John 9:35–41

Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when He had found him, He said to him, “Do you believe in the Son of God?”

He answered and said, “Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?”

And Jesus said to him, “You have both seen Him and it is He who is talking with you.”

Then he said, “Lord, I believe!” And he worshiped Him.

And Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind.”

Then some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these words, and said to Him, “Are we blind also?”

Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, ‘We see.’ Therefore your sin remains.”

Wait. There were Pharisees who were with Him? Why? Were they cast out too?

No. This leads to an important but obscure lesson—the Pharisees weren’t all bad. Nicodemus wasn’t the only good one either. The “division among them” back in verse 16 was real, significant, and enduring.

We previously noted that, “You are trying to kill me,” doesn’t mean that every person is trying to kill me. Similarly, saying that the “Jews” are trying to kill Him is true even if only a tiny percentage actually are.

This collective plural concept applies to the Pharisees too. They’re not all the same. They are all notable due to their power, which spawns efforts to cling to that power. That makes their corruption most visible.

They’re not worse than everyone else, just more annoying.

All the action in this whole chapter is to set up the lesson at the end. “For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind.” Thus some of the Pharisees who were with Him ask what that’s all about. They wonder, “Are we blind also?”

Jesus doesn’t then say that they’re blind. He says, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, ‘We see.’ Therefore your sin remains.” Jesus is using their question to clarify His point. Their claim to see (physically) makes them without excuse (spiritually).

Jesus isn’t talking about literally swapping the blind and the seeing; He’s talking about superseding physical sight with spiritual sight.

That spiritual sight is the essence of the Christian experience.

These Monday—Friday DEEPs are written by Mike Slay. The Saturday DEEPs are written by Matt Richardson. To subscribe to all the DEEPs click here:

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ESV stands for the English Standard Version. © Copyright 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved. NIV stands for The Holy Bible, New International Version®. © Copyright 1973 by International Bible Society. Used by permission. All rights reserved. KJV stands for the King James Version.