In John chapter 9 we can see a progression of the attitude of the man who was born blind to the man who healed him. It can function as something of a template for considering the journey other’s will take in getting to know Jesus.
The man called Jesus (v.11)
When the man has just been healed and people are amazed and wondering if it’s even the same guy – they ask him to tell them what happened. He replies, “the man called Jesus made some mud and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed and received my sight.”
He doesn’t know anything about Jesus. He doesn’t even know where he is. He’s just a man and he has a name, Jesus. He also knows that he healed him. But he is not yet a believer or follower of Jesus.
There are a lot of people who fit into this category. They’ve experienced God at work in someway but they don’t know what that means, they don’t yet know what to do, they haven’t yet resolved in their hearts what they should do.
He is a prophet (v.17)
The story moves on and the man is once again telling his testimony again (note how important this is) and the Pharisees say they know, “this man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath” and others say, ‘well how can he do such miracles?’ So they ask the blind man and this time he says, “He is a prophet.”
This is more than ‘the man called…’, clearly Jesus isn’t just a man. Being able to see is an obviously really good thing, so then Jesus must be from God. So he must be a prophet. There are A LOT of people in this category. ALL Muslims think Jesus is a prophet. Hindus are often happy to accept that he is a prophet. There are a lot of people who know enough about Jesus to think he must be something. Prophet fits the bill.
From God (v.33)
During his second interrogation by the Pharisees, he has again shared the account of what Jesus did to open his blind eyes. And some of the Jews begin to contradict themselves.
The Pharisees had a theory: when the Messiah comes, no one will know where he’s from and do things that only the messiah could do (John 7:27 ff). Now they say, “We don’t know where he comes from doing these amazing things so that proves he can’t be the Messiah.” You can’t have it both ways.
Well — here’s a man no one can account for, doing things no one can explain. The man born blind sees that immediately, even if the Pharisees refuse to. Yet again he has told people what God has done for him.
And here is one of the benefits of regular testimony. It strengthens faith. Yours if no one else’s! And so “If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” But he did do something and so he must be from God.
His argument isn’t subtle. He’s not a theologian. But he knows what blindness is and now he knows what sight is. And he knows who gave it to him. Sometimes the simplest testimony is the most powerful. The man called Jesus then is a prophet from God.
His parents had been worried about being excluded from the synagogue so they decided they could not confess Christ, but their son has gone too far to turn back now and so he is cast out.
He is paying a price for sticking up for Jesus. But he could no more deny Jesus than he could deny that he can now see.
His testimony is based on a new reality. Something has changed. Jesus had done something.
So if Jesus has done something in your life I urge you to confess it – regularly and repeatedly. Tell people what God has done in your life. It may strengthen their faith but it will definitely strengthen yours.
“Lord, I believe.” (v.38)
Jesus hearing that he had been cast out comes to find him. That fact alone should tell us a lot about the sort of person Jesus is. He is willing to do you good and make you whole, He is not willing to leave you outside and alone and instead will draw you into a new fellowship, into his family.
He finds the man and asks him, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” and the man says, “No, but I’m ready to – show me who He is”. The work God had started was bearing fruit. Jesus says to him, “I’m the one.”
And the man replies, “Lord, I believe” and he falls face down to the ground before Jesus. Jesus is now Lord. His Lord.
That’s the journey people need to go on:
The man Jesus → prophet → from God → my Lord.
But not everyone
That’s the best possible ending to this story. But John doesn’t let us stay there. Because standing nearby, watching all of this, are men who have seen everything the blind man saw — and have come to the opposite conclusion. In fact the people most at risk of missing out on Jesus are the ones who already think they can see.
They overhear Jesus say, “For judgement I came in to this world, that those who do not see may see and those who see may become blind.”
This follows what Jesus told the Pharisee Nicodemus in John 3.
And this is the judgement: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”
Jn 3:19–21.
Light has come. Coming to the light means that those in darkness, the blind, can now see.
But there is the opposite movement. There are some who love the darkness and refuse to come to the light. They say they can see but they are blind because they have stayed in the darkness.
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. – Jn 3:36.
To believe in the Son is to receive eternal life and I believe the man born blind, took his opportunity to believe in Jesus and so saw life. But the Pharisees at this point refused and so remained in the dark and under wrath and judgment.
Jesus heard the man had been thrown out, and went looking for him. That’s still what he does. He isn’t waiting for you to find your way to him — he’s already on his way to find you. The only question is what you’ll say when he asks: do you believe? The man born blind knew what he’d seen. He said “Lord”, and he meant it.
Further Reading
More from our walk through John’s Gospel:
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