John 09 Round Two: The Perfect Testimony

Ever faced pain and felt the urge to assign blame? We take a fresh look at John 9, where Jesus meets a man born blind and flips the script from “Who messed up?” to “What will God reveal?” The moment is raw and human—spit, mud, a simple command—and the outcome is unmistakable: the man sees. That ordinary-meets-miraculous pattern becomes a blueprint for how grace often moves through our lives today, partnering with ordinary means while doing an extraordinary work in the heart.

From there, the story presses into the friction that follows transformation. Neighbors doubt. Leaders interrogate. Parents hesitate. The healed man stands in the middle with the clearest sentence in the chapter: “I was blind, now I see.” We unpack why that one line is the perfect testimony and how to use it when you feel cornered by questions you can’t answer. You don’t need a thesis to share your faith; you need an honest change you can name.

We also talk about the cost of clarity. After the synagogue doors close, Jesus finds the man and opens a deeper kind of sight—revealing himself as the Son of Man and inviting worship. That encounter reframes spiritual vision as accountability: once truth reaches you, what will you do with it? Together, we explore how to look for God’s work in suffering, take the next faithful step, and walk in the light even when the path runs through shadowed places.

If this conversation opened your eyes, share it with a friend, leave a quick review, and subscribe so you never miss an episode. What’s the one thing you know for sure about how God has changed you?

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Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation (NLT).
Copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.
Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome And Episode Focus
• 0:50 Community And Listener Engagement
• 1:21 Why Do Bad Things Happen
• 2:46 Jesus Heals The Man Born Blind
• 4:18 Cultural Context Of Saliva And Healing
• 5:38 Neighbors React And Ask Questions
• 6:31 Interrogation By The Pharisees
• 8:01 The Perfect Testimony Stated
• 9:12 Thrown Out And Found By Jesus
• 10:20 Spiritual Sight And Accountability
• 11:25 Applying The Testimony To Our Lives
• 12:11 Prayer And Final Encouragement

