Introduction
John 9 focuses on a man, blind from birth, whom Jesus miraculously heals. And like all of Jesus’ signs, the spiritual reality behind the physical miracle reveals a truth about us and a truth about Jesus. That is, we need spiritual eyes opened to understand the gospel, and that Jesus is the One who opens them. The Pharisees are those who glance at Jesus and see only an evil man they want to destroy. In contrast, the man healed from his physical blindness gradually comes to see that Jesus is the Messiah, the Lord, the savior!
John makes his point in this one lengthy chapter, using the elements of dramatic storytelling. It’s all here: suspense, human emotion, irony, conflict, humor, a climactic resolution, even an epilogue that drives home the point. Let’s work through the drama in its own well-defined scenes.
Scene 1: The Prelude or occasioning event (v.1-7)
Scene 2: Reaction from the Neighbors (the plot thickens)
Scene 3: Reaction from the Pharisees
We can only guess that the neighbors brought him to their leaders for religious comment.
They ask the same questions:
How did this happen?
Who are you?
Where is the healer?
What’s the best way to compensate for intellectual dishonesty? Attack the person!
The healed man asked them a very poignant question, and then gave the right answer! They refuse to believe in the miracle because they hate Jesus. Don’t let the evidence get in the way of your presuppositions.
What can we learn from this man? He is a good theologian. But notice also the pressure on Him deepens His convictions. God is pleased to create circumstances that challenge our assumptions, force us back to what we really know, and thus strengthen our deepest convictions. Folks suffer greatly and then say, the incident was terrible but I wouldn’t trade it for anything.)
Scene 4: Epilogue (Reaction of Jesus)
Good news:
The blind see. The key word here is believe. Seeing is believing. Believing is confessing Jesus, “Lord, I believe.”
Notice the progression in the man’s faith: a man called Jesus, he is a prophet, a courageous defense before accusers, to worship. That’s a very happy ending! But it isn’t the whole story.
Bad news:
When the light shines, it also exposes the darkness of unbelief, in this case the steadfast refusal of the Pharisees to admit the obvious. Jesus is present shocking the world by doing things for which the ONLY explanation is, God is working. In Christ God is healing ands delivering people from everything that is wrong with them, physically and spiritually. His works are greater than the works Moses did, which the Egyptian magicians could not copy.
Jesus: For judgment I came into this world. That statement only makes sense when we see its double meaning.
On the one hand, Jesus judges the condition of man.
On the other hand, I came into this world to bear the judgment of the spiritually blind. The cross was the awful place of God’s judgment, falling on the Son of God for all who want to see spiritually. It is seeing Christ’s glory in the cross that opens eyes to see.
