Lab Study Guide Winter 2017Date:April 2, 2017Teacher: Stacie Post
John: Encounters With JesusJohn Text: John 9:1-12Any other Text?:
1. Read the Text Together Read the Text for this week out loud with your group.
2. Make Observations What stands out? What phrases caught your attention? Any repetition, contrasts, comparisons?
3. Ask Questions What is confusing or hard to understand? Any details that might be important?
Ask: who, what, where, when, why, how?
4. Background Information
This story follows events filled with controversy:
John 8:1-11 Jesusencounters with the woman caught in adultery
John 8:12 Jesus claims “I am the Light of the World, whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life”.
John 8:13ff Jesus encounters the Pharisees (religious leaders) who question him about who he is and challenge his claims about himself. This
goes on until vs 58-59 where he says “before Abraham was, I am”. Since this is a direct claim to be equal with God, they pick up
stones to kill him. Jesus slips away through the crowd.
9:1The next thing that happens? Jesus sees the blind man. If this happened right after the events in chapter 8, the last thing Jesus needs is to draw attention to himself. Selfishly it would have been easier to keep walking, find a safe place to rest for a while, and let things settle down a bit before going out in public again. Instead Jesus stops, heals the blind man, and reignites the controversy.
As he passed by, he SAW the man born blind. Jesus sees this man, and his pain, before the man can even see him.
Jesus sees you. He knows your story. He knows your questions. Even if you don’t know he’s there!
9:2-3It was a common ancient belief that disability/sickness happened because of someone’s sin. Jesus was challenging this idea.
9:6 Jesus’ use of saliva is reminiscent of the healing of the deaf and mute man in the Decapolis (Mark 7:33) and of the blind man in Bethsaida (8:23). According to some Jewish rabbis, the saliva of a firstborn has healing properties. In the surrounding pagan culture, however, saliva was frequently associated with magical practices, so that many rabbis seem to have condemned the use of saliva. John may here wish to stress Jesus’ superiority over pagan healers such as the well-known god Asclepius.
9:7 Pool of Siloam, in Hebrew “shiloach”which means “sent,”. The Pool of Siloam still exists, in the neighborhood of East Jerusalem called Silwan (which is the Arabic transliteration of “shiloach”). It marks the end of Hezekiah’s Tunnel, constructed by the Judean king around 700 B.C.E. to bring water from the Gihon spring in the Kidron Valley to the Pool of Siloam in the City of David (2 Kings 20:20, 2 Chronicles 32:30). Located on the southern end of Jerusalem, it was a public venue where people came to get water. Jesus “sent” the man there to be healed. God’s work was on full display, where everyone could see, and the word would spread!
Even though the man doesn’t really get it, doesn’t really know what he thinks of Jesus, he decides to listen. He decides to do what Jesus told him to do. And this changed EVERYTHING!
5. Application Questions
1)Has there ever been a time when you were wondering if Jesus/God saw you? Noticed your pain?
2)Has there been a time when you knew God saw you, cared about you and your pain? How did He show you?
3)What are you asking “Why” about in your life right now?
4)What is your reaction to the way Jesus answers the disciples in Vs 3?
5)Can you give any examples of the ways you have seen the “works of God displayed” through a hard time in your life?
6)If so, how did this change your perspective….on God, on your situation, or on your faith?
6. Encounters with Jesus
What do we learn about Jesus from this encounter? How did this encounter with Jesus change this person’s life or heart? How might learning about this encounter change yours?