The Miracles of Jesus | Healing The Blind Man
About this series:
For our Summer series 2026, we are exploring the miracles of Jesus! Together, we'll hear about four remarkable miracles recorded in John's Gospel, discovering what they reveal about who Jesus is and what they mean for us today!
About this talk:
This encounter - the healing of a man born blind - becomes the occasion for Jesus to teach about the spiritual blindness of those who opposed him and the need we all have for healing from spiritual blindness. There are five healings of blindness in the gospels; but this is by far the longest, most interesting and funniest! But to start, we need to see where ch 8 left off: Jesus has been in dispute with the Jewish religious leaders over what Jesus has been doing and the claims he’s making about himself, which ends with Jesus saying, “Before Abraham was born, I am!” (which is not just a chronological statement, but a profound theological one!) Their response: “At this, they picked up stones to stone him (for blasphemy), but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.” Tension is rising in the story!
So then to chapter 9. Jesus and his disciples come across a man who was born blind. He doesn’t seem to ask to be healed but Jesus spits on the ground and makes mud which he then puts on the man’s eyes. The man goes off to wash as instructed and finds he can see - which must have been extremely emotional and taken some getting used to.
And though he knows the name of the man who’s healed him, for most of the story he doesn’t know who Jesus is or, of course, what Jesus looks like. It’s such an extraordinary miracle that a discussion begins among his neighbours and those knew him, vs 8 - 9, “‘Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?’ Some claimed that he was. Others said, ‘No, he only looks like him.’ But he himself insisted, ‘I am the man.’” Then the religious authorities get involved because rather than rejoice in God’s blessing to this man, they’re seriously ticked off that Jesus has mixed up some mud and healed on the Sabbath (two activities prohibited on the holy day, when all work was considered sinful, unless it was a life-threatening situation)!
What we do know, from this story, plenty of others in the gospels and from the entire span of church history, is that Jesus has no problem healing. But whether Jesus had healed this man or not, the greater goal was, v 3, “that the works of God might be displayed in him” = that God might be glorified / magnified in what happens to him. That’s meant to be the great goal of everything in the universe - to know and make known the ultimate worth of glory of God.
Because the greatest treasure and good any of us can have is not temporary physical healing, but everlasting spiritual healing whereby we come to know the greatness of God and put our trust in him both now and for eternity (which will also be physical ‘healing’ in a resurrected body). Which means that whether you’re healed from an illness by the power of God or sustained through an illness by the power of God the point is that “the work of God is being displayed in this person / situation.”
So God is glorified by the witness of this blind man’s healing: “Jesus, you’re amazing, thank you for healing me.” But he is also glorified when his power enables us to say, “Jesus, you’re amazing at sustaining me every day in my suffering; you are the strength in my weakness.”
Just as this man was born physically blind and in encountering Jesus was able to see and walk ‘in the light,’ so the Bible tells us that we are born spiritually blind and that only in encountering Jesus can we see God and ‘walk in the light.’ Have you encountered Jesus yet and seen who he truly is? Have you said, “Lord, I believe”?
Audio only