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Welcome to the Bible Breakdown Podcast. Every day, we take one chapter of the Bible, dig deeper, and discover that the more we dig, the more we find. You can find out more at the Biblebreakdown.com. Now let's grow in God's word together. Well, hello, everybody. Welcome back to the Bible Breakdown Podcast with your host, Pastor Brandon, today, John chapter 9. And I'm gonna go ahead and tell you the perfect testimony. That's what, if I were to label this right here, as a matter of fact, I'm gonna change the title I already had and just change this to the perfect testimony because I think that's what happens. There's something that's gonna happen to someone in this chapter, and they are um they're accused of not having a clue what they're talking about when it comes to Jesus. And they give, to be honest with you, what I think is the perfect testimony that for all of us that we can share as well. Okay, so I can't wait to get into that. But as always, if you like what we're doing here, make sure you are liking these YouTube videos and you are commenting on these. If you're listening to us on a podcast, thank you so much. You're my favorites. Make sure that you are leaving us a five-star review, that you are engaging with us on our Bible breakdown discussion on Facebook. And man, the more we dig, the more we find. We're just working to create a community. That we're not rallying around a political party, we're not rallying around all this other stuff. We're rallying around God's word, and we're letting God's word change us from the inside out every single day. Today's one of those, man. I love this. Now, what's going to happen is, is, first of all, in John chapter 9, there's gonna be this moment, this wonderful moment where the disciples are grappling with the question that many of us grapple with, and that is why do bad things happen to good people? There's this idea that if something bad is happening to somebody, they've earned it. And to be true, there are times when bad things happen because of bad choices. I've had people come as a pastor come up and tell me, you know, Pastor, I don't understand why the why why God is letting this bad thing happen to me. Like, what do you mean bad thing happening to you? You know, well, you know, my cousin's in jail right now. Well, why are they in jail? Well, they were, I mean, I'm gonna use as an example. They they robbed a bank. Uh, well, let me tell you, let me tell you why they're in jail, it's because they robbed a bank. Yeah, but you know, they said they were sorry and they confessed their sins. Absolutely. And I bet you that they confess their sins. God is faithful and just and has forgiven them, but there's still justice to be done, you know. So sometimes bad things happen because people do bad things, right? There's also sometimes when no one did a bad thing. It's just the curse of the world that we're living in right now that Jesus came to redeem us from. And so they're grappling with this. And Jesus gives this wonderful answer. He does this amazing healing, and then I'm gonna tell you something the best testimony ever that we can all learn from. So I don't want to belabor the point. I want to jump in. I want to jump right into this. And so if you have your Bibles with me, opened up in LT Bible to John chapter 9. Got your coffee cup ready. I got my coffee ready to go right here. Let's jump right in and just read this story and just enjoy it for what it is. Here we go. Bible says this in John chapter 9. As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man who had been born blind from birth. Rabbi, which means teacher. His disciples asked him, Why was this man born blind? Was it his own sin or his parents' sin? So pause. They are automatically assuming that because a bad thing is happening, somebody is to blame. Some somebody has done something wrong. Now, once again, as we've already said, sometimes, yes, but not always. Look what Jesus says. It was not because of his sins or his parents' sins, Jesus answered. This happened. So the power of God could be seen in him. We must quickly carry out the tasks assigned to us by the one who sent us. The night is coming, and then no one can work. But while I am here on the in this world, I am, once again, I am the light of the world. So, real quick, Jesus just blows all of our minds when he says, No one sinned. This is an opportunity for you to see God's goodness. Now, does that mean always? No. You have to look at the context of all the situations. But it is possible sometimes that God will let us go through storms, not because we did anything wrong, but because there's an opportunity for him to do something so very right in our lives. Verse 6, the Bible said he spit on the ground and made mud with saliva and spread the mud over the blind man's eyes. He told him, Go wash yourself in the pool of Siloam, which means sent. And so the man went and washed and he came back seeing paws. Okay, so I gotta tell you, uh, Jesus made a mud pie and slathered it on Broski's face. Well, where does this come from? Now, here's the reason why this probably happened. First of all, is uh God's got a great sense of humor. Number two is I love this because during the time there was this idea that saliva had healing properties. Now, not like miraculous healing properties, but almost like a medicinal thing. Like, for instance, if you've got a migraine headache, you may take a couple of ibuprofen. Now, you don't think that the ibuprofen heals you of your headache, but you do think it relieves you of your symptoms, you know, until the headache goes away. That's kind of what they thought saliva would do, is it had minor healing properties. And so what Jesus is doing is he is using an idea of the time, but does something miraculous. Now, the reason why I love that is because sometimes God does that in our current culture. Sometimes God uses the medical information that we have today and he does something miraculous with it. And so to me, this is not a bad thing. To me, this is a wink toward the future, say, yes, sometimes I will partner with what you think does the healing, but the reality is I do the healing. So say la on that for a little while. All right, verse 8. His neighbors and others who knew him as a blind beggar asked each other, wait a minute, isn't this broski who used to sit and beg? Some said, No, he just looks like him. But the beggar kept saying, No, no, no, no, it's me, it's me, I'm the same one. And they asked him, Well, who healed you? What happened? And they told them, he told them, the man they called Jesus made a mud made a mud pie and spread it over my eyes and told me, Go wash in the pool of Siloam and wash yourself. So I went and washed, and now I can see, which by the