The Gospel of John features 7 short stories that offer a sampling of the miracles Jesus performed during his time of public ministry. These were written so that his readers would come to “believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing [they] may have life in his name” (John 20:31b).
Here is the plot of the sixth short story:
Healing a Man Born Blind (John 9:1-12, 13-41)
- Setting:
- Jerusalem, outside the temple. (8:59)
- Conflict:
- Jesus saw a man blind from birth. (v.1)
- His disciples asked,” who sinned: this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” (v.2)
- Rising Action:
- Jesus said, “Neither.” (v.3)
- Jesus claimed that it came about so God’s works might be displayed in him. (v. 3)
- Climax
- Jesus spit on the ground, made clay, and put it on the man’s eyes. (v. 6)
- He had the man go and wash the mud off in the pool of Siloam. (v. 7)
- The man obeyed and came back seeing. (v. 7)
- Falling Action:
- The man’s neighbors couldn’t understand what had happened. (vv. 8-9)
- He explained how his eyes had been opened. (vv. 9-11)
- He had a disheartening encounter with the Jews. (vv. 13-34)
- Resolution:
- Jesus approached the man again and asked if he believed in the Son of Man. (v. 35)
- He believed and worshiped Jesus. (v. 38)
With Wills 
The resolution in this story is beautiful. The attitude of the man who was once blind is in such contrast to the Jews. They were willing to go to any lengths to ignore his goodness in order to keep their established religion order. The man who was born blind couldn’t have cared less for the religion order that was unable to cure his real problem and was now asking him to turn on the man who did cure him. He realized that facts were facts and that he could now see–only the Messiah could do such a miracle and Jesus was that Messiah. He was only to glad to be excommunicated from that which had done him no good in order to gain the Lord who would do Him eternal good.
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