VERSES: John 9:1-41
MEMORY VERSE: John 9:31 "Now we know that God hears not sinners..."
BOOK TO REMEMBER: Judges. Write "Judges " on small slips of paper and hand out at the end of class, so the students may memorize another book at home. Review all seven Old Testament books.
PRAYER: Thank God that we can see with our eyes. May we always see things in a positive light and only see the things that we should.
SPECIAL SONG: Be Careful Little Eyes What you See - March 2014 - Songs We Sing In Bible Class #3 on this blog. (Click on orange circle to hear tune.)
VISUAL AID: A large activity or a face without eyes or mouth drawn on a whiteboard or a chalkboard. Add eyes and mouth as the teacher tells the story. (See Activity below.)
LESSON POINTS:
- There began to be sharp criticism of Jesus by the Jews, especially the Pharisees, who were Jews with a little power. They did not recognize Jesus as the Son of God; in fact, they believed that Jesus was nothing but a troublemaker. The Pharisees had tried to find something wrong that Jesus did for quite some time, but could not. Jesus did not sin. Ever. Jesus was perfect. Many of the people believed that Jesus was God's Son, or at least, a prophet, but the Jews and Pharisees were careful in what they said to and about Jesus because they feared the people.
- One day, after Jesus had been teaching the people, and the Jews were upset with Jesus and threw stones at Him, He went out of the temple and walked through the people with His disciples. As He passed by, He saw a man who had been blind since the day he was born. His disciples thought that the man was born blind because of sin, so they asked Jesus, "Who did this sin, the man or his parents, that he was born blind?" Jesus said that neither one. He said that God was going to show His greatness by working through this blind man.
- After Jesus said those words, He spat on the ground, made a bit of clay, and put it on the blind man's eyes. He then told the man to go and wash in the pool of Siloam. The man immediately went to the pool, washed, and could see with both of his eyes! Jesus had healed the blind man who had never seen anything before!
- The man's neighbors who had known the blind man and knew that he had been blind his entire life, could not believe that he was the same man who had sat and begged. When some of his neighbors doubted that it was the same person, the blind man said that it really was him! They asked him how his eyes were opened and the blind man said that a man named Jesus had made clay, put it on his eyes, and told him to wash in the pool of Siloam. It was then that he received his sight! The people asked the blind man, "Where is this man that healed you?" but he did not know.
- The neighbors then brought the used-to-be blind man to the Pharisees and told all that had happened to him. The Pharisees asked the man himself what had happened and he told them his story. Do you think the Pharisees were happy about Jesus having compassion on a blind man and healing him? No! They were more concerned with what day Jesus had healed a blind man because it was the Sabbath Day, a day when they were not to do any work. The Pharisees were always trying to find fault in Jesus and they thought they had finally found it. But other people said, "How can a man who is a sinner perform such a miracle?" When they asked the used-to-be blind man what he thought of Jesus, he said he thought Jesus was a prophet.
- The Jews did not believe that the blind man had been blind at all, so they called for his parents. His parents said that the man was their son and that he had been born blind, but they did not know how he could see or who had opened his eyes. They said to ask their son because he was old enough to answer for himself. His parents answered in this way because they feared the Jews. The Jews had already said that anyone who said that Jesus was the Christ would be put out or kicked out of the synagogue.
- So, the Jews called for the used-to-be blind man again and said that the blind man should give God the praise because they knew that Jesus was a sinner. Was that true? No! Jesus never sinned! The used-to-be blind man said that he didn't know if Jesus was a sinner or not; he only knew that he had been blind and now he could see.The Jews then got angry at the used-to-be blind man and said that he was Jesus' disciple and they, the Jews, did not even know where Jesus had come from. The man answered them, "Here is a marvelous thing! We know that God does not hear the sinners' prayer, but if a man worships God and does His will, then God will hear him. No one has ever healed a blind man who has been born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing." How true were those words! But, the Jews got angry and threw the used-to-be blind man out of the synagogue.
- When Jesus heard what the Jews had done to the man who had been blind, he found the man and asked him, "Do you believe in the Son of God?" The man asked who that was. Jesus said that it was the man who was talking to him right then. It was Jesus! The man said that he did believe and he worshiped Jesus.
- The Pharisees were not happy. Later, when Jesus said that there were those who could see but were actually blind, they asked Jesus if they, the Pharisees, were the ones who were blind. Jesus said that if they were blind, they would have no sin, but because they said they could see, their sins remained.
- It is never wrong to good and it is never wrong to do the right thing. Jesus was good and was condemned for doing good, but it is never wrong to good to someone. The ones who were really condemned were the ones who failed to see the wonderful miracle that Jesus had done by giving sight to a blind man.
ACTIVITY: The Blind Man Is Healed
Materials needed: 9" x 12" tan construction paper, 2" x 3" any color construction paper, two 2" white circles, two imperfect brown circles, two 1" black circles, scrap of red paper, glue, marker, crayons, scissors.
- Hand out tan paper.
- Using most of the paper, draw a large man's face with no eyes or mouth.
- Color man, but do not draw eyes or mouth.
- Write "Jesus Heals A Blind Man" and "John 9" at the bottom of the paper on the man's shirt.
- Turn paper over.
- Glue only three sides of 2" x 3" paper. This is the back pocket.
- Place on back of tan paper near the middle bottom.
- Hand out two white circles and two black circles.
- Glue black circles in the middle of the white circles. These are the man's eyes.
- Turn eyes over.
- Hand out two imperfect brown circles. This is the clay.
- Write "clay" in the middle of both imperfect brown circles.
- Glue clay on the plain white circles. (This is the backside of the eyes that can see.)
- Hand out scrap of red paper.
- Cut smiling mouth out of red paper.
- The way it works: As the student tells the story, they take out the eyes with the clay in the middle and the mouth out of the back pocket. When Jesus puts clay on the blind man's eyes, the student places the "clay" eyes on the blind man's face and the unsmiling mouth (which is the smile turned upside down). As the student turns the clay eyes over to reveal the seeing eyes, they say, "And Jesus said to go to the pool of Siloam and wash, and he did, and he could see!" The mouth is turned upside down, showing a huge smile.
- Before the students leave class, both eyes and mouth should be in the back pocket.
