He Opened My Eyes

After Jesus healed the blind man in John 9, the man was taken to the Pharisees. They were especially interested in hearing what Jesus did because they wanted to seize Jesus (John 7:32).

One of the things the Pharisees were not happy about was the fact that Jesus worked this miracle on the Sabbath. They did not believe godly people should work on the Sabbath.

They cornered the formerly blind man and asked him how he received sight.

“He applied clay to my eyes, and I washed, and I see,” he explained.

There was a difference opinion on the man Jesus. Some Pharisees thought the man could not be from God since he didn’t keep the Sabbath. Others thought a sinner could not do the miracles Jesus did.

They questioned the man’s parents about how their son could now see.

His parents were careful about how they should answer because the enemies of Jesus warned that anyone who said Jesus was the Messiah would be kicked out of the synagogue. It was a serious thing to be excommunicated from the circle of Jews. Life centered around the synagogue and without it, life would be difficult. So they said, he is of age, ask our son.

The next few verses relate what I think is a humorous discussion. The Pharisees want the man to give glory to God, but admit that Jesus was a sinner.

“Whether He is a sinner, I do not know; one thing I do know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see,” he stated.

When they keep asking him questions, he gets his dander up and replies:

“I told you already, and you did not listen; why do you want to hear it again? You do not want to become His disciples too, do you?”

They claim they don’t know where Jesus was from. To which the man replied:

“Well, here is an amazing thing, that you do not know where He is from, and yet He opened my eyes.”

Then the newly healed man, teaches these learned men a few things as he continued

“We know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is Godfearing, and does His will, He hears him. Since the beginning of time it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, He would do nothing.”

Then it happened. The Pharisees put him out of the synagogue for good.

Jesus found the man and asked

“Do you believe in the Son of Man?”

The man asks who the Son of Man is, so he could believe. Then Jesus said the most beautiful thing.

“You have both SEEN Him, and He is the one who is talking to you,” Jesus stated.

Notice the what Jesus said. You have seen me. The one who gave the man sight for the first time. The man saw the Son of Man and was talking to the Messiah.

Can you imagine how many times this man must have told the story of that day? Can you imagine the blessing of going from complete darkness, then to see the Light of the World?

And Jesus is still opening the eyes of people today.

Carla Killough McClafferty