Man Born Blind
0 Amens
April 6, 2008
John 9:1-41 (7 Signs) “Man born blind”
Signs point toward something else. They are valuable in their own right (as a miracle), but their greater value is in what they point towards. For example, a stop sign has some intrinsic value, but its ultimate value in what it represents…stopping. That’s why Jesus’ miracles in John are more than miracles. If you think back to the signs we’ve seen so far, they point to something much greater while doing a very practical and gracious thing for humanity at that time. (Water into wine- They were out of wine and there is a great wedding feast to come.)
Which leads us to this morning. We’ll see another very physical thing that demonstrates Jesus’ care for our very real problems that carried a much greater spiritual significance. We have so much to do and little time to do it so let’s get to work!
The incident (1-12)
The GARP (Generally Accepted Religious Principles) of the day was that if you were suffering, it was because of something you or your parents did. Kind of like karma, honestly. A pregnant mom could (in their minds) cause a birth defect because of worshiping a pagan deity with her unborn child in her womb. In a general sense, it is true that suffering is tied directly to sin. If no one had ever sinned, there would be no suffering or death. But in individual terms, it is usually not the case. Suffering happens in this broken, fallen world…but it won’t always be that way. But I am getting ahead of myself. This guy isn’t blind because of any of that, but it was because God was going to do something great through Him. I am not going to try to handle the age old debate on why suffering happens. I don’t have time and I find that people are only willing to ask one side of it anyways. Why is no one perplexed why good and beauty happen?
As a hint that this miracle points to something greater, Jesus introduces light and darkness imagery. It is light while He is with His disciples and there will be darkness immediately when He leaves (think of the 3 days after the cross).
Moving
along, Jesus takes the initiative and begins healing the blind guy with
spit. It was gross then, just like now,
in case you are wondering. Then, He tells the guy to go to a pool that means
“sent.” Once the blind man goes enters
the water, he can see. Hints of the
greater reality of this sign are present.
“Jesus himself is the sent one, and that the granting of sight to this
blind man symbolizes the spiritual illumination without which one cannot see
the true light from God.” (
8-12. The healed man has his first interaction with friends and family. We should read this as some stunned people who want to know who did this great thing to Him.
The Aftermath with
the Pharisees (13-34)
13-17. Now the Pharisees want to hear what happened. As you would expect, the ruling religious people of that area wanted to investigate the claims and we have here a representative dialogue of what was likely a full report. Some of the Pharisees show their bias in the situation and know that the guy can’t be legitimate because Jesus did this on the Sabbath, but others among their number weren’t so sure. If Jesus is such a sinner, how can He do these things? The divided crowd then turns to the formerly blind guy and asks him his opinion of Jesus…and he stuns them by saying that Jesus must be a prophet. Just to be clear about what’s at stake here. If the anti-Jesus people are wrong, like this story is taking us to see, then their interpretation of the Sabbath is wrong and their opinion of Jesus is wrong. If the Jesus friendly people are wrong, they have put too much stock in a miraculous occurrence and are potentially willing to follow a con.
18-23. The leaders of this delegation of religious leaders surely decided that the easiest way to re-unify their group is to examine the facts more closely. Situation averted if they find out that He wasn’t exactly “blind” since birth. But they ask the parents and they don’t help the situation much because they affirm the reality of his condition. The parents are afraid of the ruling leaders so they don’t really take a stand on the identity of Jesus. This surely stood as a contrast to the healed man as the story progresses for 1st century readers who faced serious persecution for believing in Jesus at the time this gospel was in circulation some 40 years later.
24-25. Its
time for another interrogation. Give
glory to God probably means something like “Before God, own up and admit
the truth.” (
26-34. The guy gets more chippy as they keep pressing Him. “Why do you want me to keep saying that Jesus healed me? Do you want to follow Him, too? Because you keep asking a lot!” That gets an, um, reaction. They point to Moses as their leader. But the healed man is undeterred. He thinks it odd that they don’t even know where Jesus comes from (although they seemed to think they did know where He came from in 7:27) and that if He’s such a sinner how they can answer His miraculous deed. They are moved at his explanation…just kidding. They toss him out.
Before we move to the last section where Jesus comes out with His greater point here, think about what is happening. The evidence, in terms of reasoning, is with the Pharisees. All this guy has is a miracle and as cool as that is, it’s not much ground for taking a theological position, right? The Pharisees have the OT and hundreds of years of theological speculation on their side, but they end up wrong here. How can that be?
The Aftermath (35-41)
35-38. Jesus takes the initiative with the healed man. This last little exchange will tie together the two streams of this sign: physical and spiritual sight. Jesus moves the man to the key question of if He believes in the Jesus. The guy doesn’t know who the Son of Man is and Jesus reveals His identity as the promised Messiah. The guy responds with belief…and worship. These two things are inseparable. If you believe in Jesus, you will value Him, worship Him. If you worship Him, you believe in Him. This guy spiritually sees Jesus for who He is and rightly values Him.
