Jesus Christ In The Writings Of John
CHRIST THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD
Lesson Text:
John 9:1-11 (KJV) [also read John 9:12-41]
Subject:
Jesus the Light of the World
Golden Text:
“I am the light of the world.” (John 9:5)
Lesson Plan:
1. THE BLIND MAN (VS. 1)
2. THE MYSTERY OF PROVIDENCE IN HIS AFFLICTION (VS. 2-4)
3. JESUS THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD (V. 5)
4. THE BLIND MAN RECEIVES HIS SIGHT (VS. 6, 7)
5. DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING THE CURE (VS. 8-11)
6. PRACTICAL THOUGHTS
Setting of the Lesson:
Time: October, A.D. 29. Probably the next Sabbath (v. 14), after the discourse on the living water, at the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles (which that year began October 11, through the 18th), and the discourses with the Jews the day after.
Place: The pool of Siloam, at Jerusalem, near one of the gates of the temple.
Place in the life of Christ: Toward the close of the third year of His ministry. The Lord is nearly 33 years old, toward the close of the third year of His ministry, about six months before His crucifixion.
Rulers: Tiberius Caesar, emperor of Rome (16th year); Herod Antipas, over Galilee (33rd year); Pontius Pilate, governor of Judea (fourth year).
Inductive Study of the Lesson:
a. Compare the other miracles for the blind: Two blind men at Capernaum (Matt. 9:27-31); two blind men at Jericho (Matt. 20:29-34; Mark 10:46-52; Luke 18:35-43); one blind man at Bethsaida (Mark 8:22-26); one at Capernaum (Matt. 12:22, 23).
b. Make a study of the uses of affliction in connection with the discussion in this chapter. For example: 2 Chronicles 33:12, 13; Daniel 12:10; Zechariah 13:9; Romans 5:3, 4; 2; 1 Corinthians 1:3, 4; 4:17, 18; Hebrews 2:10; James 1:2, 3, 12; 1 Peter 1:7, etc.
c. Compare the affliction of Job and its outcome. Also, the Psalms and our modern hymns, as the outcome of affliction and victory over it.
d. Jesus the light of the world: John 1:9; 8:12; 3:19; 12:35, 36; Luke 4:18, 21; Isaiah 29:18; 35:5; 42:7.
Research and Discussion:
The basic question for discussion in this lesson is will we now open our eyes to see Jesus
as He is, and follow His light?
The various healings of the blind.
Christ’s relation to the Sabbath.
The Pharisees, good and bad characteristics.
The character of the blind man.
Opposition to Christ and its causes.
Standing up for the truth.
What is conversion?
Reasons for belief in Christ.
Tell the story of the blind man.
One reason given why God permits sorrow.
The purpose in sending the blind man to Siloam.
How Jesus is the light of the world.
The restored man’s argument.
Beginning Suggestions:
Subject: Jesus the light of the world
As exemplified and illustrated by this lesson. The miracle described is another of Jesus’ Parables of Redemption.
I. The darkness (vs. 1-3)
The blind man and the discussion about him as to the cause. Consider the relations of suffering to sin and to God’s redeeming work.
Comforting applications to those who are afflicted, because the affliction does not argue special sin on their part, nor the anger of God, but has come to them that the goodness and redeeming love of God may be manifested in them.
Types. This blind man was a type of the sinner; of the Jewish nation; of every nation that refuses to put righteousness before all outward prosperity. Blindness is a type of ignorance, sin, sorrow.
The sinner is blind to his own best good, to the great spiritual realities of heaven, hell, true holiness, the possibilities in his soul, the joys and glories of a spiritual life, to the highest motives, and to eternal life. Thus spiritual blindness narrow, restricts, and darkens the soul.
Illustration
Many people are like Jonah asleep in the storm, blind to the realities around them, dreaming of good that cannot be realized while running away from God. We are tempted to misjudge both ourselves and others in the shadow of affliction or misfortune.
Illustration
So it was with Job’s friends. They were sure Job was a bad man, because God could not be just and afflict a good man so severely. But the book of Job shows there are several other reasons why good people may be afflicted:
It is a test for themselves and for others, whether they are really good or not (Job 1, 2). It showed that piety and love of God were sincere and real.
The long discussion (Job 3:31) was on the basis that affliction was a punishment, as it sometimes is.
Job 32-36 shows that it is meant for discipline – a training in goodness.
Job 36-41 shows that we cannot always tell the reason for affliction, but must trust God’s love; and
The last chapter of Job shows that in the end it means good, that no life of a child of God is a tragedy, but is a final success.
Our God can make good to grow out of trouble, so that the trouble will scarcely be realized because of the glory of God’s goodness shinning through it. The battle is forgotten in victory, loss in the gain, temporal in the spiritual.
II. The light (vs. 4-7)
Jesus removing the darkness and blindness of the world.
Illustration
Consider v. 4, in Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar:”
There is a tide in the affairs of men,
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
What light does: It shows the way; makes clear heaven, goodness, God, the future. It brings warmth, cheer, comfort, beauty. It is the source of life and power, driving away darkness.
