seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
John 9:1 As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
3 “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. 4 As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. 5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
6 After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. 7 “Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means “Sent”). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.
8 His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, “Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?” 9 Some claimed that he was.
Others said, “No, he only looks like him.”
But he himself insisted, “I am the man.”
10 “How then were your eyes opened?” they asked.
11 He replied, “The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see.”
12 “Where is this man?” they asked him.
“I don’t know,” he said.
13 They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. 14 Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man’s eyes was a Sabbath. 15 Therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. “He put mud on my eyes,” the man replied, “and I washed, and now I see.”
16 Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.”
But others asked, “How can a sinner perform such signs?” So they were divided.
17 Then they turned again to the blind man, “What have you to say about him? It was your eyes he opened.”
The man replied, “He is a prophet.”
18 They still did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they sent for the man’s parents. 19 “Is this your son?” they asked. “Is this the one you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see?”
20 “We know he is our son,” the parents answered, “and we know he was born blind. 21 But how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself.” 22 His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders, who already had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. 23 That was why his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”
24 A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. “Give glory to God by telling the truth,” they said. “We know this man is a sinner.”
25 He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”
26 Then they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”
27 He answered, “I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples too?”
28 Then they hurled insults at him and said, “You are this fellow’s disciple! We are disciples of Moses! 29 We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don’t even know where he comes from.”
30 The man answered, “Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. 31 We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will. 32 Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”
34 To this they replied, “You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!” And they threw him out.
35 Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”
36 “Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.”
37 Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.”
38 Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.
39 Jesus said,[a] “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”
40 Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we blind too?”
41 Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.
a. John 9:39 Some early manuscripts do not have Then the man said … 39 Jesus said.
This is from the blueletterbible.org site.
Now it was a Sabbath when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes: Jesus took the initiative in this miracle, and could have done it on any day He chose. Then why did Jesus do this miracle on the Sabbath? Jesus did this to challenge the petty traditions of the religious leader, traditions that they elevated to the place of binding laws.
Therefore some of the Pharisees said, "This man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath": To the Pharisees, Jesus could not be from God because He did not line up with their traditions and prejudices.
Why, this is a marvelous thing: The healed man says this about their unbelief, not about the miracle of Jesus. It as if he tells the Pharisees, "Your unbelief and ignorance in the face of the evidence is more of a miracle than my cure!"
Look at this from enduringword.com.As Jesus passed by: The previous chapter ending as Jesus passed by those who wanted to stone Him, considering Jesus guilty of blasphemy. John continues the account, noting now Jesus passed by a man who was blind from birth.
But that the works of God should be revealed in him: Speaking to this man’s situation, Jesus told them that even his blindness was in the plan of God so that the works of God should be revealed in him.
The night is coming when no one can work: Jesus understood that opportunities for service and doing good don’t last forever. Jesus knew that healing this man on the Sabbath would bring greater opposition from the religious leaders who already wanted to silence and kill Him. Yet His compassion for the man drove Him to do it anyway.
For judgment I have come into this world: John recorded these words of Jesus as part of a larger theme in his Gospel – that men were divided over Jesus, with some accepting and some rejecting. This is one way Jesus brought judgment…into this world, by being a dividing line.
This is how the easy English commentary explains the concept of blindness caused by sin.
When they saw this blind man, the disciples asked Jesus a question. It was a common belief that illness was the result of sin. So people thought that an ill person had sinned greatly. Otherwise, people thought that the ill person’s ancestors had sinned greatly. So that is why the disciples asked this question. It is true that the effects of sin are always bad. If someone sins greatly, this can affect their descendants. The Old Testament teaches this, for example, Exodus 20:5; Psalm 109:14.
This man had been born blind. So the disciples believed that either he or his parents had sinned. However, in this particular case, Jesus told them that the man’s sins or his parent’s sins were not the cause. This reminds us that good people suffer, too. And sometimes it seems that bad people do not receive any punishment. But problems can also provide an opportunity for God to show his power in a person’s life. In this man’s case, that is what actually happened. It reminds people for all time that Jesus can cure spiritual blindness, too. Sometimes, when people suffer, God can use this as an opportunity to show his power in their lives.
Boy oh boy.... this chapter is hitting me really heavy. As some know.... I have been dealing with a detached retina since the middle of November. The first surgery [in November] didn't work.... and I had to have a second surgery..... during the second surgery the doctor put some kind of oil in my eye to hold it up against a silicone belt [from the first surgery] so it would heal. That was in February..... and then COVID hit. So.... knowing I would have to have more surgery.... I went into quarantine..... and last Friday.... the doctor took the oil out and put gas in the eye instead. Now the gas will slowly go away... according to the doctor.... or that's was the plan. This eye doctor does the surgery on Friday... then I had to go back Saturday to be checked. Well there is some kind of a problem... the gas bubble is in the wrong place..... what????? So..... now.... I'm still blind.... and I have to go back to the eye doctor this morning. This guy was born blind. He didn't know a single day of good eye sight. I've come to know that being blind doesn't mean that there is nothing but darkness. In my case.... it's like one eye has wax paper that has been rubbed with something dark that I just can't quite see through.... I can see big movement.... but it has to be big movement.... like jumping jacks as opposed to a couple of fingers to count. The other eye.... well it's doing its best.... I have some really funky double vision going on.... because my left eye needs the right eye to focus... but my right eye won't.
I don't know that this blind guy just could never see.... like my right eye.... or if he was dark blind. The point is.... his eyes didn't work.... so Jesus used clay to heal him. Jesus said "bad things happen to good people". Jesus also said... it's almost dark. It was the Sabbath... that comment about it being almost dark was not talking about the coming of the Sabbath. Sabbath began at sundown.... but apparently it was already Sabbath [those Pharisees were watching Him really close on the Sabbath]. I figure this is what Jesus was saying. "My mission is about to come to an end.... I'm not supposed to be wasting time healing every single human on earth.... I've come for a bigger job... the antidote to death. But once I finish my mission... there will be no one to heal any of these humans.... so I'll heal them while I can."
Jesus didn't have a lot of Sabbaths left on earth..... and there were a lot of hurting, sick, crying, begging humans....
One more little thing.... that just came to my mind. Jesus could read minds.... I've seen that in the four Gospels. He felt their pain.... he felt their illness. Every aching thought..... being Jesus in this human body must have been a real feat.
