John 9:39–41

About this episode

This episode reflects on the irony of spiritual blindness as illustrated in John 9:39-41, contrasting the healed blind man with the Pharisees' refusal to see the truth of Jesus.

39 Then Jesus declared, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind may see and those who see may become blind.” 40 Some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard this, and they asked Him, “Are we blind too?” 41 “If you were blind,” Jesus replied, “you would not be guilty of sin. But since you claim you can see, your guilt remains.” REFLECTIONS Written by Ness Wong Today’s passage concludes the story of John 9 with irony – “that the blind may see and those who see may become blind.” (v 39). Jesus had not just healed a blind man of his physical blindness, but enlightened him spiritually to see and believe in the Son of Man. This healed blind man contrasted starkly with the Pharisees. Although the Pharisees claimed to know God’s law (v 14-16), though they had seen the miraculous evidence of Jesus’ divine power (v 16, 18-20), and though they had heard the blind man’s testimony twice (v 24, 27), they remained blinded to the reality that Jesus indeed was sent from God. And so – Jesus warned them – they remained guilty of their sins and would be judged. At first, I marvelled at the Pharisees’ hard-heartedness. I traced through Jesus’ lengthy dialogue with…

Topics covered

• spiritual blindness
• judgment
• faith
• repentance
• miracles
• Pharisees

Keywords

• blindness
• judgment
• Jesus
• Pharisees
• faith
• spirituality
• repentance

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: John 9

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