‘And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth.

And our subject is gaining spiritual understanding. Here is a case of a blind man healed by Jesus Christ. The most significant factor here is that this man was blind from birth – he had never seen. Now this produced a problem for the disciples of Christ because the rabbis in those days taught that all serious illness was the direct result of some sin. Well, the obvious problem is, if a man was born in this blind state and condition, how could that be?

How could he have sinned prior to being blind? And his disciples asked him saying, Master, who did sin this man or his parents, that he was born blind? Or there was a possibility they thought that being born blind was God’s punishment in advance? He would most certainly sin, and therefore his sin was so serious that he was punished already and born with this serious handicap. Or perhaps it was his parents. And Jesus Christ contradicts this doctrine this teaching of the rabbis that was not in accordance with the Scripture. It was their own tradition, their own idea and teaching. And he replied ‘neither had this man sinned, nor his parents.’ Well, of course, that doesn’t mean literally, because the man had sinned. Without doubt, all the sinners and his parents had sinned.

But there was this: blindness was not a direct punishment for either the sin of the man or his parents. That’s the meaning, Jesus answered. Neither had this man sinned, nor his parents, but that the works of God would be made manifest in him. In other words, the man was born blind, in the teaching of Christ, because there was a day coming when Christ would come to that place and he would alight on that man and he would restore his sight. And by so doing, the works of God would be made manifest.’

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Book: The Personal Spiritual Life
Sermon: Becoming Spiritually Alive