John 9

v1-7: The disciples were "uncharitably censorious" assuming that the man's adversity was punishment for being a great sinner.  They were also "unnecessarily curious" about his sin, rather than being more concerned about their own. "We tend to be more inquisitive about other people’s sins than about our own, whereas the truth is that we should be more anxious to know why God is striving with us than why he is striving with others. To judge ourselves is our duty, but to judge our brother or sister is our sin."

v8-12: This query over whether the man who said he had been healed was the same man who was blind, gives us an opportunity to reflect on "the wisdom and power of [God's] providence in arranging such a universally wide range of faces of men and women, so that no two are so alike that they cannot be distinguished, which is necessary for society, commerce, and the administration of justice," and "the wonderful change that the converting grace of God makes on some who were once evil but are now so universally and visibly changed that one would not think they were the same person."

v13-34: "People who look for any opportunity to quarrel with the clearest truths can find one."  Because they cannot bear the truth, they will do all they can to prevent others discovering it.  The Sanhedrin could not bear to think that Jesus the Messiah they were expecting.  Not only did His teachings undermine their traditional laws, He, Himself, was contrary to their traditional hopes. "Notice the absurdity of faithlessness. People do not know the message of Christ because they are determined not to believe it, and then they claim not to believe it because they do not know it."

v35-38: See the care that the Lord Jesus had for the once blind man. He found him in order to encourage and strengthen him.  He did this because "the man had, to the best of his knowledge, spoken so well, so bravely, and so boldly in defence of the Lord Jesus," and those who acknowledge Him, Christ will acknowledge.  Also because He takes notice of "those who suffer in the cause of Christ."

v39-41: Why would the Pharisees have no sin if they were blind?  Because if they were ignorant they would not have "had so much sin to answer for."  Though ignorance "does not justify sin, it excuses it and lessens the guilt. It will be more tolerable for those who perish for lack of vision than for those who rebel against the light."  More importantly, if they had recognised their blindness, they would have seen their need for the light and accepted Christ, and then they would have had no sin because they would have been given His righteousness.