Being Blind, Now I See
John 9 – Faith begins by admitting we’re still blind.
Only the Blind Can See
John 9 — Faith begins by admitting we’re still blind.
A One-Man Show
My son Johnny’s favorite movie right now is Disney’s Cars. We watched it for probably the hundredth time this weekend, and I was thinking about it as I prepared for my sermon on Sunday.
Lightning McQueen is the young hotshot rookie who thinks he’s a one-man show. He’s already parted ways with his crew chief, and he’s angering his pit crew. In the first race, he refuses everyone’s advice, and it nearly ends in disaster: his tires blow out, and he barely limps across the finish line. You can tell right away what the whole movie is about — Lightning McQueen has to learn that he actually needs people.
Where in your life do you refuse help? Where do you exhibit some of that McQueen syndrome?
In arenas I know I have no business being in, I gladly take help. If my car breaks down, I’m calling all my friends because I really have no clue.
But where I think I know what I’m talking about, it’s much harder. Exhibit A: I cook all of my family’s meals, and you will never find a salt shaker on our dining table. Real cooks know why: salting another chef’s meal is basically telling him he didn’t do his job.
Same with driving. I have no business under the hood, but I tend to think I’m a really good driver. Melanie (my wife) always knows the fastest route to wherever we’re going, but when she tells me, my frustration starts to rise. No… I meant to pass that exit. I wanted to make the U-turn… for the scenery!
Something in You Before Something Through You
John 9 opens with Jesus noticing a man born blind, and the disciples asking a question we still ask whenever something bad happens: Who sinned? This man or his parents? Jesus corrects the prevailing worldview — nobody, this happened “so that God’s mighty works might be displayed in him” (9:3).
I can think of two ways these “mighty works” might show up. My first thought was of Moses, leading the slaves out of Egypt and across the Red Sea, and Jonah, preaching to Nineveh, and the whole city turning to the Lord. We might think that the Jerusalem revival is about to break out through this man’s story.
Except in this story, as far as I can tell, nobody else is changed. No revival breaks out. The “mighty work” is one man’s inner transformation. He starts out calling Jesus a man, a prophet, and by the end, he is worshipping Jesus as God.
I do think God wants to do great things through his children and his churches. And we will continue to pray for revival in our city. But maybe what God is doing in your life right now is quieter. Maybe he wants to reveal himself more clearly to you first.
Before God works through you, he needs to work in you.
God, start the revival in me.
A Man, a Prophet, a Disciple
Last week we stopped at the miracle itself. Jesus spits on the ground, makes mud, smears it on the man’s eyes, and tells him to go wash in the pool of Siloam. The man comes back seeing. When his neighbors ask where Jesus is, he says, “I don’t know” (9:12).
I love that detail. Jesus seems to hide himself on purpose. He doesn’t appear in full glory the moment the man can see. This detail makes room for what this man is about to go through. It’s going to get uncomfortable, and there will be real conflict. But through all of it, he’s going to see Jesus more and more clearly.
Here’s where he starts: A man healed me, but I don’t know where he is.
Then the Pharisees get involved.
Then they led the man who had been born blind to the Pharisees. Now Jesus made the mud and smeared it on the man’s eyes on a Sabbath day. So Pharisees also asked him how he was able to see. The man told them, “He put mud on my eyes, I washed, and now I see.”
— John 9:13–15 (CEB)
The whole controversy turns on the Sabbath. Maybe the Pharisees would have granted that Jesus was from God, if only he hadn’t done it on the Sabbath. And this healing was so physical. He basically mixed mortar in the dirt. To the religious, yes, that was work.
It’s worth setting this chapter next to John 5, where we were a couple of months ago. That story follows the same basic form: a man who has been an invalid by the pool of Bethesda for almost his whole life is healed by Jesus, grilled by the authorities, and found by Jesus again afterward. But the two men go in opposite directions. The man in John 5 throws Jesus under the bus. He goes to the authorities and tells them it was Jesus (5:15), and it helps fuel the persecution.
Our man seems to defend Jesus from the start. He leaves out the details that would add fuel to the fire by not mentioning the spitting and the mud-making; he doesn’t mention that Jesus told him to go wash, which would be Jesus commanding someone else to work. Instead, he gives the bare facts: He put mud on my eyes, I washed, and now I see. Every word is true. He’s just not handing them anything extra.
