Daily Study from Lifeway’s “The Gospel Project”
Read John 9:13-28
13 They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. 14 Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man’s eyes was a Sabbath. 15 Therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. “He put mud on my eyes,” the man replied, “and I washed, and now I see.”
16 Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.”
But others asked, “How can a sinner perform such signs?” So they were divided.
17 Then they turned again to the blind man, “What have you to say about him? It was your eyes he opened.”
The man replied, “He is a prophet.”
18 They still did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they sent for the man’s parents. 19 “Is this your son?” they asked. “Is this the one you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see?”
20 “We know he is our son,” the parents answered, “and we know he was born blind. 21 But how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself.” 22 His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders, who already had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. 23 That was why his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”
24 A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. “Give glory to God by telling the truth,” they said. “We know this man is a sinner.”
25 He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”
26 Then they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”
27 He answered, “I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples too?”
28 Then they hurled insults at him and said, “You are this fellow’s disciple! We are disciples of Moses!
The Pharisees were trying to get to the bottom of this miracle in the man who had been blind. They interrogated him about what happened. They asked him who he thought Jesus was, but they didn’t like his answer, so they interrogated his parents next. Afraid, his mother and father deflected to their son, so the Pharisees went again to ask the man what really happened. His response was simple: “I was blind, and now I can see!” (v. 25). At that, they began to ridicule him.
This man wasn’t well versed in theology, nor could he tell you much about Jesus. What he did know was what Jesus had done and how that had changed him. This is at the heart of what it means to witness to others about Jesus. Though answers are helpful to have, we ultimately don’t need all of them. What we need is a testimony about how Jesus has changed our lives.
How would you answer someone who asked you what Jesus has done for you?