I WAS BLIND, BUT NOW I SEE
John 9: 1-12 July 3, 2022
INTRODUCTION:
Wycliff Bible translators Bob and Jan Smutherman were assigned to the Macuna people of southeast Colombia, South America. Progress was going well in putting the Bible into the Macuna language. The chief's son was engaged as the language helper. Each portion of the Scripture had to be checked and double-checked for meaning and clarity.
After five years of labor, the Gospel of John was being finalized for publication. Gathered together - to hear the Word of God, the tribe sat patiently.
Beginning at John 9:1, the son read about Jesus' encounter with the man born blind. When he got to the verse where Jesus says that this man was born blind "in order that the works of God might e put on display," the old chief stood to his feet. Requiring silence by his uplifted right hand, he said, "We must stop killing our babies."
To a people steeped in animism, the normal process was to take their deformed babies to a desolate place. There the babies were deserted and exposed until dead.
The Macuna people viewed individuals as worthless if there was a physical weakness or defect. If you can't run like the gazelle, see like the eagle, or fight like the lion--you're weak and your life is worthless.
That is until God began to impact their thinking through his Word…As John 9 reveals the truth that God's power is made evident in our weakness…everything changed.
When the Word of God becomes the filter through which we view people…we see them in an entirely new light…when Jesus Christ invades..someone's heart they no longer see people in the same way…
The Apostle Paul, who used to be Saul the Pharisee, experienced this change of perspective…he writes to the Corinthians.
"So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view…though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer" (2 Cor. 5:16)
A worldly point of view assesses value by viewing someone through their power, their possessions, their prestige…
Jesus was a no account carpenter from a backwoods town…he hung around with riffraff. Nothing good comes from Nazareth's…Messiah don't hang out with sinners.
Oh really? Jesus said; this Messiah does…He eats and drinks with them…sick people need a doctor…and the Doctors "IN"!
Paul, the instrument of God experienced a spiritual eye transplant…He didn't see people through worldly eyes any longer…He saw them through spiritual eyes of reconciliation
1.
"Therefore if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation, all the old things are gone and new things have come" (2 Cor: 5:17)
God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the strong (1 Cor 1:26)
So as we look at Good news for a bad news world our focus is adjusted through new sight.
I WEAKNESS ALLOWS GOD TO FLEX HIS MUSCLES.
For most of us when something bad happens we believe "I must have done something and I’m being punished". And yes, sometimes sin has painful consequences.
But Bad things don't just happen to bad people.
Even the disciples of Jesus thought like this…"Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents that he was born blind."
Being born blind through a wrench into the punishment philosophy…so the man's parents must have really sinned.
Jesus rejects this world view and says "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life"
Folks, we know both this man and his parents had sinned in their past…we all have. But this man's blindness wasn't caused by his sins or his parents. This weakness was present so God could show what happens when he flexes His muscles. God wasn't punishing sin…He was displaying His power. Let me ask you a question…"Has God punished you immediately for every sin you've committed?
No? Me Either!
The heart that judges others too quickly or too stringently in this way is the heart of a Pharisee. It's almost always a heart that views God as a punisher instead of a redeemer.
I have a test: It's from one of my favorite books called, "Messy Spirituality". It involves a young idealistic college student named David that goes into the projects of N.Y.C. to share the gospel. He had no idea how or where to start but he walked into one of the buildings where he heard a baby crying behind a door so he knocked on it…A woman with a cigarette in her mouth and baby in her arms opened the door a crack….with the chain still latched. She yelled, "What the Hell do you want?" David said, I'd like to tale with you about Jesus." She said, "Go away…and she slammed the door in his face. He went back outside and sat on the curb. In tears he wondered "what in the world can I do here to be of any help?"
2.
Then he remembered this lady had a baby and she was smoking, so he went to a little convenient store and bought formula and some cigarettes and some diapers. He walked
back into the building and knocked on her door again. She opened it again and said, "What are you doing back here?" And he showed her the formula, diapers and cigarettes. She let him in…All that afternoon he helped her with the baby and smoked cigarettes with her, even though he'd never smoked before. At the end of the day she said softly, "What did you want to tell me about Jesus? And for the next few minutes he told her about the love of Christ. She said, "Please pray that my babies make it out of here' alive."
