Sermon notes for March 15, 2026
Fourth Sunday in Lent – –
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John 9:1-41
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
1As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3 Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. 4 We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 6 When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man’s eyes, 7 saying to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see. 8 The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar began to ask, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” 9 Some were saying, “It is he.” Others were saying, “No, but it is someone like him.” He kept saying, “I am he.” 10 But they kept asking him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” 11 He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ Then I went and washed and received my sight.” 12 They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.”
13 They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. 14 Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. 15 Then the Pharisees also began to ask him how he had received his sight. He said to them, “He put mud on my eyes. Then I washed, and now I see.” 16 Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not observe the Sabbath.” Others said, “How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?” And they were divided. 17 So they said again to the blind man, “What do you say about him? It was your eyes he opened.” He said, “He is a prophet.”
18 The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight 19 and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” 20 His parents answered, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind, 21 but we do not know how it is that now he sees, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.” 22 His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus to be the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. 23 Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”
24 So for the second time they called the man who had been blind, and they said to him, “Give glory to God! We know that this man is a sinner.” 25 He answered, “I do not know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” 26 They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” 27 He answered them, “I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?” 28 Then they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. 29 We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.” 30 The man answered, “Here is an astonishing thing! You do not know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. 31 We know that God does not listen to sinners, but he does listen to one who worships him and obeys his will. 32 Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” 34 They answered him, “You were born entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us?” And they drove him out.
35 Jesus heard that they had driven him out, and when he found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”[e] 36 He answered, “And who is he, sir?[f] Tell me, so that I may believe in him.” 37 Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he.” 38 He said, “Lord, I believe.” And he worshiped him. 39 Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment, so that those who do not see may see and those who do see may become blind.” 40 Some of the Pharisees who were with him heard this and said to him, “Surely we are not blind, are we?” 41 Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.
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“One Thing I Do Know, That Though I Was Blind, Now I See.”
Good morning, my friends. In the name of the Father, the son, and the Holy Spirit welcome to the study of John’s gospel chapter nine concerning the story of a blind man.
These verses connected with me in a personal way. I spent ten years working in a manufacturing company. Or rather a de-manufacturing company. That classification isn’t worth going into at the moment. The important thing to focus on is that for every minute we were in an unplanned shut down it was losing the company obscene amounts of money.
Emergency meetings of all department heads were called. I was always amazed that the first reaction was to find where to place the blame for the stoppage.
My first reaction was always what do we need to do to get the operation moving again. Finding the answer to what went wrong (if anything) was important of course, as was preventing it from happening again. But, in my opinion, those long term adjustments were less urgent than keeping the products going out the door to the wholesalers and retailers.
There were nearly always stop-gap measures that could quickly be put into place to bypass a non-functional system or piece of equipment. It may be less efficient than the normal process but at least it kept everything moving.
The reason that all of this came to mind was the way the disciples looked at the blind man. “Who is to blame?” Instead of “What can we do to fix it?”
Friends, we are going to look closely at this poor man, born in darkness. However, as in all lessons from the master teacher, we must always look for how it applies to us today.
Other than Jesus the main characters in this drama are: the man born blind, Jesus’s disciples, the Pharisees, and the blind man’s parents. I called it a drama, which it is, but like all good stories there is some humor also. While we discuss this story I want you to try putting yourself into each of these characters’ places. Wear their skin for a moment to see how closely you fit in it.
Now here is something I want you to consider — there are no bad guys in the story. Each of them see themselves as the righteous ones — the hero of the story. Don’t be too quick to cast any of them as villains.
Here is a summary of the account.
John 9 is a powerful narrative that moves from a physical miracle to a sharp debate over spiritual “blindness.” It’s one of the few places where Jesus explicitly rejects the idea that suffering is always a direct result of personal sin.
The Core Narrative
1. The Miracle (Verses 1–12)
As Jesus and his disciples pass a man blind from birth, the disciples ask a classic “blame game” question: Who sinned, this man or his parents? Jesus flips the script, stating it happened so that “the works of God might be displayed in him.” Jesus heals him using an unusual method—spitting on the ground to make mud, applying it to the man’s eyes, and telling him to wash in the Pool of Siloam. The man obeys and returns seeing, sparking confusion among his neighbors who can’t quite believe it’s the same person.
2. The Investigation (Verses 13–34)
The miracle happened on the Sabbath, which immediately puts Jesus at odds with the Pharisees. They interrogate the healed man twice:
- The First Hearing: The man simply tells the facts. The Pharisees are divided; some think Jesus is a sinner for “working” on the Sabbath, while others wonder how a sinner could perform such signs.
- The Parents’ Testimony: Afraid of being kicked out of the synagogue, the man’s parents dodge the question and tell the leaders to ask their son themselves.
- The Second Hearing: The man grows bolder (and a bit witty). When the Pharisees insult Jesus, the man points out the obvious: God doesn’t listen to sinners, yet this man opened my eyes. Frustrated by his logic, the Pharisees throw him out.
