Was Blind, But Now I See… (Lent 4A Gospel)

Download a PDF of the Word One Bible Study for Lent 4 Gospel.

Text: John 9:1-41 for the fourth Sunday in Lent, Lectionary Series A

Objectives

Participants will:

1. Understand, in a small way, what it must have been like to be healed from blindness.
2. Consider the greater peril of spiritual blindness.
3. Thank God for the gift of sight both physical and spiritual.

Materials Needed

Blindfolds for each participant

Toothbrushes for each participant

Several XL men’s dress shirts

Tube of toothpaste

Bible

Paper

Pencil

Group Guidelines

Tell the group they are going to experience a small bit of what it might be like to be blind. Blindfold the whole group. After they have settled down, tell them they are going to pretend to start their day by putting on a shirt, buttoning it up, getting their toothbrush, finding the bathroom, brushing their teeth, coming back to the room, and finding a seat to hear the Bible study.

Building Community

1. While the participants are still blindfolded, read John 9:1-6. At verse 6, touch the youth lightly on the eyes. Read the first part of verse 7 and have the youth travel to a drinking fountain. At the drinking fountain have the participants remove their blindfolds.
2. Ask the group to reflect on the brief experience of being blind.
   1. What did you experience?
   2. What was hard about being blind?
   3. What would it be like to really be blind?
   4. How do you appreciate your sight more now?

 Looking at God’s Word

1. Divide the group into the following parts: Pharisees, blind man, parents, Jesus, crowd and narrator.
2. Have everybody read John 9:7b-41.
3. After this has been read, ask each of the participants to respond to the following:
   1. What did you feel as you read your part?
   2. How did your character change from before the reading to the end of the reading?
   3. What must it have been like for this man who was healed?
   4. Compare this man’s blindness to the Pharisees’ blindness.
   5. What would the Bible characters need to be healed from their blindness?

Reinforcing What Has Been Learned

1. In what ways are we spiritually blind?
2. How has Jesus healed our spiritual blindness?

Closing

Close by singing the first verse of “Amazing Grace” and with a prayer.

Originally published in Discovery Bible Studies 11, 1998.

Updated for youthESource in March 2014