John 9:35-41 (NIV)
Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”
“Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.”
Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.”
Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.
Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”
Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we blind too?”
Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.
The formerly blind man had never seen Jesus. When he had washed the mud off his eyes at the pool of Siloam and had been able to see for the first time in his life, he had not tried to find Jesus, but had simply gone home as quickly as possible to share the glad news with his family and friends. But now that he had been thrown out of the synagogue where the Pharisees had gathered to examine his case, Jesus went to him.
Jesus’ first question was key. The man had become an outcast because he had refused to denounce Jesus as a sinner or heretic. But refusal to denounce Jesus is not the same as full belief in Him. So, Jesus asked the question outright: “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”
The formerly blind man realized that this “Son of Man” was the one who had healed him and was ready to believe in Him the moment someone could point Him out. And when Jesus identified that He Himself was the Son of Man, the man fell at His feet and worshiped Him. Far from rejecting the man’s worship as other mere men, and even angels, were required to do (Acts 10:25-26, 14:13-15; Revelation 22:8-9), Jesu accepted the worship as rightfully given.
Jesus proclamation that He had come so that the blind would see and the seeing would become blind encapsulates what had taken place that day. The man everyone had written off as a vile sinner due to his congenital blindness had had both his physical and spiritual eyes opened so that He could see who Jesus truly was and put his faith in Him. At the same time, the religious leaders, including the Pharisees who were with Jesus, but who had similarly shown disdain for the blind man, had been shown to be spiritually blind, unable to see past their prejudices to be able to understand who Jesus truly was so that they, too could worship Him.
Father, I am so glad that You opened my eyes so that I could finally see and receive Jesus as my Lord and Savior. Help me to point everyone I meet today to Jesus, to tell the story of my encounter with Him, so that they can be saved and be given the amazing gift of spiritual sight as well. Amen.