Ann Landers wrote this story in The Washington Post: “Mrs. Smith was stark-naked and just about to step into the shower when the doorbell rang. She hollered, ‘Who is it?’ He shouted back, ‘It’s the blind man.’ She figured it was safe, so she opened the door. He looked at her in shock and asked, ‘Where do you want me to hang these blinds, lady?’” He was a blind man, but he could see!
Some people are better at seeing than others. Sue and I have some friends who are bird watchers. They wrote the other day and said that they had seen an Eastern Towhee. I wouldn’t know an Eastern Towhee from a Western Towher. Then more recently they wrote that they had been walking in Knox Woods and had seen a Golden Crowned Kinglet. When I read their note I realized that I could have been in those same woods and walked by not even noticing the birds, because I would not have been looking for them. And if I had seen them, I would not have not thought much about it other than to say, “Oh, look, a bird.” There were two things about our friends. 1. They actually had their eyes open and were looking for birds. 2. They could recognize the different varieties of birds because they studied them. In other words, unlike me, they had eyes to see.
In the Scripture today we have two types of people: One who was blind, but would see; and others who could see, but would become blind. The story begins as Jesus and his disciples come across a man who has been blind from birth. He is begging. It is the only thing he can do to get enough money to survive. The first reaction of the disciples is to assume, as all those in that culture did, that because he was afflicted with blindness it was a punishment for some sin he or his parents had committed. “Who sinned?”, they asked. It is an interesting question.
The people of Japan who were interviewed on television were frequently asking, “What have we done to deserve this?” After an earthquake and several powerful aftershocks, a devastating tsunami, and a blizzard to boot, they began to wonder if the Powers in charge of the universe had something against them. Was this man’s blindness and the tsunami in Japan some kind of punishment?
The Pharisees also assumed that his blindness was due to some sin. They said to him, “You were steeped in sin at birth” (John 9:34). It was a convenient way of not blaming God for the evil and suffering in the world. It wasn’t God’s fault that he was blind; it was his own fault. If a person suffered, they must have deserved it, and it was only just that God would punish them in this way. But Jesus gives us the assurance that this is not how God operates. The Bible says, “He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous” (Matthew 5:45). God treats sinners just like he treats saints. If something bad happens to us, it is not because God hates us or is angry with us about something. It is not a punishment for some sin in our lives. There is no connection whatsoever. When evil like this happens there is no hidden reason for it, and we make a mistake in trying to search for a reason. God still is very much in love with you and has not abandoned you. The day will come when he will deliver you.
Jesus gives a definite answer to the question of who had sinned. He said, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life” (John 9:3). Jesus said, “No one sinned. Not this man, not his parents or anyone else. This isn’t about sin. It is about what I am going to do. It is about what happens when light meets darkness. I am the light of the world.” And then Jesus proceeded to heal him. Light began to shine in the man’s eyes.
So the next time you begin to think that God is punishing you for something, knock it off. It isn’t true. That is not who he is and it is not how he operates. This man’s problems were not a result of his sin and neither are yours.
It is interesting that every healing that Jesus performs is done differently. Sometimes he touches the person; at other times he merely speaks to the person without touching them, and sometimes they are even in another place and he heals them without ever seeing them. Once he spit on his finger and touched a man’s tongue who could not speak (Mark 7:33). Here he spits on the ground, makes mud, and applies it to the man’s eyes. A lot of people like to make neat little formulas and say, “When Jesus healed people, he always did it this way, and that is the method that should always be used.” And so we would have little jars in our church sanctuaries filled with mud made out of spit. Then we would smear it on people who came for healing. We would use the same words that Jesus spoke and do it in the same way. But Jesus sabotaged that (on purpose I believe) so that we would not reduce the work of God to a formula.
What is interesting about this miracle is that the man does not speak a word. He does not ask to be healed, and no one else asks Jesus to heal him. It is solely an act of mercy and compassion on Jesus’ part. In other miracles people beg to be healed, or they come begging for someone else to be healed. In one situation they cut through the roof of the house where Jesus was and lower a paralyzed person into Jesus’ presence. But the man in our story says nothing and asks for nothing. Neither does he seek to find Jesus to thank him. It is Jesus who later finds him, after learning he has been thrown out of the synagogue. Jesus is still concerned about him.
In explaining what he is about to do, Jesus says to his disciples: “As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world” (John 9:4-5). Jesus, the Light of the World, brings light into the world’s darkness and into this man’s eyes. For the first time in his life he will see light, and for the first time in his life he will also see the Light of the World: Jesus.
