John 9:35-41
Spiritual Blindness
35Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?"
36"Who is he, sir?" the man asked. "Tell me so that I may believe in him."
37Jesus said, "You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you."
38Then the man said, "Lord, I believe," and he worshiped him.
39Jesus said, "For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind."
40Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, "What? Are we blind too?"
41Jesus said, "If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.
Jesus had just healed a blind man...The Pharisees investigated the healing...They could not understand how a man could be blind all his life and then a man could make some mud with His own spit and rub the blind man's eye and now he can see...The Pharisees gave up on the investigation, because the did not know who Jesus is, and threw the blind man out...
Jesus, here, now asks the blind man, who could now see, if he believes in the Son of Man...The healed man was now a big fan of Jesus and put his faith in Jesus and listened to every word He would say...Jesus tells the healed blind man that he has seen the Son of Man, if fact, He is the One speaking with him (right now)...Jesus admits to being the Son of Man...The man worshiped Him...He loved Jesus for being compassionate and healing him...
Jesus tells the man that "for judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will be blind."...The Pharisees asked if they were blind too...Jesus said if they were blind, they would not be guilty of sin; but now that they claim to see, their guilt remains...Jesus is referring to the Pharisees as those who see, will be blind...Those who know the Scripture and do not see and do not know Jesus continue to be guilty...
We get the feeling from the blind man that he is not educated, but has common sense, and is one who trusts others...His remarks like, the Man they call Jesus made some mud and told me to go to the pool of Siloam and wash...I washed and now I can see (John 9:11)...The blind man told the Pharisees, how could a sinner do such miraculous signs (John 9:16)...The Pharisees tell the blind man, that don't even know where Jesus is from...The healed man tells them, we know that God does not listen to sinners...If this Man were not from God He could do nothing (John 9:31,33)
Jesus teaches that those who are blind spiritually and do not respond to His teachings are guilty...But if we respond to His teachings, then we are not guilty...God gives us just enough light and invisible qualities to those who want to seek, search, and are persistent can find Him...It is not the mind that gives us salvation, but the heart...But we must want to search for Him...The Pharisees did not want to search and see Jesus...We might realize, if we start getting close to Him, we must give up the things on earth...When we are comfortable with what we have and how our lives are going, we often do not think we need Him...We do not want to seek Him...We must examine our comfort...If we have positions of power and have some wealth, do we want to find Him and have to be born again and change (John 3:8)...Comfort on earth is not what we should be searching for...We should be searching for Him...In Jesus' Sermon of the Plain, He tells us woe to the rich, for they have received their comfort (Luke 6:24)...In His Sermon on the Mount, He tells us blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted (Matthew 5:4)...So much for comfort, and being comfortable on earth...We must remind ourselves often of these two great sermons (Sermon on the Plain and Sermon on the Mount) when we get extended periods of comfort...
Our eyes see and focus on this earth...We see the things around us...We like to see material things around us...We like to see the comfort around us...We think these are pleasing things...We must never forget our own blindness...We must be persistent...We must never give up the search for Him...We need the foundation this healed man has...Jesus is the center of his life...He is grounded...We need Jesus to be our central focus, our foundation...Our spiritual eyes must become more important than the eyes we see with...We must learn from the blind man about faith, love, trusting, and worshipping the One who makes us see...