Jesus heard that they had thrown [the formerly blind man] out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” “Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.” Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.” Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him. John 9:35-38
Giving Sight to the Blind
Imagine what it would be like: being blind all your life and then suddenly you can see; going from living in utter darkness to having powerful and colorful light instantly pouring into your eyes! Ironically, that kind of newly discovered light must be blinding.
But those who have come to trust in Jesus as their Savior from sin and death don’t need to imagine what this must be like, because they once lived in the most dreadful darkness, the dark shadow of sin and death. What’s worse, the apostle Paul once described those who once lived in unbelief as people who “were dead in your transgressions and sins” (Ephesians 2:1). Being spiritually blind is bad enough. Being spiritually dead seems like an unescapable sentence.
But that’s why Jesus comes, to give sight to the blind and raise the dead. Already 700 years before his birth, the prophet Isaiah described Jesus’ work this way: “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned” (Isaiah 9:2). And Jesus himself explained why he comes to sinners like you and me, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10).
While it was indeed a miracle for Jesus to give sight to the blind man—until that day the man had never seen—the far greater miracle was when Jesus granted him the eyes of faith. He asked the man, “Do you believe in the Son of Man,” the Messiah? “Who is he, sir,” the man responded. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.” Jesus replied, “You have now seen him.” Then the man said, “Lord, I believe.”
Through his powerful Word, Jesus also shows himself to us, giving sight to the blind and life to the dead. Let us also say, “Lord, I believe!”
Prayer:
Jesus, help me always see your perfect love and salvation. Amen.
Then they turned again to the blind man, “What have you to say about [Jesus]? It was your eyes he opened.” The man replied, “He is a prophet.” . . . To this they replied, “You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!” And they threw him out. John 9:17,34
Telling It Like It Is
The Pharisees were not wrong when they said to the blind man we meet in John chapter nine that he was “steeped in sin at birth.” They were simply telling it like it is. The Bible is clear on this point. What King David confessed about himself is most certainly true about all of us: “Surely, I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me” (Psalm 51:5). This man was no different. He was indeed “steeped in sin at birth.”
The problem with the Pharisees’ assertion, however, is that they were likely not willing to make the same confession about themselves. Like Jesus’ own disciples, these haughty religious leaders assumed that this man had been born blind because of some terrible sin his parents had committed in the past or some sin God foresaw in the blind man’s future. Surely, they thought, this kind of serious birth defect signaled some sort of divine punishment for wrongdoing!
But the wrongdoing revealed in these verses was committed by the Pharisees, not the blind man. And the blindness on display is not the physical sort; it’s spiritual. And it’s alarming. It’s not as if Jesus never showed the Pharisees that he was the long-promised Messiah, the very Son of God. He proved it over and over again. But their seething hatred for Jesus and his Word—yes, for the gospel itself—prevented them from acknowledging the truth. It prompted them to fight against it and to fall further under God’s judgment into spiritual blindness.
It was left to the formerly blind man to tell it like it is. When they asked him who he believed Jesus was, he answered plainly, “He is a prophet,” one who faithfully proclaims the very Word of God; one who tells it like it is.
And what message does Jesus have for sinners like you and me? Two words: “You’re forgiven.”
Prayer:
Dear Jesus, give me the strength to hear your Word and follow you always. Amen.
They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man’s eyes was a Sabbath. Therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. “He put mud on my eyes,” the man replied, “and I washed, and now I see.” Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.” But others asked, “How can a sinner perform such signs?” So they were divided. John 9:13-16
A Rulebreaker
The Third Commandment could not be clearer: “Remember the Sabbath Day by keeping it holy.” But to avoid all confusion, God went on to explain, “Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work” (Exodus 20:9-10).
So, Jesus is a rulebreaker, right? He worked on the Sabbath! He made mud, put it on a blind man’s eyes, and told him to wash in the Pool of Siloam, all of which led to this man seeing for the first time in his life. Some of the Pharisees could not help but conclude, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.”
This wasn’t the first time Jesus had generated a heated debate by healing someone on the Sabbath. From the earliest days of his earthly ministry, Jesus was causing his opponents to have serious bouts of consternation as they tried to square Jesus’ claims of being the Son of God and the promised Messiah with his apparent refusal to obey God’s holy law.
But was it a refusal? Hardly. It was a fulfillment! Jesus once explained, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27). His point was simple: of course, God wants us to honor him by resting from our labor at some point every week to hear and ponder his saving Word. But he also calls us to put his Word into practice by regularly demonstrating love for our neighbors in need. The Christian life is not an either/or proposition. It’s an everyday both/and way of life!
Our Savior never overturns God’s Word. Instead, he fulfills it. Perfectly.
Prayer:
Jesus, empower me to be like you more and more every day. Amen.