39-41. But Jesus has more to say. And it’s not going to sit well with most of our conceptions of Jesus. Jesus says He came into the world for judgment! How do we understand this in light of 3:16-17 where Jesus says He came to save the world and not judge it? Here’s how: His main aim was salvation and demonstrating grace, but the derivative to this is that many will be judged. In this sense, He does come for judgment. What are even more shocking are the group that will “see” and the group that will be “blind” and, therefore, face judgment.
Here is where the spiritual element of this sign becomes explicit. The blind are those who are in spiritual darkness and are aware of it and Jesus came to give them spiritual light…just like Jesus has done with this man physically and spiritually. This is how people are converted. All of us were previously in darkness and were unaware that we were. But Jesus shone light in our hearts and we saw. Nobody ever starts off thinking “I need a solution to my spiritual darkness.” Nobody. You might recognize a need to get over other kinds of issues, but not that. You won’t say that unless Jesus is shedding light on your soul and that is how you know you are starting to “see.”
On the other hand, there are some who think that they see, but don’t. Apparently, one of the characteristics of genuinely converted people is that they recognize they were formerly in darkness. That is muddier with those who grew up in Christian homes because its hard to remember those dark days of toddler life, but certainly would be true for those who came to know Jesus in their teen years or later. For those of you who can’t remember not believing in Jesus, it can be helpful to consider what would have been had you not believed…what kind of spiritual darkness would likely have gripped you? At Redeemer, you’ll hear stories all of the time (like Josh’s this morning) that go like this: “I was in and out of church, but it (Church/Jesus) never meant anything to me. I thought I was a good person and that was enough and I dabbled with religious things. But then I realized that I was only right with God through Jesus and that I had never been changed and that I never loved Him…” In other words, many of us in here thinking we were fine, but were blind even while we came to church off and on.
In the spirit of this strong warning, I need to caution many of you in this room. Some of you think that you will settle this stuff later. Some of you wrongly assume that your children will settle this stuff later maybe when they have kids…maybe because that’s what happened to you. I will grant you that you/them may well become religious when you/they have kids or whatever, but you should place no confidence that you or your kids will see the greatness of Jesus and recognize your/their need for Him then if they don’t now. Quit kidding yourself. For every 1 that figures it out as they hit adulthood, there are 10 that go through the motions. You may eventually realize your need for church, but that doesn’t necessarily translate into a new heart that worships Jesus like the blind man.
Core Concern
We see Jesus’ concerns simultaneously. He cares about our very physical issues and does something about it…our depression, marital problems, physical issues…all of it. He also cares about our spiritual condition. These things merge in this story and we see how the spiritual concern overrides the physical. The sign of the man blind from birth gives way to us seeing ourselves spiritually blind from birth and some see the light of Jesus and see. Others see Him and it makes them blinder.
First, every person in this room needs to ask if we’ve been made to see. How do you know? Think through the story. Do you recognize that you were/would’ve been in darkness without Jesus? Have you believed in Him as the promised rescuer of the world and as the perfect, crucified, and risen Son of God? Has your belief caused you to worship Him…to love Him…to value Him because of His greatness that you now see (at least in part)? If the answer is no to any of that, I urge you to consider the state of your soul and the excellence of Jesus.
Christians: If you can answer yes to these questions, then stop and reflect on Him for a minute. There are some things you know about Him and life and lots of things you don’t. But consider the awesome truth that you were blind…not looking for Him or aware of your need for Him or His greatness. Let this breed a great humility in us. A secondary truth to this that informs your missional outflow (remember, we are a gospel-centered missional family) is that you shouldn’t be surprised when people are repulsed with your message. It isn’t because they are stupid or morally inferior, so stop that act. Your explanation may have been perfect. The problem is that they are blind…we are going to need an army of courageous people who will humbly take this message to their friends and co-workers and classmates and not freak out when some of them think we are half-way crazy. This is not a warrant to be a jerk about it and be over the top, but it centers us. Let’s move to the other half of this:
And consider that now you see. What do we see that’s so great? This is the key issue of the Christian life. Looking to Jesus’ excellence is at the heart of our “gospel-centered vision.” Again, your missional outflow is affected by this. You can confidently love and share the gospel in the face of much rejection because God makes people see…not you. All of life comes down to being deeply satisfied in God making us see Jesus’ greatness. Consider it often. If you trying to figure out how to stop certain habits or destructive patterns, this is where you go. If you are trying to improve your marriage, this is the place. Missional outflow, like we said, go here. It’s deeply practical. It will cause you to not take yourself seriously and simultaneously, take Jesus very seriously. You will be more aware of your limitations and find your pride etched away and your affection for Jesus stirred. To those of you in darkness right now, this sounds like the most ridiculous thing ever. But to those who have been made to see by God’s grace, it’s the most awesome truth ever.
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