YOU HAVE SEEN HIM – Jesus reveals truth to those who seek Him.

JOHN 9:24-38

MEMORY VERSE: JOHN 9: 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!"

“I have never known suffering to be adequately explained. Time and again we have no answer for it. Jesus said, ‘In the world ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer…’ What is the rest of the verse? Is it, ‘I have explained the world’? No, He says, ‘I have overcome the world’ (John 16:33). God’s grace does not always explain or remove the thorn, but it is always sufficient to overcome.”

THE CONTEXT (JOHN 9:1-41)

Following His confrontation with the scribes and Pharisees, Jesus encountered a man who had been born blind. His disciples posed a theological question that revealed their lack of spiritual understanding. Like many people, they associated illness with sin, and they wanted to know whose sin led to this disability. With their limited insight, the disciples were looking for cause and effect. Certainly, sin results in God’s chastisement, but not all illness is triggered by sin.

Jesus said that God allows some conditions as a way to reveal His glory. Sometimes, He gains praise through healing. Other times, He gets glory through our response to the infirmity. This story not only magnifies God’s power as a Healer, but also the greater blessing of being a Christ follower.

Jesus’ methods differed depending on His purposes. Sometimes, He simply spoke a word. On other occasions, He touched people and made them whole. We don’t know why Jesus chose mud and spit for this miracle. But we know that Jesus as well healed on the Sabbath to show the hypocrisy of the religious leaders (9:14).

As with other Sabbath healings recorded in John’s Gospel, Jesus’ action provoked the Pharisees. With self-righteous superiority, they rebuked the man for his testimony about Jesus. They even pulled his parents into the dispute. Regardless of their attacks, the man who had been healed continued to defend Jesus. Finally, because of his affirmation of Jesus, the Pharisees threw him out of the synagogue.

Compassionately, Jesus found the man and revealed Himself as the Messiah. The man believed Jesus and received a greater blessing than physical sight. The unbelieving Pharisees, however, remained spiritually blind because of the hardness of their hearts.

I CAN SEE! (JOHN 9:24-25)

24 A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. "Give glory to God, " they said. "We know this man is a sinner."

Unbelief often involves more than a lack of facts, it requires steadfast refusal to accept proof already offered. When Jesus healed a man born blind, He demonstrated God’s compassion, as well as His divine power. Awed neighbors brought the man to the Pharisees, who predictably refused to accept Jesus’ role in restoring a blind man’s sight.

Having interviewed the man, the leaders also interrogated his parents. Fearful of being excluded from the synagogue, the father and mother affirmed that their son had been born blind and now could see. They could not say who had restored his sight or how.

The religious leaders had a second interview with the man born blind. Unable to deny an incredible miracle, the Pharisees persisted in attempts to discredit the Healer. They called Jesus “a sinner”, referring to him scornfully as “this man”. They argued that Jesus should not get credit for the miracle, ordering the man to give glory to God.

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!"

The man answered even though they had not asked him a question. Unlike his parents, the man was not intimidated by the Pharisees’ aggression. Walking in the light after a lifetime of blindness produced undeterred confidence.

The man also did not try to argue about Jesus being “a sinner”. He knew the scribes and Pharisees were experts in the law, but he had experience on his side. While his questioners knew the law, he was certain of one undeniable reality: “I was blind, and now I can see”. People may argue dogma, but they have difficulty denying someone’s testimony.

YOU CAN’T SEE? (JOHN 9:26-34)

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."

Persistent unbelief clouds reason. These religious leaders were scholars and experts in the Law, but their hatred of Jesus skewed their ability to think rationally. When the man continued to assert that Jesus had healed him, the Pharisees asked the same testimony of the healing or the identity of the Healer, so they returned to the issue of mechanics. They insisted on explaining the miracle away.

