Investigating the Miracle
John 9:8-34
I am loving our study of the Gospel of John. This book has been called the Gospel of belief and rightly so. John writes this true eyewitness account of Jesus in order that people would believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and believing, have life in His name (John 20:31). And we have seen that from the first chapter on John has stressed believing in Jesus. He has given us great examples of true faith like the early disciples in chapter 1, the Samaritans and the nobleman in chapter 4, and now in chapter 9, this formerly blind man.
On the other hand, this Gospel also frequently points out the opposite, unbelief. It chronicles the rejection of Jesus Christ and what false belief looks like. We have seen the confused unbelief of Nicodemus in chapter 3; the self-centered hypocritical unbelief of the religious leaders in chapter 5 and again in chapters 7 and 8; and the false disciples who abandon Jesus in chapter 6.
John introduced both these themes in John 1:11-12, “He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.”
In the story of Jesus’ healing of the man born blind we again see these two themes being emphasized. The man born blind is a beautiful illustration of true belief that progressively more clearly. The Pharisees illustrate the opposite, blind unbelief that rejects the truth.
We looked at Jesus healing the blind man last time in verses 1-7. Jesus takes notice of a man who was born blind. When the disciples see that Jesus has turned His attention to the blind man they ask about the cause of his blindness, which they have no doubt is sin, either his sin or his parents. Jesus rejects their assumption and instead focuses not on the cause, but the purpose of the blindness, “that the works of God should be revealed in him,” (John 9:3).
So Jesus spits on the ground, makes mud from the saliva, puts it on the man’s eyes and tells him to go and wash in the pool called “Sent” (John 9:6). The man comes back seeing (John 9:7). The miracle is a sign that demonstrates the truth of Jesus’ statement, “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world,” (John 9:5).
The rest of the chapter has six conversations that follow this miraculous healing: first between the healed man and his neighbors (John 9:8-12), second between the healed man and the Pharisees (John 9:13-17), third between the parents and the Pharisees (John 9:18-23), fourth between the healed man and the Pharisees again (John 9:24-34), and fifth between the healed man and Jesus (John 9:35-38) with a concluding question and answer between Jesus and the Pharisees (John 9:39-41).
Stephen Cole pointed out in his treatment of this text that one of the key words in this chapter is the word “know”. Throughout the narrative there are a number of comments about what the various characters claimed to know or not know. The healed man knows a man named Jesus gave him his sight, but where he is, he does not know (9:12). When the Pharisees called in the man’s parents to try to discredit the account of his healing, they answer (9:20-21a), “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; but by what means he now sees we do not know, or who opened his eyes we do not know.”
In 9:24, the Jewish leaders state about Jesus, “We know that this man is a sinner.” The healed blind man replies (9:25), “Whether He is a sinner or not I do not know. One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see.” In 9:29, the leaders come back with, “We know that God spoke to Moses; as for this fellow, we do not know where He is from.” The former blind man retorts (9:31), “Now we know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He hears him.”
Today I want to focus on the first four of those conversations because they show us four influencing factors that either lead to true spiritual knowledge—to true belief or unbelief. John by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit has masterfully constructed this narrative of this true account of the healing of the blind man and the conversations that follow to demonstrate for us the factors that influenced these characters toward belief or unbelief.
As we look at these conversations today, ask yourself: what factors are influencing these people? And more than that, apply your life to God’s word by asking, what is influencing me toward belief or unbelief?
1. The healed man and his neighbors (John 9:8-12).
8 Therefore the neighbors and those who previously had seen that he was blind said, “Is not this he who sat and begged?” 9 Some said, “This is he.” Others said, “He is like him.” He said, “I am he.” 10 Therefore they said to him, “How were your eyes opened?” 11 He answered and said, “A Man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to the pool of Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed, and I received sight.” 12 Then they said to him, “Where is He?” He said, “I do not know.”
The people who know this man (or at least know of him) are confused by his healing. Some are sure he is the blind man who used to sit and beg, saying, “This is he.” Others are not sure. They say, “He is like him.” And we can understand their confusion can’t we? Here is a man who had to be led everywhere he went, now walking freely and obviously seeing everything clearly. If he was the same man he was obviously a changed man. Can’t you just see him leaping over obstacles, looking people in the eye as he greets them, commenting on the wonder of God’s creation that he has seen for the first time in his life?
Here we see the transforming power of Jesus Christ. When you truly meet Jesus and He opens your blind eyes to the truth of His word, your life is transformed. You may look the same as you did before you met Jesus, but you certainly do not live the same. You now have a freedom that you never had before, a joy that nothing in this world can take away, a peace that passes all understanding, a love that is poured out into your heart through the Holy Spirit who indwells you. Your life is changed. You have been born again as a child of God. As Paul writes (2 Cor. 5:17), “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
This healed man does not know everything, but he does know that his life is transformed. And he knows who did it. When the people ask him how his eyes were opened he gives a simple straight-to-the-point testimony (John 9:11), “A Man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to the pool of Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed, and I received sight.”
