CHAPTER IX. JESUS AND THE BLIND MAN (John 9:1-41) This miracle is reported only by John,. fact that is not strange when we remember that he alone gives. report of the ministry in Judea in which it occurred. The time cannot be certainly determined. Some have supposed that it occurred on the same da... [ Continue Reading ]
MASTER, WHO DID SIN? The disciples observed the Savior's look, resting sympathetically on the sufferer. They ask the solution of. troublesome question. It was the current opinion of the Jews that such an infliction was. punishment for some sin. Traces of this belief are often found in the Scriptures... [ Continue Reading ]
NEITHER HATH THIS MAN SINNED, NOR HIS PARENTS. Jesus, does not affirm that they were sinless, but that their sins were not the cause of the calamity. We are not justified in asserting that the sufferer is. sinner. Job's friends tried to prove his guilt by his calamities; the enemies of Christ, when... [ Continue Reading ]
THE NIGHT COMETH, WHEN NO MAN CAN WORK. The works of God are to be made manifest in the blind man; Christ must work those works while the short day of life lasteth; the night of death soon cometh to everyone when no man can work. It is probable, when these words were spoken, the afternoon was movin... [ Continue Reading ]
AM THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD. He was the sun that caused the day of life and hope to the soul. He sheds moral and spiritual light upon the world. It was prophesied that he should give sight to the blind. He not only opened blind souls, but blind eyes. At that moment he was about to be light to one who... [ Continue Reading ]
HE SPAT ON THE GROUND, AND MADE CLAY OF THE SPITTLE. Why he did this we cannot be sure. The ancients believed there was. virtue in saliva, but one way of healing was as easy to the Savior as another. It is probable that this means was adopted in order to send the man to the pool of Siloam to wash.... [ Continue Reading ]
GO, WASH IN THE POOL OF SILOAM. A pool in the environs of Jerusalem, called Siloah or Shiloah in Nehemiah 3:15 and Isaiah 8:6. South of the temple mount is. basin hewn out of the rock in part and partly built of masonry, fifty-three feet long, eighteen feet wide and nineteen feet deep, which is ide... [ Continue Reading ]
IS NOT THIS HE THAT SAT AND BEGGED? The only doubt arose from the fact that that was. blind beggar, but this man could see. Apparently, he was. well-known beggar, but their surprise was so great that it required his affirmation before they were sure of his identity. "Both beggary and blindness are... [ Continue Reading ]
HOW WERE THINE EYES OPENED? They were astounded. In surprise they demand an explanation. His reply is so laconic as to stamp him as. more than ordinary man. The literal rendering of the account of what he, himself, did is, "And going, and washing,. see.... [ Continue Reading ]
WHERE IS HE? This question may have been asked out of curiosity. These questioners were the neighbors of the blind man.... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY BROUGHT HIM TO THE PHARISEES. It was. notable event that demanded investigation. Hence they brought him to religious men of great influence. These Pharisees were then the ruling sect, and the blind man is brought to leaders among them for an informal investigation of his case. The Pharisees, a... [ Continue Reading ]
IT WAS THE SABBATH DAY. Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath. We have found in the case of the miracle at the pool of Bethesda how they were angered by any apparent violation of the day. They tried to observe the day in the letter and constantly broke it in the spirit.... [ Continue Reading ]
THIS MAN IS NOT OF GOD, BECAUSE HE KEEPETH NOT THE SABBATH DAY. The Pharisees questioned the man, learned that his eyes had been smeared with spittle, and then declared that Jesus had broken the Sabbath. The Jewish doctors of the law, while binding burdens that God had never imposed, declared that... [ Continue Reading ]
HE SAID, HE IS. PROPHET. They ask for each man's opinion and, finally, in their perplexity and division, turned to the man healed.. little while before he had said that "a man called Jesus" healed him; now he declares that "he is. prophet;". little later he is prepared to receive him as the Son of... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT THE JEWS DID NOT BELIEVE... THAT HE HAD BEEN BLIND. In verses 13-17, the examination of the blind man is conducted by the Pharisees; now not that sect alone, but "the Jews," the official influence of Jerusalem, including also the Pharisees, undertake the investigation. Their only way of escape... [ Continue Reading ]
HOW THEN DOTH HE NOW SEE? They ask two questions: 1. Was he blind from birth? 2. How was he cured? for the fact that he now sees is indisputable. The manner of asking the first question is designed to express doubts: "Is this your son, that you _say_ was born blind?" The parents reply: 1. He is... [ Continue Reading ]
