John presents his gospel in much the same way that a lawyer presents evidence in a kind of divine trial. He compels his “jury” to make a decision for themselves about Jesus – “do you believe or not?”
The gospel is often divided into two sections – the Book of Signs (chapters 1-12) and the Book of Glory (chapters 13-21). Our passage today falls towards the end of section one – the Book of Signs. Throughout this section John has used a number of tools to weave a number of themes together in his efforts to bring his readers to a conclusion about Jesus. These tools have included “light”, “misunderstanding”, “irony” and the conflict between those who do believe in Jesus and those who do not.
Right back at the beginning of the gospel the theme of light is introduced. In 1:5 John declares that Jesus is “the light that shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.” Here to, in this verse, we are forewarned that Jesus will be misunderstood by those who are a part of the “darkness.”
Later in chapter 3, as a part of his night time conversation with Nicodemus, Jesus says these words
Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light. (John 3:19-20)
Further still in 8:12 Jesus says these words, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” Light, in John, has become an important metaphor for Jesus and his saving power. Those who believe in him and receive him as Lord are said to have received the light of life, and rescued from the darkness.
Now chapter 9, the story of the healing of a man born blind, (that is him receiving “physical” light), becomes a metaphor for spiritual healing whereby people, through Jesus, can receive the light of life.
Chapter 9 can be divided into three parts, the healing itself, the interrogation of the healed man, and the follow up teaching of Jesus.
The story begins with a question from Jesus’ disciples. They assume that this mans blindness was caused by some sin, but Jesus corrects their misinterpretation of this situation. Unfortunately, the way that the NIV interprets Jesus response implies that God brought suffering on this man for the sole purpose of bringing glory to himself. Verse 3 says this “but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.” Although we cannot deny that God is sovereign and as such can do as he pleases, there is a better translation – “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus “but so that the work of God might be displayed in his life, we must do the work of him who sent me while it is still day.”
In this translation the emphasis is on the fact that Jesus must work so that God’s glory may be displayed in his life. It is not that people are sick in order that God may be glorified. Rather, Jesus has been sent for the purpose of glorifying God through acts of healing.
Jesus spits on the ground and makes some mud, then puts this on the mans eyes. This may seem bizarre to us, but it was not an unusual thing in Jesus’ day, for it was believed that saliva contained certain healing properties. He then sends him to the pool of Siloam to wash. When he did, he came home with his sight restored.
Can you imagine the reaction of this man? I’m sure his return journey was much more exuberant than his walk towards the pool. His neighbours are amazed to see him healed. So much so that some cannot believe that it is the same man. Not only is his sight restored, but I’m sure his demeanour is completely different. He is happy, confident, assured of himself, able to feed and care for himself. A far cry from the man who spent his days depending on the charity of others, begging on the roadside just to simply live.
When he is brought before the Pharisees they don’t seem surprised by the amazing transformation in this man. No, they are too concerned about the fact that the healing took place on the Sabbath. Isn’t it amazing how some people can just “major on the minors.” They get so caught up in the little things that when huge amazing things happen, like a man’s sight being restored, they completely miss it. As the old saying goes, they can’t see the forest for the trees.
“This man is not from God” they say about Jesus as a result. Still others question how a “sinner” could do such miraculous signs. Going even further in their unbelief, they question whether the man before them is the same one who was blind before!
His parents are brought before these men of great learning and religious standing in the community. The acknowledge that he is their son, and that he was born blind, but stop short of standing by him in his faith for they fear being excluded from the synagogue. This, for any Jewish person, is a fate worse than death. Exclusion from the synagogue would mean total exclusion from their family. Friends would reject them, and worst of all their place of worship would be out of bounds, restricting them access to worship their God and the God of their ancestors.
The man is brought before the Sanhedrin for a second time and interrogated once more. There is an obvious change in this man, for he is willing to speak up for Jesus in an unheard of way. For him, it wasn’t just a miracle of sight being returned to him, but of his spiritual eyes being opened as well. His willingness to now suffer extreme persecution for the sake of Jesus leads him to that fate that his parents feared so much. Verse 34 tells us that he is thrown out of the synagogue. Ironically, John ties in the Pharisees rebuke of the man with the disciples initial thoughts about this man – he is steeped in sin from birth.
This previously unknown man had known of the power of social exclusion, so this was not really new territory for him. But the reason for ignoring him before, his physical disability, was within the confines of the law. He could not see why the Jewish leaders were rejecting him based on something that was good. God had performed a miracle in his life and he was restricted from entering any house of worship to give thanks to him for that.