Agitated by their relentless attacks, the man reminded them that he had already told them and they didn’t listen. People who do not want to believe something can hear multiple testimonies but continue to deny what they have heard. Perhaps with more than a little sarcasm, the man questioned why they would want to hear it again. With their badgering him they obviously expected him to cave in and deny the miracle. But instead, he courageously said do you want to become his disciple also. That really set them on edge. The scribes and Pharisees demanded respect, yet this poor, uneducated man dared to argue with them. In response, they belittled and ridiculed him. They did not want the name of Jesus to be recognized with this miraculous healing.

Jewish mentality placed Moses at the pinnacle of their religious heritage. With Moses, the Pharisees positioned themselves above all other authorities. The Pharisees contemptuously contrasted what they knew about Moses with this man, again ridiculing and scorning Jesus. Their underlying supposition was that God would never use someone like this itinerant rabbi. Ironically, the religious leaders blindly refused to accept a blind man’s ability to see as evidence of God’s miraculous work through Jesus.

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 man 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."

The man went on to counter the Pharisees’ claim that Jesus was a sinner. Although not theologically trained to the extent of the religious leaders, the man knew that God does not listen to sinners. For him, it did not take an expert in the law to know that God would not use a sinful person to achieve His purpose. Consequently, the man argued that Jesus opening his eyes was proof that God was with Him. The Pharisees’ attacks on Jesus failed because the evidence could not be refuted. A man born blind was conversing with them with full capability of sight. He maintained if this man were not from God, he wouldn’t be able to do anything. Jesus later asserted this same argument with Phillip. The works that Jesus did were evidence of His Father’s approval and of His identity as Messiah (John 14:10-11).

The man had not only successfully countered each of the Pharisees’ objections to Jesus, he had turned the arguments back onto them. However, they stubbornly refused to accept this logic or his experience.

34 To this they replied, "You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!" And they threw him out.

Offended by the man’s audacity, the scribes and Pharisees began attacking him personally. Having claimed Jesus was a sinner, it was no great leap for them to claim that this man was also born entirely in sin. Like Jesus’ disciples who questioned the reason for the man being born blind, the Pharisees associated his blindness with sin. His sin had set him apart from God, yet he dared to teach them.

Who was he to refute them? Unable to deny the man’s healing and unwilling to accept Jesus as its source, the Pharisees threw him out. The fear experienced by the man’s parents involved possible expulsion from the synagogue (John 9:22). It seems likely that the man was somehow excommunicated for his stand to believe in Jesus.

Believers can share the difference Christ makes in their lives with others. People may debate theological points, but they cannot deny the change Jesus works in us. The most effective witness may not lie in doctrinal arguments but in the witness of a transformed life.

I CAN REALLY SEE (John 9:35-38)

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."

Being excluded from the synagogue not only affected the man’s freedom to worship, it also altered his participation in Jewish corporate life.

Jesus is the heavenly Seeker, searching for the lost. Imagine the man’s delight when Jesus found him. However, Jesus had a greater purpose. He posed the most vital question the man had faceed that day. The Pharisees attacked the nature and source of his healing, along with the validity of the One who had healed him. Jesus’ question was quite different: “Do you believe in the Son of Man”?

“Son of Man” was a favorite self-identifier for Jesus. He used it to connect with humanity while, at the same time, declaring Himself as the Messiah. Christ knew the man had enough spiritual understanding to comprehend the question, even if he did not yet know the answer. The man was ready to take a step of faith.

37 Jesus said, "You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you."

Jesus could have responded “I am He”. Instead he made reference to the man’s healing from blindness. “You have seen Him”. Jesus took it further by telling the man, “He is the one speaking with you”. Jesus used a similar statement in His encounter with the Samaritan woman (John 4:26). He wanted the man to understand exactly who He was. We do not have to wonder about Jesus’ nature or God’s will. He wants us to know Him and be saved.

38 Then the man said, "Lord, I believe," and he worshiped him.

Again, the man referred to Jesus as Lord. The man’s subsequent action further demonstrated his commitment to Jesus. He worshiped Him. Believers can worship Jesus in faith and action. Intellectual assent of Christ’s existence or even His identity is not enough. If we truly believe that He is the divine Messiah, the Son of God, our faith response requires worship through word and deed, in Spirit and truth.