Illustration
Hastings points out that Sir James Wylie, once physician to the emperor of Russia, attentively studied the effects of light as a curative agent in the hospital of St. Petersburg. He discovered that the number of patients who were cured in rooms properly lighted was four times that of those confined in dark rooms.
Jesus the light: Jesus brings this light into this dark world. Consider the cure of the blind man. Consider the use of means – how they helped the blind man; how they are from God; and yet the means alone can never do the work. God’s power flows through them.
Jesus is the light of the world in two ways First, Jesus is the light of the world by shining heaven’s light on men.
Illustration
Take away the light, and both serenity of mind and strength of body are gone. The very tissues of the body degenerate in utter darkness. Take away the light, and the body becomes blanched and wasted. There is a catalog of diseases belonging to darkness.
Illustration
The arctic explorer, Dr. Nansen, wrote: “I found that the deep depression of the long arctic night was more than men could bear. Courage, cheerfulness, and hope can live only in the light.” He later pointed out that he had to make by electricity “a little sphere of perpetual day.”
Second, Jesus is the light of the world by opening the eyes of men to the light that is shining.
Illustration
Aristotle, in one of his works, fancies the feelings of one who, having lived in darkness all his life, should for the first time behold the rising of the sun. He might have had some idea of the world from the light of candles or of moon and stars; but when the sun rose, what new glories would burst on his vision. Also the dangers would be shown in clearer light, as well as the safe roads – like the coming of Christ to the world, “a dayspring from on high.”
Illustration
The sunlight of Jesus’ love. A lady being treated for rheumatism was advised by her physician to sit at a certain window in her house where the warm rays of the sun might shine on her. The pain was at length relieved, but she continued to take her daily sun-bath. On being asked why she sat there when the pain was gone, she replied, “O, it is so sweet to sit here and feel the warm, soothing influence of the sun.” So the disciples of Christ who sat at the feet of Jesus while the sunlight of His love beams on the soul, until the healing power is experienced, finding delight from then on in communion with Him. The blessing when Jesus opens our spiritual eyes.
Illustration
21st Century wires and computers are essential means for sending email messages and all kinds of transactions around the world; cars and planes are essential means of travel. However, they have no power in themselves. They are all means through which the power flows.
Consider how Jesus is the light of the world now; that He removes sin, ignorance, and sorrow; and brings life, peace, joy, beauty, knowledge.
Illustration
“I once saw in a picture a representation of the scene of the Nativity. The mother sat with the infant Christ in her arms; the bending forms of the worshipping wise men were seen at the right hand; the star was blazing in the sky; the camels and beasts were about the tent. It was all done with exquisite skill and powerful delineation; and yet I found that many other people besides myself turned back, as though not satisfied with the inspection they had given it. I stood a long time studying to find out what was the special and peculiar fascination of this picture, and discovered that every individual object in the picture was shaded as though the light had come from the babe in the mother’s lap.” (Dr. William Harrison)
SCRIPTURE READING: JOHN 9:1
1. THE BLIND MAN
9:1 ... “As Jesus Passed by.” Walking in Jerusalem on a Sabbath day (v. 14), probably near the temple where He may have been worshipping, and around the gates where crowds of the poor and unfortunate would be begging help from the worshippers, hoping their hearts would be softened by religious influences surrounding the place.
9:1 ... “He saw [evidently looked at] a man.” Jesus did not wait for the man to come to Him, but took the initiative. The blind man was under great disadvantages, and might not be able to hear much about Jesus, or to know when He was near in the crowds and noise of the city, as He could in the courts (Luke 18:35, 36). Jesus is always specially helpful to the weak and unfortunate, and “answers before they call.” The sad history of this man may have been familiar to the Lord’s disciples, as he was evidently a well-know beggar in Jerusalem, one with whose story many were acquainted (v. 8).
9:1 ... “Which was blind from his birth.” Of the six miracles connected with blindness which are recorded in the Gospels, this is the only case described as blindness from birth. In this lies its special characteristic (v. 32), for “since the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind.” (Ellicott)
Blindness is especially frequent in the east. In northern Europe there is only about one blind in a thousand, in Egypt maybe one in a hundred. Actually, very few people have truly healthy eyes for various reasons. The causes: sudden changes in temperature and light; intense brightness of the sun, and fine dust in the air of sandy countries. Congenital blindness is incurable by modern science.
His affliction
a. He was blind. Consider what a terrible thing blindness is; how it deprives one of a large part of all that is happy and blessed in life; how it darkens and narrows life; how little beauty can come in; how many avenues of learning it closes. Ruskin stated that “the greatest thing a human soul ever does in this world is to see something, and telling what is seen in a plain way. Hundreds of people can talk for one who can think; but thousands can think for one who can see. To see clearly is poetry, prophecy, and religion all in one.”
b. He was helpless. There was almost nothing which a blind person could do in that country. This man could neither remove his blindness nor support himself. He was dependent on his friends, and they could do little for him. c. He was poor. A blind beggar (v. 8). “All the roads leading to Jerusalem, like the temple itself, were, at the times of the feasts, frequented by beggars who reaped a special harvest from the charity of the pilgrims.” (Geikie)
c. He was poor. A blind beggar (v. 8). “All the roads leading to Jerusalem, like the temple itself, were, at the times of the feasts, frequented by beggars who reaped a special harvest from the charity of the pilgrims.” (Geikie)
This blind man was a living parable to the Jewish nation, blind, wretched, poor (Rev. 3:17), and they did not realize it.
