A Living Parable: The Blind Man's Journey
In John chapter 9, we encounter a profound living parable that reveals spiritual truths about God's sovereign grace, true sight, and spiritual blindness. This dramatic story unfolds immediately after Jesus declares "I am" in chapter 8, facing threats of stoning, yet still stops to show inconvenient compassion to a man born blind.
Inconvenient Compassion
After declaring himself God and facing hostile crowds ready to stone him, Jesus could have fled. Instead, as he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth and stopped. This wasn't convenient—Jesus had every reason to lie low, to protect himself, to keep moving.
But like the woman at the well in John 4, Jesus goes out of his way to enter this man's world. He demonstrates that true compassion is never convenient—it always requires stepping out of our path, self-sacrifice, and time we'd rather allocate elsewhere.
"If you wait for compassion to be convenient, you will never do it. Compassion is always inconvenient." -Pastor Nathan
Providence in Brokenness
The disciples asked, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" They rightly diagnosed that blindness resulted from the fall, but wrongly assumed it was his particular sin or his parents' sin.
The Question
Why did God allow this ailment from birth?
Jesus' Answer
"It was not that this man sinned, but that the works of God might be displayed in him."
The Purpose
His blindness existed so God's glory could be revealed through healing.
Like the Japanese art of Kintsugi—where broken ceramics are mended with golden seams that highlight rather than hide the cracks—God doesn't discard the broken. He makes them more beautiful, using the brokenness to display his grace. The cracks become testimonies to the artisan who valued the piece enough to restore it.
Are Your Breaks Opportunities?
The Challenge
Are the breaks in your life simply sufferings? Or are they opportunities to display the works of God?
That diagnosis, that trauma, that event—horrible in itself, but allowed by God's providence. He gifted you that brokenness so the cracks can show forth his grace.
"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weakness so that the power of Christ may rest upon me."— 2 Corinthians 12:9-10
We Are Broken People
A church of people who acknowledge our need for God's grace
God Has Not Discarded Us
He wants to use even our brokenness to display his glory
When We Are Weak
Then we are strong—the golden seams of grace shine through
Salvation Imaged: The Creator Repairs His Work
Jesus spit on the ground, made mud with saliva, anointed the man's eyes, and told him to wash in the pool of Siloam. This echoes Genesis 1—God forming man from the dust of the earth. Jesus, the agent of creation, gets down in the dirt to repair the cracks of his beloved work of art.
Sovereign Grace
Jesus pursued the man—he made no request, didn't even ask for healing
Responsibility to Believe
"Go wash in the pool of Siloam"—a command requiring faith
Obedience Proves Faith
The man went, washed, and came back seeing—action validated belief
This living parable demonstrates what Jesus has been teaching: salvation is by grace through faith, evidenced in works. God's sovereign grace meets us, we must believe, and that belief is proven through obedience.
Grace on Trial
God gave immense grace—visible healing of incalculable worth. This man had never seen color, sunrise, sunset, or his own parents' faces. Yet instead of celebrating, people put grace on trial.
1
The Neighbors Question
"Is this him?" Some said yes, some said no, some said he just looks like him. The man kept insisting, "It's me!"
2
The Pharisees Condemn
"This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath." They focused on religious rules instead of celebrating the miracle.
3
The Division Occurs
Some Pharisees said, "How can a sinner do such signs?" There was division among them.
4
The Irony is Clear
The one who was blind in the story is the only one with clear sight. He said simply, "He is a prophet."
Fear: A Powerful Weapon
The Jews launched a formal inquiry, calling the man's parents. Imagine seeing your parents for the first time! But fear gripped them.
"Is this your son who was born blind? How does he now see?" The parents deflected: "Yes, he's our son. He was born blind. But ask him—he's of age."
Why? The Jews had agreed that anyone confessing Jesus as Christ would be ostracized, separated, put out of the community. Fear kept them silent.
What Fears Keep You Silent?
What fears keep you from unrestrained obedience? Whose opinion do you care about more than God's? Our fears expose where we don't fully trust God—where we are practical atheists.
"There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear."— 1 John 4:18
The Logic of Truth
The inquiry returned to the man born blind. "Give glory to God," they said. The irony? That's exactly what he was doing! But they reviled him.
1
The Question
"What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?"
2
His Frustration
"I've told you already! Do you also want to become his disciples?"
3
Their Attack
"We are disciples of Moses. We don't know where this man comes from."
4
His Logic
"This is amazing! You don't know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing."
Robbed of coherent logic, they attacked him personally: "You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?" The irony? The entire inquiry tried to prove he wasn't born blind, yet now they weaponized his blindness to attack him. Then they cast him out.
He Who Believes Truly Sees
When Jesus heard they had cast him out, he found him. Removed from community, Jesus became his community. The man had never seen Jesus, but now they met face to face.
Jesus: "Do you believe in the Son of Man?"
The man: "Who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?"
Jesus: "You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you."
The man: "Lord, I believe." And he worshiped him.
This is true saving belief—not ambiguous faith, but particular belief fixed on Christ that produces worship. If there's no obedience, no worship flowing from your belief, it's not true saving faith.
Recognition
Jesus is Lord, Master, Messiah
Belief
Particular faith in Christ's person and words
Worship
True belief produces worship
Amazing Grace
Living Parable
One story revealing eternal spiritual truths about sight and blindness
Divine Pursuits
Jesus sought the man twice—before and after healing
Eternal Truth
Those who think they're okay remain blind; those who recognize their blindness receive sight
"And you were dead in the trespasses and sins... But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved."— Ephesians 2:1, 4-5
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who recognize they are blind, dead in sin, and that God in his grace meets them. But those who think they're okay—"I don't need Jesus"—remain blind, and their guilt remains.
Like the man born blind, we were born into darkness and sin. Yet in grace, God stopped. He did not discard us. Through his grace he brings healing so we might be showpieces to magnify and display the works of God.
"Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I'm found, was blind but now I see."— John Newton