Jesus, upon hearing that he had been excluded from the synagogue, seeks out the man. Perhaps Jesus heard that this man had stood up for Jesus. Perhaps he wanted to follow him up after his healing. From what we have of this conversation we know that Jesus has much more in mind than just his physical wellbeing.
“Do you believe in the Son of Man?” It’s a very direct and poignant question; penetrating right to the heart of Jesus’ mission on earth. The ultimate question that John keeps in the forefront of our minds throughout the gospel - “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” The man, not realising that Jesus is referring to himself, wants to know who this “Son of Man” is. It is significant that Jesus’ reply is “you have now seen him.” Not only is his physical sight restored, but so too is his spiritual sight. Jesus is standing before him and this man, who once was blind, can see the physical reality of that, but also he can now see the spiritual reality of Jesus for his beautiful response to Jesus question is recorded there for us in verse 38. “Lord, I believe” and he worshipped him.
As we noted earlier, this first section of John’s gospel, the Book of Signs as it is called, has themes constantly being woven together through it. The most significant of these themes revolves around belief in Jesus. Those who believe in Jesus, like this man who has been miraculously healed, can “see” Jesus for who he is. The Son of God, the Messiah, the Lord of all and they worship him. Those who do not believe become increasingly antagonistic towards Jesus and of course the drama of this relationship continues to unfold throughout the rest of the gospel until its ultimate conclusion in the trial and crucifixion of Jesus.
In this passage we learn that the Pharisees, who represent those who do not believe in Jesus, add another string to their bow in their attempts to stop the rising popularity of Jesus – social and religious exclusion. They think that if they stop Jesus’ followers from having access to the synagogue, and subsequently being excluded from many of their familiar relationships, then those followers will desert Jesus and begin denying that he is the Messiah.
But the example of this new follower of Jesus, along with 2000 years of church history has shown that persecution tends to strengthen, not weaken, the followers of Jesus.
A story went around a few years ago of a church in a former communist country where Christianity and the church had only recently been allowed back into the country. Under the iron curtain only the state religion was allowed under the old oppressive regime. The minister in this new church was preaching when suddenly a group of armed men in balaclavas stormed into the church. “In two minutes we will kill anyone left here who worships Jesus. If you walk out the doors and reject Jesus forever, then you will live. Stay and continue to worship, then you will die.”
At first, some of the parishioners were too stunned to move. Slowly, though, some towards the back stood up and hurriedly left the building pleading for their lives. The pastor simply took his seat and bowed his head in prayer. Others, followed the pastor’s example and joined him in silent prayer, perhaps making sure of their faith. Some clung to their loved ones, but remained steadfast in their faith.
“One minute”
At this several more of those who had only a few minutes ago had been in the midst of worship, began to leave the church, whilst those more certain of the eternal consequences of this important decision, remained in their seats.
“20 seconds”
The prayers became more intense. Tears flowed, and some began wailing, but still the assurance of eternal life was palpable in the pews of this simple church.
“5 seconds”
All who had planned to leave had already done so, while those strong in their faith were resolved in their decision.
“Time’s up”.
All eyes were now fixed on this mysterious, gun wielding terrorist before them. They awaited the words which would see a barrage of gunfire unleashed, with the targets being men, women and children, who had all come to worship their Lord that day.
But rather than a command to shoot, the leader of this group of men turned to the pastor and said “Please accept my apologies for the intrusion. We wanted to hear about this Jesus of yours, but we wanted to make sure that you were serious about him before we worshipped him. Now we know that you are we want to know more.”
The story of John 9 confronts readers throughout the generations. We find ourselves joined with the disciples, questioning what someone did to deserve the physical disability of blindness. We join with the neighbours in friends in utter disbelief that this man was healed. We join with the Pharisees in questioning him, and his parents. Is this really the same man who was blind at the beginning of the chapter?
But then we join with the healed man and we are confronted by the question of Jesus – “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” Not just, do you believe that he performed this miracle? But, do you believe in the Son of Man?
Although Jesus no longer physically stands before us now, in the spiritual sense he is before us now asking that very question – “do you believe in me?” he asks. Let us pray that Jesus would open our eyes this morning so that we too may see him.
John tells us at the start of his gospel that the light has come into the world, but the darkness has not understood it. Jesus tells us in John 3 that light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light. Then in John 8:12 Jesus declares boldly and forthrightly, that he is that light. He is the “light of the world.” Are your eyes open to see that light? Do you believe in the Son of Man?
