This is part of a year-long series. Find out more about this series by reading the introductory post here.

John 9:27–34

““I already told you,” he said, “and you didn’t listen. Why do you want to hear it again? You don’t want to become His disciples too, do you?” 

They ridiculed him: “You’re that man’s disciple, but we’re Moses’ disciples. We know that God has spoken to Moses. But this man—we don’t know where He’s from!”

“This is an amazing thing,” the man told them. “You don’t know where He is from, yet He opened my eyes! We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners, but if anyone is God-fearing and does His will, He listens to him. Throughout history no one has ever heard of someone opening the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, He wouldn’t be able to do anything.”

“You were born entirely in sin,” they replied, “and are you trying to teach us?” Then they threw him out.”

The wisdom and understanding of the man born blind is astounding. He knew that Jesus must be from God because only the power of God is able to make broken eyes see. He delivers one of the most powerful testimonies about Jesus to the religious leaders, and they still refuse to believe in Him; furthermore, they actually ridicule this man for his faith.

The Pharisees claim they listen to Moses instead of Jesus because they know Moses was sent from God, but they are not sure where Jesus comes from. Yet Jesus tells them multiple times that they are not following the Mosaic Law:

“Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom you have set your hope. For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, because he wrote about Me.” (John 5:45–46)

“Didn’t Moses give you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law! Why do you want to kill Me?”” (John 7:19)

The Pharisees disobeyed the Mosaic Law when they began prioritizing certain laws over others based on their convenience and traditions (Matthew 15:3-9). They were not faithful adherents to the Mosaic Law, and, therefore, they were not faithful disciples of Moses. Their claims about being Moses’ disciples might sound pious to the crowds, but what would be Moses’ response to them?

The man born blind is a fascinating figure. He sees (physically) Jesus for only moments before he sees (spiritually) Jesus for who He truly is. From his story, we are able to see (pun intended) that seeing Jesus as the Christ extends beyond physically seeing Him. The Pharisees and this man both see Jesus, but only the man, despite being blind, has eyes to see Jesus for who He really is.