John 9:1-25 And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth.… 1. It is only related by St. John. 2. Like each of the few miracles in St. John, it is described with great minuteness and particularity. 3. It is one of the four miracles wrought in Judaea, or near Jerusalem, mentioned in St. John. He records eight great miracles together: four in Galilee — turning the water into wine, healing the nobleman's son, feeding the multitude, and walking on the water (chaps. 2, 4, and 6); and four in Judaea — purifying the Temple, healing the impotent man, restoring sight to the blind, and raising Lazarus (chaps. 2, 5, 6, and 9). 4. It is one of those miracles which the Jews were especially taught to expect in Messiah's time: "In that day shall the eyes of the blind see out of obscurity" (Isaiah 29:18). 5. It is one of those signs of Messiah having come, to which Jesus particularly directed John the Baptist's attention: "The blind receive their sight" (Matthew 11:5). 6. It was a miracle worked in so public a place, and on a man so well known, that it was impossible for the Jerusalem Jews to deny it. It is hardly necessary, perhaps, to bid any well-instructed Christian observe the singularly instructive and typical character of each of the eight miracles which John was inspired to record. Each was a vivid picture of spiritual things. Hengstenberg observes, that three of the four great miracles wrought by Christ in Judaea, exactly represent the three classes of works referred to in Matthew 11:5: "The lame walk, the blind see, the dead are raised up" (John 5; John 9; John 11). (Bp. Ryle.) Parallel Verses KJV: And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. |
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