John 9:10 - Printer Friendly

ESV: So they said to him, “Then how were your eyes opened?”

NIV: How then were your eyes opened?' they asked.

NASB: So they were saying to him, 'How then were your eyes opened?'

CSB: So they asked him, "Then how were your eyes opened? "

NLT: They asked, 'Who healed you? What happened?'

KJV: Therefore said they unto him, How were thine eyes opened?

NKJV: Therefore they said to him, “How were your eyes opened?”

Jesus' choice of this particular man for His sixth miraculous "sign" is no accident. In chapter 5, Jesus chose to heal a man who had been crippled for nearly 40 years (John 5:1–9). This meant there could be no doubt about the miraculous nature of the healing. The man would have been known for his condition, and his condition would have been known to be permanent. In this case, the man Jesus healed with muddy clay (John 9:6) had been born blind (John 9:1–2). He was easily recognized by the people of Jerusalem as a beggar (John 9:8). It's the fact that the man is so well-known for being blind that some in the crowd resist believing that he's been cured (John 9:9).

Despite some doubters, most people accept the obvious: this is the same man once known as a blind beggar. Their response question makes perfect sense: "if you're the one who used to be blind, what happened to make you see?" On the other hand, this same question will be repeated no less than four times (John 9:10, 15, 19, 26). These questions assume some kind of natural, mechanical answer. The people are so concerned with those details that they're missing the message of the miracle!

This presents an important perspective on Christian testimony. Through the rest of this chapter, the formerly blind man will be challenged to explain, re-explain, and repeatedly explain his story. Each time, his response is sincere, simple, and honest. What attracts others to his message is not his own charisma, or some deep philosophical idea. People are drawn because they see something powerful and want to know what caused it. The man's answer, consistently, is simply to tell other that it's Jesus who changed his life. Fancy speech and complex ideas are fine, in the right context, but neither are required to spread the "good news" to other people.

John 9:1–12 contains the sixth of the gospel of John's seven miraculous ''signs'' of Jesus' divinity. This miracle is the healing of a man who has been blind since birth. Jesus corrects His disciples' misconceptions about sin and suffering, then grants this man an ability he has never had before. This will lead to more angry confrontations with local religious leaders, as they purposefully ignore the spiritual message being proven by Jesus' works.

Jesus encounters a man who has been blind his entire life. In typical fashion for that era, the disciples assume this condition is due to some specific sin--either the man's sin or his parents' sin. Jesus challenges this idea, and heals the man. His restoration leads to interrogation, as the Pharisees try to discredit Jesus' miraculous work. The healed man's simple, straightforward perspective embarrasses the religious leaders, who excommunicate him in frustration. Jesus is able to meet with the man, explaining more about His identity and the purpose of His ministry. Jesus also reminds the Pharisees that those who ought to know better, spiritually, will be held more accountable as a result.

Jesus has begun to actively confront the false teachings of local religious leaders. His most recent debate included a heated exchange with the Pharisees, where Jesus claimed to have existed before Abraham. This resulted in an attempted stoning for blasphemy. Here, Jesus continues to antagonize religious hypocrites by healing a man who was born blind. The ensuing ruckus further exposes Jerusalem's religious leaders as shallow, prejudiced, and false. This event launches Jesus into another lengthy discussion of His ministry, recorded in chapter 10, including several crucial teachings on His role as Shepherd.

The gospel of John was written by the disciple John, decades later than the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. The author assumes that a reader is already familiar with the content of these other works. So, John presents a different perspective, with a greater emphasis on meaning. John uses seven miracles—which he calls “signs”—in order to prove that Jesus is, in fact, God incarnate. Some of the most well-known verses in all of the Bible are found here. None is more famous than the one-sentence summary of the gospel found in John 3:16.