35 Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when He had found him, He said to him, “Do you believe in the Son of God?” 36 He answered and said, “Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?” 37 And Jesus said to him, “You have both seen Him and it is He who is talking with you.” 38 Then he said, “Lord, I believe!” And he worshiped Him.
Verses 35 to 41 give the outcome of the healing of the blind man.
9:35
Jesus heard that they had cast him [the beggar] out;
Jesus heard from other people that the leaders threw the beggar out of the synagogue.
and when He had found him,
Jesus took the initiative to find the formerly blind man. He did not abandon this man. This was the first occurrence where the man saw the physical appearance of Jesus.
He said to him, “Do you [emphatic] believe in the Son of God?”
Jesus asked the beggar whether he believed in Him as the Son of the Father. Faith requires an act of the will based on objective information.
Some manuscripts here have “the Son of Man” rather than “Son of God.” If a true translation, this is a messianic title (Da 7:13). As the Messiah, Jesus will rule in His kingdom on earth. This title could also refer to His humanity.
By the emphatic “you” we see that faith is a personal issue. Every person must decide for himself or herself whether what Jesus claims about Himself is true.
Nowhere else in the gospels is the title “Son of Man” used by those confessing faith in Jesus. Only Jesus ever used this term (except those who echoed Jesus’ words; 12:34). The reader, however, knows what is meant here. Jesus meant, “Do you accept me as your Savior?” He expected the man to equate believing in the “Son of Man” with believing in the “Son of God.”
9:36
He answered and said, “Who is He, Lord [sir], that I may believe in Him?”
The beggar was a “follower” of Jesus the “prophet,” but he had not yet fully embraced who He was. The beggar was willing to believe if he knew who He was.
The spirit of this man was bold because Pharisees stood in the crowd listening to this conversation. Religious leaders had just excommunicated him from their fellowship and now he was about to identify himself with Jesus.
9:37
And Jesus said to him, “You have both seen Him and it is He who is talking with you.”
The formerly blind man now saw Jesus face to face for the first time. Jesus revealed to the beggar that He was the Messiah. He said to the man healed of blindness that the one he was looking at was the Son of God in His person.
9:38
Then he said, “Lord, I believe!”
The beggar responded that he believed that Jesus was the Messiah. His assertion is a climax in this story.
And he worshiped Him.
Having been cast out of the synagogue, the beggar shifted his focus of worship from the synagogue to the person of Christ. The idea that the man “worshiped” Christ means that he accepted Him as God.
Christ is both the Son of Man and the Son of God and is the worthy object of worship.
PRINCIPLE:
Some people believe with such passion that they are bold in their faith.
APPLICATION:
Some people are cut from a different mold. They believe in Christ while the majority of the crowd rejects Him. They willingly trust Christ with their eternal future in a culture of prevailing unbelief.
Jesus asks a question of us that probes our eternal value: “Do you believe in the Son of God?” Most people do not see their lost condition.