A type
a. The sinner is blind. What was true of the eyes of this man’s body is true of the eyes of the sinner’s soul. The former could not see the natural world, and the latter cannot see the spiritual world. Meredith points out that “the man who is physically blind may, like John Milton in his blindness, see God and revel in the beauties of the spiritual world; but the sinner is shut out from God and heavenly things.” The sinner is blind to his own best good, to the great spiritual realities of heaven and hell, true holiness, the possibilities in his soul, the joys and glories of a religious life, the highest motives, eternal life. Therefore, spiritual blindness narrows, restricts and darkens the soul.
b. He cannot cure himself. While he can go to Jesus and be cured he cannot cure himself; he cannot forgive his own sins, nor change his own nature, without divine aid.
SCRIPTURE READING: JOHN 9:2-4
2. THE MYSTERY OF PROVIDENCE IN HIS AFFLICTION
9:2 ... “And His disciples asked Him, saying.” This question grew out of the fact that it was the common opinion among the Jews that every trouble and misfortune was the direct result of some special sin.
9:2 ... “Who did sin, this man or his parents?” Here was a case where the disciples could not see how the above opinion could be true. Blindness that began before he was born could not be the punishment of his own sin. Therefore, they ask whose sin it was. Could it be his parents’ sin? Or was it possible that the man had sinned in a pre-existent state? They were sure that the affliction was the direct result of some sin. The question was even more perplexing, because there was a measure of truth in the underlying principle. Abbott wrote that “It was not only a Jewish opinion that such afflictions were a divine punishment for sin; it is the teaching of experience, that special diseases are frequently the natural consequence of sin either in the sufferer or in his ancestry, and the teaching of Scripture that all disease, and even death itself, is the fruit of sin. This truth Christ had already recognized in at least two instances (Mark 2:5; John 5:14), and it is enforced both by warnings and by historical illustrations in the Old Testament (Lev. 26; Deut. 28:22; Num. 12:10; 2 Kings 5:27). The same truth is enforced by the doctrine that “whatsoever a man soweth that shell he also reap.” It was this question of the disciples that troubled Job and his friends, and has troubled people in all ages.
The belief that every affliction is the direct punishment of God for some special sin, and that we can judge the moral and spiritual condition of people by the calamities befalling them, or by the outward success and blessings crowning their days, tends to several great evils: self-complacency and spiritual pride; uncharitable judgment of others, and hopelessness and despair on the part of the afflicted, instead of learning the lessons affliction is intended to teach.
9:3 ... “Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents;” i.e., in such a way as to be the cause of the blindness. Godet points out that our Lord does not deny the existence of sin either in this man or in his parents. Not that it was through sin that all evil came into the world, but only that this blindness was not the punishment for any particular sin in either the man himself or his parents. The same truth is taught in Luke 13:1-5. Those on whom the tower of Siloam fell were not worse than others, but “except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish.”
Sin, as Jesus Himself recognized in more than one instance, was the cause of suffering (Mark 2:5; Luke 13:1-5; John 5:14). Hence the disciples wrongly inferred that special suffering was always caused by some special sin. There could be only two sources of this sin. First, it might be the sin of the man himself, either in some vague, unexplained way, or they may have had in mind the theory of a pre-existent state not unknown to the Jews (Lightfoot, Calvin), in which the sin was committed. Second, his blindness might have been caused by some sin of his parents, for we do inherit tendencies from our parents.
The problem of the disciples is still our problem. When in the depths of sorrow we sometimes feel with Omar Khayyam, “There was the Door to which I found no Key, There was the Veil through which I might not see.”
Have you ever read or heard of a mother sorrowing over a child born blind, who felt – The worst of it is, no doubt it is all my fault; such a misfortune could only befall a child because of its parents, because poor dear children are so innocent. I am tormented with the question; by what sin I committed that has brought such a calamity on my child?” So Job’s friends argued that some special sins must have been the cause of the calamity that came upon him.
It has been said that “Extraordinary afflictions are sometimes the trial of extraordinary graces.” Compare the suffering of Job, martyrs and apostles. On the contrary, their sufferings may be occasioned by their very goodness.
Everyone in the world today is suffering more or less from the sins of others, but the suffering is not a punishment for those sins.
9:3 ... “But that the works of God.” The “works of God” – primarily His saving, redeeming works, including His friendly love; watchful providence for their good, His overruling, transforming power.
So when Lazarus was dying, Jesus said to His disciples, “This sickness is not unto death; but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified thereby.” The “works of God” are always good and loving expressions of His heavenly, fatherly character.
