John 9:13-34
13They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. 14Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. 15So the Pharisees again asked him how he had received his sight. And he said to them, “He put mud on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.” 16Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.” But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” And there was a division among them. 17So they said again to the blind man, “What do you say about him, since he has opened your eyes?” He said, “He is a prophet.”
18The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight, until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight 19and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” 20His parents answered, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. 21But how he now sees we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.” 22(His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess Jesus to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue.) 23Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”
24So for the second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, “Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.” 25He answered, “Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” 26They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” 27He answered them, “I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?” 28And they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. 29We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.” 30The man answered, “Why, this is an amazing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. 31We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. 32Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. 33If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” 34They answered him, “You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?” And they cast him out.
Jesus sees a man blind from birth. He spits on the ground, making mud, and applies it to the man’s eyes. Jesus then tells the man to go wash in the pool of Siloam. When the man does what Jesus told him, he can see.
Since this was on a Sabbath day, the Pharisees are concerned and ask the man how he received his sight. When the man tells them what Jesus did, the Pharisees inform him that Jesus is not from God, since He is not keeping the Sabbath. The man asks how a sinner can do such signs, to which the Pharisees have no response.
The Jews speculate that the man was never blind. They call on the man’s parents, but the man’s parents verify that the man was blind from birth, but now he can see. The Jews ask the parents how it came to be that their son can now see, to which they reply that all they know is that their son was blind but now can see – They do not know why or who gave him his sight, and that they should ask their son as to what happened.
So, the man who was born blind was called again and he tells them what happened. When the Jews insist that Jesus is a sinner, the man counters with his thought that God does not listen to sinners, but this man was able to perform this miraculous sign. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing. The Jews then cast the man out.
Jesus hears that the man has been cast out and goes to him. Jesus identifies Himself as the Son of Man and tells him, that “. . . Those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.”
Earlier in verse five, Jesus had said, “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” The image of Jesus being the light of the world comes readily. The world is in darkness and Jesus came to shine and drive out the darkness. And we as His followers are supposed to reflect the light of Christ, acting as a mirror and pointing His light into the dark places
But what about Jesus’ statement that “those who see may become blind?” What does this mean?
I just read a novel in which the bad guys and the good guys are in darkness. The bad guys came with night vision goggles and had the advantage. The good guys turn this around by using bright lights which temporarily blind the bad guys.
We probably have all experienced something like this in less dramatic situations. When we go from bright sunshine into a cave, it takes a few minutes for our eyes to adjust to the darkness. Once they adjust, we are temporarily blinded when we go back into the bright sunshine. The same thing happens when we are driving through a long tunnel and then suddenly come out into the bright sunshine.
Bright light can help us to see in the dark. But a bright light can also make us blind if our eyes are adjusted for darkness. This is what Jesus meant when He said, “those who see may become blind”.
Some of us, who were living in darkness, saw the light of Christ and were able to see the truth. Others, who have been living in darkness for a long time and their eyes have been adjusted for darkness, can be blinded when all of the sudden the light of Christ shines in their eyes.
This is probably the reason why most people do not believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the Savior of the World when they first hear it. They cannot understand that Jesus, dying on the cross and taking the punishment that we deserved, gave us a way to be saved.
Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 1:18 that “For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”
The longer people have gotten used to living in the dark, the more time it can take for their eyes to adjust to the bright light of the gospel. What Jesus tells us about “those, who presently see… becoming blind “ should be a good reminder to us that sometimes we are going to have to be patient when witnessing for Christ. It might take numerous exposures to the light before the eyes adjust enough to stop being blinded by the light. Once adjusted, they will have a better chance to be saved and say, “I was blind but now I see.”
(The above is a summary of the message shared by Pastor Shun Takano at our worship on August 24, 2025.)
Japanese Congregational Church 