"Opening the Eyes of the Blind" is our new sermon series starting today and for the next three weeks. We will explore John chapter 9 and the events surrounding Jesus bringing sight to a man who was born blind. Please, I encourage you to read ahead. Read the whole chapter and meditate on it. We will see that the real miracle was not the so much as the opening of the eyes as much as it was the opening of the heart.
We are acquainted with the saying, “There is none so blind as those who will not see.” We will see that there are many types of blindness. This chapters ties in very closely with John 8 where Jesus says:
John 8:12 (NKJV) Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”
Right off the bat we can see the relationship here. The world is walking in darkness. The word has been blinded.
2 Corinthians 4:4 (NKJV) whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.
The God of this age, Satan, has blinded the world. Only the light of Jesus, the light of gospel can open the eyes of those so blind. Today, we will deal with the spiritual blindness of the disciples. They ask Jesus a question out of ignorance about the blinded man. The question they asked is: "Who Sinned?"
John 9:1–5 (NKJV)
A minister, a Boy Scout, and a computer expert were the only passengers on a small plane. The pilot came back to the cabin and said that the plane was going down but there were only three parachutes and four people. The pilot added, "I should have one of the parachutes because I have a wife and three small children." So he took one and jumped. The computer whiz said, "I should have one of the parachutes because I am the smartest man in the world and everyone needs me." So he took one and jumped. The minister turned to the Boy Scout and with a sad smile said, "You are young and I have lived a rich life, so you take the remaining parachute, and I’ll go down with the plane." The Boy Scout said, "Relax, Reverend, the smartest man in the world just picked up my knapsack and jumped out! [1]
The fact is, the world is like that smartest man in the world. They only see what they want to see. They assume and miss the obvious. The disciples missed the obvious for the want of theological discussion. We will deal with the Pharisees later in the weeks to come, but the disciples were not seeing too clearly either:
John 9:1 (NKJV) Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth.
Jesus was walking through Jerusalem with his disciples and they came across this blind beggar. This blind man had been blind since birth and in that day the only thing a blind man could really be expected to do was beg for a living. It is obvious that this blind man was well know. People knew he was born blind, they knew his parents. This place where he begged was probably his place to beg and he had been begging in that spot for many years.
Being blind since birth conveyed a since of hopelessness. We read in verse 32 that no one born blind has ever had their eyes opened. In fact there is no OT record of anyone giving sight to the blind. So here is this man, begging, because he has been blind since birth. And what do the disciples do?
John 9:2 (NKJV) And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
Rather than deal with the situation with compassion, they turn it into a theological discussion. they could have asked Jesus about how to alleviate suffering. Can you see the disciple’s blindness? It is easier to talk about needs, causes and effects than do to something about it.
Not only that, their question to Jesus, the question itself is flawed. Is suffering caused by a specific sin? How can a man sin and cause his own blindness at birth? It was one of the prevailing false teachings of the day, the belief that a person can sin before birth. That a baby in the womb can commit sin.
Then there is the sin of the parents. But the OT teachings are clear. Each individual are responsible for their own sins.
Deuteronomy 24:16 (NKJV) “Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor shall children be put to death for their fathers; a person shall be put to death for his own sin.
Sometimes we are suffer the consequences of sin we commit deliberately. We steal and are caught, we commit murder and caught, we will suffer the consequence. If I drive down John Simms Parkway at 50 MPH and one of Niceville’s finest will remind with a $100 ticket the speed limit is 35 MPH. Doing wrong often will have its own consequences. Some sins will have their own earthly consequences. But everyone does sin and God desires that we turn from them and He allows time for us to do so.
Ezekiel 18:23 (NKJV) Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?” says the Lord GOD, “and not that he should turn from his ways and live?
Peter tells us that God desire all to come to repentance.
2 Peter 3:9 (NKJV) The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
We also see that some sins affect other people by denying them of their rights and their property. We do suffer from the sins of others. But in this case, the case of the blind man, did he or his parents commit some sort of offense to God that God responded with the man being born blind?
We know all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23), but that does not mean God punishes such sins in this life. To blame a specific disability on a specific sin is beyond the ability and authority of any man.
