At first, they were on the right track.
The people who had known this man his whole life saw him walking around with sight, and their first reaction was recognition: "Isn’t this the man who used to sit and beg?" They knew him. They knew his past. They had no reason to question what they saw.
But then, doubt creeps in.
As soon as they acknowledge the truth, they begin to talk themselves out of it. Maybe it just looks like him? Maybe he wasn’t really blind to begin with? Maybe there’s some explanation that makes more sense?
It’s as if they can’t handle the possibility that something beyond their understanding has taken place. And soon enough, the Pharisees join in—not to celebrate the miracle, but to dismantle it.
Through it all, the man stands firm. Again and again, he has to defend the undeniable reality of his own healing. Neighbors question him. Religious authorities cross-examine him. His own parents, out of fear, refuse to vouch for him. The pressure builds, and still, he holds to the truth.
He doesn’t have all the answers. But he knows what happened to him.
I don’t know about all that. But one thing I do know: I was blind, and now I see.
The world today feels strikingly similar.
We live in an era where truth is debated endlessly, where people claim to want facts but often ignore them when inconvenient. We decry fake news yet embrace misinformation that aligns with our preferences. We say we want evidence, yet we struggle to trust even the clearest realities when they conflict with our assumptions.
Like the neighbors in this passage, people today often see something clearly yet hesitate: Can this really be true? Like the Pharisees, people today defend their positions at all costs, even if it means rejecting something good and undeniable.
At the end of the day, we have to make a choice. When facts are both readily available and yet hard to discern, we still have to decide what we will trust.
The best choice is to believe in a truth that is strong, good, and beautiful—and that is what we have come to know in the person of Christ. Not every mystery will be solved. Not every tension will be resolved. But in Jesus, we find the kind of truth that is worth trusting.
Like the man in this passage, we may not have all the answers. But we know this:
I was blind, and now I see.
How else can we live?
John 9:8-34
The man’s neighbors and those who used to see him when he was a beggar said, “Isn’t this the man who used to sit and beg?”
Some said, “It is,” and others said, “No, it’s someone who looks like him.”
But the man said, “Yes, it’s me!”
So they asked him, “How are you now able to see?”
He answered, “The man they call Jesus made mud, smeared it on my eyes, and said, ‘Go to the pool of Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed, and then I could see.”
They asked, “Where is this man?”
He replied, “I don’t know.”
Then they led the man who had been born blind to the Pharisees. Now Jesus made the mud and smeared it on the man’s eyes on a Sabbath day. So Pharisees also asked him how he was able to see.
The man told them, “He put mud on my eyes, I washed, and now I see.”
Some Pharisees said, “This man isn’t from God, because he breaks the Sabbath law.” Others said, “How can a sinner do miraculous signs like these?” So they were divided. Some of the Pharisees questioned the man who had been born blind again: “What do you have to say about him, since he healed your eyes?”
He replied, “He’s a prophet.”
The Jewish leaders didn’t believe the man had been blind and received his sight until they called for his parents. The Jewish leaders asked them, “Is this your son? Are you saying he was born blind? How can he now see?”
His parents answered, “We know he is our son. We know he was born blind. But we don’t know how he now sees, and we don’t know who healed his eyes. Ask him. He’s old enough to speak for himself.” His parents said this because they feared the Jewish authorities. This is because the Jewish authorities had already decided that whoever confessed Jesus to be the Christ would be expelled from the synagogue. That’s why his parents said, “He’s old enough. Ask him.”
Therefore, they called a second time for the man who had been born blind and said to him, “Give glory to God. We know this man is a sinner.”
The man answered, “I don’t know whether he’s a sinner. Here’s what I do know: I was blind and now I see.”
They questioned him: “What did he do to you? How did he heal your eyes?”
He replied, “I already told you, and you didn’t listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples too?”
They insulted him: “You are his disciple, but we are Moses’ disciples. We know that God spoke to Moses, but we don’t know where this man is from.”
The man answered, “This is incredible! You don’t know where he is from, yet he healed my eyes! We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners. God listens to anyone who is devout and does God’s will. No one has ever heard of a healing of the eyes of someone born blind. If this man wasn’t from God, he couldn’t do this.”
They responded, “You were born completely in sin! How is it that you dare to teach us?” Then they expelled him.
Psalm 118:6-9
The Lord is for me—I won’t be afraid. What can anyone do to me?
The Lord is for me—as my helper. I look in victory on those who hate me.
It’s far better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust any human.
It’s far better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust any human leader.
Prayer
God,
I don’t have all the answers. But I know you are good. I don’t always understand the world. But I want to believe that what I have come to know in Jesus is true. So I choose to believe.
There’s so much noise, so many voices pulling in different directions. Help me to trust what is real, what is right, what is of you. That is, help me to find and to affirm and to live into the things of beauty and value and truth. Goodness for as many people as will accept it.
Give me the courage to stand in truth, even when others doubt. And let my life bear witness—Not to every argument won, but to the simple, undeniable experienced reality: I was blind, and now I see.
By your Spirit & in Christ,
Amen.
Amen