Man Born Blind – John 9:1-34

The Story in a Nutshell

The story continues…

As Jesus and the disciples were walking they saw a man blind from birth.  The disciples were curious.  “Teacher, was this man born blind because of his sins or because of the sins of his parents?”

“Neither,” said Jesus.  “He was born blind so the power of God could be seen in him.”
Then Jesus spit on the ground, made mud with the saliva, and put the mud over the blind man’s eyes.  Jesus then told the man, “Go and wash in the pool of Siloam.”  The man did as he was told and came back seeing.

The man’s neighbors and others that knew him as a blind man were asking questions.  Was this really the man that was blind or was it someone else that looked like him?  The blind man kept saying, “It is I, the one that was blind.  So the people said, “Tell us what happened.  How did you get healed?”

The man told them the story about Jesus putting mud over his eyes, going and washing in the pool of Siloam, and then coming back seeing.  The people asked, “Where is this guy?”  And the man replied, “I don’t know where he is now.”

The story was so amazing that the people took the man to the Pharisees.  Certainly they would want to hear about such a miraculous healing.  But there was a problem; the man was healed on a Sabbath (Sunday).  And working on the Sabbath was a sin.

The Pharisees asked the man all about what happened.  He told them the same story he told the people; Jesus made mud, put it over his eyes, he washed in the pool of Siloam, and he came back seeing.  Some thought it was a miracle, but others didn’t think so.  “This man Jesus is not from God,” they said, “for he was working on the Sabbath and that is a sin.”

On top of that, many of the religious leaders didn’t believe that the man had really been blind, so they called in his parents.  The parents told the leaders that yes, this was their son, that he was born blind, and that now he can see.  Then they said, “We don’t know how he can see or how he was healed.  He is old enough to speak for himself, so ask him.”

So for the second time the religious leaders questioned the man.  They wanted answers; they believed Jesus was a sinner.  The man responded.  “I don’t know if the man is a sinner or not, but I do know that once I was blind and now I can see.

Then and man and the religious leaders began to argue.  The leaders wanted to know all about Jesus as they didn’t know anything about him.  Unfortunately, the man didn’t know anything about Jesus either, so he couldn’t help them.  Therefore, there was a lot of verbal pushing and shoving in an effort to get answers.

Finally the man said, “God doesn’t listen to sinners as you claim the man to be.  God listens to those that worship him and do his will.  Never in history has anyone been able to heal a blind man.  If this man were not from God, he couldn’t have done it.”  That angered the Pharisees and religious leaders so much that they threw the man out of the synagogue.  And they were greatly moved against Jesus.

To be continued…

What did you learn from the story?

If you want to gain a full understanding of the complete story, and for help in answering some of the questions below, you may want to have the following items as additional resources:  a Bible, a dictionary, and a Bible commentary on the Book of John (optional).

1. When the disciples saw the blind man, what were they curious about?
2. What did Jesus have to say about the blind man?
3. How was the blind man healed?
4. What did the man’s neighbors and others think about all this?
5. Why were the Pharisees concerned about the healing?
6. What did the Pharisees and religious leaders think about Jesus?
7. What did the parents of the former blind have to say to the Pharisees and religious leaders?
8. How did the former blind man explain his healing?
9. What did the Pharisees, religious leaders, and the former blind man know about Jesus?
10. What were the former blind man’s words concerning Jesus and the healing?
11. In the end, what did the Pharisees and religious leaders do?
12. What did you learn about Jesus, God, and people from the story?

Have questions about God, Jesus, and the Bible? An excellent source for answers to your questions is gotquestions.org. Check it out. gotquestions.org.

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