No Longer Blind
John 8-10
The words of Jesus are often difficult to read. Not that He uses big, fancy words, but He speaks in a way that challenges the listener. Chapters 8-10 of John’s Gospel include some of the most intense conversations in all the Gospels. Jesus calls the religious leaders “sons of Satan” who “kill, steal and destroy.” The religious leaders respond by accusing Jesus of being demon possessed, they bring up his mother’s pregnancy, wonder if He will commit suicide and they try to arrest Him.
When Jesus is pointing out the brokenness of the religious system, He says that He has come to fix the problem. He claims that He alone is the solution. This is the core of the conflict, Jesus’ claims are too much for people to hear!
Jesus claimed to be the “light of the world” and promises that those who follow him will have true life. (8:12)
Jesus said He was “from above” and that His listeners were from “this world”. Unless His listeners believed that, they would die in their sin. (8:24)
Jesus said that those who hold onto His words are His disciples and they will be set free by the truth. (8:31-32)
Jesus said those who keep His word will never see death. (8:51)
Jesus claimed to exist before Abraham. (8:58)
Jesus claimed to be the shepherd God promised Israel. (10:14)
Jesus’ words are met with confusion and argument. He says that so few people hear Him because they are “not of God”. (John 8:47) Like Nicodemus, in John 3, this crowd needs to be reborn. God needs to draw them to Him. God needs to open the eyes of the spiritually blind if they are going to see Jesus as the light of the world.
In order to drive this point home, Jesus heals a man who is physically blind. Ironically, the blind man who has never seen Jesus is the only one who sees Him as the light of the world. And the religious leaders, who claim to see the truth so clearly, are blind to it. (9:41) This sign is a living picture of how we are saved - not by our wisdom, but by God’s power.
Jesus’ words are challenging causing us, like His disciples, to look internally. Are we blind or enslaved? (9:33) Perhaps we assume we see better than we really can and we may think we are more free than we are. Jesus is saying that the more we claim to see, the more we are blind.
It is important to realize religious figures and traditions throughout history have claimed to see and understand the light, but they have all died or dried up in darkness. On the other hand Jesus, the light of the world, died only to rise again! With Jesus’ death, our eyes are opened and our ears are finally able to hear the voice of the Good Shepherd.