BECAUSE THEY FEARED THE JEWS. The parents were non-committal concerning how their son was cured from fear of those same official classes who were now questioning them. We learn that an agreement had already been reached that any one confessing that Jesus was the Christ should be excommunicated. Thou... [ Continue Reading ]
GIVE GOD THE PRAISE. Failing to obtain any satisfaction from the parents, they send for the son. They aim in this second interview to overawe him, and force him to the admission that there was some deception or mistake about Jesus having healed him. "Give glory to God" (see Joshua 7:19) seems to ha... [ Continue Reading ]
HE ANSWERED. His answer shows that he was the wrong kind of material to be overawed. He enters into no dispute whether the Healer was. sinner or not, but of one thing there could be no doubt: he had been blind, but now he saw.... [ Continue Reading ]
WHAT DID HE TO THEE? They begin. cross examination in the hope that some flaw in the chain of proof might be developed.... [ Continue Reading ]
HAVE TOLD YOU ALREADY. See verse 15. He had answered these questions to the Pharisees who were an important part of "the Jews." His answers show. growing impatience. WILL YE ALSO BE HIS DISCIPLES? This question is sarcastic. They seem so interested, have insisted on him telling the story of his c... [ Continue Reading ]
WE KNOW THAT GOD SPAKE TO MOSES. Hence they argue that they are on sure ground in clinging to Moses, but as to being the disciple of "this fellow, they do not even know whence he is.... [ Continue Reading ]
HEREIN IS. MARVELLOUS THING, THAT YE KNOW NOT WHENCE HE IS. Now follows. marvellous scene,. ragged mendicant who was only that morning begging his bread, in this conclave of great ecclesiastics, expounds theology to the very men who "sat in Moses' seat" and shows. better knowledge of the Scriptures... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW WE KNOW THAT GOD HEARETH NOT SINNERS. His argument was that of the distinguished "master in Israel," Nicodemus, who declared to Christ, "No man can do the miracles thou doest, except God be with him" (John 3:2). In the same spirit the man cured of blindness declares that God only hears true wor... [ Continue Reading ]
SINCE THE WORLD BEGAN... ONE THAT WAS BORN BLIND. He was right. No similar miracle is recorded even in the Scriptures. Nor in ordinary cases of congenital blindness is there any cure even by the developments of modern optical science. However, in certain kinds of blindness, cures are not unknown, b... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU WAST ALTOGETHER BORN IN SINS. In verse. it is asked: "Did this man sin that he should be born blind?" They, probably in reference to that belief, declare that he was born "in sins," yet he would presume to teach great doctors like themselves! In their rage there is an implied acknowledgement o... [ Continue Reading ]
JESUS HEARD THAT THEY HAD CAST HIM OUT. Whereupon he at once sought him. The man had lost the world, but Christ was ready to give him heaven. DOST THOU BELIEVE ON THE SON OF GOD? Many manuscripts read, the Son of Man, but at any rate the man knew so little of Jesus that he did not know who was me... [ Continue Reading ]
WHO IS HE, LORD? He does not ask this question in doubt, but that he may receive the information which will lead to. complete faith. He has full confidence in Jesus, but has not learned that he is the Son of God, and probably waits to hear him affirm it.... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU HAST SEEN HIM. Those eyes that have been opened are permitted to see him in the person of the great Healer and he that speaks at that moment is the Son of God. It is. striking fact that this declaration of himself, spontaneously, to the outcast from the synagogue, only has one parallel case, t... [ Continue Reading ]
BELIEVE, LORD, AND HE WORSHIPED HIM. At once there is an outspoken confession of faith, followed by an act of homage. The believer believes with the heart, confesses with the lips, and shows forth this faith by obedience.... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR JUDGMENT. AM COME INTO THIS WORLD. He came into the world to save it, but the effect of his coming is to reveal every man's true condition. The light reveals the stains that would otherwise be unseen, and Christ's presence reveals the presence and power of sin in the hearts of men. He is the to... [ Continue Reading ]
ARE WE BLIND ALSO? The form of the question implies that these Pharisees supposed that Christ would answer in the negative. He had spoken of two classes, those who did not see who should see; and those who saw, or had the highest spiritual opportunities, who should become blind by wilfully closing... [ Continue Reading ]
IF YE WERE BLIND, YE SHOULD HAVE NO SIN. If they were blind, utterly without knowledge, they would have no moral responsibility, but they claimed to see and had the highest opportunities for knowing; hence, when they closed their eyes and thus wilfully refused to see, they were guilty. To other sin... [ Continue Reading ]