59

John 9:1-7 JESUS HEALING A BLIND MAN

Introduction:

In our previous text the Jews at Jerusalem attempted to

stone Jesus to death within the courtyard of the temple.

Jesus easily escaped from them. He somehow hid Himself from

them and just walked right out through the middle of them

and out through the main temple gate.

In our text today, instead of making His get-away as

fast as He could from those who sought to kill from those

who sought to kill Him, Jesus stopped right outside the

temple gate to give sight to a blind man.

I. The blind man outside the gate of the temple

V. 1, "And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was

blind from his birth." Beggars customarily stationed

themselves right outside the temple ate to beg coins from

the people as they went in and out of the temple gate.

There were probably a number of beggars present there at

this time, but Jesus took special notice of a blind man who

was there.

There was one big difference between this particular

blind man and most other people who were blind. He had been

blind from the time of his birth. He was born blind. He

had never seen his parents. He had never seen his brothers

or sisters. He had never seen the blue sky nor the trees

nor flowers. He had probably never even saw his own hand

before his face. John did not directly say so, but in this

passage of Scripture he will make it clear that Jesus had

compassion on this man. He felt deeply for him. We would

just expect that He would.

II. The question which the disciples asked about him

V. 2, "And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who

did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?"

Not only did Jesus take special notice of this blind man,

but His disciples did also and asked Jesus about him. They

asked, "Whose sin caused him to be born blind? Was it his

own sin or his parent's sin?"

This question brings up some questions of our own. It

brings up the question: How did the disciples know that

this man had been born blind? We would understand that

Jesus would know because He is God. But how did the

disciples know? Did Jesus mention to His disciples that the

beggar had been born blind or did the beggar, himself, call

this to the attention of all the people as they passed by?

He might have thought that he would get a little more

sympathy and a few more coins that way. I'm not sure that

we can at all answer that question.

This question from the disciples also gives us an

insight into the thinking of the disciples. They, like most

Jews of that day, thought that all suffering which any man

experiences is caused by some particular sin which has been

committed.

This is the same mistake that the friends of Job had

made. Job's friends saw Job in a terrible condition. He

had sores from the top of his head to the bottom of his

feet. He had lost all of his children suddenly in death.

All of his wealth had been taken from him. He was suffering

both physically and emotionally. Job's friends could not

point to any particular sin which Job had committed which

may have caused all this suffering because Job had lived a

godly life. So they wrongly concluded that Job had

committed some great secret sins and by those sins had

brought all this suffering on himself.

If we are not careful, we will make that same mistake

today. When will we see somebody suffer greatly and if we

are not careful we will conclude that he brought it upon

himself by some terrible sin. He may have, --- but he may

not have. Regardless, this is a time when we ought to be

feel great sympathy for him and show kindness to him instead

of blaming him and drawing back from him.

But this still brings another question to our minds: How

could those disciples conclude that this man's sin had

caused him to be born blind? Did they think that he had

committed some terrible sin while he was still in his

mother's womb? What sin could he have committed before he

was born to cause him to be born blind? Or did they think

that God was punishing him for some future sin before he

ever committed it?

Another possibility which the disciples considered was

that the sin of his parents might have caused him to be born

blind. We can more easily see how they could think this.

The Old Testament law says that the sin of a parent may be

visited upon his children to the second and third

generation.

This is something that parents even in our day ought to

keep in mind. They may think, "If I drink liquor or smoke

pot or do some other sinful thing, it will hurt nobody but

me. But that is not so. They do hurt themselves by their

sin, but they also hurt somebody else. They hurt their own

children and their grand-children.

But anyway, the disciples thought it might have been the

sin of this man's parents which caused him to be born blind.

Again they were mistaken concerning this man.

III. The surprising answer which Jesus gave

V. "3, "Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned,

nor his parents..." Now keep in mind the question that the

disciples had asked. They had not asked if the man had ever

sinned or if his parents had ever sinned. If that had been

their question, Jesus would have answered that most

certainly they had all sinned. The man had sinned and his

parents had sinned. Romans 3:23 declares that all have

sinned and come short of the glory of God and that includes

that blind man and his parents.