God’s relation to evil
The laws of Nature are ordained by God, and His power is always behind and in them. They are unchangeable, for if they were changeable, erratic, uncertain in their action, life would be intolerable and this world one frightful chaos. Natural laws are the best laws for man as God made him. As far as we are able to attain conformity to those laws, we find ourselves happy, well, and free. They belong to a perfect world. Disease, suffering, death, come because of man’s failure to conform to those laws. God hates sin, He hates death, He wants to rid this world of sorrow and suffering, He is bringing the time when this mortal shall put on immortality, when sorrow and sighing shall flee away, when death shall be swallowed up in victory.
The work of God God
uses sorrow and suffering for this purpose by chastisement and discipline. Chastisement is “to make chaste,” and “chaste” is the beautiful, snowy, spotless, pure, and holy. Discipline, related to “disciple,” “one who learns,” is the education of the disciple. Chastisement is the purifying of man’s spirit. Discipline is the education of man’s spirit. Through these, and through every possible good influence of light and love, God is training us for the perfect heavenly life.
Thus this blind man was an opportunity for the “works of God” – the works which God sent Jesus to do on earth – to
9:3 ...”Be made manifest in Him.” Christ turns the attention of His disciples to a new aspect of the case. Instead of groping back into the hidden mysteries of the divine purposes, and striving to trace the connection between sin and suffering, they were to look forward and see what the mercy and grace of God would accomplish. This man’s blindness was the divinely-ordained means of bringing him in contact with Christ. He was to receive eyesight, and with it the blessing of salvation. Clark wrote that “his bodily infirmity was one of the pre-arranged conditions of obtaining spiritual eyesight. More that this, it would furnish an opportunity for Christ to give a new proof that He is the light of the world.” Thus Christ gives the key to the Christian doctrine of suffering. “It is inflicted sometimes as a special punishment for special sins, but more frequently it is a means of grace, inflicted either that by our endurance we may manifest the grace of God to others (2 Cor. 12:9), or may be taught of God ourselves (Heb. 12:6, 11).” (Abbott)1
Consider how Jesus ignores the perplexed and even perplexing question of the origin of evil. The question for us is not where suffering has come from, but what we are going to do with it; what are our duties and privileges in regard to it, how it can be transformed into good.
Illustrations
Charles Mackay has a poem in which Milton, blind to the blue sky, “sees the bowers of Paradise;” and Beethoven, “Music’s Great High Priest,” deaf to all sound, yet in his soul hears “jubilant hymns and lays of love.” Helen Keller is a similar instance of God’s marvelous work. As did Job by his sufferings showed forth God’s glory to the world.
The storm shows new glories in the rainbow and powers in the sun that would otherwise be utterly unknown. In the darkness is shown a myriad of heavenly stars never seen in the daytime, shining with revelations of the goodness, the greatness, and the omnipotence of our heavenly Father. But for suffering how could we know the love of God? But for darkness how could we know the true light? From a pillow of stones many have seen the heavens opened; and from Pisgah’s rocky heights, climbed in weariness and toil, have come the vision of the Promised Land.
Who would not be willing to be blind for a few years if thereby he could reveal and proclaim Jesus as the light of the world, and reflect the goodness, the power, the comfort of God to millions of his fellow-men? The blindness was no wrong to the man, for it gave him knowledge of Jesus, a hope of heaven, new virtues, and experiences which could not have been his in any other way.
God confers on some the high prerogative of suffering, to demonstrate to a scoffing world or an incredulous accuser of brethren what righteousness really means. The martyrs, prophets, apostles, Christ Himself are examples.
Comforting Applications to those who are afflicted, because the affliction does not argue special sin on their part, nor the angel of God, but has come to them that the goodness and redeeming love of God may be manifested in them. God’s triumph in men is to cause all evils to bring forth good, all enemies to lead to victories, all their crosses to become crowns.
Illustration
In the cemetery among the beautiful hills of Williamstown stands a monument to a college classmate. While wrestling, in his freshman year, he injured his knee. Lameness, pain and ill-health were his guardian angels through study and travel, till he became a professor in the college and a saintly man, whose face shone almost like that of Moses when he came from the presence of God. Words are carved out on that monument which speaks of his life: “My misfortune has been my good fortune” – “My trouble has been my blessing.”
9:4 ... “I [‘we,’ margin of NKJV] must work the works of Him that sent Me, while it is day,” i.e., while the fitting opportunity lasts, as the daylight is the fitting time for our daily work. “After the Passion there was no longer the opportunity for the performance of the works characteristic of the historic Life of Christ” (Cook). Also, before the night of death falls on them. The stoning which Jesus had just escaped (John 8:59) may have led Him to think of death, but all His short life was lived eagerly, in the desire that every minute should count for God.
