CSSA 1-4-14 - THE HEALING OF THE BLIND MAN

Language English

89. THE HEALING OF THE BLIND MAN

€ I am the light of the world."

Aim

To show how Jesus healed the blind man and he believed on him.

As Jesus and his disciples were walking in the streets of Jerusalem one sabbath day, they came upon a man who had been blind from birth. He was a well-known figure, sitting there begging every day, for there was no other way he could earn his living. When the disciples saw him there, they asked Jesus why it was that this man was born blind. Was it because he had sinned or his parents? Jesus knew however that the man's blindness was not due to his own sin or his parents'! Sickness, disease and death came into the world because of the disobedience of Adam and Eve in the beginning. Only in the Kingdom age, when men turn back to God and obey Him, will there be "no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain" (Rev. 21:4).

John 9

"I AM THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD"

The blind man had lived in a world of darkness from the day he was born. It was no fault of his. Now, as he listened intently to the group of men who stood by, he heard Jesus say, "As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world". If this blind man could only see the light, he would be free. He would not have to beg any more.

Jesus saw an opportunity to show once again to his disciples, the wonderful power which God had given him to teach people important lessons. While he had the opportunity he must do his Father's work. "I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day" (v4).

Soon he would be put to death by wicked men, as he himself knew. Then his work would be finished.

JESUS HEALS THE BLIND MAN

When he had answered his disciples' question (v2) Jesus did a strange thing. "He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, and said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (vv6-7). So the man went as Jesus told him and washed the clay away and he could see!

When his neighbours saw him, no longer blind but seeing, they were amazed. "Is not this he that sat and begged?" they said. They had not heard of such a miracle before and found it hard to believe. Some were sure this was the same man but others said, "He is like him € . The man himself said, € I am he". He knew better than anyone else that his blindness had been cured by a great miracle.

So the people asked him, "How were thine eyes opened?" He answered, "A man that is called Jesus made clay, and anointed mine eyes, and said unto me, Go to the pool of Siloam, and wash: and I went and washed, and I received sight" (v11).

When they asked where this Jesus was, he did not know. They thought they had better take him to the Pharisees.

THE BLIND MAN AND THE PHARISEES

Now it was the sabbath day when Jesus healed the blind man. Remember that he had cured a man in the synagogue in Capernaum on a sabbath day. The Law of Moses said, "Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: but on the seventh day is the sabbath of Yahweh thy God" (Exod. 20:8-11). Curing the blind man was certainly God's work, but the Pharisees would not believe that Jesus had been sent by God. So they accused him of breaking the sabbath law (see additional notes Lesson 9).

It always annoyed the Pharisees to see Jesus doing such wonderful things, because they envied him. If they could catch him performing miracles on the sabbath day, they could make it sound as if his good works were evil. So when the man who had been born blind was brought to them and told them what Jesus had done, they said, "This man is not of God, because he keepeth not the sabbath day" (v16). It was they who were blind, those rulers of the Jews!

They could not see God's power when the evidence was right before their eyes. Some of them admitted that a sinner could not do such miracles as this. So they were all confused. No-one knew what to think, but the growing hatred of the leaders against Jesus was obvious. It would only get worse, until finally they had him crucified.

THE PHARISEES CALL HIS PARENTS

The Pharisees refused to believe that this man in front of them, who could see, had ever been born blind. So they called his parents.

"Is this your son, who ye say was born blind?" they said, "how then doth he now see?" They did not even believe that his parents were telling the truth (v19).

"We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind", they replied. "But by what means he now seeth, we know not; or who hath opened his eyes, we know not" (vv20-21).

They were afraid of the Pharisees, because they knew that anyone who believed that Jesus was the Messiah (the Christ) was put out of the synagogue. If they admitted that Jesus had healed their son, the Pharisees would not let them go into the synagogue again. So they said they did not know. The Pharisees would have to ask him themselves. "He is of age", the parents said, "ask him: he shall speak for himself (v21).

Once again they called the man. "Give God the praise", they said. "We know that this man is a sinner" (v24).

By now the man himself was becoming very impatient with the Pharisees. They wanted to hear the story all over again, to see if they could find a catch in it. But it was a simple story and they refused to believe him. "One thing I know, that, whereas I was born blind, now I see", he said (v25). "If this man were not of God, he could do nothing" (v33).

Such a simple faith made the Pharisees angry. They wanted to prove that Jesus was a sinner, but no matter what they said, people believed on him because of the wonderful miracles he performed. No-one could do such things without God's power. So they cast the man out of the synagogue.

While he had been blind, men had felt sorry for him. Now he could see, men wanted to have nothing to do with him. They would not even let him worship God.

JESUS FINDS THE MAN

When Jesus heard that the man had been cast out of the synagogue, he went looking for him.

"Dost thou believe on the Son of God?" he said. "Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him?" the man asked. "Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee," Jesus told him. "Lord, I believe", the man said, for he recognised Jesus as the one who had healed him (vv 36-38).

Now he was happy again. Instead of being cut off from worshipping God because the Pharisees had sent him away from the synagogue, he had found the Son of God and believed on him. Not only could he actually see everything around him, but he could see the Truth. He could see that Jesus was "the light of the world".

LESSON FOR US

The Bible speaks in many places of the Truth of God's Word as "the light", and of sin and ignorance (not knowing the Truth) as "darkness" (e.g. Psa. 119:105; John 8:12; Eph. 5:8-11; 1 Thess. 5:4-5). Jesus came to bring light into the world. The Lord Jesus Christ is now in heaven at God's right hand. Though he is not amongst us, as he was then, we have God's Word to fill our hearts and minds with "light". There is no need for us to be blind like the Pharisees. If we try to understand the Word of God, we will see what wonderful things God has done in the past and will do in the future, when he sends Jesus Christ back to the earth.

JESUS REBUKES THE PHARISEES

Jesus pointed out the lesson of the miracle of the blind man who was healed to all who would listen. Some of the Pharisees realised that he was speaking of them and asked, "Are we blind also?"

The trouble with the Pharisees was that they thought they understood God's ways better than anyone else. They thought they could see. To "see" in this sense, means to "know" or "understand". We have already found in earlier lessons that they did not know much about God's ways at all (Jesus told Nicodemus that, but later on Nicodemus did come to believe in Jesus. See John 3:10-12; 7:50-52; 9:39). Many times Jesus called them blind guides"(Matt. 15:14; 23:24). Their pride blinded them from believing that Jesus was the Son of God. What a lesson there is in that for us.