But their question was not whether the man or his

parents had ever sinned. Rather, their question was: Whose

had caused the man to be born blind? Was it the man's own

sin or his parent's sin which had caused him to be born

blind?

The answer which Jesus gave must have been a surprise to

the disciples. It was neither the sin of the blind man nor

the sin of his parents which had caused him to be born

blind.

(V. 3), "...but that the works of God should be made

manifest in him." God Himself had either caused this man to

be born blind or had, at least, allowed him to be born

blind, in order that God might use him to display the mighty

power of God. This man had been born blind so that Jesus

could heal him and show to all people that the mighty power

of God was at work through Him. God wanted all to see that

Jesus of Nazareth is His Son and He has the mighty power of

God. When that baby was conceived in his mother's womb, God

had this event already planned. He planned for that man to

be blind and to be sitting outside the gate of the temple

when Jesus walked out and He planned for Jesus give sight to

that man and demonstrate to the world that Jesus is the Son

of God. By this demonstration of His power He would show

that He is the Christ of God, the Savior of men.

From that time forward all who would ever come into

contact with this man and learn how he had received his

sight would know of the power of God through Jesus.

Even more important to the blind man, it was by this

healing that he, too, would be brought to a saving knowledge

of Jesus Christ. He will praise God forever in glory for

his salvation. He will praise God more for the salvation of

his soul than he will for his eyesight. I'm sure he does

already.

IV. The urgency of working while there is time

V. 4, "I must work the works of him that sent me, while

it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work." What

Jesus had in mind here was that the time would soon come

when He would no longer be here bodily upon the earth. He

would soon go away back to heaven. He needed to do the

works which God the Father had given Him to do while there

was still opportunity. This was no time for Him to

concentrate on escaping from the Jews who sought to kill

Him. This was the time to do the works which God had

assigned Him to do.

I think that we can see that this applies to us also.

It is so vitally important that we Christians work the work

of God while there is opportunity to do so. It is important

that we read and study our Bible while there is time. It is

important that we faithfully attend Sunday school and church

while there is time and opportunity. It is important that

we give to support the Lord's cause while there is time and

opportunity. It important that we witness to the unsaved

while there is time and opportunity. The time will shortly

come when our lives will be over and we will all be gone to

our heavenly home. Let us as a church and as individual

Christians work the works which God has assigned us to do

while there is time and opportunity.

V. 5, "As long as I am in the world, I am the light of

the world." This a statement which may at first puzzle us.

We have no problem understanding what Jesus is talking about

when He said that He is the Light of the world. We have

already understood from previous statements which He has

made that Jesus is talking about Himself being the spiritual

Light of the world. Just as the S-U-N in the sky is the

light for all the world in the natural realm, even so the

S-O-N is the Light of the world in the spiritual realm. He

is the Savior of all mankind. If anybody in all of the

world will ever get saved, it will be Jesus who will save

him. If anybody ever desires to get saved, he must look to

Jesus and trust in Him for his salvation.

But the thing that at first may puzzle us is why Jesus

would say that He is the Light of the world as long as He is

in the world? Is not He the Light of the world for all

time? Indeed, He is! But the thing that Jesus was trying

to get across to His disciples and to all who heard His

statement is that He would not be in this world for long.

This statement looks forward to the time of His crucifixion,

His resurrection and His ascension to heaven. He, the very

Son of God, the very Light of the world, was in the world in

person walking among men. What an opportunity they had to

see Him and trust in Him and be saved! Just as He must work

the works which the Father had given Him to do while there

was time and opportunity, even so the unsaved needed to put

their faith and their trust in Him while there is time and

opportunity. Their very best opportunity to be saved was at

hand while Jesus was there among them. What a warning this

is to every unsaved person who hears the gospel message!

The person who is unsaved needs to trust Jesus today,

because tomorrow his opportunity may be gone.

