Clearly Seeing Jesus
John 9: 1-12 March 2, 2008
This morning we have another one of those beautiful stories of Jesus healing someone. Today, he heals a man who was born blind… A man that had never been able to see… And man that could truly say, “I once was blind, but now I see!”
In this scripture, as always, Jesus takes an everyday situation and uses it for a spiritual lesson – because here Jesus uses this blind man to illustrate another kind of blindness – Spiritual Blindness…
I’m sure it’s awful to be blind – not to be able to physically see things… But I think it’s worse to be Spiritually blind… Because when you’re Spiritually blind, you have no hope and you have no joy and you have no life…
When you’re Spiritually blind about the only thing you can see is yourself… and that’s a miserable sight… When you’re Spiritually blind you can’t see others, you can’t see Jesus, you can’t see God…
When we look at our scripture, the first thing that we see is HOW PEOPLE SEE THINGS DIFFERENTLY…
Notice than when Jesus saw this man, he saw a BLIND Man that needed his help…
The disciples saw this same man and immediately they classified him as a sinner, for they asked, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
There is an interesting theological point here… The religious leaders of Jesus’ time had the mistaken notion that persons who were down on their luck were in that fix because they had sinned… and this was God’s judgment upon them for their wrongdoings…
So these blind people, or lame people, or leprous people, or poor people were looked down upon by society as sinners, as wicked people and they were shunned…
But Jesus didn’t see them as wicked people or sinners… He saw them as children of God, as persons of integrity and worth, as members of God’s family, as His brothers and sisters… And he loved them and embraced them, and healed them…
And that’s what Jesus does for this blind man… Notice this… He spits on the ground and made mud with the saliva and then he anoints the man’s eyes with the mud…
Jesus anoints the man’s eyes with the mud… Now, the most single important word in this whole passage is the word “Anoints.”
Listen to this… The word, the original Greek uses here for “anoints” is the same word it uses for the word “Christ”… which of course means “The Anointed One.”
Listen! He Anoints the man’s eyes! Or we could say, He “Christs” the man’s eyes! Isn’t that beautiful? He “Christs” the man’s eyes!
Let me ask you something. Wouldn’t it be nice to have our eyes “anointed” or “Christ-ed?”
We didn’t take the time to read the whole story, but it really is one of the great ones… Because it’s a story about blindness and sight, sickness and healing, prejudice and love, fear and faith, rejection and acceptance, defeat and victory…
But I think there is one question that just explodes out of this gospel story and addresses itself directly and personally to you and me… Namely this… Have your eyes been “Christ-ed?” Can you see with the vision of the Lord? Have your eyes been anointed with the Spirit of Christ?
Because when your eyes have been Christ-ed, first of all, IT CHANGES THE WAY THAT YOU SEE YOURSELF…
Listen! We are all born blind… All babies are born blind… Now don’t misunderstand me… I love babies… babies are wonderful… They represent God’s greatest miracle – the miracle of birth… But the truth is that they are born blinded by the cataracts of selfishness… That’s the way babies are…
They come into this world screaming: Do something for me! Feed me, love me, hold me, burp me, change me, rock me… and do it right now!
And throughout their infancy and childhood and sometimes the teen years and sadly sometimes even into adulthood for some… life is all about ME, ME, ME… Take care of me, please me, pamper me…
But in the Bible, time and again, Jesus makes it clear that one of the things that blinds us most is selfishness… and the only cure is to have your eyes “Christ-ed.”
To have your eyes “Christ-ed” moves us from selfish vision to service vision… It moves us from “Do something for me” to “Let me do something for you and for God and for others…”
Have your eyes been “Christ-ed?” Can you see beyond you own selfish desires? Do you see yourself not as one that needs to be pampered, but as one that is committed to be God’s servant?
But to have the eyes of Christ not only changes the way in which we see ourselves, but IT CHANGES THE WAY WE SEE OTHER PEOPLE…
Illus: I read a story this week about a mother who took her son to a restaurant for lunch… and her six-year old son wanted to say grace… He prayed, “God is great and God is good, let us thank Him for the food, and God, I would thank you even more if mom would get me some ice cream for desert. And liberty and justice for all! Amen!
This woman sitting at the very next table said, “That’s what’s wrong with this country. Kids today don’t even know how to pray… The very idea of asking God for ice cream!”
Hearing this, the little boy burst into tears and he asked his mother, “Did I do it wrong? I’m sorry. Is God mad at me?” The mother assured him that he had done a terrific job and God was certainly not mad at him…
About that time an elderly man walked over to the table… He said, “I happen to know God really well… We visit everyday and I know that God loved your prayer… Then he leaned over and whispered in the little boy’s ear. Pointing at the woman at the next table who had made the remark and started the whole thing, he said, “Too bad she never asks God for ice cream. A little ice cream is good for the soul…”
Well naturally, after lunch, mom ordered some ice cream for the little boy… When the waiter brought the ice cream, the little boy just starred at it for a moment… then he did something that his mom will never forget…
He picked up his ice cream and without a word he walked over and placed in front of the woman at the next table… With a BIG smile he said, “Here, this is for you. Ice cream is good for the soul and my soul is already good…”
That little boy had already learned how to look at others with the eyes of Christ… Sight (true sight) is always a matter of the heart – not the eyes…
When our eyes have been “Christ-ed” we see with our hearts… and we realize what Jesus meant when he said, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you…”
When our eyes are anointed with the Spirit of Christ, then we see people differently… We see them as part of God’s family… and we accept them and embrace them and help them and treat them with respect and love (and sometimes, even ice cream).
That’s what it means to have Christ-ed eyes… When our eyes have been Christ-ed, it changes the way we see ourselves, changes the way we see others, but third and finally, IT CHANGES THE WAY WE SEE GOD…
There’s something else fascinating here in John 9… Don’t miss this! I want you to SEE this! Notice the way the healed man refers to Jesus… Notice the growth… There is a progression here as he begins to Clearly See Jesus…
If you take the time to read the whole story, you’ll see in verse 11 that first the healed man refers to Jesus as a man… He says, “the man called Jesus did this for me…”
But later, in verse 17, he refers to Jesus as a prophet…
But then finally, in verse 38, he sees Jesus as the Son of God… He calls Jesus, “Lord” and then worshiped him…
Notice that the closer he gets to Jesus, the more time he spends with Jesus… the clearer he sees Jesus!
This man went from the point of being totally blind to the point of seeing Jesus as a man, then a prophet, then finally as the Son of God and his Lord… and then he worshiped Jesus…
Friends, how’s your vision? Are you Clearly Seeing Jesus? Are you still blind or Have your eyes been Christ-ed?
Rev. Mike DuBose
Newhebron United Methodist Church
Newhebron, MS
www.newhebronumc.com