This is whole story in the Book of Job. Job suffered because of a conversation between God and Satan. Not because of any sin Job may have committed. In assigning blame on why anyone is suffering, we place ourselves on a pinnacle of self-righteousness.
John 9:3 (NKJV) Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.
Here are the facts of this story. God allowed this man to be born blind and live his whole life up to this point so that Jesus could perform a miracle that will bring glory to God and authenticate the work of the Messiah. One of the prophecies from the OT concerning the Messiah is that the Messiah would open the eyes of the blind.
Isaiah 35:5 (NKJV) Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, And the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.
God has caused many things so that He will be seen, that He will be glorifies, so that He gets the credit. God told Moses:
Exodus 4:11 (NKJV) So the LORD said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the LORD?
Even the Apostle Paul acknowledges that God will be affirmed in His weakness or in Paul’s case, work through his his “thorn in the flesh.”
2 Corinthians 12:9 (NKJV) And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
God works in ways that bring us through troubles, not eliminate the trouble, though He could. Even in the case of Lazarus’ death, though Jesus could have prevented it, He allowed it to happen so the work of God may be shown:
John 11:4 (NKJV) When Jesus heard that, He said, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”
In James we are told:
James 1:2–4 (NKJV) My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. 4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.
Many things that God allows to come our way is merely preparing us for something bigger. We don’t always know why things happen, but we ought to be praising God for everything.
22 years ago I experienced an aircraft accident that ended my flying career. The accident broke my back and my last landing as a pilot was not one I walked away from. I had thought God had called me to a continued career of flying, even to go into flying for missions, especially with the expeince I gained from over 20 years of military aviation as a pilot. I was laying flat on my back at the West Florida Hospital in Pensacola. I remember being visited by Dr James Monroe (who went on to be with the Lord in 1999). I was having quite the pity party, angry at God for allowing this terrible thing to happen to me. And I remember Dr Monroe’s words to me. He said, “I know you are asking the question, why me? Well I’m here to tell you, why not you?”
God got my attention in that event. I remember the what Dr Monroe said to me. Why not me? God was doing a work, and I would not be here preaching before you today, unless God did something drastic like that. God allowed a disaster to happen in my life and turned it into His glory.
Job never knew why he was called to suffer. God never told him. We may not understand all the things God allows to happen in this life, but we must never lose faith that God has a reason for everything. Not everything that happens is because of a sin.
John 9:4 (NKJV) I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work.
In the Greek and in most other translations, the “I” is “We.” We must work the works of Him who sent Jesus. We must do it while it is day. Why? Because the night is coming. A time is coming when we may be no longer able to do the work. We are called to do the work while we can. We take the situation God has placed us in and do his work to bring Him glory. There is coming a time when we will no longer be able to work. But listen carefully, nowhere in the Bible does God call for us to go into retirement.
There will come a time when we can no longer work, but some of the great regrets in life that I often hear is somethings left undone that should have been done. Unfortunate circumstances is not an excuse. We are to work because of our circumstances, not in spite of them. Often that is what distinguishes Christians from the rest of the world.
John 9:5 (NKJV) As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
Jesus is not here physically now, but His Holy Spirit lives in us. We are His light. Yes Jesus said He is the light of the world, yet he also tells us that:
Matthew 5:14 (NKJV) “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.
Are we the light, or are we like the disciples who make the things around them a theological discussion? Do we miss opportunities to minister and share the good news because we are busy talking about it?
Look at the example from Jesus, just ook at the next few verses, verse 6 and 7. Jesus was not not going to discuss this issue any further. We straight way healed the man born blind.
Do we talk about things, have the deep theological discussionas why things are the way they are? Or do we do the work we are called to do while it is day? Do we see the needs of the world, physical needs as well as the spiritual needs and strive to do His work, or like the disciples, do we ignore it and just talk and analyze who sinned.
This passage today is a call to action more than anything else. We ought to be like the Nike commercial, we need to "just do it."
[1] https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/one-thing-i-know-ted-sutherland-sermon-on-divinity-of-christ-39922?ref=SermonSerps
