So for the second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, “Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.” He answered, “Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” He answered them, “I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?” And they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.”
The man answered, “Why, this is an amazing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” They answered him, “You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?” And they cast him out.
– John 9:24–34
Oh, there’s so much in this whole story that we could talk about. But the reason I wanted to read this longer passage is because of the testimony of this man. He doesn’t presume to have everything figured out, but what he does know is that he was blind and now he can see, and Jesus is the one who made all the difference. And the reason I want you to hear his story, his testimony, is because if you’re a follower of Jesus, you have a very similar story, a very similar testimony.
John 9:24–34 reminds us Jesus healed us from spiritual blindness.
Obviously not necessarily that you were physically blind and you can now see, but you were spiritually blind and now your eyes are open and Jesus is the one who made it happen. He’s brought you not just from blindness to sight, but from death to life, which leads us to pray in so many different directions. First in praise. Oh God, we praise you for opening our eyes. Our minds were blinded by the little “G” god of this, blinded by sin. We praise you, Holy Spirit, for opening our eyes to see our sin and to see your salvation.
Jesus, we praise you as our Savior. We look upon you as our Lord, and we praise you for this sight. We praise you for the promise that one day, Revelation 22, we will see your face. God, we praise you for bringing us to death to life. We praise you for the story of how you did that in each of our lives. God, help us to share that story with somebody today.
John 9:24–34 encourages us to share the gospel with those that still walk in spiritual blindness.
God, we pray for boldness like this man in John 9, to look people in the eyes and share with them who Jesus is and what he has done in our lives. And God, we intercede for people in our lives right now. We pray for family members who haven’t seen yet, who haven’t seen your glory, Jesus, your love for them. God, please open their eyes. We pray for friends who don’t know you, God, please open their eyes.
We pray for co-workers, classmates who don’t know you. God, please open their eyes. Please use our sharing the gospel with them to open their eyes, others sharing the gospel with them, circumstances. God, we pray, please open their eyes to your glory.
Prayer for the Muong People
Lord, we pray this for the nations of the world, open their eyes, oh God, for the Muong people of Vietnam, 1.5 million of them, hardly any followers of Jesus at all.
God, we pray, open the eyes of the Muong people. Please cause the gospel to spread to them through your people and open their eyes to your glory. Jesus, we praise you for your power to open eyes and change lives for all of eternity, for the way that’s played out in our lives. God, we pray for boldness to share our stories, our testimonies, so that others might see you. And we pray for the spread of spiritual sight among all the nations. In Jesus name, according to John 9:24–34, we pray. Amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder and Chairman of Radical, an organization that helps people follow Jesus and make him known in their neighborhood and all nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, and Don’t Hold Back.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
