John 9 - ESV Gospel Transformation Study Bible

9:1–7 Before Jesus healed the blind man, he challenged the prevailing notion that there is a one-to-one correlation between our physical maladies and our character. We live in a fallen world where even good people experience terrible loss and pain. But though the gospel of grace doesn’t immediately negate the reality of painful consequences resulting from poor choices or a corrupted creation (Gal. 6:8; Rom. 8:22–23), it does place us in a larger story. We are not blind to our world’s present brokenness, nor are we fatalists about our future. Rather, we are followers of Jesus, graciously incorporated into his redeeming purposes for our world.

Instead of asking, “Why did this happen to me? Who’s to blame?” we begin to ask, “Where is God in this situation? What is he up to? How may his glory ultimately shine through this?” Grace leads us to ask more vertical questions and fewer horizontal ones. Only the gospel of eternal purposes and hope beyond this world can enable us to accept suffering as a normal part of the Christian life. For the ultimate suffering, condemnation, and separation from the Father in hell has been undergone by Jesus in our place. All current suffering in the lives of those who are in Christ can therefore only be by the loving hand of a caring Father, who is training us to walk with him—and enabling others touched by our lives to do so also, as they walk through this broken world with us.

9:8–12 He who said, “Let there be light!” now says, “Let there be sight!” The spit and clay used in this miracle echo the elements of the first creation (Genesis 1–2). Even more profoundly, they also announce that, in Jesus, the new creation order has arrived. He who created man from dust now uses dust to restore him. The “sent one” (Jesus), sent the healed one to the pool of “Sent” (Siloam). He who was sent into the world to lift the curse of sin is here. Superstition is trumped by the truly supernatural, and the saved are sent in witness.

Jesus’ miracles are reminders of the day when there was no brokenness (Eden) and of the firstfruits of the day when all brokenness will be removed forever (the new heaven and new earth; Rev. 21:1). Miracles are not primarily for our comfort but for God’s glory—for declaring the power present in and the praise due to the person and work of Jesus.

9:13–34 The conversation between the healed man and the Pharisees is filled with gospel irony. He who sees for the first time in his life reveals the long-standing blindness of the Pharisees. They only see the law, but the healed man sees the Messiah, to whom the law points. In their hubris, the Pharisees can only boast about Moses; in his humility, the healed man only boasts about Jesus. The Pharisees charge the healed man with walking in the darkness of sin; but he sees the Light of the World—the Son who made the sun and everything else. The Pharisees excommunicated him from the life of the temple; Jesus made him a living stone (1 Pet. 2:4–12) in the only true and lasting temple—Christ himself (John 2:19–22; Rev. 21:22).

9:35–41 The whole of the Christian life consists of getting to know Jesus better and better. Jesus sought out the healed man in order to confirm his saving faith. Once again for John, the prevailing question in his Gospel, and in our lives, is, “Who is Jesus?” Jesus is the promised Son of Man (Dan. 7:13–14; Matt. 26:64), who one day will rule over all nations (Rev. 11:15). The gifts of God must lead us to the true and final gift of God: Jesus himself.