The Lord’s Day Evening
August 2, 2009
John 9
“A Blind Man”
Reverend Billy Joseph
Now if you’ll turn with me
tonight to John chapter 9. As we come to this particular passage, let’s look to
the Lord in prayer. Let’s pray.
Father in heaven, before You again we come and plead with You for Your
Spirit. We plead with You for Your Spirit because we cannot even read Your Word
and understand it without Your Spirit to teach us and open our hearts and minds.
We can’t remember it without Your Spirit, for He is the one that reminds us of
what You have said. And Father we certainly cannot even begin to live it out
unless Your Spirit works in us. So as those who have been saved by Your grace,
as those who have been brought here by Your Spirit, as those who come seeking to
know, we ask that You would teach us. And we ask these things in the name of
Jesus Christ. Amen.
As we come to this passage
there are some passages in the Scripture in which there is humor. This is one
of them. And so what I’m challenging you young folks to do tonight as we read
this is to see if you can figure out what’s funny. The adults might figure it
out, but let’s read it, because we’re really not here to laugh, we’re here to
see the Lord Jesus and to encounter Him. Hear the Word of God from John chapter
9 beginning at verse 1:
“As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him,
‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’ Jesus
answered, ‘It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works
of God might be displayed in him. We must work the works of Him who sent me
while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. As long as I am in the
world, I am the light of the world.’ Having said these things, He spat on the
ground and made mud with the saliva. Then He anointed the man’s eyes with the
mud and said to him, ‘Go, wash in the pool of Siloam’ (which means Sent). So he
went and washed and came back seeing.
The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar were saying, ‘Is
this not the man who used to sit and beg?’ Some said, ‘It is he.’ Others said,
‘No, but he is like him.’ He kept saying, ‘I am the man.’ So they said to him,
‘Then how were your eyes opened?’ He answered, ‘The man called Jesus made mud
and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went and
washed and received my sight.’ They said to him, ‘Where is He?’ He said, ‘I do
not know.’
They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. Now it was a
Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. So the Pharisees again
asked him how he had received his sight. And he said to them, ‘He put mud on my
eyes, and I washed, and I see.’ Some of the Pharisees said, ‘This man is not
from God, for He does not keep the Sabbath.’ But others said, ‘How can a man
who is a sinner do such signs?’ And there was a division among them. So they
said again to the blind man, ‘What do you say about Him, since He has opened
your eyes?’ He said, ‘He is a prophet.’
The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his
sight, until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight and
asked them, ‘Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now
see?’ His parents answered, ‘We know that this is our son and that he was born
blind. But how he now sees we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes.
Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.’ (His parents said these
things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if
anyone should confess Jesus to be Christ, he was to be put out of the
synagogue.) Therefore, his parents said, ‘He is of age; ask him.’
So for the second time they called the man who had been blind and
said to him, ‘Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.’ He
answered, ‘Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that
though I was blind, now I see.’ They said to him, ‘What did He do to you? How
did He open your eyes?’ He answered them, ‘I have told you already, and you
would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become
His disciples?’ And they reviled him, saying, ‘You are His disciple, but we are
disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man,
we do not know where He comes from.’ The man answered, ‘Why, this is an amazing
thing! You do not know where He comes from, and yet He opened my eyes. We know
that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and
does His will, God listens to him. Never since the world began has it been
heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not
from God, He could do nothing.’ They answered him, ‘You were born in utter sin,
and would you teach us?’ And they cast him out.
Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him He
said, ‘Do you believe in the Son of Man?’ He answered, ‘And who is He, Sir,
that I may believe in Him?’ Jesus said to him, ‘You have seen Him, and it is He
who is speaking to you.’ He said, ‘Lord, I believe,’ and he worshiped Him.
Jesus said, ‘For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may
see, and those who see may become blind.’ Some of the Pharisees near Him heard
these things, and said to Him, ‘Are we also blind?’ Jesus said to them, ‘If you
were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt
remains.’”
