Book of John 9:24-41: April 24, 2021: www.seachord.org

Book of John 9:24-41                          April 24, 2021 

Jesus Heals a Man Born Blind 

Beggars waited by the gates of the Temple for gifts from worshipers.  He sat and was begging (vs 8) 

Pharisees ask the man over and over again how he received his sight.  They did not believe he was born blind. 

Then the Pharisees call the man’s parents and asked them.  Remember, the parents were called and said the son was of age, ask him. 

Review: 

John 9:22-23 His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews, since the Jews had already agreed that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah would be thrown out of the synagogue.  (23)  That's why his parents said, "He is of age. Ask him." 

It was not just the parents were afraid of the Jews Leaders: 

Many of the rulers in Jerusalem really believed in Jesus, but were afraid to say it because they didn’t want to be cast out of the synagogue. 

John 12:42 Yet many people, even some of the authorities, believed in him, but because of the Pharisees they did not admit it so they would not be thrown out of the synagogue. 

And example of Old Testament Excommunication, marrying foreign wives.  If excommunicated, they were treated as if they were lepers.

Today society, it does not mean anything. 

Ezra 10:8 Whoever would not come within three days would forfeit his assets and be separated from the community of the returning exiles, just as the high officials and elders had advised.

The religious leaders again question the man born blind, now healed by Jesus, at the Sanhedrin Council. 

The man born blind; his simple testimony upset the Pharisees. 

John 9:24 So they again called the man who was blind, and said to him, "Give God the glory! We know that this Man is a sinner." 

“Give God the praise” is a form of Jewish “swearing in” at court.  Means, remember that you are in God’s presence and speak as unto God. 

This command to the healed man may be for him to tell the truth, or it may be a command to deny any credit to Jesus in the healing. The Pharisees felt the man was holding something back which would show Jesus was a sinner. 

The Pharisees said Jesus is a sinner because Jesus did not obey their man-made traditions around the law.    

Joshua 7:19 Then Joshua said to Achan, "My son, give glory to the LORD, the God of Israel, and honor him. Tell me what you have done; do not hide it from me." 

But the “judges” prejudiced everybody from the start! “We know that this Man is a sinner!” 

John 9:25 He answered and said, "Whether He is a sinner or not I do not know. One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see." 

The man’s faith just gave his testimony, speaks to the facts and to the Pharisees about what happen to him.

Pharisees could not argue against what Jesus did in this man’s life. 

As a believer, we do not base our faith on personal experience, we base it upon Jesus’s truth, revealed to us in the Bible and through the Holy Spirit. 

Yet, our experience in the work of God in our lives is very important support for our faith for us and to the faith of others.  By our example. 

John 9:26 Then they said to him again, "What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?" 

·      Like a lawyer trying to disprove the testimony of a witness, they tried once more to shake the evidence, to entrap him somehow. 

·      The tone implies a harsh, intense talking down to him. 

·      The Pharisee demanded answers from this man who now could see. 

John 9:27 He answered them, "I told you already, and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become His disciples?" 

·      The man born blind reacts to the intense questioning again.

·      The man impatience just breaks out with the same question a fourth time with what he told the Pharisees.

·      Losing his patience with people who would not believe the facts before them, the man refused to relate the events again, saying sarcastically, “Do you also want to become His disciple?”

·      The man just proclaimed himself to be a disciple of Jesus (do you also). 

John 9:28 At this, they turned on him in fury and said, "You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses! 

·      Interesting, We are Moses’ disciples - By this they meant that they were genuine Pharisees; for they did not allow the Sadducees to be disciples of Moses? 

·      They Acknowledge the authority of the law of Moses.  

·      They cursed the blind man with abuse. 

John 9:29 We know that God has spoken to Moses, but we do not know where this fellow comes from." 

·      The Pharisees knew Jesus parents, Joseph and Mary, and his brothers and sisters, and we know He is a sinner from birth.

·      When the religious leaders said, this fellow, they could not keep from displaying their own proud and prejudiced contempt of Jesus. 

John 9:30 The man answered and said to them, "Why, this is a marvelous thing, that you do not know where He is from; yet He has opened my eyes! 

·      Why, that’s very strange! He can heal blind men, and yet you don’t know anything about him!