The Pharisees are divided. Some say Jesus can’t be from God because he breaks the Sabbath; others ask how a sinner could do signs like these. So they come back to the man:
Some of the Pharisees questioned the man who had been born blind again: “What do you have to say about him, since he healed your eyes?” He replied, “He’s a prophet.”
— John 9:17 (CEB)
Suddenly, the man who healed him is now a prophet. The text doesn’t tell us this, but I wonder if the man has been on his own search, asking his neighbors, Who was that? Who is Jesus? Maybe he’s heard enough of Jesus’ teaching to say, I now think he is more than a miracle worker.
His faith is growing. The Pharisees, meanwhile, are going blinder with every scene.
Here’s What I Do Know
Therefore, they called a second time for the man who had been born blind and said to him, “Give glory to God. We know this man is a sinner.” The man answered, “I don’t know whether he’s a sinner. Here’s what I do know: I was blind and now I see.”
— John 9:24–25 (CEB)
This may be my favorite verse in Scripture for thinking about our call to witness. We’ve been given incredible good news: the Son of God came into our world and died so that we could have new life. That isn’t something to keep to myself. It’s meant to change the whole world.
And look at what this man does under pressure. The religious experts of his day are grilling him: This man is a sinner, so give glory to God and side with us. He doesn’t wade into their deep theological question. He falls back on his testimony. I don’t know how to answer your question. But here’s what God did in my own life…
I still think we should ask the hard questions. There are great and important answers out there for all of our doubts. But in my experience, they’ve helped Christians more than those on the outside. Those questions became more pressing for me as I followed Jesus. I came to faith in middle school, and all through high school I researched every religion I could find. Still, my first encounter with Jesus was not due to some intellectual accomplishment, but to the realization that Jesus was real, present, and wanted a relationship with me.
I remember being at a big extended-family reunion where I was asked to provide a short prayer over the group one evening. I pray all the time, so I didn’t really think about it. I had a quick conversation with God, like I’d done many times before. Afterward, one of my cousins came up to me and said, “Tyler, I just want to thank you for that prayer. It felt like you were actually talking to somebody.”
I was floored. I had not been thinking: my prayer is about to plant a seed; this is my moment to be a witness. And honestly, if I had, I probably would have fumbled it. I would have piled on flowery theological language to make it sound better, and it would have messed everything up. But simply putting on display my ongoing relationship with God was enough to plant some curiosity in my cousin.
You don’t have to answer every hard question. Start here: What is my story? This is what I was like. This is how God showed up. This is what my life is like now. It really can be as simple as: I was blind, and now I see.
“Do You Want to Become His Disciples Too?”
The opponents aren’t finished. They keep pressing, asking the same questions over and over. Which sets up the next exchange:
They questioned him: “What did he do to you? How did he heal your eyes?” He replied, “I already told you, and you didn’t listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples too?”
— John 9:26–27 (CEB)
John is definitely having some fun here. But that word too is loaded. The man has gone from a man healed my eyes, to he’s a prophet, to calling himself a disciple. He still hasn’t seen Jesus, but he’s already saying, I’m trying to follow this man. Do you want to follow him too?
And now the tables have completely turned. The Pharisees, the great theologians and religious experts of their day, are being schooled by a man with no training, whose eyes were only just opened.
The man answered, “This is incredible! You don’t know where he is from, yet he healed my eyes! We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners. God listens to anyone who is devout and does God’s will. No one has ever heard of a healing of the eyes of someone born blind. If this man wasn’t from God, he couldn’t do this.”
— John 9:30–33 (CEB)
He’s met Jesus, he’s been healed, and now he out-reasons the experts. They won’t hear it, and instead reach back to the worldview we met at the very beginning of the chapter:
They responded, “You were born completely in sin! How is it that you dare to teach us?” Then they expelled him.
— John 9:34 (CEB)
If you were born blind, you must have done something to deserve it. We don’t have to listen to you. It’s the same worldview Jesus has already debunked; they just can’t see it.
Jesus Finds Him
What happens next is the most beautiful part of the story. Recall, Jesus has been absent since verse 12. The man has been taking slings and arrows: questioned, insulted, expelled. We might be asking, Jesus, where are you? Why haven’t you shown up and put these opponents in their place?
