Brad's Bistro

Suggestions for leading a study:

Familiarize yourself with the passage in context, including the book itself. Who wrote it to whom, and why?
Read through the study guide a couple times to get the “big idea” as well as the flow of the argument
Have the group read through the passage in it’s entirety before beginning the study. One of the goals is to try to get your members to learn how to study Scripture methodically, and this is an important step.
Be prayed up
Have fun!

Here's Mud in Your Eye

Text: John 9 (NIV)

1As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"
3"Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. 4As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. 5While I am in the world, I am the light of the world."
6Having said this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man's eyes.
7"Go," he told him, "wash in the Pool of Siloam" (this word means Sent).
So the man went and washed, and came home seeing. 8His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, "Isn't this the same man who used to sit and beg?" 9Some claimed that he was. Others said, "No, he only looks like him." But he himself insisted, "I am the man."
10"How then were your eyes opened?" they demanded.
11He replied, "The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see."
12"Where is this man?" they asked him.
"I don't know," he said. 13They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. 14Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man's eyes was a Sabbath. 15Therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. "He put mud on my eyes," the man replied, "and I washed, and now I see."
16Some of the Pharisees said, "This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath."
But others asked, "How can a sinner do such miraculous signs?" So they were divided. 17Finally they turned again to the blind man, "What have you to say about him? It was your eyes he opened."
The man replied, "He is a prophet."
18The Jews still did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they sent for the man's parents. 19"Is this your son?" they asked. "Is this the one you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see?"
20"We know he is our son," the parents answered, "and we know he was born blind. 21But how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don't know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself." 22His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews, for already the Jews had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Christ would be put out of the synagogue. 23That was why his parents said, "He is of age; ask him."
24A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. "Give glory to God," they said. "We know this man is a sinner."
25He replied, "Whether he is a sinner or not, I don't know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!"
26Then they asked him, "What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?"
27He answered, "I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples, too?"
28Then they hurled insults at him and said, "You are this fellow's disciple! We are disciples of Moses! 29We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don't even know where he comes from."
30The man answered, "Now that is remarkable! You don't know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. 31We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will. 32Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. 33If this man were not from God, he could do nothing."
34To this they replied, "You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!" And they threw him out.
35Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?"
36"Who is he, sir?" the man asked. "Tell me so that I may believe in him."
37Jesus said, "You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you."
38Then the man said, "Lord, I believe," and he worshiped him.
39Jesus said, "For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind."
40Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, "What? Are we blind too?"
41Jesus said, "If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.

Discussion Questions

From verses 1 and 8, what can you say about the situation that the main character of this story was in?

From verses 2 and 3, what was the assumption Jesus’ disciples made regarding this man’s condition? What clarification did Jesus make for them?

Verse 4 says that we must do the work of God, followed by verse 5 which states that Jesus is the light of the world. How does that statement clarify what work it is that we are to do?

In Verse 6, what does Jesus do to heal the man? Now read verses 13-16 regarding the Pharisee’s reaction to what Jesus did. Why were they concerned about Jesus’ mud making endeavors?

In Jewish law, making mud was technically considered work and therefore forbidden to do on the Sabbath (the day of rest), one of an extraordinary amount of rules they had in regards to that issue. What is Jesus attempting to make clear about what the real “work of God” is that he mentioned in verse 4 just prior to doing the “work” of making mud with his spit?

In verse 7, the blind man also had to do something. What was it? Does this say anything about the response we make to the work of God in our lives?

Quickly answer the next five questions:

In verse 11, what does the blind beggar call Jesus?

In verse 17, what does the blind beggar call Jesus?

In verse 27 the beggar asks if the Pharisees also want to become his disciples. What does that imply about his relationship to Christ?

What does he say about Jesus in verse 33?

In verse 38, what relationship with Jesus does the blind beggar finally arrive at?

From this study of the development of the blind beggar’s understanding of Jesus, what do you think was the real “work of God” in this man’s life that this story is intended to describe?

This story began with Jesus telling us that we must do the work of God and that he is the light of the world. He uses a man who is stuck in a situation of blindness, begging for help in order to paint a picture of spiritual transformation. Do we know people who are spiritually blind and begging for help (even if they don’t know it)? Does this story help describe the process that we need to help them with to accomplish the work of God in their lives?

Leaders' Guide

From verses 1 and 8, what can you say about the situation that the main character of this story was in?

He was blind and he was a beggar. Not a great situation by any account, but particularly so in a society with no “safety net” which also assumed that even if you were blind from birth, it was somehow the fault of your own sin, or possibly that of your parent’s. Either way, nobody felt responsible for helping.