“The substitution of ‘we’ for ‘I’ (a change supported by the best evidence) lends peculiar force and beauty to the verse. Jesus associates His disciples with Himself; like Himself they have a calling which must not be disobeyed, to work the works of God; for them, as for Himself, the period of such action will not always last. As joined with the verses which precede, this saying could not but come to the disciples as a reminder that not idle speculation, but work for God, was the duty they must fulfill.” (Schaff)
9:4 ... “The night cometh, when no man can work.” Jesus does not exclude even Himself from the proverbial law. The day of opportunity passes, never to return. Even Christ must do His work of redemption and teaching at the time appointed, or it never could be done. He might do other works afterwards, but not those.
A college student put over his father’s fireplace a brass plate with a picture of reckless fraternity scenes under which was the legend: “Motto of the Don’t Worry Club: ‘This is God’s World – Not ours.’” His father, coming in later, objected to the motto, saying, “If this is God’s world, then your fraternity members have reason to sit up and do some sober thinking. This is God’s world, and it is also ours. No man has a right to kick the world along toward the devil, while comforting himself with the thought that the world is God’s. This is God’s world, and it is our privilege to discover God’s place in it for each of us, and help to achieve God’s purpose in the world.”
The urgency Jesus felt is here too. There was so much to do and so little time. Every man, like Jesus, should confront each new day in the consciousness that “on my day of life the night is falling.” Like Him, may we all fill every fleeting hour with love and labor for mankind.
“The night cometh, when no man can work,” does not mean that we are not to work in the next life, for heaven will be full of blessed employment; but our chance for work as men on the earth will be gone forever. Compare Romans 13:12, where Paul likens death to day after the night of life. Both metaphors are true.
Illustrations
“Death is night, but it is dawning as well. I believe that this world is our school, the place where we learn our trade, where we paint the picture, as it were, which we offer when we desire to be admitted to the great guild of artists, and according to the result of which, in the eye of the Judge, is our place hereafter.” (Maclaren)
Holman Hunts famous painting, “The Shadow of Death,” represents Christ as a young carpenter stretching out His arms after a hard day’s work. Mary, horrified, sees that His shadow looks like a man on a cross.
In the old days wheat had to be put into the mill while the water was flowing; if the water stopped flowing we could not grind. Likewise, we must teach the child while young. We must visit our sick friend while he is sick. We must show sympathy to those in trouble while the trouble is upon them.
The last sentence ever formed on the lips of Cora Bell Gray (1878-1966), servant of Christ and dearly loved Christian, was this: “So much to do, so little done; I love you.” Do the lengthening shadows of the long, long night ever affect you? Do thoughts like, “After that – the dark,” “We shall never pass this way again” – ever scourge your soul to frenzy? It is a frightful thing to make no deeper mark on the world than some of us are making.
SCRIPTURE READING: JOHN 9:5
3. JESUS THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD
Jesus now shows one of the works that must be done now, while the day lasts. “One of the most remarkable and dramatic passages in the history of our Lord.” (Henry Ward Beecher)
9:5 ... “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” It was prophesied that the Messiah should open the eyes of the blind (Is. 29:18; 35:5; 42:7). The direct reference is to Christ’s fulfillment of these prophecies (Luke 4:18, 21). But it is true, in a larger sense, that just so far as Christ is in the world, and accepted by the world, He becomes its light, intellectual, moral, and spiritual (Abbott). Whatever darkness is in the world, of that Christ is the corresponding light. Whether it is the darkness of sorrow, or ignorance, or depravity, or spiritual death, Jesus Christ sends the rays of His light to dispel the darkness, and we need only open our eyes to see. He now illustrates this great truth by another Parable of Redemption – a miracle on the blind man, which is a sign, proof and parable of His work of enlightening the world.
Spiritual light, and, as He was about to prove, light of the material eyes. “If it was still the last day of the feast (John 7:37) and the shades of evening were beginning to fall, it would give the language additional significance.” (MacArther Study Bible)
The darkness of sin
“What emblem could better set forth the condition of mankind than a born-blind beggar?” (Meyer)
“There are those who see well the beautiful things of nature, but who see nothing of the still more beautiful things of God’s love and grace. They see not the divine hand that moves everywhere in providence. They never behold the face of Jesus Christ, in whom shines all the glory of God” (Miller). All are in such darkness until Christ enlightens them.
The light of the world is the sun, and the sun is a perpetual illustration of what Jesus is doing in the moral world. There are three kinds of rays coming from the sun, differing from one another probably only as to the length waves they compose.
Light rays
Nearly all the light we receive comes from the sun. Even the moonlight is reflected sunlight. Even when we are in the shade, or in the house, where we cannot see the sun, the light we receive is sunlight, dispersed from particles in the air, reflected from all things around us. Even light from our lamps is sunlight which has been stored up in the earth. So it is that all our spiritual light, no matter the source from which it seems to come, is really from God. Our white sunlight is really composed of thousands of colors, shades, and tints, filling the world with beauty. Such variety is in the pure light from God, reflected from our manifold natures, needs and circumstances. The light drives away darkness, shows the way, makes clear heaven, goodness, God, the future; filling the world with beauty and glory.
