So the man “went and washed, and came home seeing.” Simple obedience is so refreshing, isn’t it?
But then there is the question of IDENTITY. He returns home and people don’t recognize him. His neighbors and those who had seen him begging are divided. Some thought it was the blind beggar; others that he just looked like him.
What’s sometimes interesting is that we can treat people with one disability as if they had two. We speak louder around blind people. Why? As they debated this man’s identity, they forgot that he could talk. He was not mute!
During my years at Northeastern Bible College in NJ, it became evident that the school was going under financially. I had a friend take a picture of me in front of a blackboard to attach to my resume that I was sending to other Bible colleges for a teaching position. 
(That is NOT me to the right). It was only after I had sent out my resume to several schools that I realized what was written behind on the blackboard in the picture. It was a quote from our text, John 9: ἐκεῖνος ἔλεγεν ὅτι Ἐγώ εἰμι. Which being translated means, “I AM THE MAN!”
I don’t believe I got any offers of employment from those schools. But let’s not miss the point. This man knew who he was — and he admitted it! (I would have been tempted to have turned my back on that past life and said something like, “Blind man? I don’t know what you’re talking about! I’ve never begged in my life!”).
This man could have said, “Once I was blind — but now I can TALK! And I know who I am.” Do you, my friend? (to be continued)