V. Jesus anointing the eyes of the man

V. 6, "When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground,

and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of

the blind man with the clay..." Jesus must have squatted

down at this time right in front of the blind man who was

already seated on the ground. He squatted down and spit on

the ground and took His finger and stirred that spit in the

clay until He had made a salve of the clay. Then He took

the salve that He had made and put that salve on both eyes

of the blind man, first on one and then on the other.

There are several things that we need to understand

about this salve. In the first place, the Jews considered

spit be a medicine for diseased eyes. Many secular writings

testify to this fact. In the second place, the Jews

considered clay to be a medicine for diseased eyes. So

Jesus was actually using two medicines on this man's eyes.

But Jesus was not depending on medicine to heal the man's

eyes. The man was not blinded by an illness for which he

needed medicine. He was blinded by a birth defect.

Furthermore, even if there had been an illness in the eyes,

it takes many applications of medicine and many days to cure

an illness. But Jesus was going to perform a miracle and

give sight to this man.

Yet Jesus had His reasons for using the salve on the

man's eyes. For one thing it caught everybody's attention

and alerted them to the fact that Jesus was about to do

something to give sight to this man. It also aroused hope

and faith on the part of the blind man. After the healing

was over there would be no doubt in anyone's mind about

Jesus doing the healing.

VI. Jesus sending the man to the Pool of Siloam

V. 7, "And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of

Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.)..." The pool of

Siloam was located near the temple and was fed by an

underground passageway which had been carved through solid

rock from a spring which was located outside the walls of

the city. Perhaps some of you will remember that Bro. Tom

McElmurry showed slides of this passageway during one of the

revival meetings with us. It's name in the Hebrew language

means "Sent." It was given this name because the spring

sent it's waters forth to the city and into the pool near

the temple.

This name must have had something to do with the reason

Jesus sent this man to wash his eyes in that pool. Just as

the waters of that pool had been sent into the city from the

spring, even so Jesus the Christ had been sent to the world

from heaven. This man going to the pool to the waters which

had been sent, pictures that the lost sinner must go to

Jesus the Christ, the One who has been sent from heaven, in

order to be saved.

Another reason the man was sent to the pool to wash was

that it showed to all the faith and confidence that the

blind man had in Jesus. I feel confident that he asked

someone to lead him to the pool and sometimes a lost sinner

will need someone to lead him in his effort to come to the

Christ for salvation.

(7), "...He went his way therefore, and washed, and came

seeing." Listen! Just listen to what the Scripture says.

That man went to the pool as Jesus instructed. He washed

his eyes in that pool just as Jesus instructed. And when he

turned around to leave that pool, he could see. He did not

need anybody to lead him anymore. He could see the people

about him. He would be able to see his mother and his daddy

if they were still living. He would be able to see his

brothers and sisters. He would be able to see the blue sky

and beauty of the world in which he lived.

But let me ask you this: Can you imagine anything else?

Can you imagine that man going to the Pool of Siloam and

washing in that water as the Lord instructed and still being

unable to see? Can you imagine him having to be lead away

from that pool as he had been led to it? For the life of

me, I cannot imagine such a thing.

Listen, neither can I imagine a lost sinner coming to

Jesus Christ and calling on Him for the salvation of his

soul and going away still lost. Let me tell you that if any

man, any woman, any boy or girl will come to Jesus and trust

in Jesus for the salvation of the soul, that person will be

saved. The Bible says, "Belive on the Lord Jesus Christ and

thou shalt be saved." The Bible says, "For whosoever shall

call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."

Conclusion:

Are you lost? Are you in need of salvation? Then come

to Jesus today. Come and place your faith in Him. Trust

Him to cleanse you of all your sin. Trust Jesus to take

care of your soul in eternity. Trust Jesus to keep you out

of the fires of hell. Trust Jesus to make sure that you

make it to heaven. I can assure you of one thing. If you

will trust Jesus, Jesus will save your soul.