(Before reading the text and opening with prayer, we sang the following chorus:
“I saw the light, I saw the light
No more darkness, no more night
Now I’m so happy, no sorrow in sight
For praise the Lord… I saw the light.”)
OPEN: When I’m preparing for a sermon, a lot of times I’ll take little side trips. Kind of like chasing a rabbit down a hole. I’ll often ask “Why did Jesus say this?” Or “Why did this person do that?” Or “Why did the Bible say it this way?”
And a lot of times, going down those rabbit holes proves interesting… just like in our sermon today.
ILLUS: In the days of Jesus did you know there was only one source of fresh water in Jerusalem? It came from the Spring of Gihon located just outside the north side of the city. The city protected it with a set of towers, but about 800 years before Jesus was born, King Hezekiah decided they needed a more accessible way to get that water in the city and he built a tunnel underneath the streets of the city. It ran for 1700 feet from the spring of Gihon… to the Pool of Siloam.
(At this point I showed a few pictures of the tunnel with modern day explorers mugging for the cameras. THEN I showed a picture of the scale model rendering of that part of the city making special notation of the pool in relation to the Temple which was just north of it)
Now, the pool of Siloam served many purposes for the people of Jerusalem. Of course, it supplied fresh drinking water, but it was also located in the poorer section of town and it was a place where the poor and sick would come to bathe. If you were a Gentile and you converted to Judaism – one of the requirements for making that conversion was to be baptized, and the pool at Siloam was one of the places that was used for that.
In addition - during the “feast of tabernacles” - every morning for the first 7 days of that feast a priest would take a golden vessel to the Pool of Siloam, fill it with water, and then he’d bring it back to the altar amid the shouts of the people and he’d pour the water on the west side of the altar, while another priest would pour a drink offering of wine on the east side of the altar.
One other items that occurred to me just this morning had to do with a comment from one scholar, that when Herod the Great rebuilt the 2nd Temple (which is where Jesus did much of His ministry) that he’d designed a way to pump “living water” up from beneath the floor of the Temple to wash down the altar, utensils and floor after the bloodiness of the day of sacrifice. I’m not sure, but it’s logical that that source of “living water” had to come from the tunnels of Hezekiah as they made their way down to the pool of Siloam.
In addition, the pool of Siloam was also referred to as (pause for effect) the “Messiah’s pool”.
(http://www.bible-history.com/jerusalem/firstcenturyjerusalem_pool_of_siloam.html)
This pool of Siloam was the place Jesus sent the blind man to be healed of his blindness.
Now there’s an oddity about this healing thing Jesus did for the blind man. Ordinarily when Jesus healed someone, He’d touch them or simply say “You’re healed”… and they’d be healed! But this time was different. This time, Jesus spat into the dirt, and he made a mud paste which He applied to the blind man’s eyes and told the man “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” John 9:7
Jesus sent anyone else to the pool of Siloam. Only this man. The question is – why?
At the beginning of this sermon series we noted that John’s Gospel records the 7 of the miracles (OR SIGNS) that Jesus did. These signs served the same purposes that our road signs serve. As you go down the road you’ll see a “Stop” sign or “Yield” sign or a “Speed Limit” sign… and all those signs are there to get your attention. To tell you something you need to know.
Out of all the miracles Jesus did in His earthly ministry, John focuses on these 7 “signs” because there’s something about each of these signs that has something that God wants you see. God wants to get your attention; He wants to you something about Jesus that you need to know.
But what exactly is THIS sign trying to show us about Christ?
Well 1st – Jesus did this SIGN to make bold declaration that He was the Messiah.
As I was preparing for this sermon, I read the comments of another preacher who noted that one of the marks of the coming Messiah was that He would heal the blind.
In Matthew 11 (for example) John the Baptist was facing death – and was beginning to have doubts about his ministry. So he sends to Jesus to ask for proof that his death will not be in vain. and Jesus sends him this message: “Go and tell John what you hear and see: (and the first phrase out of Jesus mouth is) the BLIND receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.” Matthew 11:4-5
Why was that important? Because Isaiah prophesied that when God brought salvation to His people in Isaiah 35:5-6 it says “Then the eyes of the BLIND shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.
And that the Messiah “… would to open the eyes that are BLIND, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness. Isaiah 42:7
It was so obvious that even the blind man could SEE this. He tells the Pharisees:
“Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind.” John 9:32
Then… just in case folks didn’t catch the connection that Jesus was the Messiah because He heals a blind man Jesus sent this blind man to the pool that was known as the “Messiah’s pool”
Could He have gotten much more obvious???
Now - notice a couple of things here.
1st – this blind man did not ask to be healed. He was just sitting there by the side of the road. “As (Jesus) passed by, he saw a man blind from birth.” (John 9:1) The Blind Man is just sitting there, begging by the side of the road. He doesn’t say anything/ doesn’t ask for anything. He may not even know Jesus is close at hand. He may not even have EVER heard of Jesus.
But he’s going to hear about Jesus now.
In fact – when he is healed - this man is so excited about Jesus that Pharisees can’t shut him up!
When Pharisees discover that this man had been healed of his blindness they’re furious that Jesus had healed him … on the Sabbath! So, the Pharisees said “… to the blind man, ‘What do you say about him, since he has opened your eyes?’
He said, ‘He is a prophet.’ John 9:17
WELL, that wasn’t what they wanted to hear, so “… for the second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, “Give glory to God. We know that this man (Jesus) is a sinner.”
He answered, “Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.”
They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”
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?” John 9:24-27
That last comment by the healed blind man sounds like he’s having a little fun with them. He KNOWS the Pharisees hate Jesus, and he knows he’s flirting with being thrown out of the Synagogue… but he doesn’t care. He’s so excited about Jesus he DOESN’T CARE. He doesn’t care what they think. He doesn’t care what they can do to him. As far he’s concerned all that matters is this:
Once I was blind, but now I can see.