way, also proves that Jesus loved dad jokes. Okay, can we just get that out of the way? Jesus sent him to a pool called Sent. Hey, go go to Sent and come back and I mean I just I think Jesus liked dad jokes. All right, moving forward, verse 12. Here he uh where is he now? They asked. I I don't I don't know, he replied. Then they took the man who had been blind to the Pharisees, because it was on the Sabbath that Jesus had made the mud and healed him. The Pharisees had asked the man all about it, and he told them, He put mud over my eyes, and when I washed it away, I could see. Some of the Pharisees said, This man Jesus is not from God, for he was working on the Sabbath. Others said, But how could he be an ordinary sinner to do such miraculous signs? So there was a deep division of opinion among them. Then the Pharisees asked questions, again, questioned the man who had been born blind and demanded, What's your opinion about this man who healed you? The man replied, I think he must be a prophet. The Jewish leader still refused to believe the man had been born blind, and that now he could see. So they called his parents and they asked them, Is this your son? Was he born blind? If so, how can he how can he now see? His parents replied, We know this is our son. This is a little this is a little little Johnny, and we know that he was born blind, but we don't know how he can see or who healed him. Ask him. He's old enough to speak for himself. So mom and dad threw him under the bus a little bit because the Bible says in verse 22, his parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders who had announced that anyone saying Jesus was the Messiah will be expelled from the synagogue. So thanks, Mom and Dad. Appreciate that. Verse 23. That's why they said, He's old enough, ask him. So for a second time, they called the man who had been born blind and told him, God should get the glory for this, because we know this man, Jesus, is a sinner. Here it goes. This is my favorite testimony in the whole Bible. Verse 25. This guy said he looked, he looked at the people who were trying to tell him, I don't know who you think Jesus is, but this isn't who he is. Look at this. I don't know whether he is a sinner. The man replied, But I know this. I was blind, but now I can see. I love that so much. We're gonna cover that just a minute. But what did he do? They asked. How did he heal you? Look, the man exploded exclaimed, I told you once. Didn't you listen? Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want me to you want to become a disciple too? Then they cursed him. These bunch of holy people cursed him and said, You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know God spoke to Moses, but we don't even know who this man comes from. Why, that's very strange, the man replied. He healed my eyes, yet you don't know where he comes from. We know that God doesn't listen to sinners, but he is ready to hear those who worship him and do his will. Ever since the world began, no one has been able to open the eyes of someone born blind. If this man were not from God, he couldn't have done it. You were born a total sinner, they answered, and you were trying to teach us, and then they threw him out of the synagogue. When Jesus heard what had happened, he found the man and he said, Do you believe in the Son of Man? Other words, the Son of Man was a title given by Daniel from the Old Testament to the one that would come, that would be the Messiah, that would be the king. So he's saying, Do you believe that there is one coming that could wash away the sins of the world? And the man answered, Who is he, sir? I want to believe in him. You have seen him, Jesus said, and he is speaking to you. Yes, Lord, I believe, the man said, and he worshipped Jesus. Then the man told him, I entered this world to render judgment, to give sight to the blind, and to show those who think they see that they are blind. Some Pharisees who were standing nearby asked him, Are you saying we're blind? If you were blind, you wouldn't be guilty, Jesus replied, but you remain guilty because you claim you can see. He doesn't mind telling you this. He's like, if you don't know the truth, there's a level of innocence that you have. But once you have heard the truth, you're accountable for what you hear. I think that's super important for us to realize. But let's go back to what this man said. When encountering all these things and all these ideas, how did he heal you? I don't know. Why did he heal you? I don't know. How could he possibly have healed you? I don't know. Well, tell me what you do know. Okay. I'll tell you what I do know. I do know that I was blind, but now I can see. Can I tell you? That is the perfect testimony. And as we walk through our world, there's times when we'll have an opportunity to tell our story, our testimony to other people. And sometimes we got to tell that testimony to ourselves. And that is, how could God do this? I don't know. Why would God do this? I don't know. Why would He choose you to do this? Man, I don't know. What do you know? Once I was blind, once I was without hope, once I was without God's goodness, now I can see. And because I see, I see everything else. I love how C.S. Lewis said one time, he said, I believe Christianity is true as I believe that the Son, S-U-N, is true. Not that I can see it, but that by it I can see everything else. That when I accept God's word is true, all of a sudden my spiritual eyes are open, and now I see that everything else is true. That is the beauty of the gospel. That when we receive the gospel, then our eyes are opened and we can see everything else clearly. I love that so much. Let me pray for you today, and then we'll be done. God, thank you so much that your word is true. And that by your word we have spiritual sight. You open our eyes to see the goodness all around us. Lord, I pray you will help us to realize that your hope for us is not just to have our eyes opened, but then to walk in the light as you are in the light. God, sometimes that that's beautiful and it's easy. Sometimes it's hard and it's difficult. But what I love is your word also promises that even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid. For you are with me. And I'm so thankful, Lord, that because of your word today, we can realize the reason why we're not afraid of any dark place is because you are the light that shines into that darkness. And we celebrate that today. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Don't forget, God's word says in John 20, verse 31, these things are written that you may continue to believe that Jesus is God, and that by believing in him, you will have life by the power of his name. That's my prayer for you. I love you. I'll see you tomorrow for John chapter 10.