BLINDNESS:
Do we have a choice?
STORY SUMMARY
John 9
ONE DAY, JESUS WAS WALKING AND PASSED BY A
MAN WHO WAS BLIND FROM BIRTH
JESUS PUTS CLAY ON THE BLIND MAN’S
EYES
THE BLIND MAN DID
AS JESUS SAID AND
WENT TO WASH IN
THE POOL OF SILOAM
SO THE MAN WENT, WASHED, AND HE
CAME BACK SEEING!
PHARISEES DIDN’T WANT TO BELIEVE. THEY
EVEN CALLED THE MAN’S PARENTS TO ASK THEM
WHO HE REALLY WAS.
THE PHARISEES REFUSED TO BELIEVE AND TOLD
HIM TO LEAVE THE TEMPLE
JESUS WENT TO HIM AND ASKED
THE MAN IF HE BELIEVED THAT
JESUS IS THE SON OF GOD “LORD, I
BELIEVE!” AND HE WORSHIPED HIM
BLINDNESS
TWO TYPES OF BLINDNESS
1.
2.
Physical blindness: the condition of lacking
visual perception due to physiological or
neurological factors.
Spiritual blindness
SPIRITUAL BLINDNESS
 when
a person is not able to see who
Jesus Christ really is.
 not believing that Jesus Christ is the
Son of God, the Savior of the world.
 unable to see all the good things about
God that God wants you to see
CHECK YOUR BLIND SPOTS
WHAT ARE BLIND SPOTS?
CHECK YOUR BLIND SPOTS
 Spiritual
blind spot: when a Christian
doesn’t really understand something.
 Disciples

have a blind spot in their faith:
John 9:1-2  Now as Jesus passed by, He saw
a man who was blind from birth. And His
disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who
sinned, this man or his parents, that he was
born blind?”
The disciples had a spiritual blind spot in their
understanding of how the world works.
 The disciples didn’t understand why bad things
sometimes happen to good people. But here Jesus
takes away their blind spot.


This man who was born blind from birth wasn’t being
punished for a particular sin. God allowed this
blindness to happen to him for a good purpose – so that
the work of God might be displayed in his life, so that
God might reveal his love and power in this man’s life.
SO…WHO SINNED?
This man or his parents?
JESUS’ ANSWER:

John 9:3  “Jesus answered, ‘Neither this man
nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God
should be revealed in him.’”
Jesus is not saying these people never sinned
 To Jesus, it was more important to remove evil
than to speculate on its origin.

Disciples: natural question
 Jesus: spiritual answer!

WHY DO BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO GOOD
PEOPLE?!
This story reminds us why bad things sometimes
happen to good people: so that the work of God
might be displayed in a person’s life.
 Sometimes God allows bad things to happen to
someone, so that he can reveal his glory through
that person’s situation.

LOCATION
OPTION #1:
Pool of Bethesda
OPTION #2:
Pool of Israel
OPTION #3:
Tower’s Pool
OPTION #4:
Pool of Siloam
LOCATION
OPTION #4:
Pool of Siloam
SO WHAT’S SO SPECIAL ABOUT
THIS MIRACLE?!
…Jesus Healed Many People!
JESUS IS THE ULTIMATE CREATOR

And He said to him,
“Go, wash in the pool of Siloam”(which is
translated Sent).
So
, and came back seeing.
God’s gift to us
BREAKING THE SABBATH?
He shouldn’t
heal him on the
Sabbath! The
law forbids it!
Please have
mercy and
heal my son!
“Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death.”
Exodus 3:15
Ask yourself: does God really mean we cannot do good deeds on the Sabbath?
ROMANS 13:9-10

For the commandments…and if there is any other
commandment, are all summed up in this saying,
namely, “You shall love your neighbor
as yourself.” Love does no harm to a
neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the
law.
HOW? HOW? HOW? HOW?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
HOW?!!
John 9:10  “Therefore they said to him, “How
were your eyes opened?”
John 9:15  “Then the Pharisees also asked him
again how he had received his sight. He said to
them, ‘He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and I
see.’”
John 9:16  “…Others said, ‘How can a man who
is a sinner do such signs?’ And there was a division
among them. ”
John 9:18  “And they asked them, saying, ‘Is this
your son, who you say was born blind? How then
does he now see?’”
John 9:26  “Then they said to him again, ‘What
did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?’”
FEAR
Fearing God vs. Fearing Man
IS THIS THE SAME GUY?!
Some
said, “This is he.”
Others said, “He is like him.”
He said, “I am he.”
PHARISEES
John 9:16  “This Man is not from God, because
He does not keep the Sabbath.”
 John 9:24  “Give God the glory! We know that
this Man is a sinner.”
 John 9:28-29  “You are His disciple, but we are
Moses’ disciples. We know that God spoke to
Moses; as for this fellow, we do not know where
He is from.”
 John 9:34  “You were completely born in sins,
and are you teaching us?”

PARENTS

John 9:20-22“We know that this is our son,
and that he was born blind; but by what means
he now sees we do not know, or who opened his
eyes we do not know. He is of age; ask him. He
will speak for himself.”

“His parents said these things because they feared
the Jews”
OTHERS
John 9:9  “This is he.”
 John 9:16  “How can a man who is a sinner do
such signs?”

BLIND MAN




John 9:17  “He is a prophet.”
John 9:25  “Whether He is a sinner or not I do not
know. One thing I know: that though I was blind, now
I see.”
John 9:30-33  “Why, this is a marvelous thing, that
you do not know where He is from; yet He has opened
my eyes! Now we know that God does not hear sinners;
but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will,
He hears him. Since the world began it has been
unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of one who
was born blind. If this Man were not from God, He
could do nothing.”
John 9:38  “Lord, I believe!” And he worshiped Him.
JOHN 9:35
“Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and
when He had found him, He said to him, ‘Do
you believe in the Son of God?’”

Jesus is dealing with his spiritual blindness
and solving the problem of the man’s eternal
destiny.
JOHN 9:36-38
“He answered and said, ‘Who is He, Lord, that
I may believe in Him?’ And Jesus said to
him, ‘You have both seen Him and it is He
who is talking with you.’ Then he said,
‘Lord, I believe!’ And he worshiped Him.”

This was a man whose spiritual eyes were opened
to know the One True Living God of Creation.
BLIND MAN’S PROGRESS:
Calls Him a Man
Calls Him a Prophet
Becomes His Disciple
Calls Him a Man from God
WORSHIPS Him as the Son of God
YOU HAVE TO DO YOUR PART TOO!

Did the blind man have to do anything to receive
his sight?
YES

NO
If the blind man didn’t go and wash, would he
have received his sight?
YES
NO
God: “hard part”
 Us: easy part = obey and submit to Him
