The Unbelief That Marvels

The most amazing thing about John 9 isn't the miracle—it's the response to the miracle. Or rather, the lack of response.

Scripture Focus: John 9:13-34

There's a dramatic shift in verse 13. It's like the music changes in a movie—major key to minor key, low strings come in. "Now it was a Sabbath on the day when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes."

Boom. Everything just got worse.

The Sabbath was the center of the Jewish system. God said don't work on the Sabbath—keep it holy, rest, worship. Simple enough. But the Pharisees took that simple rule and added a billion regulations. "Can't trim your fingernails. Can't pluck a gray hair. Can only walk next door but not two houses down." They lived under the crushing burden of trying to earn God's favor.

So here's a man who's been blind his entire life—now seeing with crystal clarity. And instead of reasoning "Surely this is the Messiah," they're irate because Jesus stepped on their man-made tradition.

Let that sink in. They knew the Scriptures better than anyone. They knew Isaiah prophesied that when the Messiah came, the blind would see. They knew that in all of Old Testament history—zero blind people were healed. Not one. But here's Jesus, giving sight to a man born blind, doing exactly what the prophets said the Messiah would do.

And they want to kill Him.

The formerly blind man even marvels at this. He says in verse 30: "Well, here is an amazing thing, that you do not know where He is from, and yet He opened my eyes... Since the beginning of time it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, He could do nothing."

The most amazing part of this passage? Not the miracle. It's the unbelief in the face of facts.

You know what this tells us? Truth either softens your heart or hardens it. There's no neutral ground. Every week you sit in church, every time you're exposed to the truth of God's Word, you're either being softened or hardened. The Pharisees kept seeing miracles, kept hearing truth, and their hearts got harder and harder.

Jesus says in verse 39: "For judgment I came into the world, so that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind." The spiritually blind who recognize their need can receive sight. But those who think they see—who are proud, self-righteous, convinced they don't need a Savior—they remain in darkness.

Don't be like the Pharisees. Don't let truth bounce off a hardened heart. Every time you hear the gospel, every time you're confronted with who Jesus is, your heart is being shaped. Make sure it's being softened.

Stay dialed in.