8 Therefore the neighbors, and those who previously saw him as a beggar, were saying, “Is not this the one who used to sit and beg?” 9 Others were saying, “This is he,” still others were saying, “No, but he is like him.” He kept saying, “I am the one.” 10 So they were saying to him, “How then were your eyes opened?” 11 He answered, “The man who is called Jesus made clay, and anointed my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash’; so I went away and washed, and I received sight.” 12 They said to him, “Where is He?” He said, “I do not know.”
13 They brought to the Pharisees the man who was formerly blind. 14 Now it was a Sabbath on the day when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. 15 Then the Pharisees also were asking him again how he received his sight. And he said to them, “He applied clay to my eyes, and I washed, and I see.” 16 Therefore some of the Pharisees were saying, “This man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath.” But others were saying, “How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?” And there was a division among them. 17 So they said to the blind man again, “What do you say about Him, since He opened your eyes?” And he said, “He is a prophet.”
18 The Jews then did not believe it of him, that he had been blind and had received sight, until they called the parents of the very one who had received his sight, 19 and questioned them, saying, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? Then how does he now see?” 20 His parents answered them and said, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; 21 but how he now sees, we do not know; or who opened his eyes, we do not know. Ask him; he is of age, he will speak for himself.” 22 His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone confessed Him to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue. 23 For this reason his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”
Message: Division among the Pharisees
Time: John most likely wrote between A.D. 85 and 90. John's purpose in writing was, "that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name (John 20:31)."
What the Lord is Saying: Up to this point, most of the readings that I have been doing in John have been with Jesus talking, but in this passage there isn't Jesus talking. There is no red letter speech. This passage is a lot of detail really of the aftermath of the incident of the first 7 verses of John 9 and our previous lesson. The Jews are inspecting the blind man, questioning now him having sight. The man gives testimony of what Jesus has done. The Jews problem, once again with Jesus, is that He has done this healing on a Sabbath day. And so there was division among them (verse 16) over that which Jesus had done. The Jews then didn't believe that the man had actually been born blind so they went to his parents. But the parents would not answer for themselves. The parents were scared of saying something that the Jews didn't want to hear and being banished possibly from the temple so they instead said the beggar or young man was of age. So maybe this man was not that old, if that matters any.
Contrary to the last lesson, this one does not seem to have as much to learn from. There is a dispute brooding over Jesus and he is rattling cages and doing work but creating division. I also am going to think about those words Jesus said in John 3, that the beggar's blindness "was in order that the works of God might be displayed in him." Could it be that the healing was a work of God? The Jesus carried out that work? I am not sure but now that He has done the healing it has produced a lot of controversy. It is all pointing to God and His work and we are hoping that God is glorified.
Summary: After the healing of the beggar of his blindness, the Jews and people in Jerusalem are questioning the healing.
Promise: Over the course of John 9, the man born blind goes from knowing Jesus’ name to calling Him a prophet to confessing Him as Lord (9:10, 17, 38). This progression indicates a growth in the man’s understanding and faith.
Prayer: Lord, you are the great healer and your works are to be praised and glorified. Thank you for working and that John records this work. Thank you for the testimony of Your Word. Keep teaching me through it.
Note: If you are interested in other studies/devotions, check out my index of Bible Study's.
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