John 9:31
“We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God, and does his will, he listens to him.”
What does John 9:31 mean?
The people speaking here were defending the blind man Jesus had healed, and they're expressing what they believed to be true about how God relates to us. Their statement reflects a common understanding in Jesus's time: that God turns away from those living in sin, but listens carefully to those who honor him and follow his ways. There's something both comforting and challenging in this. The comfort comes from knowing that genuine devotion and obedience matter, that God pays attention to those seeking to follow him. The challenge is real too, because it might sound like God's door is closed to sinners, or that we have to be perfect before he'll hear us. But read alongside the rest of Scripture, especially Jesus's own teaching, we learn that God meets us in our brokenness and that turning toward him (in whatever messy, incomplete way we can manage) opens that door. The point isn't that God ignores people struggling with sin, but that alignment with God's will changes everything about how we relate to him.