Encounter With A Blind Man Series

“Jesus’ Encounter with a Blind Man”

Introduction:

Amazing Grace! How sweet the sound

That saved a wretch like me

I once was lost, but now am found

Was blind, but now I see

I believe that a person can suffer from blindness and still have 20/20 vision. I believe that person can see thing around them very well and still be blind. The blindness I am talking about is not physical blindness, but spiritual blindness. I believe that I am speaking to a crowd of people who either have been blinded before and now can see, or people who are still spiritually blind. The greatest desire of a person that is blind is the restoration of their sight.

I think of what beauty they are missing because they cannot see. They miss seeing the beautiful mountains; they miss the sunrises and sunsets. They miss the rivers, lakes and oceans. They miss the smiling faces of people made is God’s image. I believe that if I was blind I would want more than anything in the world to be able to see.

In Jesus’ life here on Earth here recognized that there were a lot of blind people in the world. By that he did not mean physical blindness, but spiritual. He called the Pharisees blind guides, and spoke about spiritual blindness numerous times.

One of my favorite stories in the Bible is the story of Jesus with the Blind man. It is clear that this man was suffering from blindness, and the restoration that Jesus brought to him was physical and spiritual.

I picture the blind man sitting at the temple begging for money and food. The temple was a common place for beggars to assemble since they could not work. This man probably was at the temple day in and day out. He probably heard the voice of Jesus regularly and knew that he was a great teacher and prophet sent from God. He would have recognized immediately that Jesus was near him by the familiar sound of his voice. Although this man could not see Jesus, he could see that there was something special about this man who was standing before him. In this man’s presence Jesus did something very unique. Jesus spit on the ground and made some mud and then rubbed it on this blind man’s eyes. I don’t know about you, but if someone came to me and put some mud in my eyes that was made with spit it would not be a pretty sight. Along with that Jesus brought him a command. He told him to go and to wash in the Pool of Siloam and he would be able to see. He would have gone out from the temple and gone south to that pool where Jesus told him to wash.

Jesus during this encounter was teaching us all how to receive our sight from the way in which a real blind man received his sight. I do not think Jesus’ lesson was on physical blindness, but on spiritual from which we all suffer and need to be healed. There is a way for you to see. I hope that we all want out eyes opened and to be able to see in a different way.

Text: John 9:1-15

How to receive your sight…

I. Obedience

When Jesus told the blind man that his sight could be restored it depended on his obedience to what Jesus told him. Jesus gave specific instructions on how the man can receive back his sight. Since the man obeyed he was able to see.

There is a similar story in II Kings 5 of a man named Naaman. Naaman was an army general in times of the prophet Elisha. He came down with leprosy, which would have destroyed his flesh. Naaman was sent to the great prophet to be healed, and Elisha told him what he must do if he wanted to be restored. He told him to go and wash seven times in the Jordan River. Naaman did not understand why he had to wash in the Jordan. He wanted to get around the command of the prophet. He thought that washing in two other rivers in Damascus would be alright, but those rivers would not heal him because the command of the Lord was specific and it was to wash in the Jordan. There was nothing more special about the Jordan, there were no magical waters there, but it was what the Lord commanded. When Naaman washed seven times in the river he was healed. Six times washing was close, but he was not healed after seven.

When the Lord gives a specific command he expects us to obey it if we want the rewards of that command. Close is not close enough when obeying the Lord.