He doesn’t yet have a good theological understanding of who Jesus is. He simple calls Him, “A Man called Jesus.” As the narrative progresses in this chapter the healed man will progressively see more clearly who Jesus is. In his first interrogation he when the Pharisees ask him what he says about Jesus, he says “He is a prophet,” (9:17). Later he acknowledges Jesus as one worthy of being followed (“disciples,” 9:27-28). He moves on to argue, “If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing,” (9:33). And finally, when he sees Jesus for the first time, he believes in Him and worships Him as Lord (9:38). That is the growth of faith. It shows that the nature of true faith is a faith that transforms your life.
If you claim to believe in Jesus but your life is still the same as it was before you made that profession of faith, you might need to consider whether or not you have truly believed and been born again. True belief demonstrates the transforming power of Jesus Christ.
This man’s life was so transformed that it brought confusion to those who saw him. So it is understandable that they then decide to ask the religious authorities about the matter.
So we move on to conversation number 2:
2. The Pharisees question the blind man (John 9:13-17).
13 They brought him who formerly was blind to the Pharisees. 14 Now it was a Sabbath when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. 15 Then the Pharisees also asked him again how he had received his sight. He said to them, “He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.” 16 Therefore some of the Pharisees said, “This Man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath.” Others said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” And there was a division among them. 17 They said to the blind man again, “What do you say about Him because He opened your eyes?” He said, “He is a prophet.”
Here we begin to see the adverse reaction to his man’s healing. The miracle is perceived more like a crime than a wonderful cure. The response lacks the belief, joy, and wonder we have a right to expect (compare Matthew 15:29-31). So the people bring the healed man to before what seems to be an official gathering of the Pharisees. It may be a meeting of the Sanhedrin, or at least a portion of it. The tone of this whole incident makes it look as though this man has been summoned to testify before a grand jury.
In verse 14 John gives us the important information that “it was a Sabbath when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes.” It must seem providential to the Pharisees that Jesus heals this blind man on the Sabbath. Actually, I believe this must have been purposeful. Jesus heals on the Sabbath not just because the man needed it, but to demonstrate the work of God, “that the works of God should be revealed in him,” (John 9:3). As Jesus said in chapter 5 after He healed another man on the Sabbath (John 5:17), “My Father has been working until now, and I have been working.” Jesus is purposefully working the works of God on the Sabbath to expose the unscriptural manmade traditions of the Pharisees.
And seems to be the point of this second conversation. Here we see the distorting effect of manmade tradition. Jesus confronts their manmade tradition by keeping the Sabbath while at the same time breaking the Sabbath rules of the Pharisees. Remember as we have encountered Pharisees before, that they are all about following their manmade traditions.
They use a faulty logical argument to try to prove that Jesus is a sinner. But their argument is based on a faulty assumption. Their wrong presupposition was: “Our rules are equal to God’s law.” The minor premise was, “Jesus violated our rules.” So their conclusion was, “Thus Jesus violated God’s law, and He is a sinner.” But their presupposition was false.
But that is the distorting effect of manmade tradition. People begin to equate their tradition with God’s laws. It even gets to the point where tradition will eclipse God’s law. It blinds people to the truth of who God is and what He is doing. It’s easy to confuse religious traditions or rules with biblical mandates to the point where you assume that your traditions or rules are equal with Scripture. But you can end up denying a miracle, even if he’s standing right in front of you!
Some of the Pharisees disagreed with this reasoning, so a debate ensued among them (9:16). This may have been Nicodemus or Joseph of Arimathea, both of whom were on the Council, but later took bold action to provide for Jesus’ burial. Earlier (3:2) Nicodemus had admitted to Jesus, “no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” So, here they register disagreement by asking (9:16), “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” But their view did not prevail.
Beware of manmade traditions that go beyond scripture. They can so distort your understanding of God that you miss Him completely.
After they ask the healed man what he says about Jesus and he replies, “He is a prophet.” They have had enough. So the bring in the parents of the man to try to disprove the miracle. They think it must be a hoax.
That brings us to conversation number three:
3. The Pharisees interrogate the parents (John 9:18-23).
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 who had received his sight. 19 And they asked them, saying, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does 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 sees we do not know, or who opened his eyes we do not know. He is of age; ask him. He will speak for himself.” 22 His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had agreed already that if anyone confessed that He was Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue. 23 Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”
Verse 22 is the key to the parents’ testimony, “His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had agreed already that if anyone confessed that He was Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue.”
In the parents we see the fear inducing intimidation of the world. Being excommunicated, put out of the synagogue, was a serious penalty in that tight-knit, religious community. Eventually it would have meant being cut off socially from your neighbors, who would also be kicked out of the synagogue if they associated with you or helped you in any way. You couldn’t buy or sell, because if your neighbors engaged in business with you, they would get into trouble. You couldn’t escape by moving to the next town, because the rabbis there would enforce the Sanhedrin’s ban. For a poor family, being excommunicated would result in social and financial devastation. Such was the power of the Pharisees and other religious leaders in that day.
