Daily 40.

Prayer:

Heavenly Father, please open our eyes as we read the story of Jesus opening the eyes of a congenitally blind man. Thank You for saving us from spiritual blindness and sin, in Jesus’ name, Amen.

John 9: 1-41, Healing a congenitally blind man, the 6th Sign.

VV 1- 5, 1 As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3 “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. 4 As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. 5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

John 8: 12 and 9:5, ’’I am light of the world’’, is the second I AM statement of Jesus. After the feast of tabernacles, Jesus saw a congenitally blind man begging on the street in the temple complex. His disciples wanted to know whether he sinned or his parents. Jesus replied that his blindness was not a result of sin but to manifest God’s glory. Day and night speak of life and death. We can only do God’s work when we are alive, not when we are dead. We were once spiritually blind but Jesus opened our spiritual eyes to see Him.

VV 6-7, 6 After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. 7 “Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means “Sent”). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.

Jesus applied mud and saliva over the man’s eyeballs and sent him to wash in the pool of Siloam. Siloam in Hebrew means sent. The pool of Siloam is connected to the Gihon spring via Hezekiah’s tunnel. Jesus touched and healed the blind man. Are you willing to touch someone?

VV8-12, 8 His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, “Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?”9 Some claimed that he was. Others said, “No, he only looks like him.” But he himself insisted, “I am the man.” 10 “How then were your eyes opened?” they asked. 11 He replied, “The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see.” 12 “Where is this man?” they asked him. “I don’t know,” he said.

The people in the neighborhood who knew the man denied that he was the blind man. At this, the man declares that had was the blind man. He told them how Jesus had healed him by applying mud and saliva over his eyeballs and sending him to wash in the pool of Siloam.

V13-17, 13 They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. 14 Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man’s eyes was a Sabbath. 15 Therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. “He put mud on my eyes,” the man replied, “and I washed, and now I see.” 16 Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.” But others asked, “How can a sinner perform such signs?” So they were divided. 17 Then they turned again to the blind man, “What have you to say about him? It was your eyes he opened.” The man replied, “He is a prophet.”

The neighbors brought the man to the Pharisees, who questioned him about his healing from blindness. He replied that Jesus applied mud and saliva over his eyeballs, sent him to wash in the pool of Siloam, and he was healed. Some of the Pharisees called Jesus a sinner for breaking their oral traditions on Sabbath. The other Pharisees disagreed but the man declared Jesus a prophet.

VV 18-23, 18 They still did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they sent for the man’s parents. 19 “Is this your son?” they asked. “Is this the one you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see?” 20 “We know he is our son,” the parents answered, “and we know he was born blind. 21 But how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself.” 22 His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders, who already had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. 23 That was why his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”

Not satisfied with the man’s reply, the Pharisees questioned the man’s parents but they refused to cooperate with them for fear of being excommunicated from the synagogue.

VV24-29, 24 A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. “Give glory to God by telling the truth,” they said. “We know this man is a sinner.” 25 He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!” 26 Then they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” 27 He answered, “I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples too?” 28 Then they hurled insults at him and said, “You are this fellow’s disciple! We are disciples of Moses! 29 We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don’t even know where he comes from.”

The Pharisees turned to the man again and questioned his healing from blindness. At this, He testified that he was once blind but now he could see. Your personal testimony is very powerful. When the Pharisees harassed the man over his healing from blindness, he was exasperated and refused to cooperate. The Pharisees hurled insults at him.

VV 30-34, 30 The man answered, “Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. 31 We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will. 32 Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” 34 To this they replied, “You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!” And they threw him out.

The man said that God does not listen to a sinner but since God listened to Jesus, He could not be a sinner. He said that healing a congenitally blind person was unprecedented in Israel/ At this, the Pharisees excommunicated the man and threw him out of the temple.

VV 35- 41, 35 Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” 36 “Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.”37 Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.” 38 Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him. 39 Jesus said, “For judgment, I have come into this world so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.” 40 Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we blind too?” 41 Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.

Jesus found the man outside the temple complex and revealed His identity as Son of Man to him. The man believed and worshiped Him. Jesus came to the world to heal the blind and judged the self-righteous and hypocritical sinners who claimed they were not blind. The man received a progressive revelation of Jesus. In v 27, he called Jesus, a prophet, in v 36, he called Him, Sir, and in v 38, he called Him, Lord. Jesus healed the congenitally blind man in the temple complex in front of so many people, yet the Pharisees could not see it. Since they did not admit their blindness, they will remain in blindness.

Prayer:

Heavenly Father, help us share our testimonies with others to glorify You. May Your light shines into us and into others, in Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.