Heat rays
Nearly all the heat in the world comes directly or indirectly from the sun. The fires that warm us and are a source of power are from the wood or coal in which the heat of the sun has been stored. Such is God’s love to us, bringing cheer, warmth and blessing.
Chemical rays, which act upon plants, and cause the movements of life. These rays are in a sense the source of life, the instrumentality of life. So God is the source of our spiritual life. Light, love and life all come from the Father of lights.
The world cannot do without Jesus. He is as vital and necessary as the sun itself is to the physical world. All energy and life come from Him.
Mankind is commanded to respond to the light. We should: Believe on the light and become sons of light (John 12:36); walk in the light (1 John 1:6, 7); put on the whole armor of light (Rom. 13:12); and arise and shine in the reflected glory of the light (Is. 60:1).
The meaning is clear – we should exhibit an obedient faith in Christ.
SCRIPTURE READING: JOHN 9:6, 7
4. THE BLIND MAN RECEIVES HIS SIGHT
Jesus now illustrates this great truth by an enacted Parable of Redemption – a miracle on the blind man, which is a sign, proof and parable of His work of enlightening the world.
9:6 ... “He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle.” Why did Jesus do this? Coffman writes, “No one knows for sure, but it might have been to emphasize His humility. Jesus did not demonstrate professional airs, mutter mysterious words or pass His hands over the man’s eyes; and, by the use of a means so simple, He forever removed the idea that He might have used some powerful medicine. The anointing with clay also had the function of emphasizing the blind man’s condition. Even a casual glance at his mud-anointed eyes would eloquently reveal his handicap to any who chanced to see him. All so-called rationalization of this miracle based on the alleged efficacy of certain kinds of clay should be rejected. If there had been any curative powers in Jerusalem dirt, a market would have been established for it, and it would have been exported all over the world.”
Edersheim points out that it is also possible that means were used in this instance for the sake of the blind man as well as for those who would hear about it later. Why? Because of these reasons: the blind man seems to have been ignorant of the character of his Healer, and it needed the use of some means to make him, so to speak, receptive; on the other hand, not only the use of means, but their inadequacy to the object, was certainly impressive; symbolical also was the means used – sight was restored by clay, made out of the ground with the spittle of Him whose breath had at the first breathed life into clay); this was then washed away in the pool of Siloam, from whose waters had been drawn on the Feast of Tabernacles that which symbolized the forthpouring of the new life by the Spirit; and it is noticeable that Christ never cured without giving the healed something to do, as a test of faith and obedience.
“When He was asked to heal, the simple request served as an indication of faith; when, as here, He volunteered the cure, He seems always to have required some act as an evidence of faith and obedience.” (Abbott)
Christ worked with common means, perhaps to show what wonderful powers lie dormant in the natural world, and certainly to help the blind man’s faith by the use of means, however plainly inadequate. “He was leading the man by an old village recipe to the faith through which a miracle is possible” (Morrison). Christ used it in opening the eyes of another blind man [Mark 8:22-26] and the ears of a deaf man [Mark 7:33], but He healed four other blind men merely with a touch [Matt. 9:27-31; 20:29-34] (Exp. Greek Test.).
In spiritual cures there is great advantage in leading the inquirer to make a choice, put forth a simply act of will, such as simply rising for prayer or going to hear the Gospel preached, etc.
The Scottish phrase, “clayed up,” means to feel hopelessly dense – When God seems to be increasing our darkness that is His way of preparing us for the light.
Teachings
We should never despise means, even in works where all the power is divine, as in the works of healing, conversion and revivals like the one on Pentecost.2
Even while we use means we should not depend on them, but on the Lord who made or commanded the means, and is the source of the power flowing through them.
9:7 ... “And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam;” i.e., wash off the clay that has been put on your eyes; wash the blindness from your eyes, as Naaman, the leper, was told to wash in the Jordan. This was the test of his faith and obedience. “The pool of Siloam is identified with a pool or tank still found in the vicinity of Jerusalem, which stands to the south of the temple mount, and consists of an oblong tank, partly hewn out of the rock, and partly built of masonry, measuring about fifty-three feet in length, eighteen feet in width, and nineteen feet in depth, with a flight of steps leading down to the bottom” (Abbott).3 The pool is at the outflow of “the only true spring at Jerusalem” (Hastings). It was probably the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles (John 7:37), when the ceremonies included the exultant drawing of water from this poor, carrying it to the temple.
9:7 ... “Which is by interpretation, Sent.” Or “sending,” i.e., outlet of waters. The pool, by its very name, was a symbol of Him who was sent into the world to work the works of God (v. 4), and Who gives light to the world by providing a fountain in which not only all uncleanness is washed away, but all ignorance and blindness of heart (Abbott).
Contrast the case of Naaman, the Syrian general (2 Kings 5:9-14), as an illustration of unbelief, setting forth the faith of this blind man.