I’m gonna start this off with
a test and you have to be honest. Does anybody here know what a gump
is…G-U-M-P? Oh man, and I always thought I was the illiterate one on this staff
around here. Have any of you read any of the Oz series, or are all of
you just stuck on the television Wizard of Oz book that was made into a
movie? In about the third book, the characters, who have this magic dust of
life, are stuck in an upper room of a castle and they take a — now remember,
none of you have seen a gump, okay, and none of you knew what a gump was — they
take a sofa, put a moose head on it, and palm branches on it, and they sprinkle
the powder of life on it and it comes to life. And the whole rest of the book
it’s called a gump — G-U-M-P. Some of you didn’t even know there was more than
one Oz book, but yes there are eleven by the original author and he
creates some of the most interesting characters. But if you’ve ever read any of
the books that are illustrated you’ve seen what a gump looks like — but none of
you have seen a gump! You’re as blind as this man! You’ve never seen the light
of the Wizard of Oz in its entirety. Haha — I can’t believe I’m the only
one here who’s seen a gump. Isn’t that amazing? You didn’t raise your hand
back there, did you? Haha.
Blindness.
Blindness from birth. No one had been healed from blindness from birth. Jesus
comes along and He meets this man. He passes by, the Scripture says, He saw a
man blind from birth and His disciples raise a theological question right off
the bat: Who sinned – this man or his family? And Jesus answering and teaching
His disciples tells them what? He tells them that this man hasn’t sinned nor
his parents. No, this has occurred so that God may be glorified. Doesn’t that
fit well with what Derek preached this morning? That even the most horrendous
thing that could happen to a couple — to have a baby born blind — that even that
is going to be for God’s glory in some way, form, or fashion. That’s the
setting here. Jesus in chapter eight ends by talking about that He was before
Abraham. Before Abraham was I AM. Then in John chapter 10 He’s going to
continue by saying that He is the Good Shepherd and knows His own and His own
know Him. But in this chapter we’re going to see how Jesus, in a real brief
encounter, changes a man who can do absolutely nothing for himself. Absolutely
nothing. Here is a man who has never seen anything.
If you go to Mark
chapter eight you’ll read about the healing of a blind man and the blind man
says this, when Jesus spits on his eyes and begins to heal his eyes, the blind
man says, “I see men, but they look like trees walking.” Now how would that
blind man have known what trees looked like to say that they were trees walking?
– Because he was not born blind. This man has nothing at all to compare what it
means to see. No idea at all — never has seen. Helen Keller — great story to
read about a fellow Alabamian. She had seen at some point. She had heard. But
a person born blind has no idea what it means to see, no idea what light is
like, no idea what Jesus looked like when this discussion occurs around him.
Put yourself in his place. You are minding your own business, you have never
known anything but life the way it is for a blind man — a man born blind – and
suddenly when you are sitting begging alms which is what you’ve been doing, as
you’re sitting there you hear these folks passing by and they get into a
discussion about you and your value — whether or not you sinned or your parents
sinned. I don’t know what the blind man was thinking, but it had to be an
interesting observing on his part. Because that’s what we’re gonna do — we’re
gonna look at this blind man and how Jesus, in healing him, affects him.
First of all,
we’re gonna be guided by his responses to questions. Because here’s a man that
didn’t know anything and suddenly sees. How does he see? What does he see?
What is going on as he has had an encounter with Jesus and now he can see? Is
he saved? Does he know Christ? Let’s look.
Beginning at verse
eight you’ll notice there — after Jesus had sent him to the Pool of Siloam,
after He had spat on the ground and made mud out of saliva and said, “Go and
wash,” he went to wash and he came back seeing, and immediately there is an
effect on those around him. When Jesus operates in someone’s life, there is an
obvious effect quickly; not when Jesus just influences them, not when Jesus is
just around, but when Jesus does something to someone. When He begins to work on
somebody, even their neighbors say, “Is this — isn’t this the man that was
blind? Isn’t this him?” And some of course are saying, “No, it’s not him.”
There’s a question about this man’s identify. And look at the man’s simple,
basic answer: “I am the man.” He’s not afraid. Why? – Because he can see
now. It’s so apparent. He can see things that before were not there, and when
people around him begin to say, “Is this the man? Isn’t this the man? That’s
not the man. Are you sure that’s the guy that was sitting? Are you sure that’s
the guy born blind?” Without hesitating, without training, without teaching, oh
yes, “I am he!” And then what does he say? They start asking, “Well then how
were your eyes opened?” And look at his answer, look at his simple answer — “He
answered, ‘The man called Jesus anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam
and wash’ so I went and washed and I received my sight.’” He doesn’t describe
theological conversations that went on around him. He doesn’t describe what
Jesus looked like. Folks, he doesn’t know what Jesus looks like, remember? He
was blind when Jesus did this. He went away from Jesus and washes. He came
back seeing and Jesus is not around when he comes back. He has no idea what
Jesus looks like. All he knows is this simple fact — what does he say? “The
man called Jesus.”
