Session 11 John 9:24-38

YOU CAN’T SEE? (JOHN 9:26-34)

expressions of faith in these verses.

26 Then they asked him,
“What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”
27 “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?”
28 They ridiculed him:
“You’re that man’s disciple,
but we’re Moses’s disciples.
29 We know that God has spoken to Moses. But this man — we don’t know where he’s from.”

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

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

Ask:

• What differences did you notice between the man and the Pharisees?
• What role does people’s source of authority play in their willingness to examine the truth about Jesus?

CONSIDER:

People may debate theological points,
but they cannot deny the change Jesus works in us.
The most effective apologetic may not lie in doctrinal arguments,
but in the witness of a transformed life.

ASK:

• How was God glorified through this encounter?
• What makes a person’s changed life a powerful means for sharing about Jesus? (p. 95)

TRANSITION:

The Pharisees failed to recognize Jesus as the Messiah
even when confronted with the healed man’s testimony.
And even though they dismissed both the man and Jesus,
God was still at work.