Jesus Heals the Blind Man (Lesson 7 of 12)
Deeper Truths
To watch the video:https://youtu.be/V7s54_W6JrA
Tonight we continue our series of studies inspired by the culture study by Kenneth Bailey entitled Jesus through Middle Eastern Eyes. Tonight we finish the fourth section, on the Dramatic Actions of Jesus. Thank you for letting me come to your world, on zoom and to speak to you this evening not only about Jesus healing a blind man, but also what happens with Jewish people not only in those days but in our day as well. You know that some Jewish people even this week came to faith in Jesus and this chapter, this scene, will help us help them with what's going to happen to them. (If you are reading this before May 30, 2026, you may join us live on Zoom Singapore 8 pm, Thursday. Just write me on email or phone me or WhatsApp, and let’s get you in the live teaching and Question time)
So, as we look deeply into one of the most significant Dramatic Actions of Jesus, from John chapter 9, we are going to be amazed how fitting this study is for anyone interested in Jewish life and story in our day. Let’s dig in, verse-by-verse.
John 9, Verse one: “As he was passing by, he saw a man blind from birth.” We so often skip the narrative sections in the Bible. I’m guilty of it for sure. I do that in ordinary books, like novels. We want to get to the action point, the conversations, but look at this. You see, the blind man did not see Jesus. but Jesus saw the blind man. If God sees, he'll see to it, and if he sees to it, the blind man's going to be taken care of. That’s great.
Verse 2: But right away the disciples asked Jesus a weird question. “Rabbi, who sinned this man or his parents?” Who thinks in those terms? Do you think in those terms? You see a blind guy, and you think--I wonder who sinned? Do you think that way honestly? No, of course not. But rabbinic teaching in those days said that if you were blind or had any other cause of disqualification for going into the holy temple, then there must have been a sin involved.
Deuteronomy 28.28 spells that out clearly. The curse is there due to failure by Israel, which is otherwise titled ‘sin.’ So, it’s fair to conclude that somebody had to sin or else the blind guy would not be blind. Jesus surprised the disciples by saying in verse 3, “neither!” Wait a minute! This is not really something you’d hear at Bible college. Neither person sinned? Obviously, they both sinned. All people sin. (Ecclesiastes 7.20, Romans 3.23) Thus, both the parents and the son have sinned. What he’s saying is basically, “you’re missing it. The cause is not so clear. This blindness is not caused by sins… but that the works of God would be displayed. We are going to work the works of God while it’s still light. I am the light of the world.”
To demonstrate his bringing light to the world, he spits on the ground. Now you know this could not take place in Singapore! OK, he spits on the ground and he makes mud. Now that is weird. Sometimes to heal someone Jesus said,” stretch out your hand” (Luke 6.10) or to the lame man “Pick up your bed” (Matthew 9.6) or to another he said, “your sins are forgiven.” (Mark 2.5) But spit on the ground and make mud?
We’ll get back to that in a bit. Why did he spit and make clay and stick it on the guy’s face. I mean who else but a blind man is going to let you put mud in his face? In verse 7 Jesus tells the blind man to “go and wash in the Pool of Siloam.” Some of you have been to Israel and you know Jerusalem. It’s on the top of a hill, and the ancients built footpaths and sidewalks, but bannisters and safety and health regulations—those didn’t exist.
Yeshua sends the blind man with mud in his face down to the bottom of Jerusalem to the pool of Siloam. I’ve walked through that. It is cold flowing water from Mount Hermon. Have you ever seen blind people walk, especially in unfamiliar locations? They don’t walk like you and I do. They are tentative, and they’re holding on and they’re not sure. Caution is wise.
There were no perfectly rectangular steps. If you’ve been in any ancient place, you know that water has eroded the steps so here, he is he’s walking down and he gets to the pool and he splashes and washes and he comes back seeing. Fantastic!
How do sighted people walk? Standing up they’re different in their walk than blind people. No wonder when he came back seeing, verse 8 his neighbors and those who previously saw him as a beggar wondered if it’s that the guy that used to lie there. Is that he? They wondered because he didn’t look the same.
