Jesus Restores a Blind Man’s Sight

Before you start todays devotional, ask the Lord to use it to grow you up in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Jesus said, “I am the light of the world” (8:12). Now, logically, we have a story of when He restored a blind man’s sight.

One day when Jesus and His disciples were walking in Jerusalem, they saw a man who had been blind since birth. The disciples asked Jesus the cause of this man’s blindness—was it sin? Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned” (v. 3). The important thing, Jesus said, is not to find out who’s guilty, but instead to cure the man. It’s not a question of who sinned because “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

Without Him today, millions are spiritually blind. Unless the Spirit of God opens our spiritual eyes to see, we are blind. Jesus must touch our eyes so that we can see. He did this for the blind man here. He spat on the ground, made clay of the spittle, and covered the man’s eyes with the clay. He then sent him to wash his face in the pool of Siloam. The man did all that and came back seeing. Our Lord had him go through this ritual as a means to trust and obey Him. It comes down to that: Jesus touching us and us obeying Him.

Salvation is really a simple matter. It’s coming to the Lord Jesus and experiencing the power of God. Up to that point, the man hadn’t even seen Jesus. But he knew the important thing was not to see Him, but to believe Him.

Now, here comes the snag in this wonderful story. All of this happened on the Sabbath. You’d think everyone would have rejoiced in this changed life, but some in the crowd accused Jesus of disregarding the Sabbath (healing was work, and you shouldn’t work on the Sabbath). Others defended Him, and it divided the religious leaders. Some even questioned if a real miracle had taken place. So, they tried to dig up some dirt. But no one could deny a miracle had taken place.

The healed man fired back. He said he couldn’t speak to whether Jesus was a sinner or not, but “one thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see” (v. 25).

Jesus heard that the man was in trouble with the leaders. When He found him in the temple, He asked him, “Do you believe in the Son of God?” (v. 35). The man answered, “Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?” (v. 36). The Lord had been preparing this man all along. And Jesus said, “You’re talking to Him.”

Read John 9:38.

Here is one of the finest instances of faith that we have in the entire Word of God. Our Lord took this blind man step-by-step to saving faith.

And so are the steps of a sinner today: We’re not only lost, but we don’t even see that we’re lost. Then we come to Christ, and when we see Him, our eyes are opened and we see who He is. We know what He’s done for us, and we believe. The next step is to worship Him.

Next, Jesus explains why we can trust Him.

1. What is it like to live spiritually blind in our world today?

2. If the most important thing for the blind man was to meet Jesus, what can that teach us about our role in bringing others to Christ?

3. Again and again in John we see Jesus asking people questions that reveal something about Himself and something about their hearts. The simple question, “Will you believe?”—which He asked the man healed of blindness—is the heartbeat of John’s Gospel. Think about this for a minute. How would you answer this question today? Will you believe