Why Jesus Said, "If You Were Blind, You Wouldn't Be Guilty."

Jesus said, "If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains." (John 9:41 NIV)

Once again, because of a miracle on the Sabbath, Jesus healing a man who had been born blind, the religious group in their self-righteousness threw the man out the temple, because he dared to challenge them about who Jesus was. To keep this in context, we must understand the back-story (John 9:1-34). Whenever a person was healed, they were to go to the priests (the Pharisees in this case) to confirm their healing. In this particular miracle, when the Pharisees started questioning the blind man's healing, they accused Jesus of being a sinner and certainly not from God. The man dared to refute what they said and he was prohibited from attending the temple. Now, let's eavesdrop on the conversation between the healed man, some Pharisees and Jesus.

John 9:35-41

v. 35 Jesus heard that they had thrown him out and when He found him, He said, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?"

v. 36 "Who is he, sir?" the man asked. "Tell me so that I may believe in Him."

v. 37 Jesus said, "You have now seen Him in fact, He is the one speaking with you."

v. 38 Then the man said, "Lord, I believe," and he worshiped Him.

v. 39 Jesus said, "For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind."

v. 40 Some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard Him say this and asked, "What? Are we blind, too?"

The entire point of this conversation was to let the Pharisees know, they were spiritually blinded--they claimed a belief in God, yet refused to accept what was right in front of them--God in the flesh--working miracles for the benefit of those who would believe.
The world hasn't changed much in the last 2000 + years. There are still some--both religious leaders and carnal Christians--who are spiritually blind. They claim to know God, yet they refuse to obey God and have in essence, created even more religions that have no basis or foundation in Him who created all things and without Him, nothing was ever created. The religious group would rather adhere to their traditions than to allow Holy Spirit to lead and guide them--in all things. And since they are the leaders in the churches today, not many in their congregations ever witness miracles because their unbelief inhibits the movement of Holy Spirit.

If every church, in every city, all over the world, would allow Holy Spirit His rightful place in any service--people would be healed of cancer, blind eyes would be opened, the lame would walk, and all manner of diseases would dissipate for those who believe. For The Word says, "These signs shall accompany those who believe: In my name: they will drive out demons, they will speak with new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands (to discard them) and when they drink deadly poison (not intentionally), it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well." (Mark 16:17,18 NIV)  Now, once again to keep this in context, Jesus said this-after He rose from the grave and was included in the instructions given to those who followed Him to go into all the world and preach the Gospel. And as in so many other places, we see the conditions or qualifiers if you will, under which the signs shall follow. "Whoever believes and is baptized and for those who don't believe, they will be condemned." (v.15, 16)

So, now the question for all to consider is, "Are we yet blind even though we say we Believe?" If we are spiritually blinded by the traditions of the world and political correctness and fleshly desires, will we ever truly Believe God and obey? If we remain spiritually blind, will we ever be able to accomplish all that Jesus said we would, for those who Believe?

Spiritual blindness opens the door for Satan and all the demonic forces he employs to deceive and manipulate. For this reason, sin abound in the earth and all manner of sickness and disease run rampant because those who say they believe, don't practice obedience and in operating in the Spiritual Gifts Holy Spirit has for each of us, to lay hands on the sick and watch them get well.

More about what Jesus said and why, next time.