John 9.1-41 tells us about the healing of a man born blind; responds to a question about whether this man sinned or his parents; the aftermath of the healing; the man and his parents being brought to the Pharisees to be questioned; after being questioned, the man and his story is rejected; the man believes in Yeshua; Yeshua makes a distinction between those who are spiritually blind and those with sight.
v 1…And as Yeshua passed by he saw a man blind from birth (Yeshua saw him first and will deliver him; this is a type of the “election” where the Lord sees us in our blindness and begins the salvation process-Rom 8.29-30; Ezek 16.6 tells us this was what happened when he chose or “elected” Israel).
v 2… And his talmidim asked him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he should be born blind (this is based on Yehovah’s warning in Exo 20.5 about visiting the iniquities of the fathers upon the children, even to the fourth generation. But Yehovah also says “of those who hate me” as a qualifier)?”
v 3…Yeshua answered, “Neither this man sinned, nor his parents (it was not any special sin that either of them committed); but in order that the works of God might be displayed in him (there is spiritual blindness in God’s elect at the beginning for the same reason. We are born spiritually blind, but God’s grace and power is displayed in us so that we come out of spiritual darkness into the light of understanding).
v 4… I must work the works of him who sent me, as long as it is day (the opportunity while Yeshua is in the world), night is coming (when he departs, darkness will reign but only for a short while-John 1.5,10) when no man can work.
v 5… While I am in the world, I am the light of the world (when the blind can see; also one of the idioms for the festival of Sukkot).”
v 6… When he had said this, he spat on the ground (spittle came out of his mouth, like the word of God. Spittle denotes “strength” and the lack of it means “weak” so spittle means “my strength”-Psa 22.15), and made clay of the spittle (just like in creating Adam in Gen 2.7, he is “recreating” the blind man spiritually), and applied the clay to his eyes (the meaning of the clay is this. The Lord is the potter and the man who is being formed spiritually is the clay-Isa 29.15-16; 45.9; Job 10.9; 33.6. This is symbolic of a man being reborn),
v 7… and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam (Shiloach= This was the largest mikvah for immersions in Jerusalem-2 Chr 32.30, Isa 8.6.; Ashes of the Red Heifer were mixed with water from here, and it played a central role in the “Beit ha Shoevah” or “house of the water-pouring” ceremony at Sukkot)” which is translated, Sent. And so he went (was sent) away and washed, and came seeing (a person is born into this world, but the Lord sees us before we ever see him. It’s not that we “find” the Messiah, he finds us. He applies his word to us and we are washed in the Holy Spirit and we can see. The whole process starts and ends with the Lord, that is called election).
v 8… The neighbors, therefore, and those who previously saw him as a beggar (he was well known by those in Jerusalem), were saying, “Is this not the one who used to sit and beg?”
v 9… Others were saying, “This is he, others were saying, “No, but he is like him.” He kept saying, “I am the one (he is acknowledging what he was before he could “see”).”
v 10…Therefore they were saying to him, “How then were your eyes opened (that is the great mystery in salvation, how the Lord knew us, chose us and opened our eyes and the natural man cannot understand it-John 3.9)?”
v 11.. He answered, “The man who is called Yeshua made clay, and anointed my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam, and wash; so I went away and washed (immersed), and I received my sight (one day all of Israel will “see”-Isa 29.17-18, 35.4-5, 42.6-7).”
v 12…And they said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.”
v 13… They brought to the Pharisees (from Beit Shammai) him who was formerly blind.
v 14…Now it was a Sabbath on the day when Yeshua made the clay and opened his eyes (probably Shemini Atzeret, the eighth day, the same day as the events in 8.1-59).
v 15… Again, the Pharisees also were asking him how he received his sight. And he said to them, “He applied clay to my eyes, and I washed, and I see (God made Adam from the ground, and the Jews heard Yeshua say he “existed” before Abraham in John 8.58, thus equating himself with God. So, he uses the same technique God did with Adam to heal this man).
v 16… Therefore some of the Pharisees (members of the Sanhedrin from the School of Shammai) were saying, “This man is not from God, because he does not keep the Sabbath (he made clay on the Sabbath, which violated one of the 39 categories of work devised by the rabbis).” But others (of the Pharisees, probably from the School of Hillel) were saying, “How can this man who is a sinner perform such signs?” And there was a division among them (the Pharisees from Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel in the Sanhedrin. These two houses were in contention about 350 different things, including what you could or could not do on the Sabbath).