Now that leads up to the 2nd reason Jesus sent probably sent this man to the pool of Siloam. Jesus wanted to get the attention of the Pharisees, and there was no better way to get their attention than to send this man to the pool.
“… (the blind man) went and washed and came back seeing. 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.’ …
They brought to the Pharisees...” John 9:7-13
Jesus deliberately healed this man on the Sabbath. He could have healed this man on Monday, or Tuesday, or Wednesday – any day but the Sabbath. But it seems Jesus did most His miracles on the Sabbath just to annoy the Pharisees.
Bear in mind, Jesus doesn’t like the Pharisees anyway. They’re vain, self-righteous and self-centered. The only people they seem to care about is themselves. And so Jesus seems to take great pleasure in causing them frustration, and it seems like Jesus did that every time He got a chance. But why would He do that?
ILLUS: Have you ever seen a bull fight? Did you ever notice how the bull fighter takes those sharp sticks and sticks them into the bull? Why does the toreador do that? Well part of the reason is – to madden the bull… to make him angry enough to attack. And that’s exactly what Jesus has been doing with the Pharisees. He’s been tweaking them and taunting them for 3 years
Jesus is setting up these self-centered men to fulfill prophecy!! They’re going to be the ones who will bring about His crucifixion. They’re the ones who prompt the crowd to shout out “Crucify him! Crucify him!” because they’re so furious by that time they can’t hardly see straight. Their role in prophecy was critical, but they have to be angry enough to do exactly what God had prophesied would happen 100s of years before.
But that wasn’t the only reason Jesus wanted to get the Pharisees attention. Another reason was that he wanted them to carefully examine the miracle. These men hated Jesus so much they’d do anything to discredit Him. They call in the blind man 2 or 3 times and eventually even called the parents to testify. In the end result there was undeniable proof that this was legitimate miracle, but the undeniable truth this WAS a miracle didn’t sway these Pharisees. They still rejected Jesus but since they couldn’t directly discredit Him they justified their rejection by saying WE KNOW this, or WE KNOW that”
“WE KNOW that this man is a sinner.” John 9:24
(Why was He a sinner? Because He healed on the Sabbath)
“WE KNOW that God does not listen to sinners” John 9:31
“WE KNOW that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we DO NOT KNOW where he comes from.” John 9:29
In their minds, they have an excuse for not listening to Jesus… because they KNOW stuff.
But do you remember how the blind man responded to that?
“ONE THING I DO KNOW: I was blind, and now I can see!” John 9:25
(Pause)
Now this man was blind… but the Pharisees weren’t. And their blindness worse than his.
Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.”
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.” John 9:39-41
Being physically blind is hard… but being blind to God is far worse.
Did you realize you can have 20/20 vision… and still not SEE things?
(PAUSE)
ILLUS: Have you ever driven down the road… and not seen a stop sign or a stop light? Good. I don’t feel so bad now. Years ago I was passing through a city in Michigan, and one of my friends in the car with me said “You just ran a stop light!”
I swear I didn’t see it. I could try to excuse myself by saying all the other sights and signs at the intersection had distracted me. But the key thing was I didn’t see the sign that was RIGHT IN FRONT of me!
In the same way there are people out there who just don’t see God. Like the Pharisees, He’s right there in front of them … but they don’t WANT to see Him.
Someone once put it this way:
“Some people can't find Jesus in the same way that a thief can't find a policeman."
They’ll do anything to avoid Jesus.
ILLUS: We recently baptized a man into Christ who admitted to me that he’d block people on Facebook who talked about Christ. He didn’t want to hear about it!
I talked to one family about coming out to visit them some time back. The woman said she’d talk to her boyfriend and get back with me… but she never did. Why? They didn’t want me there. They didn’t want to hear about God/church/ and stuff like that.
So how do we get to people like that? How do we break through the barriers?
The answer: We don’t. God does.
ILLUS: When I first got into preaching I was a great salesman. I knew just the right phrases to convince people to buy into Jesus. I could literally talk people into the baptistery. But then one day I baptized a young couple into Christ… and I never saw them again. That bugged me! That shouldn’t have happened! I’d done everything right, but they didn’t come back.
So I prayed about it and I realized Jesus had had nothing to do with their conversion. It was all ME! I’d talked them into it. I hadn’t left any room for Jesus to touch their lives. That was a hard lesson to learn!
But then I read that Jesus said - when the Spirit would come “he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment” John 16:8
I don’t have to do any convicting of anybody… that’s the Spirit’s job
Well, if that’s the Spirit’s job… what am I supposed to do? The same thing the blind man did. You and I are to tell people what Jesus did for us. Now, that can get hard because there are a lot of people out there that don’t want to hear about Jesus. But if you KNOW what Jesus has done for you… you’ll not be intimidated. You’ll talk about Jesus the same way you’ll talk about anything you love, and folks will be bugged because they can’t shut you up.
CLOSE: Helen Keller was a both blind and deaf, but because her courage and determination she became a very famous woman. One day she had the privilege of being introduced to Mark Twain. Commenting on that day, she later said: “"I can feel the twinkle of his eye in his handshake."
You see, that’s what the spiritually blind of this world need to sense. They need to feel the twinkle in our eyes and the joy in our hearts whenever they meet us. And like the blind man, healed by Jesus was not afraid of intimidation. He looked folks straight in the eye and said:
I was blind, and now I can see!”
I want to close with the song we sang at the beginning of the sermon. Sing it with me:
“I saw the light, I saw the light
No more darkness, no more night
Now I’m so happy, no sorrow in sight
For praise the Lord… I saw the light.”
INVITATION