I’m guessing most people didn’t really notice him or know him anyway. Some others said yeah, it’s he. Others said, “no I don’t know” He looks like—they weren’t sure—because he walked differently, he was different. They kept asking who are you? He said in verse 9, Yes that’s me. I’m the guy. they said Wait a minute-- how’d this happen? And that’s a reasonable question. How did this happen?
Verse 10. They ask for his testimony. Now, he’d never been to a testimony class. He told his story in bullet points. 1) The man who’s called Jesus made clay, 2) he put it in my face and anointed my eyes then 3) he said go and wash, so 4) I washed and 5) I came back seeing. Simple, right?
Verse 12: They said, “Where is he? The man answered, “I don’t know.” Jesus could have been standing right there, but he’d never seen him before, so he didn’t know who he was or what color robe he was wearing. ‘I don’t know’ could have been the end of the story. It was a great story. Jesus heals blind guy-- pictures at 11. I mean that would have been an awesome newscast, but the story goes on.
Verse 13 “They brought to the Pharisees the man who was formerly blind.” Now you might read that as they were dobbing him in. But that’s not how I read this. They simply had a religious question like you might have. Perhaps you have experienced something like this. Wait a minute-- somebody was dying of covid and now he’s walking around and he’s healthy. Or somebody ran into a train in Bras Basah station and now they’re up and walking. How does that happen? You might have that same question, so what do you do?
You take them to the religious leadership. That’s why we pay pastors. They are supposed to know this stuff. So, they brought him to the Pharisees. Verse 14 is not a throwaway. There’s narrative again. “It was the Sabbath day when Jesus made the clay.” Why does that matter? Because you’re not allowed to heal on the Sabbath. Now if Jesus walked by this guy on Saturday and healed him, wouldn’t you imagine Jesus could have walked by the guy on Friday and healed him or Tuesday? Of course.
Why didn’t he use another day? I believe he chose Sabbath because he’s a stirrer. There’s a Yiddish phrase, af tselochas, just to stir, just to spite. He’s doing this to help them all see that they were not in charge of the Sabbath-- that he was. I’m glad John put the day of the week in there. Because if it was a Tuesday nobody would have cared that he healed anybody, but it’s Saturday he heals—trouble!
Verse 15 the “Pharisees were asking him again how he had received his sight?” The blind man shortened it for them because religious people need it shorter than regular people! His bullet points 1) he applied to clay to my eyes 2) I washed and 3) I see. Just three bullet points. Some of the Pharisees were saying well, “this man is not from God.” They chose not to say his name. His name was significant from the very beginning. The angel named him “Yeshua” for he would save his people from their sins. Yeshua is the Hebrew word from yasha meaning “to save!”
Gabriel called his name Saviour because he’s going to save. Now he didn’t tell Mary and Joseph to call his name melamed because he’s going to be a teacher. Don’t call his name navi because he’s going to be a prophet though he taught and prophesied. The angel said to call his name Yeshua because he’s going to save. That’s his gig; that’s why he came. They said in verse 16 this “man is not from God.” When I got saved in 1971, I went home and I told my mom and dad that Jesus was the Messiah. They threw me out of the house.
I remember 20 years later trying to witness to my grandmother again in the Jewish old folks’ home. She had her wits about her; her body was decaying. And she lived five more years, but I remember previously talking about Jesus to her and she said, “Don’t talk to me about that man.” She couldn’t say the name Jesus; it had brought too much trouble in our family.
But that one day in October of 1991, Grandma Bessie invited me to share with her about God and Jesus and that day she prayed to receive the Lord. In fact, I offered to lead her in a prayer. She agreed. I went right for it.
“Dear Jesus, thank you for your love…” She repeated it and the rest is eternal history.
The Pharisees said, “This man is not from God because he doesn’t keep the Sabbath.” Now this raises a huge question tonight. Let me ask you-- friends, did Jesus keep the Sabbath or no, he did not?
