John 9: Jesus Sees the Blind Man No One Else Noticed

Introduction

You're walking down the street. A homeless man is sitting on a bench. Most passersby keep moving, heads down, in a hurry, indifferent. But someone stops. He looks at him. He sees his distress, he notices his humanity. Nothing spectacular, but that simple look already changes the situation. That's exactly what Jesus does in John 9. Éric Lehrmann, in this sermon, walks through the sixth sign in John's Gospel: the healing of a man born blind. A miracle that prepares the way for the seventh and final sign, the raising of Lazarus. A miracle that reveals who Jesus is (the light of the world, the one who opens eyes both physically and spiritually), and that turns a direct question back on you: do you see the people God sees around you?

Sermon outline

1. Jesus sees the one no one else sees (John 9:1-5)

• The man has been blind from birth. He has never seen anything in his life. He's marginalized; society ignores him.
• The disciples ask a guilt-hunting question: "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" They're looking for the cause of the evil, someone to point a finger at.
• Jesus flips the question around: "Neither did this man sin, nor his parents, but that the works of God might be revealed in him."
• Jesus doesn't look in order to accuse. He looks with love, in order to act.
• How often do you walk past someone in your neighborhood, your church, your workplace, your family, without seeing their distress, without seeing their spiritual need?
• What John shows you is that Jesus sees what the world does not see, and often, what you don't see either.

2. The miracle: mud and new creation (John 9:6-7)

• "When he had said this, he spat on the ground, made mud with the saliva, and anointed the blind man's eyes with the mud."
• The gesture recalls Genesis 2:7, where God forms man from the dust of the ground. Jesus acts as the Creator who remakes what is broken.
• Jesus sends him to wash in the pool of Siloam. Éric points out that Siloam means "sent."
• The man obeys, washes, and comes back seeing clearly. Faith often begins with a simple act of obedience.
• Invite a friend to pray with you, share your testimony, offer a word of encouragement. These are small acts that can transform a life.

3. The three kinds of blindness in the trial (John 9:8-34)

John doesn't stop at the miracle. He turns the account into a real trial. Different groups question the healed man, and each one reveals a form of blindness.

• The blindness of habit, the neighbors. They've known him forever. They struggle to believe he's changed. It's that habit of thinking you know everything, that you know all there is to know about your neighbor, your brother, their heart. This hits close to home in your church too.
• The blindness of fear, the parents. The weight of the group, the fear of not fitting in, the fear of exclusion. They're afraid of the Jewish leaders, who have already decided to put anyone who acknowledges Jesus as the Messiah out of the synagogue. All of that keeps them from testifying. You live out that same fear: every time you gossip, imagine things, sort people into categories, judge, condemn.
• Religious blindness, the Pharisees. "This man is not from God, because he doesn't keep the Sabbath." Worth noting: the word Pharisee comes from a Hebrew root meaning "separated." These were Jews who lived in strict observance of the written law and oral tradition. They were separated from the ruling class and from the crowd, whom they viewed as ignorant and impure. They multiplied obligations and fell into pure formalism. They see the miracle but refuse to believe it. When you don't want to believe, even the evidence is useless.

Their reasoning is simple: God must act according to their rules. Jesus doesn't fit their expectations. So they reject Jesus. Their problem isn't a lack of intelligence, it's a heart of stone. Ezekiel 36:26 says it: "I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh."

The worst blindness is the certainty of being right to the point of rejecting God. "Back in the day we did it this way, it was so much better, it was done so well." Always the same mechanisms. How often do you reject what God is doing in someone else's life, out of skepticism or judgment?

4. The healed man's testimony (John 9:25)

• "I don't know if he is a sinner. One thing I do know: that though I was blind, now I see."
• Simple. Clear. Powerful. There's nothing to add.
• Faith is simple. It turns you around, it transforms you, it makes you a new creature in the image of God, carried and swept along by faith.
• To testify, all you need to do is say what Jesus has done for you. No need for complex theology, just a grateful heart.

