“Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
When He had said these things, He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. And He said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated, Sent). So he went and washed, and came back seeing” (John 9:1-7).
This is another scripture when casually read has people believing that God caused this man to be born blind. They think that God caused this man’s blindness so that Jesus could heal him and God would get the glory. Is this true? No. Let’s read it afresh.
The disciples asked Jesus, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” The simple answer was, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned.” The man’s infirmity wasn’t a result of disobedience on his part or his parents. He was just born blind.
Jesus went on to explain, “But that the works of God should be revealed in him.” Jesus just told us that the works of God were not done in this blind man. God didn’t make this man blind.
Jesus went on to say, “I must work the works of Him who sent Me.” Jesus healing the blind man was the works of God revealed.
When we see Jesus do something, we are looking at the will of the Father: “Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works” (John 14:9-10).
By healing the blind man, Jesus was showing us the will of the Father. The Father didn’t make this man blind. If God had blinded this man, then Jesus would not have healed him. Jesus would have told the disciples something to the effect, “God wants him blind so we’ll leave him like he is.” Boy, it’s hard to even imagine Jesus saying that, isn’t it. The reason being, Jesus isn’t like that. Jesus is the healer because God is the healer.
There was no punctuation in the original Greek. It was put in our text at the discretion of the translators. Usually it’s spot on. But in our opening verse I think it may be better punctuated a little differently. Maybe something like, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned. But that the works of God should be revealed in him, I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day: the night is coming when no one can work.” Again, Jesus was doing the works of God by healing the man.
Jesus went on to say, “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” The light that God wanted to reveal through Jesus is that He wants people healed and whole, not blind and sick.
A Journal of Edification and Exhortation 