So while we can understand the intense pressure on the man’s parents, it’s too bad that they feared these spiritual bullies more than they feared God. They could have let the facts speak for themselves by saying, “Jesus opened the eyes of our son, who has been blind from birth.” But instead, they dodged the issue.
It’s a problem that has plagued many down to our day: People fear what others will think more than they fear what God thinks. Perhaps a family member has met Jesus and is obviously changed. But it embarrasses or threatens the other members of the family. They’d rather not talk about it. Or, if it comes up and Jesus is named as the cause of their loved one’s change, they downplay it by saying, “Yes, that seems to work for him!” Then they change the subject. They’ve received a powerful testimony of the power of Christ, but as long as they fear what others think, they will not experience Christ’s power in their own lives. The fear of men hinders belief in Christ.
Having successfully intimidated the parents, but not having disproved the miracle, they Pharisees turn back to the healed man again. That is conversation number 4:
4. The healed man and the Pharisees again (John 9:24-34).
24 So they again called the man who was blind, and said to him, “Give God the glory! We know that this Man is a sinner.” 25 He answered and said, “Whether He is a sinner or not I do not know. One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see.” 26 Then they said to him again, “What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?” 27 He answered them, “I told you already, and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become His disciples?” 28 Then they reviled him and said, “You are His disciple, but we are Moses’ disciples. 29 We know that God spoke to Moses; as for this fellow, we do not know where He is from.” 30 The man answered and said to them, “Why, this is a marvelous thing, that you do not know where He is from; yet He has opened my eyes! 31 Now we know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He hears him. 32 Since the world began it has been unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of one who was born blind. 33 If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing.” 34 They answered and said to him, “You were completely born in sins, and are you teaching us?” And they cast him out.
The Pharisees had the evidence of the neighbors, the parents, and the man himself that he had been born blind and that Jesus had healed him on the Sabbath. But they still wanted more evidence, or more truthfully, they wanted evidence that would refute the evidence that they had been given, which they didn’t like. So, they called the man a second time and said (9:24), “Give God the glory! We know that this Man is a sinner.”
What they’re saying is, “God is glorified by the truth. Tell us the truth! We know for a fact that this man is a sinner!” (See Josh. 7:19 for the expression, “Give glory to God,” meaning, “Tell the truth.”) But John wants us to see that the man really is glorifying God by testifying to the truth about Jesus. He won’t change his story. So, they ask him again (9:26), “What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?” They aren’t looking for more evidence so that they can believe. Rather, they’re trying to find something to discredit the evidence that they have.
Now the man reveals both his sense of humor and his fortitude to stand up to these intimidating Pharisees. He says (9:27), “I told you already, and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become His disciples?” They revile him and take their stand as disciples of Moses (9:29): “We know that God spoke to Moses; as for this fellow, we do not know where He is from.” Back in 7:27, they had written off Jesus by claiming that they did know where He was from, namely, from Nazareth. But here they’re discrediting Jesus as a religious upstart from who-knows-where. I love the former blind man’s reply (9:30-33),
Why, this is a marvelous thing, that you do not know where He is from; yet He has opened my eyes! 31 Now we know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He hears him. 32 Since the world began it has been unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of one who was born blind. 33 If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing
At this point, the Pharisees are so beside themselves that they simply insult the man and then put him out (9:34). They weren’t genuinely seeking evidence to clear up their doubts. Rather, they were just looking for ways to discredit the evidence that they already had been given.
The Pharisees picture for us the blinding power of firmly held false beliefs. They firmly believed that Jesus was a sinner. And it blinded them to all the evidence that they had to the contrary.
What false beliefs are you holding on too that keep you from believing in Jesus? A common one is the one that these prideful Pharisees believed. They believed that they were good because they kept their own religious rules. They prided themselves on being followers of Moses and looked down on others whom they considered “sinners.” Look at how they accuse the healed man, “You were completely born in sins, and are you teaching us?”
The problem of this false belief was that it blinded them to their own sinfulness. Jesus will later say to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, ‘We see.’ Therefore your sin remains.” They firmly believed they were not sinners because they kept their religious traditions. They were not only wrong, they were blind. There is a blinding power of firmly held false belief.
As we close today let me just ask you about these four influencing factors. What factors are at work in your life today?
Do you see the transforming power of Jesus Christ at work in you? Is that your testimony?
Are you under the distorting effect of manmade tradition? Are you replacing God’s law with man’s tradition?
Do you feel the fear-inducing intimidation of the world? Does fear of the reactions of others influence you more than the fear of God?
Finally, is there some firmly held false belief that has blinded you to your need for the Savior?