This has serious implications. Don’t be quick to answer. If he did not keep the Sabbath, he’s a law breaker, and if he’s a law breaker, he cannot be your Saviour. Did he keep the Sabbath? Your theological answer is yes. So how did he do what he did and not break the Sabbath? Again, Yeshua is teaching that they were getting it all wrong. He was teaching them that healing is not against the Sabbath at all. There’s not a single Bible verse that says you may not heal on the Sabbath, but by custom they taught that this was out-of-bounds. Yeshua was saying, “No, this is not out of bounds at all.”
For instance, the rabbis prohibited certain remedies on the Sabbath. (Mishnah Shabbat 14:4) Why? The concern was that a person like a doctor treating illness might lead someone to grind herbs, which is classified as work. (Babylonian Talmud Shabbat 53b)
So, the rule developed: If a matter is life-threatening, then heal immediately. If there is a minor condition, then healing should wait until after Sabbath.
The Bible never forbids healing on the Sabbath. The debate was never about God’s law—but about how far mercy was allowed to go.
Verse 16 continues “others were saying how can a man who’s a sinner perform such signs” and as such, “a division arose among them.” Dear friends there is still a division among the Jewish people about Jesus. That’s true whether here in Nashville or back in Sydney, across Australia or Asia, in Israel and Johannesburg, there is still a division because of Jesus. You walk over to a Jewish friend’s place or to a Jewish dentist and explain to them that Jesus is the savior. Maybe someone there will like it or someone there won’t like it; there’s a division.
Verse 17: “They said to the blind man, what do you say about him since he opened your eyes?” Now in our version we read his answer as a declarative with a full stop, but I wonder if he didn’t answer with a question mark. I imagine him thinking this. “Hmm, who is he? I don’t know; let’s see-- you guys walked by me for decades and you left me lying there. He came along and healed me. What’s the category? Let’s see, you’re a scribe or elder, so he’s above that. What would that be called? Is he a prophet?”
He’d never been to Moore College or Dallas Seminary. He didn’t know what the theological truth was. All he knew was that he once was blind and now he can see.
Do you know that there’s a word missing in each of these scenes? There’s a word missing in this whole text? It’s the word Hallelujah. Listen, if God does stuff, we ought to shout it. So, the neighbors ought to have shouted.
Think about it. Our blind guy neighbor is healed. Hallelujah! they should have shouted. The Pharisees to whom they brought him should have shouted, “Wow, God has done stuff –hallelujah! Amen!”
Verse 18 “The Jews did not believe it of him that he’d been blind and had received sight until they subpoenaed his parents.” And they question them asking, “Is this your son? who you say was born blind? That can’t be—How does he now see?” They asked him three questions and his parents said, “Yes, we know he’s our boy. Yes, we know he was born blind” But number three-- we don’t know how it happened. He’s old enough; ask him.”
What should his parents have said? Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!
For me personally, I’ve got three adult kids, and I’ve got six grandsons and one beautiful granddaughter. I’d give my right kidney; I’d give my life for my kids to have a better life. I would give anything for them to have a better life and you who are parents-- wouldn’t you do the same as well? Of course!
These are parents of a blind man. Come on, shout hallelujah! Instead, they say, “he’s old enough. Ask him; he’ll speak for himself.” Verse 22: “This his parents said because they were afraid of the Jewish leadership because they’d already agreed that if anyone confessed Jesus to be the Messiah, he’d be put out of synagogue.”
That’s why his parents said that. Listen, the day I got saved, I got put out; I got removed from synagogue. I understand the cost. But I did not pay a cost as high as others. For instance, if one of you does something way out of bounds in church and then it was brought to the elders, and the elders said, “We better get this guy out of church,” what would happen? If you wanted to keep going to a church and living wrong, you’d simply go down the street to another church and it’s likely they would never investigate. They would likely welcome you and invite you to the home group.