WELS chaplains gather for annual meeting Thirty-seven people attended the annual meeting of the Association of WELS Chaplains on Feb. 6 at the WELS Center for Mission and Ministry in Waukesha, Wis. The purpose was for […]
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Conference of Presidents holds its winter meeting The Conference of Presidents (COP) met Jan. 6-9. At that meeting, the COP discussed the following items: The current number of pastoral vacancies. There are 162 total vacancies for pastor-trained […]
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2025–26 school statistics offer opportunity to reflect Enrollment in WELS schools this school year has decreased slightly from the 2024–25 school year, according to the recently released 2025–26 school statistics. Lutheran high school enrollment continued to climb, […]
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New administrator installed On Jan. 9, Charles Vannieuwenhoven was installed as the administrator of the Board for Ministerial Education. Attending the installation and participating in the laying on of hands were the presidents […]
1 On another occasion, Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John also taught his disciples.”
2 He said to them, “When you pray, say, ‘Our Father in heaven, [1] hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. [2]3 Give us each day our daily bread. 4 Forgive us our sins, as we also forgive everyone who sins against us. [3] And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.’” [4]
Keep Praying
5 He said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and tell him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, 6 because a friend of mine who is on a journey has come to me, and I do not have anything to set before him.’ 7 And the one inside replies, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give it to you.’ 8 I tell you, even if he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his bold persistence, he will get up and give him as much as he needs.
9 “I tell you, keep asking, and it will be given to you. Keep seeking, and you will find. Keep knocking, and it will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives. The one who seeks finds. And to the one who knocks, it will be opened.
11 “What father among you, if your son asks for bread, would give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, would give him a snake instead of a fish? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, would give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”
Footnotes
Luke 11:2 Some witnesses to the text omit Our and in heaven.
Luke 11:2 Some witnesses to the text omit Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Luke 11:4 Literally everyone who is indebted to us
Luke 11:4 A few witnesses to the text omit but deliver us from evil. See the footnote on Matthew 6:13 for the traditional ending of the Lord’s Prayer.
25 Just then, an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus, saying, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
26 “What is written in the law?” he asked him. “What do you read there?”
27 He replied, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind; [1] and, love your neighbor as yourself.” [2]
28 He said to him, “You have answered correctly. Do this, and you will live.”
29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
30 Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho. He fell among robbers who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 It just so happened that a priest was going down that way. But when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 In the same way, a Levite also happened to go there, but when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 33 A Samaritan, as he traveled, came to where the man was. When he saw him, he felt sorry for the man. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them. He put him on his own animal, took him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 The next day, when he left, he took out two denarii, [3] gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him. Whatever extra you spend, I will repay you when I return.’ 36 Which of these three do you think acted like a neighbor to the man who fell among robbers?”
37 “The one who showed mercy to him,” he replied.
Then Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
Mary and Martha
38 As they went on their way, Jesus came into a village, and a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. 39 She had a sister named Mary, who was sitting at the Lord’s feet and was listening to his word. 40 But Martha was distracted with all her serving. She came over and said, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her to help me.”
41 The Lord answered and told her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but one thing is needed. In fact, Mary has chosen that better part, which will not be taken away from her.”
13 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. 14 But it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon in the judgment than for you. 15 And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to heaven? No, you will be brought down to hell. [1]16 Whoever listens to you listens to me. Whoever rejects you rejects me. And whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.”
17 The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name!”
18 He told them, “I was watching Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19 Look, I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy. And nothing will ever harm you. 20 Nevertheless, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names have been written in heaven.”
21 In that same hour, Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and learned and have revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, because this was pleasing in your sight.
22 [2]“Everything was handed over to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and no one knows who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wants to reveal him.”
23 Turning to the disciples, he said privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! 24 Indeed, I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see the things that you are seeing, yet did not see them, and to hear the things that you are hearing, yet did not hear them.”
Footnotes
Luke 10:15 Greek hades
Luke 10:22 Some witnesses to the text add Turning to his disciples, Jesus said.
57 As they went on the way, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.”
58 Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”
59 He said to another man, “Follow me!”
But he said, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”
60 Jesus told him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”
61 Another man also said, “I will follow you, Lord, but first let me say good-bye to those at my home.”
62 Jesus told him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”
Jesus Appoints Seventy-Two
Luke 10
1 After this, the Lord appointed seventy-two [1] others and sent them out two by two ahead of him [2] to every town and place where he was about to go.
2 He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. So ask the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest field. 3 Go your way. Look, I am sending you out as lambs among wolves. 4 Do not carry a money bag or traveler’s bag or sandals. Do not greet anyone along the way. 5 Whenever you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace be to this house.’ 6 And if a peaceful person is there, your peace will rest on him, but if not, it will return to you. 7 Remain in that same house, eating and drinking what they give you, because the worker is worthy of his pay. Do not keep moving from house to house. 8 Whenever you enter a town and they welcome you, eat what is set before you. 9 Heal the sick who are in the town and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near you.’
10 “But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say, 11 ‘Even the dust from your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this: The kingdom of God has come near.’ 12 I tell you, it will be more bearable for Sodom on that day than for that town.
Footnotes
Luke 10:1 Some witnesses to the text read seventy (also in verse 17).
