For judgment I came into this world, so that those who do not see may see

John 9 for the read John in July challenge

As Jesus passed by, He saw a man who had been blind from birth. ² And His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?” ³ Jesus answered, “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him. ⁴ We must carry out the works of Him who sent Me as long as it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. ⁵ While I am in the world, I am the Light of the world.” ⁶ When He had said this, He spit on the ground, and made mud from the saliva, and applied the mud to his eyes, ⁷ and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated, Sent). So he left and washed, and came back seeing. ⁸ So the neighbors, and those who previously saw him as a beggar, were saying, “Is this not the one who used to sit and beg?” ⁹ Others were saying, “This is he,” still others were saying, “No, but he is like him.” The man himself kept saying, “I am the one.” ¹⁰ So they were saying to him, “How then were your eyes opened?” ¹¹ He answered, “The man who is called Jesus made mud, and spread it on my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash’; so I went away and washed, and I received sight.” ¹² And they said to him, “Where is He?” He said, “I do not know.”

¹³ They brought the man who was previously blind to the Pharisees. ¹⁴ Now it was a Sabbath on the day that Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. ¹⁵ Then the Pharisees also were asking him again how he received his sight. And he said to them, “He applied mud to my eyes, and I washed, and I see.” ¹⁶ Therefore some of the Pharisees were saying, “This man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath.” But others were saying, “How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?” And there was dissension among them. ¹⁷ So they said again to the man who was blind, “What do you say about Him, since He opened your eyes?” And he said, “He is a prophet.”

¹⁸ The Jews then did not believe it about him, that he had been blind and had received sight, until they called the parents of the very one who had received his sight, ¹⁹ and they questioned them, saying, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? Then how does he now see?” ²⁰ His parents then answered and said, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; ²¹ but how he now sees, we do not know; or who opened his eyes, we do not know. 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 reached the decision that if anyone confessed Him to be ^[f]Christ, he was to be excommunicated from the synagogue. ²³ It was for this reason that his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”

²⁴ So for a second time they summoned the man who had been blind, and said to him, “Give glory to God; we know that this man is a sinner.” ²⁵ He then answered, “Whether He is a sinner, I do not know; one thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” ²⁶ So they said to him, “What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?” ²⁷ He answered them, “I told you already and you did not listen; why do you want to hear it again? You do not want to become His disciples too, do you?” ²⁸ They spoke abusively to him and said, “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 is from.” ³⁰ The man answered and said to them, “Well, here is the amazing thing, that you do not know where He is from, and yet He opened my eyes! ³¹ We know that God does not listen to sinners; but if someone is God-fearing and does His will, He listens to him. ³² Since the beginning of time it has never 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 yet you are teaching us?” So they put him out.

³⁵ Jesus heard that they had put him out, and upon finding him, He said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” ³⁶ He answered by saying, “And who is He, Sir, that I may believe in Him?” ³⁷ Jesus said to him, “You have both seen Him, and He is the one who is talking with you.” ³⁸ And he said, “I believe, Lord.” And he worshiped Him. ³⁹ And Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, so that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.” ⁴⁰ Those who were with Him from the Pharisees heard these things and said to Him, “We are not blind too, are we?” ⁴¹ Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now that you maintain, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.

John 3:16-17 says:  “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but so that the world might be saved through Him.”  Yet, in today’s text Jesus says: “For judgment I came into this world, so that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.”  These are not contradictory, Jesus did come for the specific purpose that through His sacrifice on the cross, we could be saved. God though, gives us a free will. Each individual must choose whether or not they will believe in Jesus and His sacrificial work of redemption on the cross. It is that choice which brings about judgment.  John 3:18-21 says:  “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”   Jesus is the light of the world. (John 8:12)  It is the light that exposes the darkness. It is His righteousness that reveals and exposes our unrighteousness. Each person must choose both by their confession and by their actions between light and darkness. In John 14:15 Jesus says:  “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.”  We cannot say we believe in Jesus yet still walk in darkness, doing evil deeds.

In John 14:6 Jesus says:  “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.”  There is no alternate path to heaven and God. Whoever believes will have eternal life. Whoever believes in Jesus work on the cross, the demonstration of God’s love,(Romans 5:8) will love Jesus and so keep His commandments. The text and the account of the healing of the blind man begins saying: As Jesus  passed by, He saw a man who had been blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him. We must carry out the works of Him who sent Me as long as it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the Light of the world.”   The truth is, we are all born as sinners so that the works of God might be displayed in us.  Jesus is no longer in the world, He has ascended to the Father in heaven. The light of the world remains though. Jesus lives both in heaven and in each one who believes. In Matthew 5:14-16 Jesus says:   “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”  We now, shining the light of Christ, walking in His righteousness, obedient to His commandments are to be the ones who help those who are blind to see. By our good works, we call them to choose between light and darkness, between the judgment of the cross and eternal judgment.

Thank You heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ and precious Holy Spirit. Like the man in the account, I say, one thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.  You opened my eyes to sin by Your righteousness. You allowed me to flee the darkness by Your light. You empower me to walk in Your truth. I believe in the redemption, the reconciliation and the restoration of the cross. May Your light shine through me, that others may see.  Amen.