John 9

I was reading this today, and I wanted to share this with you. To begin, if you don't have a Bible handy, read the chapter here. To continue, I am no teacher, just sharing what I gathered from this passage.

You might notice this is the story of the man born blind. Spoiler alert: Jesus is going to heal him. Sorry to ruin it for you. But I like this particular healing a lot, because I think it shows so much and offers a diverse message. Please direct your attention to verse 3. "Jesus answered, "It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him." I think this shatters the ideas I've learned and been taught. My general reaction to someone born with a "defect" is that it was a mistake, caused by the imperfection brought into this world by humans when they first sinned. While this is true, I should not have stopped there.


This man was born blind so God could be glorified. Have you heard the saying "everything happens for a reason?" I've always heard this used and interpreted it as saying things will work out for you in the end. I didn't see Jesus say that in this passage. Given, the man was no longer blind, but that's not why he was born blind.


Fast forward. Press play on verse 24 and 25.

So for the second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, "Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner." ²⁵He answered, "Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see."

 So the Pharisees didn't like Jesus because he questioned their traditions, commitment to God, and their view of him. So here he is, healing this (formerly blind) man on the sabbath and they are upset. People have wacky view of Jesus and God as a whole today. I think you can understand that without much explanation. The man's response makes me happy. We may not know everything about God, but we know he saved us. This is what we can know and share, what we have to bear witness about him with.

Continue on. Sorry for how long this post is, but there's so much I want to share! But here's verses 33 and 34.

"If this man were not from God, he could do nothing." ³⁴They answered him, "You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?" And they cast him out.

 Look at this: Jesus did not just heal the man's physical blindness but his spiritual as well! God isn't as interested as these temporary little shells we have now as he is in our souls/spirits/whatever you want to call it. I think that it's a lot more important that this man's spiritual blindness is cured than his silly little sight problem. In fact, later you see him and Jesus meet again and he worships him, not giving the stones a chance to speak.

While you're here, check out verse 34 again. The Pharisees were still blinded by their pride. These men thought they were better than the other, and so they didn't even listen to what he had to say. Although Jesus points out at the end of the chapter that they were not blind, as evidenced by the guilt they had.

This story as a whole is great evidence for many things: God's glorification is number one, our stories are all so important to spreading the name of Jesus, and there is a lot more healing that happens in this world than physical through Christ's name and we should never let it stop there.