* LESSON: JESUS HEALS MAN BORN BLIND
Bible Memory Verse:
“Then the man said, ‘Lord, I believe,’ and he worshiped him.” John 9:38
As Jesus went along He saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked Him, "…Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"
At that time people believed that you were blind or sick or lame because you had sinned.) Why is there suffering and sickness and death? (SIN, but not necessarily the sin of the person suffering or sick)
Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed (seen) in his life…".
Jesus spit not the ground, made some mud and put it on the man’s eyes. "Go," Jesus told him “wash in the Pool of Siloam.” The man went and washed, and came home seeing.
His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging said, "Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?" (At that time often the only way blind or lame people could take care of themselves was to beg for money or food.) Some claimed that he was the man they had seen begging. Others said, "No, he only looks like him.”
But he himself insisted, "I am the man."
"How then were your eyes opened?" they demanded.
He replied, "The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to the Pool of Siloam and wash. So I went and washed and now I can see."
"Where is the man?" they asked him.
"I don’t know," he said.
They brought to the Pharisees (religious leaders ) the man who had been blind. Now the day Jesus healed the man was on the Sabbath. (The Sabbath was the special day each week God wanted everyone to worship Him. But the Pharisees had made up many rules that God never said man was supposed to follow. One of their rules was no one was supposed to heal on the Sabbath.)
The Pharisees also asked the man how he had received his sight. "He put mud on my eyes," the man said, "and I washed and now I see."
Some of the Pharisees said, "This man (Jesus) is not from God, for He does not keep the Sabbath."
But others asked, "How can a sinner do such marvelous signs?"
Finally they turned again to the blind man, "What have you to say about Him? It was your eyes He opened."
The man said, "He is a prophet."
The Jews still did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they sent for his parents. "Is this your son?" they asked. “Is this the one who was born blind? How is it that he can see?"
"We know this is our son," the parents answered. "But how he can see or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. Ask him, He’s old enough; he will speak for himself." His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews, for already the Jews had decided that anyone who said Jesus was the Son of God would be put out of the synagogue. (Synagogue is like a church. It was very important for Jews to be part of the synagogue. Their family and friends all went to the synagogue.)
They said to the man, "We know this Jesus is a sinner."
He answered, "Whether a sinner or not I do not know. One thing I know, I was blind but now I see."
Then they said to him, "What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?"
He answered, "I told you already, and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again. Do you want to become His disciples, too?"
Then they said to him, "You are this fellow’s disciple! We are Moses’ disciples! We know that God spoke to Moses, we don’t even know where He came from."
The man replied, "Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where He comes from, yet He opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does His will. Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, He could do nothing."
To this they replied, "You are a man covered with sin from birth." (they believed a person was blind or lame because they had sinned.) "How dare you talk back to us." And they threw him out.
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," he asked, "that I may believe in Him?"
Jesus said, "You have now seen Him in fact, He is 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.” Jesus meant that it is much more important to understand the things of God to actually see. Even if you can see, but you don’t know God, then you are blind to what is most important. Jesus came to earth so that people could know God. The most important thing we must do is, like the blind man that Jesus healed, to believe Jesus is the Son of God and to worship Him.
QUESTIONS:
1. At the time Jesus lived, why did they think a person was blind or sick or lame?
2. Why were the Pharisees (religious leaders) angry with Jesus?
3. Why did the man’s parents not want to admit that Jesus had healed him?
4. What did the man do because he believed in Jesus?
JESUS HEALS A BLIND MAN
Bible Memory Verse:
“Then the man said, ‘Lord, I believe,’ and he worshiped him.” John 9:38
1. The man had been born:
a. deaf
b. blind
c. crippled
2. Some people thought people were blind who:
a. sinned
b. worshipped Satan
c. caught a cold
3. On the man’s eyes Jesus put some:
a. salve
b. mud
c. lotion
4. Jesus told the man to go wash in the:
a. river
b. pool of Siloam.
c. Lake of life
5. The Pharisees were angry because Jesus:
a. healed a man who sat on the road
b. sang in the temple
c. healed on Sabbath
6. Blasphemy is:
a. town in Jesus’ day
b. talk against God
c. wrong actions
7. The Pharisees knew that Jesus:
a. is God
b. healed people on the Sabbath
c. obeyed God
8. Only God can:
a. help sick people
b. talk about God
c. forgive sins
9. The Bible says the man born blind believed Jesus:
a. could help his family
b. was sent from God
c. was a priest
10. When the healed man knew Jesus was the Son of God, he:
a. gave Him some food
b. worshipped Him
c. invited Jesus home