In John 9:1-11 Jesus is with his disciples, and he sees someone else. Again, it is the Sabbath, but they are not in the temple, and the person he sees is a man who has been blind from birth (John 9:1). 

When Jesus’ disciples see this man they assume that the reason he is blind is because of God’s judgement on him or his parents and they ask Jesus, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind (John 9:2)?” Echoing a common idea about God, that suffering comes from God and is punishment for sin.

But Jesus says that it is not God’s desire to cause people to suffer. It is God’s desire that we know who he is and look to him for everything that we need. Jesus says to his disciples, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him (John 9:3).” 

Jesus was saying that this suffering was temporary so that God could show that he does work that no one else can do. 

Then Jesus teaches his disciples that they are servants of God and as such must do the work that God is instructing them to do (John 9:4). Jesus explains that the work that God is asking Jesus to do is to be the “light of the world” (John 9:5). 

The light that Jesus is to the world and what he is instructing his disciples to be is one that helps people see who he is and who God is. 

John 9:6-7 says that Jesus has been sent to open the eyes of the blind and as his disciples and followers this is our work as well. 

After Jesus sees the man who had been born blind and explains to his disciples the spiritual work that he has been sent to do, then Jesus gives a tangible expression of this spiritual work. 

John 9:6-7 says that Jesus spits on the ground and made mud with his saliva and put the mud on the man’s eyes and said, “Go! Wash in the pool of Siloam” (this word Siloam means sent). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing (John 9:6-7). 

Who is Jesus? 

Who is Jesus? Jesus says that he has been sent from God to demonstrate God’s character on earth. Jesus is the one sent by God to show us who God is. 

Who is Jesus? Jesus says that he must do the work of the one who sent him. Jesus is the one who is doing (has done) the work God sent him to do. Work that we cannot do, only he can do. 

Who is Jesus? Jesus says he is the light of the world. Jesus’ message is the one that will turn us from the darkness and suffering of our ways to the light and rejoicing of what he can do for us when we put our faith in him and not in ourselves. 

Who Jesus is was exemplified in the man who was blind from birth. When this man heard Jesus tell him to go and wash the mud from your eyes, he listened, he believed and he went and “he came home seeing” (John 9:7). 

Jesus is the light of the world. 

The light that Jesus is to the world is so completely different than what we are used to that even the testimony of the man was not enough to convince people who knew him, when he was blind, that God was capable of the work that Jesus was showing them that he is capable of.

John 9:8-9 says that the neighbors of the man saw him and said, “isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?” Some of the neighbors who knew him claimed that he was and others said, “No, he only looks like him.” But he, himself, insisted, “I am the man.” 

He told them I am the one who used to sit and beg for mercy and could not find it. And the people asked, “how then were your eyes opened?” 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” (John 9:10-11). 

By this man’s testimony he was explaining a spiritual truth that had physical evidence. Jesus told his disciples that he was sent to do work that no one else could do, he could open the physical and spiritual eyes of people who are blind; and when he sent the blind man to go and wash, he was also exemplifying that there was a spiritual cleansing that he could do that no one else could do. 

When you have faith like the man who was sent to wash, and believe, your eyes are opened and you will see who God is: a God of mercy and forgiveness. The work that God does through Jesus does not end in physical healing. The work that Jesus has done connects you back to the source of all spiritual and physical blessings. To go like the man and wash means to turn from trusting yourself or others to trusting in God and he promises that like the man you will go from your former blindness of not knowing God to seeing who he really is. 

Spiritual Blindness.

The man’s neighbors were not the only critics of the work that Jesus had done. The Jewish leaders heard about the work that Jesus had done on the Sabbath and they were outraged and said, “this man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath” (John 9:16). They could not believe that the God that Jesus was teaching about was real; and John 9:13-34 tells the account of their disbelief. 

They were so outraged at the man’s testimony of what Jesus had done that they, “hurled insults at him and said, “You are this fellow’s disciple! We are disciples of Moses! We know the God that spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don’t even know where he comes from” (John 9:28-29). So they threw him out of the temple because they could not believe what Jesus had done and who he said he was. 

But the man whose sight had been restored did believe (John 9:35-38). John 9:35 says that, “Jesus heard that the Jewish leaders had thrown the man out and when Jesus found him he said: ‘Do you believe in the Son of Man?’ and the man said, ‘Who is he, sir? Tell me that I may believe in him.’ Jesus said, ‘You have now seen him, in fact, he is the one speaking to you.’ Then the man said, ‘Lord, I believe’ and he worshipped him (John 9:35-38). 

Jesus tells him that he was sent into the world for this purpose, to bring a judgement that would cause the blind to see and those who see to become blind (John 9:39-41). Those who believe will see and those who do not will remain blind. “Some of the Pharisees who were with him, heard him say this and asked,’ What? Are we blind too?’ And Jesus said, ‘If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin (disbelief), but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains’” (John 9:39-41).  Jesus was telling them that they were guilty of disbelief and blindness to who he is, the one who forgives.  

They came from the old covenant testimony that required sacrifices to please God and remove guilt. Jesus was saying that he was sent as a final sacrifice on behalf of all that would please God and would fulfill the old covenant and establish a new covenant. 

The God of Moses is a God of mercy and forgiveness but the law of Moses required death and punishment for sin. Jesus was saying, I will take the judgement and die so that the requirements of the law can be fulfilled and the blessings that come with blamelessness before God can be access by everyone who believes. 

The man whose sight had been restored was a testimony of the work that Jesus’ sacrifice (death and resurrection) would bring for everyone, the work was not just for his physical sight. 

The Jewish leaders who followed the laws of the old covenant knew that people who did not follow the law were punished and condemned. This is why they called the man a sinner and threw him out of the temple and called Jesus a sinner for doing work on the Sabbath. 

But through his work, Jesus was showing the spiritual truth that he was sent to be the sacrifice for all sin and bear the judgement for all guilt. When you believe that he was sent to do this work, like the blind man’s eyes were opened your spiritual eyes will be opened and you will see who Jesus is: God’s gift of forgiveness, mercy and grace who can do work that we cannot do. Isaiah prophesied about him, before he was sent when he said: “Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the nations, by the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan. The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned” (Isaiah 9:1-2). 

Isaiah prophesied that Jesus would be the one who would do work that would remove gloom from people who are in distress. That he would be a light for people who were in a deep darkness that separation from God creates (Isaiah 9:1-2); and that this Jesus would be given authority to rule over all the earth and would be for us, who believe, “a Wonderful Counselor, a Mighty God, an Everlasting Father, a Prince of Peace” who would establish a way for us to receive righteousness and justice forever (Isaiah 9:6-7)

This account of the blind man whose sight was restored and the witnesses who saw and heard about it, is like the parable of the sower. 

The parable of the sower. 

Again Jesus began to teach by the lake. 

The crowd that gathered round him was so large he got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore at the water’s edge. 

He taught them many things by parables, and in his teaching said:

“Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 

Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 

Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. 

Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times.”

Then Jesus said, “whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”

When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables. He told them, “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables so that, “They may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven! (Isaiah 6:9,10)

Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable? 

The farmer sows the word. 

Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. 

Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. 

Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. 

Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown (Mark 4:1-20).”