Commentary - John 9:35-41

Bird's-eye view

This passage is the great denouement of the healing of the man born blind. It is where the whole event comes to its razor-sharp point. Having been physically healed by Jesus and subsequently excommunicated by the Pharisees, the man is now sought out by the Lord for a second, and greater, healing. The first was a healing of his eyes; the second is the healing of his soul. Jesus reveals His divine identity, and the man responds with simple, saving faith and worship. This personal encounter is then immediately contrasted with the spiritual state of the Pharisees. Jesus declares that His coming into the world has a judicial effect: it is a great reversal. The blind are made to see, and those who claim to see are revealed as blind. The Pharisees, overhearing this, are pricked by the comment and ask if He means them. Jesus concludes with a devastating verdict. Their claim to spiritual sight is the very thing that seals their guilt. Because they insist they can see, their sin remains, fixed and unforgiven.

The entire chapter, and this conclusion in particular, is a masterful depiction of the nature of true and false religion. True faith begins with an admission of blindness and need, receives revelation from Christ, and culminates in worship. False religion, represented by the Pharisees, is characterized by arrogant self-sufficiency, a refusal to see the plain evidence of God's work, and a blindness that is made culpable and permanent by its own proud claims to sight.

Outline

Context In John

This section is the climax of the ninth chapter of John, which is dedicated entirely to the sign of Jesus giving sight to a man born blind. This miracle, performed on the Sabbath, precipitates a major confrontation with the Pharisees. The chapter unfolds like a courtroom drama. The healed man is interrogated, his parents are interrogated, and he is interrogated again. Throughout, the man's sight and understanding grow clearer, while the Pharisees, the supposed spiritual experts, grow progressively blinder and more obstinate. They move from questioning the miracle, to insulting the man, to finally casting him out of the synagogue (excommunication). It is at this point, with the man now a religious outcast for his testimony to Jesus, that our passage begins. Jesus finds him, bringing the story to its spiritual conclusion. This entire event serves as a living parable of Jesus' statement in John 8:12, "I am the light of the world." He gives light to the blind, both physically and spiritually, and in so doing, He exposes and judges the darkness of those who claim to be enlightened.

Key Issues

The Great Divide

Every action of Jesus in this world has a polarizing effect. He is the great continental divide of human history. Water that falls on one side of the ridge flows to the Atlantic, and water that falls inches away on the other side flows to the Pacific. There is no neutrality. Jesus comes into the world and forces a decision. He is the stone that the builders rejected, who has become the cornerstone. For those who build on Him, He is a sure foundation. For those who stumble over Him, He is a rock of offense, a stone that crushes (1 Pet. 2:6-8).

We see this dynamic with stark clarity here. The man born blind, a nobody, an outcast from birth, is brought into the kingdom of light. The Pharisees, the religious elites, the men with tenure and titles, are thrust into outer darkness. Jesus says this is precisely the point. "For judgment I came into this world." His very presence is a crisis, a krisis, a moment of decision and separation. He separates the sheep from the goats, the wheat from the chaff, and the seeing from the blind. The standard for this separation is not intellectual prowess, or religious pedigree, or moral performance. The standard is humility. Do you know that you are blind? If you do, He has come to give you sight. If you insist that you can see just fine, then you are beyond His help, and your sin remains.

Verse by Verse Commentary

35 Jesus heard that they had put him out, and after finding him, He said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”

The religious authorities have excommunicated the man, but this simply means he has been kicked out of a corrupt and dying institution into the arms of the living God. Notice the tender initiative of the Lord: Jesus seeks him out. The Good Shepherd goes after the sheep that has been harassed and cast out by the false shepherds. And when He finds him, He gets straight to the point. He doesn't commiserate about the injustice of the Sanhedrin. He asks the fundamental question upon which all eternity hangs: "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" This title, "Son of Man," is Jesus' favorite self-designation, drawn from Daniel 7. It is a messianic title, but one that points to a heavenly, divine figure who is given universal dominion and authority. Jesus is asking, "Do you trust in the promised divine King?"

36 He answered and said, “Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?”

The man's response is beautiful in its simplicity and honesty. He addresses Jesus as "Lord" (Kurie), which at this point is a term of deep respect, like "Sir." He doesn't know everything, but he knows who healed him, and he is ready to believe whatever this man tells him. His heart is prepared soil. He is not asking for evidence to overcome his skepticism; he is asking for information so he can direct his faith. "Just point Him out to me, and I will believe." This is the posture of a humble heart, the exact opposite of the Pharisees who had all the information and none of the faith.

