John 9:1-41
The Gospel of John is a wonderful book. Its 21 chapters are organized a little differently than the others. He tends to group themes together in order to that the reader can see the theological connections between events, and places, and the teachings of Christ. I have to admit that for as much as I enjoy John, I had never spent much time with the passage (the whole of chapter 9) that we have this morning. And I don’t know why!
Obviously something very important is going on here. Not that John divided up his Gospel into chapters when he wrote it (scholars did that much later), but there is something to be said for the fact that in a book of 21 chapters which summarizes the life, teaching, death and resurrection of Christ, a WHOLE chapter is devoted to this one event.
It is also just a delight to read. When you are aware of the constant struggle that Jesus had with the Pharisees in his earthly ministry, and Jesus mission and purpose for coming into the world, this account really come alive. And this account is also just full of life, and humor, challenge, all the while being very poignant. So I thought we might do something a little different this morning. Seeing as we have a lot of verses to cover, I think that we’ll just go over these verses and enjoy them together.
As we start our reading, understand that Jesus has just been confronted by the Pharisees (the spiritual leaders and law if they did actually listen to the words, they would have understood that Jesus was the promised Messiah, the Son of God. This did not go over well as we read in the last verse of Chapter 8, “At this they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.”
So we start in with our verses, “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?’” This question gives us a lot of insight into the religious thinking of the day. It was a pretty basic premise, if you are good, then good things will happen to you. If you are bad, watch out. So if that is true, then the reverse must be also, right? If I see that something good happens to you, I can conclude that you are doing well with your faith and life. And if I see something bad happen to you, you must be hiding something, or falling down in your faith in some major way.
This way of thinking isn’t exactly confined to Jesus day is it? All the way back to the book of Job we see how his friends are convinced he had done SOMETHING to deserve all the pain and misery heaped upon him. If you turn on your TV to a religious channel, you won’t have to look too hard to see some blowhard excitedly proclaiming that if you only give money to him, God will unleash a flood of cash upon you!
In some ways it would be great if it were so simple! But you know, many of you better than me, it just doesn’t work that way. I think of so many people in our little congregation, faithful, God fearing, forgiven and redeemed sinners, who have suffered so much. Losing loved ones, facing unemployment, terrible diseases. These aren’t the direct result of some sin, but indeed the sinful and fallen condition of life in this world in which we live. There aren’t simple answers! The Teacher of Ecclesiastes knows this well, “The race is not to the swift, or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all.” Ecc. 9:11.
So Jesus does not entertain the question in the way the disciples would expect. “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.” Then Jesus immediately sets about displaying the work of The Light of the World in this man. “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.”
With simple means (spit, dirt, water from a pool) Jesus sent him away to wash and came back seeing! This is more than a medical miracle. This was a life transformation like we can’t imagine. Soon after he was born, this man’s parents (whom we will meet in just a bit) would have been so heartbroken to learn that their son would be disabled. There were no therapists, or seeing-eye dog programs, or government programs available to help him. He would be destined to be a beggar, to eek out a subsistence living for the remainder of his life. On top of all this, instead of first being compassionate, people would question what he, or his parents had done to deserve this terrible fate. Can you imagine!
The next section made me laugh when I picture it being played out. “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.”
Can’t you see it! People arguing back and forth. “This is HIM!” “No way, it couldn’t be!” the whole time he is standing they saying, “HEY, I’m right HERE, it’s me, I promise!” They ask him how it could be, and he just says what happened: “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.”
Well, this obviously wasn’t a good enough answer for them so they call in the “big guns.”
“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.””
And here we begin to see one of the main points of this account. For as blind as this guy was who born not able to see, we begin to see how much worse it is to be spiritually blinded. And this is exactly how we are to see these Pharisees. What is their main concern upon hearing that this guy was miraculously healed? Not “wow, that is so wonderful!” or “tell me what it’s like to see for the first time!” Or, “please tell me more about this man who did this!” No, for many of them, their main concern is “you mean to tell me this guy did this on the SABBATH DAY, when no one is supposed to WORK! How dare he!” First off, Jesus wouldn’t break the Commandment, what he did violate were the rules about the Sabbath that the PHARISEES had made, not the laws God made. Secondly, aren’t we missing the point just a bit here?
