NLT Study Bible - Gospel of John - Flipbook - Page 29
John 9:10
1790
But the beggar kept saying, “Yes, I am the
same one!”
10They asked, “Who healed you? What
happened?”
11He told them, “The man they call Jesus
made mud and spread it over my eyes and
told me, ‘Go to the pool of Siloam and wash
yourself.’ So I went and washed, and now I
can see!”
12“Where is he now?” they asked.
“I don’t know,” he replied.
13Then they took the man who had been
blind to the Pharisees, 14because it was on
the Sabbath that Jesus had made the mud
and healed him. 15The Pharisees asked the
man all about it. So he told them, “He put
the mud over my eyes, and when I washed it
away, I could see!”
16Some of the Pharisees said, “This man
Jesus is not from God, for he is working on
the Sabbath.” Others said, “But how could
an ordinary sinner do such miraculous
signs?” So there was a deep div ision of opin
ion among them.
17Then the Pharisees again quest ioned
the man who had been blind and demanded,
“What’s your opinion about this man who
healed you?”
The man replied, “I think he must be a
prophet.”
18The Jewish leaders still refused to be
lieve the man had been blind and could now
see, so they called in his parents. 19They
asked them, “Is this your son? Was he born
blind? If so, how can he now see?”
20His parents replied, “We know this is
our son and that he was born blind, 21but
we don’t know how he can see or who
healed him. Ask him. He is old enough to
speak for himself.” 22His parents said this
9:11 The blind man identified Jesus and
testified strongly about him. The man
was healed of his physical infirmity,
gained increasing spiritual insight (9:17,
33), and became Jesus’ disciple (9:38;
cp. 5:11-15).
9:13 The Pharisees (see 1:24) were
arbiters of legal interpretation, so the
community looked to them to explain
this miracle. Rather than celebrate the
healing, these religious leaders interrogated the man because Jesus had
performed the miracle on the Sabbath
(see 5:16-18).
9:17 The man had already identified
his healer (9:11, 16). Now he made his
own spiritual judgment, calling Jesus
a prophet.
9:18 The Pharisees wanted to discount
the miracle and hoped the man’s
parents would deny the healing.
because they were afraid of the Jewish lead
ers, who had announced that anyone saying
Jesus was the Messiah would be expelled
from the synagogue. 23That’s why they said,
“He is old enough. Ask him.”
24So for the second time they called in
the man who had been blind and told him,
“God should get the glor y for this, because
we know this man Jesus is a sinner.”
25“I don’t know whether he is a sinner,”
the man replied. “But I know this: I was
blind, and now I can see!”
26“But what did he do?” they asked. “How
did he heal you?”
27“Look!” the man exclaimed. “I told you
once. Didn’t you listen? Why do you want to
hear it again? Do you want to become his dis
ciples, too?”
28Then they cursed him and said, “You
are his disciple, but we are disciples of
Moses! 29We know God spoke to Moses, but
we don’t even know where this man comes
from.”
30“Why, that’s very strange!” the man re
plied. “He healed my eyes, and yet you don’t
know where he comes from? 31We know
that God doesn’t listen to sinners, but he is
ready to hear those who worship him and
do his will. 32Ever since the world began, no
one has been able to open the eyes of some
one born blind. 33If this man were not from
God, he couldn’t have done it.”
34“You were born a total sinner!” they an
swered. “Are you trying to teach us?” And
they threw him out of the synagogue.
9:14
Luke 13:14
John 5:9
9:16
John 3:2; 7:43
9:17
Matt 21:11
9:22
Luke 6:22
John 7:13; 12:42;
16:2; 19:38
Acts 5:13
9:24
Josh 7:19
9:28
John 5:45
9:29
John 8:14
9:31
Job 27:8-9
Ps 34:15; 66:18;
145:19
Prov 15:29
Isa 1:15
Jer 11:11; 14:12
Mic 3:4
Zech 7:13
9:33
John 3:2
9:34
John 9:2
9:37
John 4:26
9:39
Luke 4:18
9:40
Rom 2:19
Spiritual Blindness
35When Jesus heard what had happened, he
found the man and asked, “Do you believe
in the Son of Man?”
9:20-22 His parents confirmed that
their son had been born blind, but they
hesitated to judge how he could see
because they were afraid of the social
consequences.
9:24 God should get the glory for this:
Or Give glory to God, not to Jesus; Greek
reads Give glory to God. Cp. Josh 7:19.
9:28-29 The Pharisees could not defeat
the logic of the miraculous sign (9:2425, 30-33), so they turned from reason
and cursed him (see 9:34). The harsh
division between Jesus and the religious
leaders was clear. They considered
those who followed Jesus to have
rejected Moses and Judaism.
9:30 The Jewish leaders did not know
where Jesus came from. The man’s
astonishment was understandable—a
healing like this was unprecedented.
Jesus’ works confirmed his origin as
from God. Once his true identity was
known, belief and discipleship should
have followed, but the Jewish leaders
were willfully blind.
9:32-33 Only God could do something
such as open the eyes of someone born
blind. By healing the man, Jesus offered
the Jewish leaders an unquestionable
sign that he was from God and was the
Messiah (cp. Ps 146:8; Isa 35:5; 42:7).
9:34 Discipline such as being thrown
out of the synagogue was not uncommon. It brought social isolation that
might require the man’s departure
from the village. Such serious persecution was precisely what Jesus predicted
for his followers (15:18-27; 16:2).
9:35-38 Jesus pressed the man who had
been blind to understand the miracle
and the identity of his healer. Immediately, the man expressed faith and gave