v 17… They said therefore to the blind man again, “What do you say about him, since he opened your eyes?” And he said, “He is a prophet.”
v 18… The Jews (the rulers, leaders) therefore did not believe it of him, that he had been born blind, and had received sight, until they called the parents of the very one who had received his sight
v 19… and questioned them (before the Sanhedrin), saying, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? Then how does he see?”
v 20… His parents answered them and said, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind;
v 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 (at 13 years old, you can be a witness, but by his answers he was much older), he shall speak for himself.”
v 22… His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews (the rulers, especially in the Sanhedrin); for the Jews had already agreed, that if anyone should confess him to be Messiah, he should be put out of the synagogue (this is called “niddui” which is a civil separation for 30, 60 or 90 days. If no repentance, it is moved to “cherem” status, which means one is totally “cut off” from the synagogue and the people).
v 23…For this reason his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”
v 24… So a second time they called the man who had been born blind, and said to him, “Give glory to God (confess this fraud); we know that this man (Yeshua) is a sinner (healing on the Sabbath, etc).”
v 25…He therefore answered, “Whether he is a sinner, I do not know; one thing I do know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see (a short and concise testimony; no need to get into a discussion about their views about Yeshua).”
v 26…They said therefore to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”
v 27… He answered them, “I told you already, and you did not listen; why do you want to hear again? You do not want to become his talmidim too; do you?
v 28… And they reviled him ( they thought he was being disrespectful), and said, “You are his talmid; but we are talmidim of Moses (actually, if you were a talmid of Yeshua, you would also be a talmid of Moses. Those that think they follow Yeshua and do not keep the Torah because they think it has been “done away with” are like the members of the Sanhedrin here).
v 29… We know that God has spoken to Moses; but as for this man, we do not know where he is from.”
v 30… The man answered and said to them, “Well, here is an amazing thing, that you do not know where he is from, and he opened my eyes (you educated teachers of Israel can’t discern where Yeshua is from, and that he is from God. But he is so clearly the Messiah that anyone can see it; they were more blind than the man was).
v 31…We know that that God does not hear sinners (everybody, even God’s people, sin. By sinner he means those who live in sin, imposters); but if anyone is God-fearing (a worshipper) and does his will (the Torah), he hears him (like Cornelius in Acts 10.35).
v 32… Since the beginning of time it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind (nothing in the Tanach).
v 33… If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”
v 34… They answered and said to him; “You were born entirely in sins (meaning he was blind because his parents were immoral; there was a belief that a baby in the womb could sin also), and you are teaching us?” And they put him out (they totally cut him off or excommunicated him from the people of Israel, not just for a month or so, but forever, called “cherem”).
v 35… Yeshua heard that they had put him out (cherem); and finding him (Yeshua looked for him), he said, “Do you believe in the Son of God (another title for Messiah)?”
v 36… He answered and said, “And who is he, Lord, that I may believe in him (you see here the principle of faith through God’s grace, having it already planted in his heart before he even knew who Yeshua was).
v 37… Yeshua said to him, “You have both seen him, and he is the one who is talking with you.”
v 38… And he said, “Lord, I believe.” And he worshipped him (something due to God alone-John 4.20-25, 12.20).
v 39… And Yeshua said, “For judgment I came into this world (he came to save, but light coming in to the world provokes judgment as man responds, they are judged-see Luke 12.49-53 notes), that those who do not see may see (the lesson of the blind man); and those who see may become blind (the Pharisees were worse off now than before they dealt with this blind man).”
v 40… Those of the Pharisees who were with him (when Yeshua found the blind man) heard these things and said to him, “We are not blind too, are we (daring him to tell them they were blind too)?”
v 41… Yeshua said to them (he accepted their “dare” and will now tell them the truth), “If you were blind (and knew you needed light, truth) you would have no sin (you would be forgiven, you would not reject me); but since you say, ‘We see’ (they were wise in their own eyes, didn’t need any illumination, thought they knew who Yeshua was); your sin (of rejecting me) remains (an unpardonable sin, they rejected the Holy Spirit who was pointing to Yeshua. This recalls the words of Isaiah, the blind receive sight-Isa 29.18; 35.5; 42.7; while the “seeing” are blinded-Isa 6.10; 42.20).”
Leave a Reply