But it’s not so easy in the Jewish world. Let’s say you get kicked out of synagogue. Let me give you a very real example. I’ll call this man Sammy. He lives in Brooklyn, New York. There are 500,000 Jews in Brooklyn. He works every day in the garment district over in Manhattan; he’s a tailor. As an ultra-Orthodox Jew, he rides a bus, not a city bus because then he might touch a gentile, no he rides a special private bus that picks up ultra-orthodox jews from there in his neighborhood and takes them to the garment district on the west side of Manhattan.
He works all day; at midday he takes some time out to bring his lunch to a study center where a group of orthodox Jewish men (no women) would gather and study the Talmud (the Jewish interpretation book of the Bible.) At the end of his long shift, he would get back on the bus and ride back to his home where he would eat, perhaps with his 10 children.
Through a series of miracles, Sammy and one of our missionaries met and studied the Bible, and Sammy gave his life to Jesus. He was living in utter fear that if they found out that he believed in Yeshua, he would be put out of synagogue. What would that mean to Sammy? It means that he would not be able to ride the bus to go to work. It means he would have no more work; it means he would have no more socialization. It means that he would have to figure out a new job. He was 47 years old and that’s all he’d ever done in life. What’s he going to do next week? And it means that his 10 children including his daughters would not be able to be married. Why, you might wonder? It’s because in that subgroup of Jewish people, the normal is for marriages to be arranged. If he’s tainted with his Christianity then his daughter must be tainted as well, so she would now lose. He’s affecting really infecting his whole family. that’s what it means to be put out of synagogue. It’s all his lives: social, economic, political, every which way you’re put out. I’ll tell you at last report, that Sammy is still doing well in the Lord and overcoming that fear day by day.
Verse 24: a “second time they called the man who’d been blind and they said give glory to God we know this man (again unnamed) is a sinner.” Friends, they’d already decided that so why did they even have a pseudo-investigation? The Pharisees had already made up their mind so any inquiry that they made was useless. All they were looking for was their pre-conceived answer.
That bolstered their negative view already. “Give glory to God” -- not to this man. That’s what they’re saying. We know this man’s a sinner. He answered, “I don’t know very much at all because you guys don’t teach me because blind guys and women and eunuchs were not allowed to go to learning centers. I don’t know very much” he said this, but I do know this, the words of Amazing Grace are real to me. “I once was blind but now I see.” They said, “Come on, what did he do to you? What was the trick? What was the magic that he threw on you sprinkled dust or some incantation from India? How did he open your eyes?” He said, “I told you already. Why do you want to hear it again? You want to become his disciples too?” This is such a Jewish lawyer thinking. I love this. What do you want to know because they don’t want to know-- they’re looking for a reason to disbelieve.
He didn’t give it to them, and then they said, “you’re his disciple; we are disciples of Moses.” You’re learning from the wrong professor; you’re in the wrong seminary. “We know that God has spoken to Moses but as for this man (third time) we don’t even know where he is from.” What does that mean? They knew where he was from geographically, but they didn’t know his yichus, that is, his family background. The argument to this day is who is the father of Jesus? We don’t know his genealogy-- that’s what they’re saying. The story by the rabbis then. and to this day, is that a Roman soldier raped Mary, and the subsequent birth of Jesus took place.
“We don’t even know where he’s from” the man answered, “well that’s amazing. you don’t know where he’s from but he’s the one who fixed me.” In other words, you people don’t have all the answers. ‘Have a nice day’ is what I’m hearing him say. We know that God doesn’t hear sinners, but if anyone is God-fearing and does his will, he hears him and then…” so he’s teaching them. He’s teaching the boys and so no wonder they interrupt and say in verse 34 “you were born entirely in sin —steeped in sin.” Now who says that kind of thing? Only rabbis who are convinced that if you are blind, there is a cause and that’s somebody’s sin. You were steeped in sin, I know that because you’re blind. “How dare you lecture us and they threw him out.” Verse 34. Dear friends, they’d already thrown him out, hadn’t they? They’d already called him out and said you’re steeped in sin; you can’t come to our seminary; you can’t come to our Bible class; you are not us (even though he was entirely us) and that could be the end of the story.
