John 9
COMMENTARY:
: 2 And HIS disciples asked HIM, saying Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? (1118 “parents” [goneus] means the father and mother who produce, nurture, and raise a child, considered collectively, generator, biological or legal parents, or begetter.)
DEVOTION: There are false teachings that we receive from the world around. There are false teachings taught by religious leaders. There is a lot of falsehood in our world. Remember that the author of these false teachings is the devil. He is a liar. People believe his lies and teach them to others.
Jesus is concerned with teaching the truth. HE wants everyone to know the truth regarding HIS relationship to the Father and our relationship to HIM. The only way we can discover truth is to study the Word of God.
There are two falsehoods that the disciples believed in this one statement. They believed that a child in the womb could sin before he was born. Yes everyone is born with a sin nature since Adam. Adam was created innocent but chose to sin when offered the fruit from Eve. If our sin nature caused this man to be blind at birth then all babies would be blind. We are all spiritually blind at birth.
The second falsehood that they believed is that a child born to parents who were sinners could be blind because their parents sin. There are diseases in the parents that cause the children to inherit those diseases but this isn’t the case with this man.
Jesus stated that the man was blind to manifest the works of God at this time. This was a special presentation of truth regarding the relationship between sickness and sin. Not all sickness is caused by sin. Not all those who are sick are out of fellowship with the LORD. Some sickness is for the glory of God.
Watch out that you don’t become like the disciples or like the Pharisees regarding their beliefs regarding sickness.
CHALLENGE: God does use sickness at times to correct a believer who is sinning. We also need to realize that not all sickness is because of sin. God uses it for HIS glory to show the world that Christian’s can handle sickness better than those outside of Christ.
: 22 These words spoke his parents, because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had agreed already, that if any man did confess that HE was Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue. (3670 “confess” [homologeo] means profess, promise, acknowledge, to agree with, to concede, to admit or declare one’s self guilty of what one is accused of, or to declare openly.)
DEVOTION: In the time period when Jesus came the religious leaders had great power of the people. Their worst form of judgment was to put someone out of the Synagogue. That person was shunned by those who wanted to be in good standings with the religious leaders. It was like causing a person to be in solitary confinement with people around. No one would talk to them. No one would help them.
The parents of the blind man were afraid of this judgment and because of it they would not defend their son. They let him as an adult speak for himself and whatever happened to him was going to happen to him alone. Doesn’t sound like good parents but that was the way they handled this situation.
Parents have a responsibility toward their children to raise them to serve the LORD if they are believers. That doesn’t mean that all the children will be followers of the LORD but the parents have to try.
I believe parents and even grandparents are going to answer to the LORD for the raising of their children and grandchildren. Some grandparents who are believers are not setting a good example for their grandchildren. Some parents are listening to their parents rather than listening to the LORD.
If children don’t become followers of the LORD, they are going to be held personally accountable for their rejection of Jesus Christ. They will not be able to blame their parents or grandparents for their rejection at the Great White Throne. Many parents and grandparents might be saves yet so as by fire if even they are believers. Their claim might be false also.
CHALLENGE: False religion is a problem. Many people believe they are saved but there is no change. Some are afraid of social pressure. Some want social status rather than Jesus.
: 31 Now we know that God hears not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of God, and does HIS will, him HE hears. (268 “sinners” [hamartolos] means devoted to sin, especially wicked, pre-eminently sinful, or all wicked men.)
DEVOTION: False beliefs need to be confronted. Jesus confronted the false beliefs of the people in general. HE confronted the false beliefs of HIS disciples. HE confronted the false beliefs of the religious leaders. Too often we believe falsehoods that need to be corrected.
We have to be willing to listen to the Word of God regarding our beliefs. Remember that the Holy Spirit is our teacher and HE needs us to pay attention to HIM during our times of studying the Word of God. Jesus wanted HIS disciples to pay attention to HIS teachings.
The Pharisees thought that all tax collectors were sinners. The Pharisees thought all those who didn’t follow their teachings were sinners. The Pharisees called Jesus a sinner. We know from the Bible that Jesus never sinned. HE was sinless. HE was the only man who was sinless.
Now the blind man replies to the Pharisees regarding their teachings and the teachings of the word of God. He states that God doesn’t hear sinners. Is this a true statement? The first prayer that God hears from a sinner is his prayer of confession of sin and need for a Savior. Those who are worshippers of God are followers of Christ today or they should be.
Not everyone in a worship service in our churches is a follower of Christ. Some come in to hear what the preacher is saying to make fun of it. Some come in because their spouse or parent told them they had to come to worship service. Some come in and want to find out the truth about Jesus. Some come in who are genuine followers of Christ and want to worship HIM because of HIS provision of salvation.
The true worshiper are ones that the LORD hears when they pray. The blind man was reminding the Pharisees of the teaching of Scripture.
God doesn’t hear wicked men until they repent. If God doesn’t hear wicked men and God heard Jesus and healed the blind man, then Jesus must not be a sinner. Makes sense!!! The Pharisees could only respond by kicking the former blind man out of the synagogue.
Jesus ends HIS lesson by confronting the Pharisees that thought they had sight but were really blinded in their false beliefs.
CHALLENGE: Confront your beliefs with the Word of God. Sometimes sickness or blindness is for the glory of God.
: 41 Jesus said to them, If you were blind, you should have no sin: but now you say, We see; therefore your sin remains. (5185 “blind” [tuphlos] means mentally blind, not able to understand, spiritual blindness, or deprive of sight.)
DEVOTION: The whole chapter is centered around the fact that Jesus healed a blind man on the Sabbath. On this occasion HE spat on the ground and made clay of HIS spittle and anointed the eyes of the blind man. Then HE sent him to the pool of Siloam to wash. After he washed, he could see.
Now after all the questioning of the man, him parents, the crowd and the man again they didn’t believe that Jesus could heal because God doesn’t answer the prayers of a sinner according to the Pharisees.
Jesus confronts the Pharisees regarding not their physical sight but of their spiritual sight. They thought that they knew everything spiritual. They thought that they were the final judge regarding what God does and doesn’t’ do.
They ask Jesus if HE thought they were blind spiritually. HIS reply is found in this verse. HE stated that you have to be blind spiritually before you can be cleansed of sin. They were not blind spiritually according to themselves but thought they could see the truth. Jesus tells them that they were yet in their sins.
The Pharisees didn’t want to know the truth about their condition. They were sure that they had all the answers to all the problems they would ever face.
We can sometimes develop the same attitude once we have been a believer for a long time. We attend a fundamental church that believes fundamental truths regarding the Scriptures and teach these truths to the next generation. A problem can develop of spiritual elite thinking. We can think that we are the only church that is genuinely teaching the truth and that all others are false teachers.
Once we start thinking that way we stop learning and listening to the Holy Spirit in our life. HE doesn’t want us to have spiritual pride. HE wants us to have humble acceptance of our position in HIS Kingdom.
We have to watch out for spiritual pride that causes us to stop searching the Scriptures to learn more about a proper relationship to the LORD. We need to remember that we never arrive at perfection while we are on this earth.
CHALLENGE: We need to be humble learners from the time we become a believer until the day we die.
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