But Jesus hasn’t left him alone. He’s been paying attention the entire time. And at just the right moment, he comes back. Not for a great showdown with the Pharisees. He comes to find the man, beleaguered and harassed and thrown out.
Jesus heard they had expelled the man born blind. Finding him, Jesus said, “Do you believe in the Human One?” He answered, “Who is he, sir? I want to believe in him.” Jesus said, “You have seen him. In fact, he is the one speaking with you.” The man said, “Lord, I believe.” And he worshipped Jesus.
— John 9:35–38 (CEB)
And look at the man’s response. It’s the same childlike faith he’s shown the whole time, the faith that went and washed simply because Jesus said to. He doesn’t answer all the hard questions or jump through hoops to prove himself worthy. He simply declares, “I want to believe.” No cynicism, no doubt. He sees Jesus clearly for the first time and worships his God standing in front of him.
I love the arc this man experienced: He’s a man. A healer. A prophet. I want to follow him. He’s from God. And now, he deserves my worship.
So what was God’s mighty work in this man’s life? Not revival breaking out across Jerusalem. But a man set free to worship his king.
“Surely We Aren’t Blind, Are We?”
There’s one final scene, and the Pharisees are back. They’re the religious experts, and they think they have Jesus pegged. All through this story, they’ve been getting blinder while the man has been gaining his sight.
Jesus said, “I have come into the world to exercise judgment so that those who don’t see can see and those who see will become blind.” Some Pharisees who were with him heard what he said and asked, “Surely we aren’t blind, are we?”
— John 9:39–40 (CEB)
What scares me is how close I might be to being one of these men. Surely I’m not blind, right, Jesus? Have I told you how much of the Bible I’ve memorized? Did you see my credentials? Did you see which seminary I went to?
Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you wouldn’t have any sin, but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.”
— John 9:41 (CEB)
We’ve clearly moved from physical to spiritual sight. For Jesus, insisting that you see clearly is precisely the problem.
The Pharisees end this story with the same Lightning McQueen syndrome we started with: We’re the experts. We tell everyone else how to see the world. We don’t need anybody’s help. Jesus came to heal them of their sin and their blindness, but they can’t receive it, because they’re sure they’re already healed.
If you think you’re healthy, you’ll never go to the doctor. And if you can’t admit you’re blind, Jesus can’t do anything to help you see.
“Being Blind, Now I See”
Let’s end back at my favorite verse. There’s a small grammatical observation in the man’s statement I find very significant.
We know back in verse 25, he declared, I was blind, and now I see.
But it isn’t quite what he says. The Greek has awkwardly placed both halves of that clause in the present tense. It’s something more like, Being blind, now I see.
Physically, it makes more sense for him to say, I was blind. So why did John write it like that?
I’m convinced this is what ties the whole story together. The story ends with Jesus telling the Pharisees, in effect, If only you were blind. If only you could admit it, then I could help you. And here, in one tight phrase, the man gives us a sort of statement of faith: Being blind, now I see.
I hear in this a way of admitting, I have not arrived. Jesus, I’m still blind. A Christian is someone who knows they can’t take one step without his guidance, his presence, his strength. We are completely dependent on the One who gives us sight.
Notice what I’m not saying. In this chapter, being blind is not the same as being in a state of sin. The whole chapter insists that this man’s blindness isn’t connected to his sin. Admitting I’m blind isn’t confessing a hidden failure. It’s confessing my need. As far as Jesus has brought me by his grace, I’ve not yet arrived.
A Prayer for Our Week
Jesus, you saw this man before anyone else would. You healed his eyes and allowed him to go on this journey of finding you more and more clearly.
Heal my blind spots and reveal more of your love, your wisdom, your character to me.
Help me respond like this man, “Lord, I want to believe!” Fill your people with your presence and your power.
May this be my declaration today and every day: Being blind, now I see.
In Jesus’ name, amen.
This week:
- Read John 9:13–41 in one sitting and trace what the man says about Jesus: a man (v. 11), a prophet (v. 17), a disciple (v. 27), from God (v. 33), Lord (v. 38). Where are you on that line right now?
- Write your story in three sentences: what I was like, how Jesus showed up, what my life is like now. Ask God for one person to share it with.
- Admit one place where you act like a one-person show. Each morning, pray: Jesus, show me what I can’t see yet; help me depend on you.