From verses 2 and 3, what was the assumption Jesus’ disciples made regarding this man’s condition? What clarification did Jesus make for them?

Rather than his blindness being the result of his sin (how could that be, since he was blind from birth?), or a result of his parent’s sin, Jesus tells them that he was this way so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. This may generate some discussion about just how fair that seems, but keep in mind that God’s intent was to improve his situation. That’s certainly better than just staying stuck in his situation because of his sin.

Verse 4 says that we must do the work of God, followed by verse 5 which states that Jesus is the light of the world. How does that statement clarify what work it is that we are to do?

The 2^nd person plural pronoun (we) in verse 4 is critical here. The King James originally translated it as “I”, which is incorrect. The work of God is something we do together with Christ. Christ does his part simply by what he is: the light of the world. But we are to be the beacons that shine that light (see Matt. 5:14-16).

In Verse 6, what does Jesus do to heal the man? Now read verses 13-16 regarding the Pharisee’s reaction to what Jesus did. Why were they concerned about Jesus’ mud making endeavors?

Jesus spits on the ground to make some mud to put on the man’s eyes. Verses 13-16 make it clear that the Pharisees were upset about this, since it was the Sabbath. For an explanation of why that is, go straight to the next question.

This is apparently a deliberate contrast to the work that the Pharisees assumed would make us right with God, that is to keep all the rules and regulations of the Old Testament law (including the commentary on it which massively expanded the original law given by Moses. Making mud with your spit was part of that). It could be that Jesus is saying that compassion for people is more important than keeping the law, but in the context of the entire story he is probably creating a very vivid image to say that being “clean” is the result of “seeing the light”, who is Jesus. In other words, the real work of God is not obeying a bunch of rules, but responding to the person and work of Christ in your life.

In verse 7, the blind man also had to do something. What was it? Does this say anything about the response we make to the work of God in our lives?

Completing the process of seeing the light, who is Jesus, required the man to get up and go to the pool of Siloam and get washed. To complete the process of becoming right with God through Jesus Christ always requires a response from us. Jesus doesn’t just go choose people and force them to follow him. We demonstrate our willingness to do so. The first way in which we do this is by baptism. This story may or may not be using the washing this man did as a picture of baptism, but the rest of Scripture makes it very clear that is our first act of obedience to demonstrate our response to Jesus. This would be a good time to work through that issue with your group if anyone still needs to take that step.

Quickly answer the next five questions:

Go through these quickly to get the picture of the growth which the blind beggar went through in regards to his understanding of who Jesus was to him.

In verse 11, what does the blind beggar call Jesus?

He calls him simply “a man.”

In verse 17, what does the blind beggar call Jesus?

Here he acknowledges that Jesus is a prophet.

In verse 27 the beggar asks if the Pharisees also want to become his disciples. What does that imply about his relationship to Christ?

This implies that the man considered himself a disciple of Jesus at this point.

What does he say about Jesus in verse 33?

He admits that Jesus is from God, or of God.

In verse 38, what relationship with Jesus does the blind beggar finally arrive at?

Here the man finally becomes a worshipper of Jesus, something which is reserved for God alone. He has completed the process of discovering Jesus as a man to worshipping him as God.

From this study of the development of the blind beggar’s understanding of Jesus, what do you think was the real “work of God” in this man’s life that this story is intended to describe?

This story is clearly meant to describe the work of spiritual transformation in this man’s life. The healing of his blindness is only a metaphor to help us see that work as being like “seeing the light”, who is Jesus—the light of the world.

This story began with Jesus telling us that we must do the work of God and that he is the light of the world. He uses a man who is stuck in a situation of blindness, begging for help in order to paint a picture of spiritual transformation. Do we know people who are “stuck”, spiritually blind and begging for help (even if they don’t know it)? Does this story help describe the process that we need to help them with to accomplish the work of God in their lives?

This study is meant to help us understand how people can be stuck spiritually in a situation of blindness and begging, and how it is that Jesus wants us to partner with him to help them transcend that situation and become worshippers of his. We play a key role in this (“we” must do the work, verse 4). There may be some in your group who see themselves as being in the position of the blind beggar, so far unwilling to transcend their unbelief and respond in obedience to God. Be in prayer before this study that this will help them “see the light.” For believers, this is a picture of the process we help people to go on: Introducing them to Jesus, the light of the world. Baptizing them. Making disciples of them, and helping them become fully devoted worshippers of him. You may want to review the great commission, Matthew 28:18-20 to see how this story is a picture of what we are called to do in this world.