Verses 1-3
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Not every sickness happens because of a specific sin that you or your parents committed, but sickness and diseases can only exist because we have sin and live in a sinful, fallen world (Romans 6:23, 8:20). Some things God simply allows.
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Sicknesses are works of the enemy (Acts 10:38), and God sometimes allows these works to happen so that He can bring a greater and necessary good out of what was meant for evil.
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Some evils take place so that God can work a miracle that will bring people to belief in Him.
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Verses 4-5
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Like Jesus, be productive and accomplish works for God's kingdom while you still can. As long as you alive on earth, you have opportunities. Don't waste your time!
Verses 6-7
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Some miracles are strange. See teaching on Mark 7:31-37 for more details.
Verses 8-34
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After much difficulty, the Pharisees finally believed that the miracle had happened, but they could not accept that Jesus had worked the miracle because of their hardness of heart towards Him.
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Verses 26-27. They also wanted to ask the formerly blind man multiple times how he was healed.
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Understand that people who are hardened will ask to hear the same things multiple times and will still not believe nor understand. Even believers can be guilty of this—needing to hear things multiple times before we will accept the truth.
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Don't be guilty of this. Believe truth as soon as you hear it.
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Verses 30-34. This man spoke the truth to the Pharisees, but because they believed that they were more righteous than he was, they would not listen.
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Don't be prideful. Remember that people with less knowledge or education than you can teach you something truthful—something you need to hear. Always be teachable!
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Verses 35-38
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The greatest miracle was that this man came to believe in Jesus. This in itself is more significant than the man's blindness being healing.
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When miracles happen, always encourage people to believe in Jesus and to repent from sin. Don't emphasize the miracles themselves.
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Verse 38. Also notice that this man worshiped Jesus, and Jesus received his worship.
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This is another great verse to use to show that Jesus is God. If only God is to be worshiped, and Jesus was worshiped, He shows that He is God.
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Verses 39-41
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Jesus came to be One that would make judgments about people—to expose the sinner and identify who would be guilty, and who would be innocent.
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Those who are blind—who know that they are sinners and are looking for help—Jesus came to give them the sight of forgiveness for their sins.
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But those who see—who think they're righteous and don't need help—Jesus came to make blind—to declare them guilty and condemned.
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To be like Jesus, it's important that we know how identify when a person is forgiven, when they are not, and to be bold enough to tell them.
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Jesus said to us, “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained” (John 20:23).
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In other words, know when to tell a person that they're saved and their sins are forgiven, and know when to tell them that they're not saved. This is important for convicting people of their sins and showing whether they need to repent.
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