“The pool may have been called ‘sent’ because the waters were “sent” forth from the aqueduct from the Virgin’s Spring. The word “sent” is so frequently used by Jesus of Himself (John 5:36, 37; 17:3) that we naturally apply it here also to Himself as if the noiseless stream which their fathers had despised (Is. 8:6), and which they could trace to its source, was a fit type of Him whom the Jews rejected because they knew His origin, and because He had no external force.” (Exp. Greek Test.)
9:7 ... “He went his way [he believed, obeyed] … and came seeing.” “Came,” not back to Christ, Who had probably now gone away (v. 12), but it appears to his own home. Consider the trial of this blind man’s faith. As a condition of cure, he was directed in his blindness to take a considerable walk. Consider, too, a parable of redemption in the miracle.
“The whole world has lived in darkness from the beginning (Ps. 107:10; Matt. 4:16; 1 John 5:19); Christ, the light of the world, comes to call us out of darkness into marvelous light (Acts 26:18; 2 Cor. 4:6; Col. 1:13; 1 Pet. 2:9); the condition of receiving that light is faith and obedience, without which the soul remains in darkness (John 1:5; 3:19); and Christ often calls us to prove our faith by walking, in obedience to His direction, in the darkness for a while, in order that we may come into the light.” (Abbott)
The cure complete
“Came,” i.e., either to his home, or to the place where Christ had met him, though Jesus by now may have left the area (v. 12). A new world was created for him, more marvelous than his loftiest dreams. The opaque eyeballs were turned into open windows through which earth and heaven might pour their surprising beauty and grandeur. More than this, his spiritual eyes were opened, and he saw Jesus the goodness of God and eternal life and heaven. He saw doors of usefulness open before him, power of sympathy and help, a new meaning to life.
Illustration
Aristotle, in one of his works, fancies the feelings of one who, having lived in darkness all his life, for the first time beheld the rising of the sun. He might have had some idea of the world from the light of candles or the moon and stars; but when the sun rose, new glories burst into his vision. Much more beautiful, perfect and far-reaching that he could have conceived. The safe roads as well as the dangers are shown in clearer light. The coming of Christ into the world – “a dayspring from on high” – is like this. Believing and obeying Jesus Christ – receiving Him into our souls – is like this.
Consider how the history of this blind man is a history of the growth of faith, one step or stage leading to another; and how the spiritual growth corresponds to the physical change from blindness to light. The whole story is a parable of how sinners, individuals, and nations are brought, by Christ, from the darkness of sin and ignorance to the height of the Christian life and hope.
“Obedience brings sight. If any man will do His will, He shall know of the doctrine” (Maclaren).
In his great sermon, “Seeing,” the Scottish evangelist Nisbet, spoke of the glory that comes to the Christian convert, “I can see him coming up the road now. ‘O dear God,’ he says, ‘what a city I have been living in – what skies, what trees, what birds; look at that temple, with soaring towers, what flashing roofs. The faces, too, of my fellow men. What a wonderful world it has been, and I never saw it till this moment.”
Jesus the Light of the world
Jesus is the Light of the world, because He brings light from heaven, the light we need in our darkness: The light of the knowledge of God, of His Fatherhood, His love, His forgiving mercy, His truth, His law, of heaven and the way there. Jesus Himself, with His character, teachings, deeds, was Himself Light in the world, revealing these things.
He is the Light of the world because He opens our eyes to see the light of heaven, ourselves, life and the world in the light of heaven. New Life in the soul, the life given by the Holy Spirit, is the means of our seeing the light.
An example
Much of our growth and progress depends on better seeing – seeing more of the meaning of God’s Word, seeing God, seeing eternal realities, seeing the significance of life, seeing opportunities of doing good, seeing better ideals and possibilities. Heaven and earth, so full of blessings, truths, opportunities and glories, are often invisible to us, as the chariots and horses defending Elisha were invisible to his servant.
Jesus is the Light because He sheds light on all our sickness, troubles and burdens. He cures diseases, makes all things work together for good to those that love Him, He gives new motives and hopes that lighten our burdens, and He fills us with His love and reveals His heaven.
Illustrations
“Christ’s mission, like the lighthouse on the English coast with its inspiring, rock-carved legend, was ‘to give light and to save life.’” (Foulkes)
“May we first know how blind we are, and then come to Him for sight, and then out of past mercy always win new trust, and so go on until at last we come unto the perfect Light.” (Brooks)
“I received a circular the other day informing me that by following a course of five-minute exercises daily I can lay aside my glasses and recover perfect sight. But I doubt all easy and five-minute roads to perfection. The Lord Jesus does not do quack work with blind eyes. When He deals with blindness He begins with the fundamental nature of things.” (Young)
“One of the most interesting men I ever met was one who had spent over forty years in prison, and who, at the time I knew him, went each morning to the gate of one of our Scottish jails to meet discharged prisoners and invited them to come hear the preaching of the Gospel. Christ had given him sight!” (Hathaway)
A plant shut up in a dark cellar will lean lovingly toward any chink in the wall through which a tiny ray of sunlight struggles to kiss its waning energies. Why does the plant turn toward the light? Because the sun is its life. So Christ is the soul’s life.
