One of my favorite chapters in the gospel of John is chapter 9. It's the story of Jesus healing the man who had been blind from his birth. It builds faith as we see Jesus wielding His amazing power over the physical universe. But it's also an enlightening (pun intended) physical representation of a spiritual reality, namely, that Jesus gives sight to the blind and blinds those who think they see. Jesus states, "I am the light of the world." A simple statement like this might have been taken as corny and poetic, but Jesus meant it quite literally. He proved it through the miracle.
To those who were open to the truth, it was obvious Jesus was special. To the close-minded "leaders," however, a miracle was inconceivable. We have several characters in this story:
1. Jesus - the light of the world. The one who opens the eyes of the blind.
2. The Blind Man - his eyes were opened to the light. He believed absolutely. He knew what Jesus had done for him, and he did not question it. When questioned about his faith, he just said, "Look at the evidence! This Man must be from God."
3. The Pharisees - even though the blind man himself testified, they refused to believe. They showed their amazing sincerity with statements such as, "We know this Man is a sinner" (with no evidence); "We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where He is from"; "You were born entirely in your sins, and are you teaching us?" As far as I can tell, these Pharisees demonstrated very well their lack of knowledge.
4. The Parents - they knew their son was born blind, but they refused to confess Christ because of their fear of the Pharisees.
The two obstacles to real faith in this chapter are 1) Hard hearts and 2) Fearful hearts.
Nathan