But the stories continue. Verse 35 “Yeshua heard that they’d put him out and finding him he said.” Don’t skip that; don’t skip narrative! What did that say “Yeshua heard that they threw him out.” Yeshua didn’t just heal the guy and go take a taxi and go to another town. Yeshua was right there sticking around for the story-- the unfolding of the story. He heard that they’d put him out and finding him. How do you find something? You search for it. Yeshua was looking for him. We don’t know if it was that day or another day, but we know he searches, he seeks. What does the Bible say “the son of man has come to seek and save that which was lost” (Luke 19.10) and Jesus said to the man, “Do you believe in the son of man” that is, in the messiah. Verse 36, he said, “Who is he that I might believe?”
You might have a different take on this than I do, but this is when I get upset at Jesus. This is when I want Jesus to say, “Here’s my business card. I’m the son of man; I’m the savior of the world; here’s my card you can now read that.” I’d like him to do that but no he does this weird thing. Verse 37, “you have both seen him and he is the one talking with you.” What? Just say “Yes, that’s me.” I would love that. Why he did the same thing with his cousin. Remember John the Baptist was in jail, and he sends Jesus a note and says, “are you the one to come or do we look for another?” (Matthew 11.1-6) That’s when Jesus should say something like “yes, John, I am,” that’s all he had to say. John would have gotten it. But no, he writes back to John and says tell him that “the blind see and the lame walk and the deaf hear.” John is asking a straight question, and I want Jesus to give a straight answer—that’s not that hard. Look what Jesus is doing, in his answer, he’s calling several witnesses to testify the lame are walking, the blind are seeing. He’s answering from Jewish hopefulness, in fulfillment of Isaiah chapter 35. That chapter says when the messiah comes these are the kinds of things that are going to happen. Jesus is not saying “Johnny, trust me like a used car salesman.” He’s not saying, “John pull up the bootstraps come on man you were there at the beginning keep going let’s keep going in a religious commitment.” He’s saying, “let the witnesses speak.”.
Now back to our story in John 9. Here he tells the formerly blind guy you’ve both seen him and you have heard him. That’s it! Do you remember my voice? This is the one speaking with you. I’m the one who said to you, “Go wash in the pool of Siloam.” Two testifiers right there. 1) that you are seeing and 2) I’m the one speaking and then he falls on his knees we figure, and he said, “Lord, I believe.” Wow that’s so great that could be the end of the story, but it’s not.
The final touch puts it all in perspective and demonstrates another biblical device. It’s also used in novels and poetry. It’s an inclusio. An inclusio is when a passage starts and ends with matching language or themes to highlight the main point. Think of it like parenthesis or brackets. Verse 39, Yeshua said, “For judgment I came into this world so those who don’t see may see and those who do see may become blind.” That’s confusing, isn’t it?
The next verses help us.
Verse 40 “the Pharisees who were with him” Does that surprise you? Pharisees who were with Yeshua. These are not the enemies; these are not the people to whom the blind man was brought. These are some ordinary guys.
These are the Pharisees who want to know. The Pharisees who were with him heard these things and said to him is this blind thing about us? Are you including us in this? Yeshua answered them and said in verse 41, “if you were blind, you’d have no sin but since you say we see your sin remains.”
I believe there are two kinds of people in the world. 1) sinners who admit that they’re sinners and 2) sinners who don’t admit that they’re sinners. Got it? Sinners who admit it and also sinners who don’t admit it.
Aren’t you glad you get to be a sinner who admits that you’re a sinner this morning? That’s what we do in church every time we sing about the blessed savior and his blood washing over us to cleanse us from our sin. We’re not saying, “I got this; I’m good; we’re good. I’m trying to walk. I’m righteous. I’m doing all right.”
No, rather we’re sinners who admit we are sinners. When you do that you can be healed and see and if you don’t admit that, then your blindness remains.
That’s what Yeshua is teaching. It’s a long story. It’s a great story. It happened at the end of chapters seven and eight. I know this sounds obvious, but John is not usually mixing his story. He’s not usually so concerned about a linear presentation of the life and death of the actions of Yeshua. He’s like a scrapbook collector. He’s not interested in keeping everything in chronological order. He’s an old guy when he’s writing this, and he’s remembering things in groupings.