1 There was a famine in the land, besides the first famine that had occurred during the days of Abraham. Isaac went to Abimelek king of the Philistines at Gerar. 2 The Lord appeared to him and said, “Do not go down into Egypt. Live in the land where I tell you to live. 3 Live in this land, and I will be with you and will bless you. For to you and to your descendants I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham your father. 4 I will multiply your descendants like the stars of the sky and will give all these lands to your descendants. In your seed [1] all the nations of the earth will be blessed, 5 because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my requirements, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.”
6 Isaac lived in Gerar. 7 When the men of that place asked him about his wife, he said, “She is my sister.” He was afraid to say, “She is my wife,” because he thought, “The men of this place might kill me for Rebekah, since she is beautiful.” 8 When he had been there a long time, Abimelek king of the Philistines happened to look out a window, and there was Isaac caressing Rebekah, his wife.
9 Abimelek called Isaac and said, “It is obvious that she is your wife. So why did you say, ‘She is my sister’?”
Isaac said to him, “Because I thought, ‘If I do not, I will die because of her.’”
10 Abimelek said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have slept with your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us!”
11 Abimelek gave this command to all the people: “Whoever touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.”
12 Isaac planted grain in that land, and in the same year he reaped one hundred times as much as he had sown, because the Lord blessed him. 13 The man kept growing wealthier and wealthier until he became very great. 14 He possessed flocks and herds and a large household, so the Philistines were envious of him.
15 Now the Philistines had blocked all the wells that his father’s servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, and they had filled them with earth. 16 Abimelek said to Isaac, “Move away from us, for you are much more powerful than we are.” [2]
17 So Isaac departed from there, camped in the valley of Gerar, and lived there.
18 Isaac dug again the wells that had been dug in the days of Abraham his father, because the Philistines had blocked them after the death of Abraham. He gave them the same names that his father had given them. 19 Isaac’s servants dug in the valley along the stream bed and found a well there that provided a steady flow of water. 20 But the herdsmen of Gerar started a dispute with Isaac’s herdsmen. They said, “The water belongs to us.” He named the well Esek, [3] because they argued with him. 21 They dug another well, but they started a dispute over that one also. He named it Sitnah. [4]22 He left that place and dug another well. They did not start a dispute over that one, so he called it Rehoboth. [5] He said, “Now the Lord has made room for us, and we will be fruitful in the land.”
23 He traveled from there to Beersheba. 24 The Lord appeared to him the same night and said, “I am the God of Abraham your father. Do not be afraid, for I am with you, and I will bless you and multiply your descendants for the sake of my servant Abraham.”
25 He built an altar there and proclaimed [6] the name of the Lord. He pitched his tent there. Isaac’s servants dug a well there.
26 Then Abimelek came from Gerar, with Ahuzzath his advisor and Phicol the commander of his army. 27 Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me, since you hate me and have sent me away from you?”
28 They said, “We saw clearly that the Lord was with you. So we said, ‘Let there now be an oath between us, yes, between us and you. Let us make a treaty with you, 29 that you will do us no harm, since we have not touched you, and since we have done nothing but good for you, and we have sent you away in peace.’ Now you are blessed by the Lord.”
30 He made a feast for them, and they ate and drank. 31 They got up the next morning and exchanged their oaths. Isaac sent them on their way, and they departed from him peacefully. 32 It so happened that on the same day Isaac’s servants came and told him about a well that they had dug. They said to him, “We have found water.” 33 He called it Shibah. [7] Therefore the name of the city is Beersheba [8] to this day.
Esau and Jacob
34 When Esau was forty years old, he took two wives: Judith, the daughter of Be’eri the Hittite, and Basemath, the daughter of Elon the Hittite. 35 They were a source of bitterness for Isaac and Rebekah.
Footnotes
Genesis 26:4 The literal rendering seed is retained here to show the continuity of the Messianic promises from Eve, through Abraham and David, to Christ, who was the promised Seed of the Woman.
Genesis 26:16 Or too numerous for us
Genesis 26:20 Esek means argument.
Genesis 26:21 Sitnah means opposition.
Genesis 26:22 Rehoboth means wide enough or enough room.
Genesis 26:25 Or called on
Genesis 26:33 Shibah means oath or seven.
Genesis 26:33 Beersheba means well of the oath or well of the seven.
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The WELS National Conference on Lutheran Leadership, one of the largest gatherings of WELS and Evangelical Lutheran Synod members, was held Jan. 19–21 in Chicago. The event was a huge […]
Thirty-seven people attended the annual meeting of the Association of WELS Chaplains on Feb. 6 at the WELS Center for Mission and Ministry in Waukesha, Wis. The purpose was for […]
Enrollment in WELS schools this school year has decreased slightly from the 2024–25 school year, according to the recently released 2025–26 school statistics. Lutheran high school enrollment continued to climb, […]
On Jan. 9, Charles Vannieuwenhoven was installed as the administrator of the Board for Ministerial Education. Attending the installation and participating in the laying on of hands were the presidents […]