So finally they ask the man what he thinks. And quite plainly, the man, not knowing completely yet who Jesus is, acknowledges at least that he must be from God! Again, such plain truth will not be tolerated. So they Pharisees work another angle. Let’s talk to his parents! This was tricky as John tells us, “The Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess Jesus to be the Christ, he was to be put out of the Synagogue.” Understand that this didn’t just mean they weren’t allowed in the building or the worship service, but that they would be shunned by their society. Terrifying thought! So they just relate the facts, “We know 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.”
When are these Pharisees going to get the point? Just leave it alone, or better yet, be happy for the guy and try to find out more about this Jesus guy. But Jesus threatens their assumptions, and their notions about themselves and their self-righteousness, and self made rules, and their status in society. Jesus tends to do this to all of us you know! But these Pharisees are so blinded by all that they have made, and found comfort in, that even the simple truth won’t convince them.
And in the following interaction (which made me laugh for the second time) we see the pure folly of refusing to see the truth. They call this formerly blind man in AGAIN. And they lean into him pretty hard with a leading statement, “Give glory to God (tell us the truth), We know this man is a sinner.” Thinking with their status, they once again focus on getting this man to condemn Jesus (this is their main concern, once again the healing isn’t even on their minds!).
This poor man, for all that he lacks, and all the knowledge he doesn’t have, is armed with the truth. And with this truth, he once again utterly disappoints his inquisitors, “He answered, “Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” You might not be concerned with my healing, but I sure am! Try arguing with my eyes! The frustration on behalf of the Pharisees begins to rise: “They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”
They have no idea what they are getting into. This quiet, lowly, beggar, is quiet no more! “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?” Was he being serious or poking and prodding them, either way, Oh, boy, here we go! “And they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. (I know you are, but what am I?) We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.” They actually think calling this guy a follower of Christ is an insult, when it’s the nicest thing they could ever say of the man. They also show how ignorant they are of what Moses actually preached, taught, and proclaimed – that the Messiah was coming!
The Pharisees, in their ignorance say, “WE KNOW.” And this man in all his supposed ignorance, calls them to the carpet: “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.”
Having nothing to answer back, the Pharisees take us all the way back to the beginning of the story. They attack this man as having suffered because he was sinful. “You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?” And they cast him out.’”
Think about this. The religious leaders throw this man out. This man who had nothing. Who had just experienced a miracle. They throw him out because he won’t play their game, because he won’t just shut up and go along, because he won’t sacrifice what he knows to be true in order to keep up their illusion of righteousness. And here we get to see such a drastic contrast. Where the Pharisees throw this guy out, the Savior seeks 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.”
Jesus proclaims the truth of who he is with the same lips that healed this man. And this man who had nothing, finds that this Jesus has come to give him more than physical sight. He has come to remove the blinders in his soul to all that God offers him. All that is truly good, and eternal, and perfect, and holy. And this man sees this truth and does the only appropriate thing. He worships his God.
The Pharisees reject this call, preferring the comfort of their blinders, the false security of their man-made laws, their status and great knowledge of the Scriptures (even while being ignorant of their main point). 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.
So much we could talk about. But there are a couple of points we need to take with us this morning. First off, let’s understand who is truly blessed in this story. It isn’t the people who are so self-reliant, and self-sufficient, and self-righteous. The one who is blessed is the one who has no hope on his own, the beggar who in no way can earn anything for himself, the one who has to rely completely upon the mercy of God- not only to see him, to recognize him, but to heal him.
This is our case as well. We suffer something worse than some kind of physical ailment. The Apostle Paul accurately describes our condition as one of darkness, of being “Dead in our trespasses and sins.” Dead, nothing to offer, incapable of making any kind of move toward God, or even accepting his mercy and grace. And yet, he saw us, and on the cross he healed us of our sin, he took what was utterly broken in us, and made us whole by taking our sins from us and paying for them in whole.
What we are left with is a simple truth. A beautiful truth of forgiveness and new life in Christ’s death and resurrection. And for all that the world around us claims to know. We claim to know one thing, and one thing only. As Paul wrote to the Church in Corinth (1 Corinthians 1:1-2) “When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.”
Or, as the beggar said, “One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.”
