By James R. Strange, Ph.D.
Professor of Biblical and Religious studies, Samford University
THE SIGN OF HIS LIGHT
John 9:1–11, 30–33
Today marks our sixth lesson on Jesus’ miracles (“signs”) in the Gospel of John. In each, Jesus’ deed of power points to His identity as the Son sent by the Father to reveal the Father.
There are two questions in John: Who will believe this truth, and will they do the Father’s works in the world? John invites readers to remember that they confess who Jesus is and that they therefore must take up the work of loving the world that God loves (3:16; 9:4) and love one another (ch. 15).
Jesus is the Light we need. (1–5)
The Feast of Booths has ended (7:37) when Jesus sees the man who was born blind.
When Jesus says that He and His disciples must work during the day (that is, while Jesus is still on earth), He is alluding to two realities.
First, it is a Sabbath day (9:14). Jesus makes an exception on this Sabbath, as He did in 5:17 when, near another Jerusalem pool, he healed the man who couldn’t walk.
Second, the mention of the coming night when no one can work signifies the nearness of Jesus’ crucifixion and entombment, which also included a Sabbath day.
In Matthew 5:14, Jesus told His disciples that they were the light of the world. Jesus is talking about something different in John 9:5.
He Himself is the Light spoken into existence on the first day of creation, the Light that sprang forth unmediated from God, the Light that is the Word through whom God created everything (1:1–9). Jesus remains that Light while He is in the world (8:12).
In John’s account, the time is growing short for those who see the Light to believe in Him and so to avoid being overtaken by the darkness of unbelief (12:35).
Jesus opens our eyes to see. (6–11)
The Siloam Pool lies near the southeastern gate of Jerusalem at the end of the tunnel that King Hezekiah dug in the eighth century B.C. to bring water within the walled city (Isa. 8:6; Neh. 3:15).
Some commentators note Pliny the Elder’s discussion of the medicinal properties of saliva, but that is not what is going on here. Jesus provides the man an opportunity to do something that seems absurd — to receive his sight by rinsing away mud from his eyes. Indeed, when the man tells the story, it sounds like nonsense (v. 11).
The work of Jesus points to who He is. (30–33)
John wants to make sure we catch the event’s significance, which is built on the connections between blindness, ignorance and unbelief on one hand and sight, wisdom and faith on the other.
Some of the Pharisees (v. 16) serve as object lessons for two humorous asides to John’s readers. First, the newly sighted man asks, “You don’t want to become His disciples too, do you?” (v. 27).
Second, these Pharisees say, “But this man — we don’t know where He’s from” (v. 29). They are talking about geography (see 8:41–42) but Jesus, the Word who became flesh, was God and was with God in the beginning (1:1, 14).
We too know who Jesus is. As with the first disciples, we must do the works of the One who sent Him.
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