Some of you who
may not be believers that are here. You’ve heard about Jesus. You’re here
because a friend has brought you, or you’ve stumbled into First Presbyterian
Church tonight out of curiosity, or it’s close by and so you come, and you know
Christians have something to do with this man named Jesus, but that’s all you
know. That’s all this man knows — that Jesus is a man. Yeah, it’s a man that
did something really weird and strange, but that’s all they know and that’s all
this man confesses. But look how the circumstances change his understanding.
Notice how he begins to grow — how he begins to find out more. Look what
happens — “They said to him, ‘Where is He?’ He said to them, ‘I don’t know.’”
You know, it’s so amazing how honest this guy is and his simple witness to what
he does know.
What happens
next? Well, he gets mixed up with the Pharisees. So the Pharisees asked him
how he received his sight. And he says what to them? – “He put mud on my eyes,
and I washed, and I see.” And then they asked him this moral question – This
man’s not from God because He does not keep the Sabbath. But some of them were
saying what? How can a man even do this — be a sinner do such things. In other
words, his simple testimony about what Jesus did throws the Pharisees into a
theological discussion. They get into a theological discussion, there’s
division among them simply because this man says “He put mud on my eyes, I
washed, and I see.” He is affecting them.
But notice, to
solve their theological dilemma they ask the blind man to solve their
theological dilemma. Look there at verse 7 — “So they said again to the blind
man, ‘What do you say about Him since He opened your eyes?’” Now, the man, he
knows that Jesus was a man, but notice his answer – he says what? “He is a
prophet.” See, he’s starting to figure out that this man, Jesus, who has caused
him to see, couldn’t have been just a man. He was a man, but there had
to be more. Now in those days you’ve got to understand that when you started
talking about “more” you didn’t have athletes to compare Him to, you didn’t have
soldiers and television to tell him what a “mighty man” was, but he was a good
Jew and he knew that anybody that could do this could only be a prophet. His
theological understanding of Jesus is beginning to expand and it’s beginning to
expand because there’s opposition to what he’s saying. It’s beginning to expand
because people don’t accept what he says and they want to know more. And he
simply says, “Jesus is a prophet.” He’s learning. He knows more than he did.
He’s beginning to see Jesus better and better — better than the Pharisees. Here
He is right in front of them and they still can’t see.
But notice the next major
response that the man gives. It’s interesting — this is where the funny part
happens. Boys and girls. You know, I don’t know about you, but I was raised
when children were seen and not heard. That’s not as true anymore — maybe it
should be but we won’t get into that theological discussion at all. Here for
the first time in this man’s life, his parents don’t have to help him. He’s
finally an adult.
When I left the
University of Alabama after 22 years of being a campus minister, my mother and
daddy were in Europe at the time and they called us up and I said, “Mama, I have
to tell you something. I resigned from RUF — uh — finally.” She said,
“Finally! My son has graduated!” (laughter) Here’s a man who has been taken
care of all his life and suddenly his parents are throwing him out there. He
gets to walk on his own. “Look, ask him, he’s an adult. He’s an adult, ask
him!” It’s amazing.
Verse 25 — he
answers – “Give glory to God” they say. “Whether He is a sinner I do not know,
but one thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” You see, he’s
beginning to say more. He’s beginning to understand. He’s beginning to
understand that Jesus is not just a man, that Jesus is not just a prophet. Look
at what the Pharisees say to him in verse 26 — “What did He do to you? How did
He open your eyes?” He answers, “I told you already and you would not listen.
Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become His disciples?”
And I love how the New American Standard says, “Do you also want to become His
disciples too? Do you?” He has gone to witnessing. He has gone to bringing in
disciples. This man doesn’t know a whole lot. They get mad at him. And then
look at his answer in verse 30 — “Why, this is an amazing thing! You do not
know where He comes from and yet He opened my eyes? We know that God does not
listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, God
listens to him. Never since the world began has this been heard, that anyone
opened the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, He could do
nothing.” You see where he’s gone? He’s gone from Jesus being a man, to Jesus
being a “superman” if you want – a prophet, to uh-huh, this man must be from
God.
