John 9 - NIV Application Bible

9:1–7 Blindness was a common problem in antiquity, far more common than in modern experience. Eye disease had few cures, and unsanitary conditions considerably increased risks. The man whom Jesus meets at the Festival of Tabernacles has been blind from birth, which leads his disciples to ask about the origin of his suffering. They assume a connection between sin and suffering, but Jesus rejects this entire line of questioning. A summary of Jesus’ response indicates that here is a man with a disability whose pain will now display the work of God in his life.

Jesus must work so that God’s work may be displayed in this man’s life. God has not made the man blind to show his glory; rather, God sent Jesus to do works of healing to show his glory.

9:8–13 The neighbors interrogate the man and in disbelief work to verify that he is indeed the man they knew as being blind. They do not reject the miracle but look to the Pharisees for counsel.

9:8–34 The dramatic healing of this man must have made a significant stir among his immediate friends and family. The community’s investigation of this man’s experience is given to us in abbreviated form in the following verses.

9:14–17 The Pharisees question the man about the healing, but their chief worry is about a violation of the Sabbath.

9:18–23 The Pharisees turn next to the man’s parents to confirm a miracle has occurred. The parents deflect their questions and direct them back to their son, and John recounts the reasons for their response.

9:24–34 In exasperation, the man presses the Pharisees boldly, and the tension of the story mounts. Since God does not listen to sinners—and God has listened to Jesus—Jesus cannot be a sinner. Here we have the sharpest division between the man (who supports Jesus) and the leaders (who do not).

As the story progresses, Jesus is more closely revealed by name: he is “Jesus” (v. 10), then he is called a “prophet” (v. 17), then “the Messiah” (v. 22), and finally he is declared to be “from God” (v. 33). Jesus’ identity is clarified as the story develops.

9:35–38 Jesus meets with the blind man privately to unveil the true depth of what he experienced. His confession of faith (“Lord, I believe,” v. 38) and his worship indicate that he no longer lives in “darkness” in any sense.

9:39–41 The Pharisees, by contrast, have come forward to judge both the man and Jesus. But in the end, Jesus judges them. Jesus’ opponents are physically sighted, but in reality they are spiritually blind.

But the most serious condition these opponents possess (v. 41) is their insistence that they are innocent, that they understand fully the theological point Jesus is making, and that they reject it. Because they claim that they can see, their guilt is underscored since they are self-affirming in their religious position against Jesus.

✜ 9:1–41 This man’s life should be depicted as a hopeless tragedy. He sat at the roadside and begged. No employment, no prospects for marriage, no social honor. He was at the bottom of the social ladder. His future was bleak, and he knew it. This hopelessness and darkness provide us with a potent image because John describes men and women without Christ to be in a crisis no less desperate. Jesus refers to those who “walk in darkness,” and this is precisely the condition of people who are blind. Jesus lifts this image above the commonplace in order to make it a spiritual metaphor for the condition of the world that he has come to remedy.

The model of this man’s conversion, however, is not simply about desperation and healing. He is courageous. He valiantly holds fast to what he cannot deny. His intellectual courage is matched by his personal fearlessness as he suffers persecution for his courage. This drama is also a part of John’s conversion model. The man’s faith is not in the miracle-working ability of Jesus. This is only the springboard. His faith quickly connects with the true identity of who Jesus is.

John contrasts the healed man’s vigorous faith with the others who knowingly, willfully reject Jesus on religious grounds.