37 Jesus said to him, “You have both seen Him, and He is the one who is talking with you.”

Jesus' reply is a direct and stunning revelation of His own identity. There is a gentle play on the word "seen." The man had never seen Jesus before, as he was blind when Jesus first approached him. Now, with healed eyes, the first thing he truly sees is the face of God incarnate. "You have seen Him." But the seeing is deeper than just physical sight. He is seeing the Messiah. And then, the unmistakable declaration: "He is the one who is talking with you." There is no ambiguity. Jesus claims the title for Himself. This is the moment of truth, the presentation of the gospel in its most concentrated form.

38 And he said, “Lord, I believe.” And he worshiped Him.

The man's response is immediate and twofold, representing the two essential components of saving faith. First, the intellectual and volitional assent: "Lord, I believe." The "Lord" here likely takes on a fuller meaning now. He confesses his faith. Second, he acts on that belief. He worshiped Him. The Greek word is proskuneo, which means to bow down, to prostrate oneself in adoration. This is not mere respect; this is the worship due to God alone. And crucially, Jesus receives his worship. Throughout Scripture, when righteous men or angels are offered worship, they refuse it (Acts 10:25-26; Rev. 22:8-9). Jesus' acceptance of this man's worship is one of the clearest implicit claims to deity in the Gospels. The man born blind saw it, and he acted accordingly.

39 And Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, so that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind.”

Jesus now explains the broader theological significance of what has just transpired. This event is a microcosm of His entire ministry. He came "for judgment." This doesn't contradict John 3:17, where Jesus says He did not come to condemn the world. The meaning here is that His presence inevitably creates a separation, a judgment. His coming forces a crisis. The result is a great reversal. Those who are humble enough to admit their spiritual blindness ("those who do not see") are given sight. But those who are arrogant, who pridefully claim to have spiritual insight ("those who see"), are confirmed in their blindness. The light of His presence has a different effect depending on the state of the eye. For a healthy eye, it brings vision. For a diseased eye, it brings pain and blindness.

40 Some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these things and said to Him, “Are we blind too?”

The Pharisees are still lurking, and they overhear this. They catch the implication immediately. Their question is dripping with sarcasm and indignation. "What? Are you saying that we, the theological experts, the guardians of the law, the spiritual guides of Israel, are blind?" They cannot even conceive of the possibility. Their question is not an honest inquiry but a rhetorical challenge, intended to expose the absurdity of Jesus' statement. They are walking directly into the trap He has set for their pride.

41 Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.

This is the final, crushing verdict. Jesus' logic is devastating. If they were genuinely ignorant, like the man who was born physically blind and knew it, their condition would be pitiable but not culpable. "If you were blind" means, "If you knew you were blind and confessed it." In that case, they would "have no sin," meaning their sin could be taken away. The publican who said, "God, be merciful to me, a sinner," went home justified. He knew he was blind. But the Pharisees' problem is their arrogant claim: "We see." Because they insist on their own spiritual adequacy, because they claim to have the light within themselves, they cut themselves off from the only source of light. Their claim to sight is what makes their blindness a sin, and a sin that "remains." It is unforgiven and unforgivable, not because it is a special category of sin, but because they refuse the only remedy for any sin: humble confession and faith in Christ.

Application

This passage puts a sharp stick in the eye of all respectable, religious self-righteousness. The central temptation for those of us who have been in the church for a long time, who know our Bibles, who have our theology sorted out, is to begin to think that we "see." We are the knowledgeable ones. We have the right positions. We are not like those heretics over there, or those worldly pagans out there.

But Jesus says that this very attitude, this claim to "see," is the thing that guarantees our sin will remain. The gospel is not for people who have it all together. The gospel is for blind beggars. The moment we stop thinking of ourselves as blind beggars, utterly dependent on the moment-by-moment grace of Christ, is the moment we become Pharisees. The prayer of the Pharisee in the temple was essentially, "I thank you, God, that I see." The prayer of the tax collector was, "God, I am blind. Have mercy." Only one of them went home justified.

Therefore, we must constantly be asking ourselves: Am I approaching God on the basis of my knowledge, my orthodoxy, my spiritual resume? Or am I approaching Him with the empty hands of a beggar, confessing my blindness, and asking for the light that only He can give? The good news is that Jesus is still in the business of seeking out those who have been cast out. He is still finding those who are humble enough to say, "Who is He, Lord, that I may believe?" And to all such, He reveals Himself, receives their worship, and gives them sight.