John 9

     9:1-5.  Jesus is the light of the world (5), but the problem we were left with in John 8 is that until God gives us eyes to see, all the light in the world will not make us see.  Thus does John bring us to the sixth sign of his gospel, the healing of the man born blind.  His blindness cannot be traced to a particular sin, but is simply the consequence of living in a fallen world, yet a world where, in the midst of judgment, God’s unmerited grace and mercy shine forth (3).

     9:6-7.  Jesus could have healed in an instant without using these means, as in the second sign in John 4.  But, in order that the works of God might be displayed in him (3), he uses these means as physical metaphors.

     The old man, with his eyes full of the world, is blind.  As he goes in faith where Jesus sends him, his earthy eyes become a new creation.  They are washed clean, and he sees.  Jesus spat on the ground and made clay, perhaps indicating the creative force.  God made man of the dust, or clay (Gen.2:7).  Here, a new creation comes from the mouth of Christ, making the man’s eyes new, when in faith he was washed in the waters of regeneration.

     9:8-9.  After regeneration, we are a new person, but yet the same person.  He must say to his neighbors, “It’s me!  It’s me!  But now I can see!”

     9:16.  Christ brings division (6:52; 7:12,43; 10:19; and cf.8:30; 10:21,25).

     9:17.  Like his parents (21-23), the man says as little as possible to avoid persecution.  But in the end, he must choose between his fear and his faith (Cf.Php.3:7-8).

     9:30-34.  He chooses Jesus, and is put out of the synagogue for his testimony.

     9:35-41.  He is encouraged by Christ.  This is the first time the man has actually seen Jesus.  “Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed”  (John 20:29).

     The blind man, being helpless and unable to recognize and come to Jesus on his own, was found by Jesus.  Though it did not appear so to the world, how much more blessed was the man born blind who recognized his true condition, than were those who believed themselves in need of nothing from Jesus.  So blinded were they, that they attributed the obvious work of God to the power of evil.