Structurally, why do I tell you that? Because in chapter 7 it’s the feast of Tabernacles that happens about every October in our calendar. In the feast of Tabernacles there are two major events that took place in the Jewish world in those days. They are 1) a great lighting ceremony that takes place atop Jerusalem right there at the temple where giant torches were lit, and they were able to be seen not only in the temple area but for miles all around. Remember that it’s on top of a hill; there are no city lights in those days.
Yeshua stood in front of those lights and said, “I’m the light of the world.” He even said that at the beginning of our passage today.
The other ceremony is recorded in John 7.37. It was on the last day of the feast when there was a big parade. Think Mardi Gras only with clothes on. Massive celebrations took place. Crowds. Priests. And the center point was the pool of Siloam at the bottom of Jerusalem. The priests would take 2) a large pitcher of water from there and go up to the top of the mount where the temple was. The high priest would pour out that water and the people would celebrate.
There are all kinds of reasons for that, but I want you to see that with that as a backdrop Yeshua said, “if anyone’s thirsty, let him come to me and drink and out of his belly will flow rivers of living water but this, he spoke of the spirit.” With those two tabernacle images in John 7 and John 8 John is chronicling those links in a beautiful way because those who were in darkness can see the light of life because of the torch above Jerusalem.
But he who came down on to Jerusalem from above and who brought the light of the world (himself) to the world, and he brought it through the pool of Siloam not so that people could have beverages, but that so that he who was blind could see. He changed darkness and brought a man to light.
Do you remember we left a question hanging before? Why did he make mud and stick it in the guy’s face? He knelt and spat, made mud and puts it right in the blind guy’s face. You see, the last time somebody from above came down, took dust of the earth and fashioned something out of the clay, that was God himself who made Adam and then made Eve and then put them in the Garden of Eden. What is Yeshua saying about himself? He could have healed him by saying “you’re healed” but he got down, right next to him, made mud, put it in his face and basically said, “I am creator; you can trust me; I’ve got this one.”
And the blind man trusted him and the inclusio was completed. Why was the man born blind? That the works of God would be demonstrated. And they were. On Sukkot!
Jesus wanted to show himself as God incarnate the light of the world and the water of life.
I regularly get to ask people who are not yet believing, if they could change anything or make a name for themselves. I find out they are blind, and then if they’re blind or needy or have sin, and if they say, “no, we’re good; we see”, then I get to tell them, like Jesus said, “if you were blind you would have no sin.” Do you see how he wraps it back into the sin question from the very beginning? Who sinned this man or his parents? If you admitted you were blind you’d have no sin, but since you say we see then you’re responsible and your sin remains.
Dramatic Actions Template:
1) Reveals who He is (Messiah, God, Light of the World).
2) Confronts hypocrisy and empty religion e.g. parents, some of the Pharisees.
3) Visually communicates spiritual truth by opening eyes.
4) Often echoes Old Testament prophetic symbolism as we saw in Isaiah 35 and 61.
FIVE TAKEAWAYS from our 7th lesson tonight:
1) Don’t skip the narratives or the genealogies or the little markers in the Bible. They could be full of back story not to miss.
2) When God sees, He will see to the situation. Our job as believers is to get him to see. That’s what prayer is all about.
3) The word ‘hallelujah” is missing in this series of stories related to the Blind Man. Let us not miss our chance to shout his praise and proclaim the excellencies of him who called us out of darkness into his marvelous light.
4) Yeshua’s dramatic action showed the world that he is The Light of the World, the Messiah, even God, the Creator, and we get to know him and be with him forever. He demonstrated it with the blind man. He will be dramatic in action with us!
5) Don’t finish a story before the story is finished. Derek Prince used to say, “When you are looking for a miracle, keep plugged in until it is accomplished.” The blind man’s condition and healing is a testimony to all future seekers “who are with him” to admit our own sin and find sight. I once was blind; now I see.
