Jesus performed amazing wonders, there’s no doubt about that. At his word, the lame could walk, the blind could see, the sick were healed, the dead were raised! Indeed, no one who came to Jesus for help was refused; he cured every infirmity that was brought to him. Jesus was well and truly a miracle worker. The mistake, however, comes in thinking that that’s all he was.

What’s a miracle? We could perhaps define it as a beneficial act that’s supernatural, or normally impossible. Jesus definitely did these. Yet interestingly, while John does use the word “miracle” in his gospel, he often chooses to supplement it with the word “sign”.

This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed in Cana of Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him.
John 2:11

Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many people saw the miraculous signs he was doing and believed in his name.
John 2:23

This was the second miraculous sign that Jesus performed, having come from Judea to Galilee.
John 4:54

After the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus did, they began to say, "Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world."
John 6:14

Many people, because they had heard that he had given this miraculous sign, went out to meet him.
John 12:18

Even after Jesus had done all these miraculous signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him.
John 12:37

What’s a sign? Put simply, it’s something that points to something else. Imagine that I was visiting Bennelong point along the Sydney Harbour and found a sign saying “Sydney Opera House”. How silly would I be to mistake that sign for the Opera House itself? Signs point away from themselves; signs lead to something else. The purpose of the sign is to alert us to something more important, and that, says John, is exactly what Jesus’ miracles were. (The Greek word that John uses for “sign” emphasises the significance of the action, rather than the marvel itself.)

As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"

"Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life…”

Having said this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man's eyes. "Go," he told him, "wash in the Pool of Siloam". So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.

John 9:1-7

Jesus meets blind man, blind man is healed and can see - a classic Jesus miracle. Yet why did Jesus stop there? Was Hitchens right in asking why Jesus didn’t just heal blindness altogether? Did Jesus run out of miracle power? Was God being unfair?

The mistake that Hitchens made is subtle, but it makes all the difference. Asking why Jesus didn’t heal blindness altogether is assuming that that was Jesus’ mission in the first place! It’s claiming that we know what God’s purpose for humankind is. Yet what we see as the major problems in the world may not be the major problems to God. John describes the healing of the blind man not as an indication that there’s hope for all blindness, but as a sign that’s pointing to a greater truth!

And what is this greater truth? Listen to Jesus’ words:

“Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves.”

John 14:10-11

The miracles and wonders that Jesus performed weren’t ends in themselves, but had a specific purpose! They were all done to show that Jesus had come from the Father to do the work of the Father. And what was this work? It was to reveal the Father to us, and to give his life so we could live. That was why Jesus performed miracles. That was why he turned water into wine, and fed five thousand with some fish and loaves. That was why he healed the sick and the lame and the blind - so that the people then and us now would know for sure that he was the promised Messiah, the chosen one of God who would take our sins upon himself and set us free (Isaiah 61:1-2, 53:4-6).

Our cry no longer is “if Jesus healed the blind man, why not blindness?” but rather “since Jesus healed the blind man, we can know for sure that he has healed our hearts and made us right with God again!”  That’s the point of Jesus’ miracles. That’s the truth that his signs point to.

We return to the blind man, who now can see.

Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?"

"Who is he, sir?" the man asked. "Tell me so that I may believe in him."

Jesus said, "You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you."

Then the man said, "Lord, I believe," and he worshiped him.  

John 9:35-38

The miracle that Jesus performed in the blind man’s life changed him completely, and lead to worship and faith. God has performed the greatest miracle in our lives by delivering us from the depths of our sin by the blood of Christ - how will we respond?