October 27 - John 9:1-41

This week we are working through John 9:1-41 in my Intro to New Testament class.  We will each put our ideas on the forum and then by the end of the week we will have compiled a paper to be turned in to the professor, using all of the information we glean out of these verses.


What a great passage!!!  Here are my thoughts on it:

Muir - John 9:1-41

In this text, Jesus encounters a man who has been blind from birth.  As he heals the man’s blindness, the stage is set for yet another encounter with the Pharisees who have been questioning his methods and had been attempting to kill him for calling God his father ‘making himself equal with God’ (John 5:18).  John shows the division between Jesus and the Pharisees as it increases until it finally climaxes at the crucifixion.

According to John’s chain of events, Jesus had just slipped away from Jews who were trying to stone him after announcing that he was ‘I am’ before Abraham had been born.  The blind man was about to enter history and find himself having to defend himself for a healing he hadn’t expected.

Jesus and his disciples were walking and they questioned him regarding the relationship between sin and blindness.  Jesus changed the question so that he could teach them about light and dark, the spiritual side of blindness and seeing.  Jesus told his disciples that he was the light of the world while he was with them.  Night was coming, but while he was there it was day (John 9:4-5).  He would come back to this spiritual teaching at the end of the chapter.  This introduction and summary seem to encompass the story of the encounters that the blind man has with the Pharisees quite well.

Quite a few questions crop up after the blind man washes the mud from his eyes and can see again.  How did his blindness change his appearance so much that his neighbors no longer recognized him as a healed man? In John 9:7, we read that he ‘came back’ from the pool of Siloam.  Where did Jesus go in that period of time that the man had no idea where he was in verse twelve?  The (formerly) blind man identified him as ‘the man called Jesus.’  How familiar were the people in this area with Jesus?  Was this the first they had heard of him, or had tales of his exploits gone before him?

The fear of the Pharisees and the Jews (by the way, who are these ‘Jews’ that John speaks of and why does everyone seem so afraid of them?) was enough to cause the neighbors to bring the blind man before them.  Was it important to have a healing confirmed?  Would something change for the man because he had been healed, other than the obvious?

The Pharisees first reaction to the man’s story is fury at Jesus. They considered him a sinner for having performed the miracle on a Sabbath.  But, the man could only profess what he knew.  He was blind, but now he saw.  The only reference he had was that Jesus must be a prophet.

Those who didn’t know this man from birth refused to believe that he had ever been blind and called upon the man’s parents.  They confirmed his blindness, but were so afraid of the Jews that they turned the responsibility for his healing back on their son.  There was such a fear of being extricated from the synagogue that they were willing to dishonor their son rather than themselves.  The pattern of shame worked on this family as they were more concerned with following the rules than they were the truth.

The blind man’s mockery of the Jews when he asked if they wanted to become his disciples because they kept pressuring him for more information brought out an accusation meant to shame him into proper behavior.  Being a disciple of Jesus was not honorable in this community.  He was under penalty of death and his teachings were not welcome.  They considered themselves good Jews – they knew Moses was of God, but were unwilling to accept that Jesus might be the Son of God.

Full understanding comes from the most unexpected mouths.  The blind man became the teacher as he proclaimed that sinners would not be able to petition God.  The healing of a blind man was a gift from God and no one but a person who was actually from God could do this great miracle.  The Jews heard his message but refused to acknowledge it and drove him out.

Jesus’ great mercy is shown as he finds the man after he had been driven out of the synagogue.  For all intents and purposes, this man had lost his community.  Jesus presented himself to the man as the Son of Man who believed and worshiped.

John wraps up this story as Jesus continues his teaching regarding spiritual sight and blindness. The arrogance of the Pharisees was a greater sin than healing on a Sabbath.  They refused to believe that they were blind and remained in their sin.  Jesus came to heal blindness – whether physical or spiritual – and he also came to show that those who thought they could see were actually quite blind to the truth he brought.