Session 1
John 9:1-5 – "Why is this man blind?"
Intro:
• Who are you favourite people in scripture?
• Mine are those who aren’t named!
• There’s so many who aren’t named but they are so significant !
• Imagine getting to heaven one day and having a chat with someone and realising we’ve
been studying their story for millennia without knowing their name!
Main:
• It’s who we have today – “a man born blind”.
• Imagine living in total darkness. Never seeing your family’s faces. Never witnessing a
sunrise. That was this man’s reality.
• Going to look at his story in chunks – first up John 9:1-5
• As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who
sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” “Neither this man nor his
parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be
displayed in him. As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is
coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world. ”
• The 21st century reaction to the disciples questions is slightly awkwardness… at the time
though it’s a common question: “Who sinned?”
• But Jesus flips the script. The answer expected would have been him or his parents.
Nothing else
• And yet, Jesus says his blindness was not a punishment, but an opportunity for God’s
glory. That irritates the 21st century person right? We like to think we know what is good
and what is bad but what if the way in which we view things as right or wrong isn’t the
truth?
• Our world assumes suffering means God is absent or angry, but Jesus sees something
bigger.
• I wonder if you have friends with visual impairment? I’ve met several through Torch Trust,
and the one thing I have seen consistently is that they are not their disability! And yet I
know that even today the question is often “what happened” “what’s wrong with you”
• Yet I see God’s glory in them – God is glorified in their lives
Conclusion:
• “I am the light of the world”—Jesus is offering more than just physical sight; He’s
bringing light to the whole human condition.
• We may have physical sight, but we’re all born blind when it comes to who God is and
what he’s like
Discussion Questions:
1. Why do we often try to find blame in suffering?
2. How does Jesus’ response challenge our thinking?
3. What difference does it make that this is the context that Jesus says that he is the light of
the world?
