As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?” Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this was so that the works of God might be manifested in him. We must work the works of Him who sent Me as long as it is day; night is coming when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” When He had said this, He spat on the ground, made clay of the saliva, and rubbed the clay on his eyes, and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated, Sent). So he went away and washed, and came back seeing. Therefore the neighbors, and those who previously saw him as a beggar, were saying, “Is not this the one who used to sit and beg?” Others were saying, “This is he,” still others were saying, “No, but he is like him.” He kept saying, “I am the one.” So they were saying to him, “How then were your eyes opened?” He answered, “The man who is called Jesus made clay, and rubbed my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash’; so when I went away and washed, I received sight.” And they said to him, “Where is He?” He *said, “I do not know.”
John 9:1-34
They brought to the Pharisees the man who was formerly blind. Now it was a Sabbath on the day when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. So the Pharisees also were asking him again how he received his sight. And he said to them, “He applied clay to my eyes, and I washed, and I see.” So then some of the Pharisees were saying, “This man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath.” But others were saying, “How can a sinful man do such signs?” And there was a division among them. Therefore, they said to the blind man again, “What do you say about Him, since He opened your eyes?” And he said, “He is a prophet.”
Then, the Jews did not believe it of him that he was blind and had received sight, until they called the parents of the very one who had received his sight, and questioned them, saying, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? Then how does he now see?” So his parents answered and said, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; but how he now sees, we do not know; or who opened his eyes, we do not know. Ask him; he is of age, he will speak for himself.” His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone confessed Him to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue. For this reason his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”
Therefore, a second time they called the man who had been blind, and said to him, “Give glory to God; we know that this man is a sinner.” He then answered, “Whether He is a sinner, I do not know; one thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” So they said to him, “What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?” He answered them, “I told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to listen again? Do you want to become His disciples too?” And they reviled him and said, “You are His disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where He is from.” The man answered and said to them, “Well, here is a marvelous thing, that you do not know where He is from, and He opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners; but if anyone is God-fearing and does His will, He listens to him. Since the beginning of time it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, He could do nothing.” They answered and said to him, “You were born entirely in sins, and are you teaching us?” So they put him out.
Introduction
The man born blind always reminds me of Job. In the book of Job, Satan approaches the throne room of God after roaming the earth when God points out His righteous servant, a man of great wealth and influence. What unfolds after this is a series of woes brought down upon Job at the urging of Satan who insisted that Job’s righteousness was weak and only due to the abundant blessings God had given him.
And while Job never did curse God as Satan thought he would, he deeply questioned God’s intention in everything. His friends, of course, insisted that his curses were the result of a sin Job needed to repent of, and Job in turn insisted that he knew of no such sin he must repent of! Finally, God appears to Job and to his friends, revealing to all that none of them had any right to question God or assume why He did or did not do something. He points to the majesty of creation, demanding Job give an account for it. Only God can do these things because only God is sovereign.
And such is the case with this man born blind. Perhaps if the disciples or Pharisees had paid closer attention to the lessons Job learned, they would not assume a specific sin caused this man to enter this world bereft of sight. Instead, Jesus reiterates that lesson by telling His disciples that no sin caused the man to be born blind, but rather, “so that the works of God might be manifested in him.”
This man who could contribute very little to his earthly society would suddenly be given a testimony of God’s great mercy and power. He would be given a job greater than that held by any of the Pharisees by the testimony Jesus was about to give him. Applying a wet clay to the man’s eyes, Jesus opened them to see the glory of God. On the Sabbath.
Searching for a reason
It is interesting how often Jesus performs works of healing on the Sabbath. In John 7, when Jesus appeared in Jerusalem, He justified Sabbath day healing by comparing it to the lesser good of circumcision which is also performed on the Sabbath (verse 23). Something else striking about this pattern is that the work He did in defeating death also took place on the Sabbath. Being crucified on the day prior to the Sabbath (Matthew 27:62, Mark 15:42, Luke 23:54, John 19:31), and raised up the day after the Sabbath (Matthew 28:1, Mark 16:1, Luke 24:1, John 20:1), that is the first day of the week. This means He spent the Sabbath in the tomb, in death. And it was then that He proclaimed victory to the imprisoned spirits (1 Peter 3:19).
And this continued to be the tack the Pharisees chose to take when attempting to accuse Jesus. Of course, their accusations were not based in anything objective, nor were they in the interest of justice. Rather, the Pharisees continually accused Jesus because He represented a threat to their power. Both because He drew in followers, which was their domain, and because He refused to live by their made up rules, added onto the Law in direct violation of said Law (Deuteronomy 4:2).
To exemplify the self-refuting nature of the Pharisees’ man-made laws, we see them perform a bit of circular reasoning, more formally known as Begging the Question: in assuming the performance of miracles on the Sabbath is a violation, they then conclude that Jesus is a sinner and therefore could not have performed any miracles. This creates a closed loop of reasoning entirely dependent on their initial assumption that God endorses their additions to His perfect (that is, complete) Law.
Since the beginning of time
The man who was healed had the perfect answer for them, shattering the entire basis of this Pharisaical argument. He points out to them that never in recorded history has it ever been made possible that a man born blind would then receive sight. In fact, the only time such a thing is heard of is in reference to God (Psalm 146:8) and to the Messiah (Isaiah 35:5). These facts are irrefutable. The Pharisees know the teaching well, and they are certain no prophet in Israel’s history has opened the eyes of the blind. They have made water into blood, parted seas, and even raised the dead, but none made a blind man see.
He then makes the very simple argument, “If this man were not from God, He could do nothing.” Once again, it is irrefutable. The man’s logic is sound where the Pharisees’ logic is not. Jesus is demonstrably from God, and they have no place with Him.
Defeated and humiliated, they dismiss the man entirely, doubling down on their assertion that his initial blindness was caused by a specific sin.
There are many out there like these Pharisees who, today, will insist you cannot be saved unless you are first baptized. Or that you are not saved unless you speak in tongues. Or perhaps that your salvation hinges on a fixed 10% tithe to the Church. But be assured by the truth: all those who are in Jesus are saved, and there is no condemnation for you (Romans 8:1). Your salvation is made clearly evident by the growth the Spirit causes in you (2 Peter 1:5-10), because He is sufficient.
May the Lord bless you and conform you into the image of His Son.
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