3. The Spiritual Lesson (Verses 35–41)
Jesus finds the man and reveals his identity as the Son of Man. The man believes and worships him. Jesus then delivers the “moral of the story”:
He came so that the blind might see, and those who claim to see might become blind.
The Pharisees ask if he’s calling them blind. Jesus responds that if they were truly blind (ignorant), they would be innocent—but because they claim to see and still reject the truth, their guilt remains
In this account from the Gospel of John, we see three great movements of God’s grace. I invite you to examine your own life against these truths.
The human mind is a strange thing; when we see suffering, don’t we reflexively reach for a “reason?” We go into “detective mode” and start crafting likely scenarios in our mind.
We really don’t like things that happen for no known reason. Interestingly those are what insurance companies call “Acts of God.”
The disciples’ question, “Who sinned, this man or his parents?”, was an attempt to fit a tragedy into a neat box of cause and effect.
This is where speculation looks backward. It seeks a culprit.
I remember the time that my little great granddaughter noticed that my arm was bleeding. She looked me in the eye and said, “What did you do?” It wasn’t just a question. It was an accusation. “Did you pick at it?” There was no sympathy, no empathy. My arm was bleeding so l must have done something to cause it.
This attitude is called victim shaming. You hear that someone was attacked and you want to know what they did to provoke the attack.
The man is blind from birth. It’s hard to imagine that he committed some sin while still in the womb — his parents independently or together must have done something to displease God for their son to be born blind. This was the reasoning of the disciples. Unfortunately this concept is still alive today. Parents of disabled or special needs children often blame themselves. And it also finds root in the mind of others also.
Jesus shatters this formula. He doesn’t explain the origin of the darkness; He explains the opportunity within it. By saying the man was born blind so the “works of God might be displayed,” Christ shifts the focus from Retribution to Redemption.
To understand the Pharisees, you have to look past the modern “legalist” stereotype and see them as the rigorous academics of their day. They weren’t just following rules; they were obsessed with defining the boundaries of a holy life in a world they felt was becoming too secular.
When they asked, “How is this possible?” they weren’t always doubting—they were often initiating a complex legal inquiry.
For the Pharisees, the Sabbath wasn’t just a day off; it was a cosmic testimony. To ensure no one accidentally broke the Commandment to “keep it holy,” they created the Oral Torah—a massive collection of traditions and specific prohibitions
They categorized “work” into 39 primary types (like sowing, reaping, or tying a knot).
The Logic: If you define exactly what “working” is, you can prevent someone from accidentally doing it. I had a strict Rabbi explain it this way. On the Sabbath I can legally move this chair anywhere within this sanctuary. However, if I moved the chair into another room – that is work. I’ve created something new.
This is why they clashed with Jesus. When he mixed mud to place on the man’s eyes, he created something new. It was work.
The Pharisees started a theological argument, but the man gave them a biography. You all know someone who is “Captain Obvious” who points out things that are obvious to everyone. Things like, “The blind man couldn’t see who was talking to him.”
Well the former blind man is the “Apostle of the Obvious.” He didn’t need to understand the molecular structure of the mud or the medicinal properties of the Pool of Siloam; he only needed to experience the result.
The Healed Man’s Experience Focused on the Lord of the Sabbath and Relied on Transformation To Proclaim: “Look at what happened! One thing I do know, though I was blind, now I see.”
I can echo that thought. In oh so many ways I was blind. The Lord has opened my spiritual eyes and continues to correct my vision daily.
Understand this, true “religion” isn’t a set of opinions you hold; or rules you follow. If your faith hasn’t changed your “sight” — your desires, your loves, and your reactions — if it hasn’t changed you, then you are merely a spectator of the light, not a participant in it.
The Pharisees were in a Danger in Spiritual Pride. The most chilling part of this narrative is the reversal of roles. The man born in physical darkness ends up in the light of Christ, while the men born into the “light” of religious education end up in spiritual “blindness.”
Pride can cause blindness in the soul. To admit to your “blindness” is the first step to healing. But to be blind and insist you are the only one who sees clearly, is a terminal condition. The Pharisees’ sin “remained” because they claimed to be in the light and refused to admit they were standing in the dark.
I know I’m meddling here but it’s my job to ask. Are you so deadset sure that you are right that you can’t consider that you’ve errored?
The narrative concludes not with a debate, but with an invitation. The Pool of Siloam represents the means of grace—the Word, prayer, and the community of faith—where we encounter Christ.
Stop the Interrogation: Quit cross-examining God about your past and start obeying Him in your present.
One. Apply the Clay: Accept the “common” things God uses to heal us—simple faith and humble obedience.
Two. Identify the Son: Like the blind man, we must eventually move from “The man called Jesus” to “Lord, I believe.”
Three. Follow Up: Healing is a gift, but Worship is the response that makes the healing complete.
So ends the lesson.
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