Key text: "As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world" (John 9:4-5).

Lesson objective: To understand that Jesus came into the world not only to open the eyes of those physically blind, but to open the eyes of the spiritually blind that they may believe in him and be saved.

Introduction: Since ancient times, all peoples have understood the concept of opposite poles of struggle between the forces of light and darkness. In the first page of Genesis we understand that God created matter and gave it form out of chaos and darkness. God brought physical light into being and separated it from darkness, and created life. The apostle John understood the cosmic and spiritual significance of the creation story, as is evident in his redemption story (John 1:1-14). Ancient civilizations at times distorted these themes and added a dualism to them, that is, a constant cosmic struggle between equally opposing forces.

To this day, cultures throughout the world have understood that more than a physical quality is at stake. When light vs. darkness are seen in an ethical dimension, they stand for the forces of understanding vs. ignorance and good vs. evil as well as life vs. death. However, the Bible does not portray light and darkness as having qualities of equal force where the slightest wind can sway the ultimate outcome. No, that can never be. Jesus is the spiritual "light" of salvation and eternal life, and there are no close competitors, only beaten foes!

The passage before us may begin with a man born blind from birth, but the truth lies in the "light" with which one is able to see and believe. Jesus’ healing takes place on the Sabbath day, and as a result a great controversy is stirred up with the Pharisees. The Pharisees are more interested in preserving the particulars of Moses’ day (Nehemiah 9:14) than acknowledging Jesus’ miraculous messianic sign (Luke 4:18). After all, the Pharisees by their own admission are Moses’ disciples and not Jesus’ (John 9:28).

In the final analysis, it is the man born blind who now sees and becomes Jesus’ disciple, while the Pharisees who were born seeing are now made blind by their own legalism. How ironic that the tables have so easily turned! Jesus’ method was to cultivate the man born blind through a process of understanding and transformation. Even after the new disciple is healed of blindness, he does not see Jesus face to face until after he has given his unrelenting and unwavering testimony to his neighbors and his community leaders. The man is not even sure who Jesus is, other than he must be from God, perhaps a prophet (v. 17). After the new disciple is expelled from the synagogue, Jesus encounters him and reveals himself in a fuller way. The result is that the man born blind believes Jesus’ divine claims as the messianic "Son of Man" and worships the true light of the world as "Lord" (vv. 35-38).

Jesus’ new disciple was persecuted for seeing and believing. The trials that he went through did not diminish the joy of recovering his sight. In fact, he grew bolder with every step. It is easy to take one’s sight for granted when one is born with it. It is even easier for people to think they see spiritually, too, when they have never seen what they are lacking. The gospel message of salvation in Jesus Christ is the only "light" that can forever dispel the chaotic darkness of spiritual blindness and bring eternal joy no matter what the challenge.

The man born blind from birth was chosen to give abundant witness and light to the most hardened unbelievers. Our task is to be witnesses of Jesus, the light of the world! Only the gospel of grace can open the eyes of the spiritually blind.