Jesus then sent the man to the Pool of Siloam to wash the mud from his eyes. Siloam means “sent”. It is almost as if the pool was named, long years before, in anticipation of this event. The pool knew what would happen and why it had been named, and was just lying there waiting for the man to be sent to it, whose eyes would be given light.
But there are other blind people in this story. Oh they have perfect eyes, but they cannot see. They are those who fulfill the prophecy that says, “Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand” (Matthew 13:13). They see the man who was born blind, but they do not have eyes to see what has happened. They do not recognize him. They question whether it is really him. They say it is not him, it only looks like him. But he insisted, “I am the man.” “How then were your eyes opened?” they demanded. He replied, “The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see” (John 9:11). They still refuse to believe. They still remain blind. They remain in the darkness of unbelief.
They couldn’t say a single thing good about Jesus, in spite of this wonderful miracle that would bring so much good into this man’s life. They said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.” They did not seem to notice the miracle and could only see that there had been a rule broken. They called Jesus a sinner. The Bible says they “still did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they sent for the man’s parents.” They just couldn’t see it. They continue to accuse Jesus of being a sinner and they harass the man and interrogate him, until finally the man says, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!” But they do not see. Here is where the story crackles with irony. There is a complete and surprising reversal. The blind man sees, and the seeing ones are blind. Darkness covers their minds. The Light of the World has not dawned on them. They remain in darkness.
They hurled insults at the man and said, “You are this fellow’s disciple! We are disciples of Moses! We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don’t even know where he comes from.” The man answered, “Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will. Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”
You have to understand that this man is a peasant. He has no formal education. Even if he had a copy of the Scripture, he could not have read it. He is ignorant. But they are professional religious leaders. They are educated and steeped in the knowledge of Scripture. They are theologians par excellence. Yet this ignorant man, this blind beggar, seems to understand something about Jesus that they cannot see. That is because he encountered the Light of the World and received him. Not only did his physical eyes receive light, but the eyes of his heart and understanding were enlightened as well. The Pharisees, on the other hand, are not only blind, they are heading deeper into the darkness, because of their refusal to believe.
When Jesus heard that they had abused the man and banished him from the synagogue, which meant he would be shunned by the community, Jesus found him and said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” (This was a Messianic term. Jesus was asking if he believed in the Messiah who was to come.) “Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.” Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.” Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him. What a beautiful ending to the story. He now sees physically and spiritually. He has been completed. And he worships.
Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind” (John 9:39). This story is telling us of the importance of humbly receiving the truth of God and not rebelling against him with our minds. It is a story about keeping our faith simple and our hearts receptive to God. It is about child-like faith. It is about receiving our spiritual eyes so that we might be able to see and understand the things God has for us. The Bible says, “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” (Hebrews 11:1). Peter wrote to the believers in his day saying, “Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls” (1 Peter 1:8-9).
An interesting point to the story is when the Bible reports: “His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, ‘Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?’ Some claimed that he was. Others said, ‘No, he only looks like him’” (John 9:8-9). This is what the Good News does. Sometimes when the Light of the World comes into our lives and we go from darkness to light, those around us begin to say, “Is this really the same person?” This person who used to swear constantly, cheat on their spouse and even steal is not doing those things anymore. That person who used to have such a nasty disposition, who was critical, negative and mean is now loving, easy to get along with and pleasant to be around. We can change, and that is the hope and promise of this story. Change happens when God’s light shines into our darkness. Change happens when we encounter Jesus and he touches us. Blindness can turn to sight — darkness to light.
One of the greatest tragedies for people would be to live in darkness when they could live in the light. Rose Crawford had been blind for 50 years. Then she had an operation in an Ontario hospital. She said, “I just can’t believe it,” as the doctor lifted the bandages from her eyes. She wept, when for the first time in her life she saw a dazzling and beautiful world of form and color which greeted her eyes. The amazing thing about her story, however, was that 20 years of her blindness was unnecessary. She didn’t know that surgical techniques had been developed, and that an operation could have restored her vision at the age of 30. The Dr. said, “She just figured there was nothing that could be done for her condition. Much of her life could have been different.”
It is possible for us to see. The Light of the World is here and he offers to open our eyes — now, not just sometime in the future. Isaiah 50:10 says, “... Let him who walks in the dark, who has no light, let him trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God.”
Rodney J. Buchanan
Amity United Methodist Church
April 3, 2011
rodbuchanan2000@yahoo.com
