As Jesus Passed By

One of the vivid memories of my childhood was when we visited a place where a tornado had passed by. There were large trees twisted up by their roots and tossed aside like match sticks. Entire houses reduced to splinters, furniture strewn about the neighborhoods, and once treasured possessions now useless junk. No one who saw the scene doubted a tornado had passed by. I always think of that scene when I read the first words of John 9. "As [Jesus] passed by, he saw a man blind from birth." Like the tornado of my childhood, when Jesus passes by a life, no one can doubt that He has been there.

Our text today is the account of a life which was transformed because one day Jesus passed by. The man in our story was born blind. He had never seen the light of day, enjoyed the breathtaking beauty of a summer sunset, or seen the hues of a rainbow. But when Jesus came by everything changed. We will look at it in terms of three divisions.
I. The Reason for the Miracle (v. 1-5)
II. The Method of the Miracle (v. 6-7)
III. The Response to the Miracle (v. 8-10)