·      That you cannot perceive that he who has performed such a miracle must be from God.

·      Marvelous thing:  about the Pharisees unbelief in Jesus or about His miracles. 

John 9:31 Now we know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He hears him. 

Psalms 66:18 If I regard wickedness in my heart, The Lord will not hear; 

Isaiah 1:15 When you spread out your hands in prayer, I hide my eyes from you; even when you offer many prayers, I am not listening. Your hands are full of blood! 

·      Jesus does not have to hear the prayers of a sinner.

·      Yet, in Jesus mercy and for to purpose of bring someone to repentance, Jesus may hear the unrepentant sinner. 

·      This is why we need to repent of our sins. 

John 9:32 Since the world began it has been unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of one who was born blind. 

There is no healing of a blind man recorded anywhere in the Old Testament.  This was a greater miracle that we might think.  The first surgical operation to restore eye sight to the blind was 1728. 

Jesus is called a Man from God 

John 9:33 If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing." 

John 9:34 They asked him, "You were born a sinner and you are trying to instruct us?" And they threw him out. 

·      The Pharisees despise the common people and could not answer the man’s arguments {inspired by the Holy Spirit}.   

·      They could excommunicate him, which they did,

·      They threw him out and from any religious rights in the Temple and synagogue. 

This is what came to mind reading these verses 

Matthew 10:19-20 When they hand you over, don't worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say, because in that hour what you are to say will be given to you.  (20)  It won't be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. 

Jesus is called the son of God 

John 9:35 Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when He had found him, He said to him, "Do you believe in the Son of God?"   {the Messiah} 

·      Notice Jesus knew what happen and made a point to  sought out the man to revealed himself to him. 

·      The man had lost his world but found the Lord, Jesus. 

·      Ask yourself this very common question being asked: 

·      "Do you believe in the Son of God?"   {Jesus, the Messiah}. 

·      It is a question for commitment and demands a personal decision in the face of opposition or rejection. 

·      We ask this to ourselves at the Passover Season each year. 

John 9:36 He answered and said, "Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?" 

Faith must have a proper direction to, which is Jesus, but not faith, only Jesus can saves us. Faith is only the direction to Lord Jesus. 

John 9:37-38 Jesus told him, "You have seen him. He is the person who is talking with you."  (38)  He said, "Lord, I do believe," and worshiped him. 

Example: The man believes with the heart, confesses with the mouth, and shows his faith by his worship and honor of Jesus. 

The fact that Jesus accepted this worship is another proof that Jesus is God and Jesus knew Himself to be God. 

This is one of four instances in Gospel of John when Jesus expressly declared His Divine Sonship (Jn 9:37; 5:25; 10:36; 11:4). 

What steps did the blind man go through showing his increasing awareness of Jesus in His life. 

1.   Jesus is a man {vs 11};

2.   Jesus is a prophet {vs 17};

3.   Jesus is my Master, I am His disciple {vs 27};

4.   Jesus is from God {vs 33};

5.   Jesus is the Son of God {vs 35-38};

6.   Jesus is who I trust {vs 38};

7.   Jesus is who I worship {vs 38}. 

Jesus now compares between those who are blind and those who can see 

John 9:39 Then Jesus said, "I have come into this world to judge it, so that those who are blind may see and so that those who see may become blind." 

Jesus came to judge every individuals that the blind might see and those who think they can see will be made blind.  Faith. 

John 9:40-41 Some of the Pharisees who were near him overheard this and asked him, "We aren't blind, too, are we?"  (41)  Jesus told them, "If you were blind, you would not have any sin. But now that you insist, 'We see,' your sin still exists." 

What do you make of this statement by Jesus:  "If you were blind, you would not have any sin {or guilty of sin} 

The Pharisees understood Jesus was speaking in the spiritual sense to them.  Their sin of unbelief who Jesus is, because they could not see the Son of God right in front of them.  

Interesting, Pharisees did become disciples of Jesus as we learn in the Book of Acts. 

The Pharisees claim to possess light, while rejecting Jesus, is that which seals them up in the guilt of unbelief. 

The blind man ends up seeing, not just physically, but spiritually and becomes a disciple.  Could he be one of the 120 in the upper room.