5. The final encounter and faith (John 9:35-38)

• After the man is rejected by the religious authorities, Jesus comes to him.
• "Do you believe in the Son of God?" ("Who is he, Lord, that I may believe in him?"), "You have both seen him, and it is he who speaks with you.", "Lord, I believe!" And he worshiped him.
• The ultimate miracle isn't just seeing the world, but seeing Jesus for who he is.
• Éric points to this man's growing faith through how he describes Jesus: "a man" in verse 11, "a prophet" in verse 17, "Lord" in verse 38.
• It brings to mind Thomas in John 20:28-29: "My Lord and my God!", "Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen, and have believed."

6. The prophecy fulfilled (Isaiah 35:5)

• "Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped." (Isaiah 35:5)
• John shows that Jesus is the promised Messiah, the one who fulfills God's promises.
• Jesus declares it himself in verse 5: "While I am in the world, I am the light of the world."

7. A call to mission: are we paying attention?

• Jesus sees a blind man and he acts (v. 1). Today, around you, there are many people who are spiritually blind: family, friends, coworkers, neighbors, the people you pass on the street.
• Are you ready to see, to approach, and to testify of Christ the way Jesus does?
• Do you take the time to talk to a coworker about Jesus, to invite someone over to pray, to walk alongside a friend who's searching for God?

Key takeaways

• Jesus sees what the world ignores. Where the disciples were looking for someone to blame and society was looking away, Jesus sees a man, stops, and acts with love.
• Faith starts with a simple act of obedience. The blind man washes in Siloam. He doesn't understand everything (he obeys), and he comes back seeing clearly.
• The greatest miracle is seeing Jesus for who he is. The man moves from "a man" to "a prophet," then to "Lord." The real journey from blindness to sight is that progression of the heart.

Personal application

• Who in your close circle (family, neighborhood, workplace, church), has gone unnoticed by you for too long? What would Jesus see in that person?
• When you look at a brother or sister you think you "know by heart," are you ready to believe God can change them? Where are you at with the blindness of habit?
• Has fear of what others think ever kept you from testifying about what Jesus has done for you? What concrete step do you want to take this week?
• Is there an area where you're living in religious blindness, where you're waiting for God to act according to your rules rather than his?
• How would you describe Jesus today: "a man," "a prophet," or "my Lord"? What's holding you back from moving up a notch?

Scriptures cited

• John 9:1-41 · the full account of the healing
• John 20:30-31 · the purpose of John's Gospel
• John 1:12 · becoming children of God
• John 14:6 · I am the way, the truth, and the life
• John 10:11 · I am the good shepherd
• John 6:35 · I am the bread of life
• John 15:1 · I am the true vine
• John 20:28-29 · Thomas's cry of faith
• Genesis 2:7 · God forms man from the dust
• Ezekiel 36:26 · a heart of flesh in place of a heart of stone
• Isaiah 35:5 · the eyes of the blind will be opened

FAQ

Why does Jesus use mud and saliva to heal this blind man?

Éric points out that this gesture recalls Genesis 2:7, where God forms man from the dust of the ground. Jesus acts as the Creator who remakes what is broken. He then sends the man to wash in Siloam, whose name means "sent." The man obeys, washes, and comes back seeing clearly. Faith often begins with a simple act of obedience, without needing to understand everything first.

What are the three kinds of blindness that John 9 brings to light?

Éric identifies three in the trial that follows the miracle. The blindness of habit (the neighbors, who can't bring themselves to believe that a man they've known forever has really changed). The blindness of fear (the parents, who'd rather go along with the crowd than testify, out of fear of exclusion). And religious blindness (the Pharisees, who reject the miracle because it doesn't fit their rules). The worst one, Éric says, is the last: being so certain you're right that you end up rejecting God himself.

How do you come to recognize Jesus for who he truly is, like the healed blind man did?

Éric traces the journey through the very way this man talks about Jesus: "a man" in verse 11, "a prophet" in verse 17, "Lord" in verse 38 · and he worships him. The ultimate miracle isn't just seeing the world, but seeing Jesus for who he is. That progression is the progression of a heart opening up. It often happens through testimony (simply saying what Jesus has done for you), and through a personal encounter with him, like Thomas in John 20:28.