You know we spend
lots of time around unbelievers and we don’t know what they understand. And
unbelievers, as you spend time around Christians, you think that becoming a
Christians is – all of a sudden you understand something, and immediately you
understand it, and you’re a Christian. Sometimes it doesn’t work that way.
Sometimes it takes a long time. Sometimes it takes asking lots of questions.
Look at all the questions that are asked in this passage — over and over and
over. Look at the play, back and forth, that says to people, “Think about it.
Reason it through. Understand.” When you encounter Jesus Christ, it’s not just
something that happens to you inside and doesn’t affect your mind. No. The
Scripture says we are to love God with all of our heart, with all our soul, and
all our strength, and all our mind. Here you have a man struggling to
understand who God is and what God has done. To him, yes, but how that affects
others.
Christian, you and
I are to give testimony about what we do understand about God to the unbelievers
around us, but we are also to ask each other questions. We are to probe, we are
to understand, we are to change and mature in our understanding. And yet, guess
what? Even at this point, this man does not know Jesus Christ. They cast him
out, they throw him out, they answered and said to him, “You were born entirely
in sin and would you teach us? And they cast him out.” They threw him out of
the synagogue.
Gosh, he
looks like a Christian, he smells like a Christian, he talks like a Christian,
but is a Christian a Christian because they know all the right answers? No. A
Christian is a Christian because, look at verse 35 — “Jesus heard that they had
put him out and finding him, He said, ‘Do you believe in the Son of
Man?’” Okay, get the picture, this man has never seen Jesus! Jesus finds him.
Jesus knows what he looks like. He has no idea what Jesus looks like. He knows
whoever Jesus is, He was a man. Whoever Jesus is, He was a prophet. Whoever
Jesus is, He must be God. Jesus finds him and says, “Do you believe in the Son
of Man?” He answered and said, “Who is He Lord, that I may believe in Him?” I
mean — that is — it’s funny to me — now I don’t notice any of y’all laughing but
maybe you’re trying to catch on to what I’m saying, but it’s still funny. It’s
funny in the great, gracious way of Christ. Because Christ has come to a man
who cannot see and he does not know Him from Adam’s housecat. He comes to this
man and what does He say? “You have both seen Him” — past tense. In other
words your knowledge of Him as a man, your knowledge of Him as a prophet, your
knowledge of a prophet, a man prophet, He is of God. You’re right on. “You
have seen Him, and He is the one who is talking with you. And he said, ‘Lord I
believe.’”
Notice, he doesn’t
just say “Lord I believe.” Did you notice what he does? He worships.
His whole focus is this man that he used to know only as a man Jesus, as the
prophet Jesus, as obviously a man from God Jesus, but now as Jesus has come to
me, I see Him. I belong to Him. All that I am is His, and all that I will ever
be will be His.
Folks, if you’re
an unbeliever and you’re encountering Jesus, He will change what you worship, by
revealing Himself to you – and the process may take awhile until your eyes
open. If you’re hanging around Christians and you’ve got lots of questions,
keep asking the questions! Christians should not be afraid of questions that
are asked. Why? – Because it may be a man coming to the place where he sees
Jesus.
But notice Jesus’
response to the Pharisees, and this is important, because the Pharisees knew the
Word of God, folks. They knew, they knew their Catechism, but they could
not see Jesus standing right there in front of them. You may have been in this
church all your life. You may have walked in this church for the first time
tonight. You may have never heard of Jesus. Some of you have heard about Jesus
all your life, but until Jesus comes and reveals Himself to you, even the
information you have about Him won’t be enough. We’re not saved because we know
enough, Presbyterians. We’re not saved because we understand enough. We’re
saved because Jesus finds us and reveals Himself graciously to us, who cannot
see even beyond the tip of our nose unless He comes and He grabs us and He
glorifies God by causing us to see.
Can you see
Jesus? You who’ve been in the church for all your life? You who’re just here
tonight? Can you see Jesus? Or are we still blind? Let’s pray.