You know what the Pharisee test is…."Wow…what's he doing smoking cigarettes with her!"
Jesus came to bring hope to the hopeless... he came to bring good news to a bad news world. Here's how he began his ministry…Here's his mission statement in Luke 4
LUKE 4: 18-21
The Pharisee couldn't have cared less about the suffering of a blind man, or a woman who's been through 5 marriages and was living with a guy, or a woman caught in the act of adultery…they were worthless pieces of garbage to them.
But if you heal on the Sabbath…or smoke cigarettes you’re a sinner…and all they cared about was punishment.
Jesus teaches us "the work of God is displayed in weakness…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".
The work of God is…preaching good news…proclaiming freedom…helping the blind recover their sight…releasing the oppressed…proclaiming the year of the Lord's favor."
Suffering, sin, and weakness are the laboratory where God's work is displayed. Jesus was going to bring light into the darkness…and His people are challenged…"To be the light of the world…light that’s not hidden under a covering."
[I saw a young African American man on T.V. the other day. He had been intentionally blinded by a family member with acid when he was 8 years old. He was now 20 had learned to read in Braille. He was an accomplished pianist…and sensitive and loving. At the end of the interview this young man said, "My blindness has become a blessing to bring about these things in my life and to help make me the man God wants me to be."
God doesn't always remove the thorns…and sometimes bad things will affect very good people and even their families…He allows those things so we will learn His grace is sufficient and His power is made perfect in weakness: (Rom 12) If we can truly begin to see that truth many of us would start to grow to be perfect instead of staying so bitter.
It would cause us to bear witness to the real truth…
II I WAS BLIND, BUT NOW I SEE!
After the Pharisees investigate this young man's healing they excommunicate him from the synagogue. They kick him out because he won't condemn Jesus for healing on the Sabbath.
Look what Jesus does
John 9: 35 -41
Jesus makes things crystal clear. "For the blind will see and those who see will become blind"
There is nothing so blinding as a Pharisee view of people….Saul's former viewpoint of Jesus and other people…you think you see their worth or worthlessness, but man! You're blind.
They were so blind they didn't even understand the rule they accused Jesus of breaking. Jesus said, "Man wasn't created for the Sabbath, the Sabbath was created for man, so the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath" (Mark 2:27)
This young man had never seen light, colors, flowers, sky, sunshine…his Mom or Dad's face. So when the light of the world spit on the ground and then rubbed the mud into heis eyes and tells him to go wash in the pool of Siloam…
He goes…He's obedient…why didn't Jesus just say "Your sight is restored? After all he'd done it that way before.
Because this healing was brought about by the power of Jesus released by a young man's faith.
He went to the pool (probably had some help getting there too) He washed…and "He came home seeing. He wasn’t' healed while he was going or while he washed… It was only after he trusted Jesus enough to do it that his sight was restored.
"I WASHED AND NOW I SEE"
I believe Jesus does the same thing today…his power to save is released through our act of obedience... faith…like Peter said.
"Repent, be baptized in the name of Christ Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins and you too will receive the gift of God's Holy Spirit."
I can only imagine the joy of this young man as the mud, was washed away…and the world of sight flooded his eyes…he saw thing he'd never seen before.
It's that way in Christ. when he opens our eyes we begin to see the world through His light and glory…and people are no longer worthless, but precious in "His Sight"
[An eye surgeon who went to China on a medical mission trip preformed surgery on a man who had severe cataracts…the operation was successful and the man's vision was completely restored..
A few weeks later this doctor was surprised to find 48 blind men who had walked more than 200 miles at the hospital doorstep. They had traveled the entire distance hold a rope
that kept them all together…and at the front of the rope was the man who had had his eyesight restored initially by the missionary surgeon.
We live in a world that desperately needs a spiritual surgeon and the most effective witness is the man or woman whose been healed….and is willing to provide the rope…there is no more powerful testimony than.. "One thing I know I was blind, but now I see….Follow Me.:]
Let's pray.
