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John 9 Commentary
by Brad Boyles
Jesus and the disciples are out for a stroll when suddenly they encounter a blind man. In the ancient world, blind people were especially helpless in many ways. They were easily manipulated and exploited. They would have been disqualified from the priesthood. They were quarantined together with cripples and lepers outside the town limits. Generally speaking, the blind lived as outcasts, completely sidelined from any meaningful human relationships.
On top of this, it was assumed that the blind had committed unbearable sins to be given such a horrible lot in life.
His disciples questioned Him: “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
John 9:2 HCSB
It’s really an awful question. The notion that a child could suffer the punishment from their father’s sins was an accepted principle in early Judaism. This idea was disputed by Ezekiel and also here by Jesus. That kind of incorrect viewpoint is understandable only because it was a common tradition. If God is sovereign and this human being was born flawed, the fault must surely lie on the human side of things, right? What we discover is that this idea is more of an instinctive feeling than it is a Scriptural truth.
“Yeshua’s talmidim were not the first to attribute all human misfortune and disability to immediately traceable sin: the entire book of Job is devoted to combatting this misunderstanding of how sin has come to affect the present world. Joh 9:1-5 of this chapter correspond to chapters 1-2 of Job; both set the scene for teaching about sin.”
Jewish New Testament Commentary
But the disciples take it a step further. In addition to speculating that the parents might be to blame, they wonder if this man sinned before he was even born! Jesus quickly rejects both theories. It’s not that these people are without sin, but that their sin did not cause the blindness. In fact, Jesus challenges their theory with truth.
Jesus views the blindness as an opportunity, not a futile misfortune.
Jesus’ interaction (and eventual healing) of this man helps us to understand God’s response to humans. We, like the man born blind, live in a world which is fallen. We, like this blind man, are helpless to make anything of our life. We, like this man, are not capable of removing the veil from our hearts to love and obey God.
Jesus came to this man. He left His place to come near. He left His place to heal. He left His place to transform this man’s world and bring glory to the Father.
When Jesus saw us helpless and broken, He didn’t see futile misfortune; He saw opportunity.