that. Being able to see was not my own making. I was born blind in sin—having no sight of my own to see Your leading and Your guiding. But You came to me with Your love and Your grace; Your embraced me and washed me clean with Your precious Blood. You healed me, put Your spirit in me, and converted me by Your word. Today I can stand knowing that even though I don’t know everything, this one thing I do know: I was once blind but now I see. Help me to declare Your word to everybody and anybody. Give me the boldness to stand before anyone who may ask about who You are. Help me to declare: You are the Son of God, the giver of sight to the blind. In Your Name Jesus, I pray. Amen.