Jesus Christ Heals a Blind Man

One Sabbath day when Jesus Christ and His disciples were in Jerusalem, they saw a man who had been blind since birth. “He [Jesus Christ] spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay,

“And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam. … He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing.” (John 9:6–7.)

Many of the townspeople had seen this blind man sitting in his usual place, begging. When they discovered that he could see, they asked him how it had happened. After he told them, they took him to the Pharisees (religious leaders of the Jews) for an explanation of this Sabbath-day healing.

The Pharisees asked the man many questions about the healing. They were confused and argued among themselves. The leaders thought that, according to their laws, it was a sin for anyone to heal someone on the Sabbath; they also believed that a sinner could not heal someone. Frustrated, they asked the man to repeat his story, which he did.

Feeling that their leadership was being threatened by Jesus Christ, they asked the man, “What sayest thou of him, that he hath opened thine eyes? He said, He [Jesus] is a prophet.” (John 9:17.)

Not wanting to believe that this man had ever been blind, the Pharisees questioned his mother and father. “His parents answered them and said, We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind” (John 9:20).

Then the Pharisees told the healed man to “Give God the praise: we know that this man [Jesus] is a sinner” (John 9:24). The man said, “If this man were not of God, he could do nothing” (John 9:33).

Angry at the man’s testimony of Jesus, the Pharisees threw him out of the synagogue and excommunicated him from their church. When the Savior heard what they had done, He went looking for the man and asked him, “Dost thou believe on the Son of God?

“He answered and said, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him?

“And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee.

“And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him.” (John 9:35–38.)

When our belief in the Savior is tested, we can let the light of our testimony shine brightly by sharing it with others as well as by setting a good example for others in choosing the right.

Color the flannel-board figures, then mount them on heavy paper. Cut them out and use them to retell the story of the healing of the blind man and of his growing testimony of Jesus Christ.

Image

Flannel board figures

Blind man begging; Jesus Christ; Man with sight restored; Pharisees.
(Illustrated by Beth M. Whittaker.)