SCRIPTURE READING: JOHN 9:8-11
5. DISCUSSION CONCERNING THE CURE
vs. 8-11, and to the end of the chapter. Such an event as this must awaken discussion. If it fails to do this, much of its power for extending the truth is lost. The wind that would blow out the fire of truth actually makes it burn even brighter.
When Jacob heard that his son Joseph was alive, he could not believe the good news, till he saw the Egyptian wagons Joseph had sent. Facts convinced him.
Facts are the unanswerable argument in favor of Christianity. The lives made better; souls changed from evil to good; moral effects of revivals; changes which Christianity has brought in the world – these and much more are arguments which infidelity cannot answer.
Illustration
“As sinners stand up in meeting and testify to the goodness of God, so one who is called afflicted may rise up in gladness of conviction and testify to the goodness of life. Once I knew the depth where no hope was, and darkness lay on the face of all things. Then love came and set my soul free.” (Helen Keller)
The results
a. The fact was established beyond a doubt.
b. The necessary inference was that Jesus was from God, and, therefore, the Messiah He claimed to be.
c. But the man himself was excommunicated, and, therefore, the more prepared
d. To become and remain a disciple of Jesus.
Illustrations
“There is more logic in a simple demonstration than in a whole volume of reasoning. An old philosopher was contending that there was no such thing as motion. His opponent in the singular debate arose and strode across the room. He proved motion by moving. A man wrote a book to prove that no vessel could cross the Atlantic propelled by steam. A steamship carried the first copies of his book across the sea. There may have been logic in his argument, but there was better logic in the steam.” (Albertson)
The blind man’s creed was short at first, but it rapidly grew longer. A creed is like a tree that starts in a single stalk (blind man: “one thing I know”), and goes on branching and dividing as long as it is fed at the root, fed by the Spirit and the Word. The creeds of men stand still because their experience stands still.
6. PRACTICAL THOUGHTS
The darkness
Blindness of the body – an example of the darkness of sorrow and trouble abounding in the world.
Mental blindness – ignorance, low ideals, narrow outlook, failure to know what is wisest and best for this life.
Moral blindness – ignorance of God, righteousness, heaven, possibilities of the soul, highest hopes and joys, of true life.
The cures
The fruit of sin in general suffering, darkness, blindness, both spiritual and physical.
In many cases we cannot trace the connection. The wicked do not always suffer the most in this world. Also we have no right to infer, because a person suffers more than another, that it is evidence of a greater sinner. In actual fact, it is often the reverse in God’s providence, and the best people are among the greatest sufferers.
God permits His children to suffer so that through suffering may come a higher good. God’s love, blessing and transforming power will be made known to them: He leads them through a path of darkness to a light and joy inconceivable and full of glory.
Jesus the Light:
To the body;
To the mind; and
To the spirit.
He reveals truth, joy, heaven, hope, righteousness. He gives life, which is the light of men. It has been said: “There is no object so foul that intense light will not make it beautiful.”
Our part
We must receive the light by obedient faith. Much of the discipline of Providence is to lead us to believe and obey.
We must use the means. God is the author of the means, as He is of faith. By going to the pool of Siloam and washing – believing and obeying – the blind man was cured. If we can understand why the blind man received his sight after washing in the pool of Siloam, wholly apart from any power in the waters, and without supposing that the waters in the pool had anything to do with his healing, then we should have little difficulty with the analogy of the way we are saved in the washing of the waters of baptism, when baptized into Christ, and yet without supposing the water had any efficacy. The blind man was healed in the act of washing in Siloam. He did not go seeing and then wash; but he went and washed and came seeing.
We must reflect the light which Jesus – not man – has brought into the world.
We must do each work in its time, always remembering there is a “too late” even for good deeds.
The conflict of light and darkness
The best of deeds can be misunderstood and called evil.
It is one thing to break over human rules, regulations, creeds and standards, another to disobey the Word of God.
The fruits are the test whether we are sent of God.
The progress of faith
“The history of the blind man illustrates the growth of obedient faith, as well as its conditions. At first the blind man knew nothing of Jesus; but without knowledge or definite hope he obeys Christ’s direction, going to the pool of Siloam, washing and seeing. He still knows nothing of the Healer, except that He is ‘a man that is called Jesus.’ Despite the timidity of his parents, the threatening of the Pharisees, he maintains the truth, defends the unknown, asserts Jesus to be a prophet, and a man of God. Finally, he finds in Him the Messiah, the Son of God. Fidelity, in that which is least, is the condition of receiving larger gifts in knowledge and faith.” (Abbott)
Footnotes:
1 Note: This does not assert that God creates evil that good may come, nor that the blindness had no connection with laws of His universe which punishes sin, but that God permitted these laws to work, and allowed this evil to come upon him, because blessings could come to the man through it, which would come in no other way. God permits the trouble, and transfigures it; leading through a path of darkness to a light and joy inconceivable and full of glory.
2 For more information about Pentecost, see The Way Home in Contents section of StudyJesus.com.
3 See the references in Nehemiah 3:15; Isaiah 8:6.
