John 9: Jesus Comes from God.
The tragic thing at the beginning of this story is how the disciples see the same man begging as Jesus does, but their reaction to him is so very different. They look at him and ask “Master, who sinned- this man or his parents, causing him to be born blind like this?”
Do you see the difference? What a contrast between the heart of Jesus, moved with compassion to make a difference, and the heart of his friends, who just wanted to know “Who sinned?”
Years ago a pastor called David Ferguson made his first visit to an AIDS clinic. He was briefed that among the patients there would be healthcare workers who had contracted the disease through their duties, others who had received contaminated blood through transfusion, together with drug users who had shared needles, and those who had got the disease because of a homosexual or promiscuous lifestyle. Ferguson said,
“We went to the clinic & began to enter the rooms. Painfully I found inside me that day a re-enactment of the John 9 passage. I found that as I walked into many of those rooms, the first question in my mind was “I wonder how he caught it? I wonder how she got it.” I was just like those disciples wanting to know “Who sinned?” And it broke my heart. Painfully, I was convicted that Christ would have walked into every one of those rooms already knowing everything about the people in them, and His heart would have only been moved with compassion, ministering grace to those in need.’
Jesus looked at this man, and saw someone God could work a miracle in! Jesus said it wasn’t because of sin, but so that God could do something glorious that this had happened. It was to make GOD’S PLAN SHOWN.
Maybe there’s something troubling you today. Jesus can make God’s plan clear. Bring God’s purposes to life in you. He doesn’t want to come to condemn or judge us, he wants to bring healing to our point of need- if we honestly admit it. He wants God’s plan to be shown in your life! You say ‘I can’t see how God can help me.’ You only get to see when you are led by the one who said “I am the light of the world!”
Jesus decided by sovereign divine initiative to heal the man - and He did. Jesus healed by GOD’S POWER ALONE. Imagine if you were there when this happened, watching it. Having to describe it like John does for us. “Well Jesus walked up to this blind man and SPAT on the ground. Then he reached down to the dust and SPAT a bit more. Then he made some little mud pies with the spit. Ad he rolled them round a bit with his fingers, then he picked up the spitty muddy pies and covered the blind man’s eyes with them! And this blind man is shouting, “Who’s that? What’s going on? Get this stuff off my eyes! This is gross!”
Then Jesus said,’ You go and get it off yourself, go to the pool called Sent.’
‘You mean the one outside the temple, right at the other end of the city, right at the bottom of the hill?”
“Right.”
And he goes, probably feeling like someone’s played a dirty joke on him- and he washes, and is healed.
Not healed by spit, not healed by mud, but healed by God’s power alone. For the first time ever, he sees the world. Imagine that! He was born blind!
He had never seen anything before! Whether Jesus made new eyes for him, or did something that made the old one work, I don’t know. But this tells me Jesus can heal how he chooses to heal. It’s not some formula he used here. Jesus didn’t always make mud pies and spit. Sometimes he did it with a touch, other times with a gentle word, other times he’d heal with a shout, or at a distance. But it’s not the mud, the spit or the pool of Siloam that brings the healing. The healer brings the healing. It’s Jesus! God’s power alone.
In the life of this blind man.
God’s plan is being shown.
Others wrote him off, passed him by every day. But Jesus had compassion on him, cared for him.
God’s power alone made the difference to this man.
He went to his neighbours - no-one having to help him- no stick to guide him. They were amazed! “This can’t be- or can it?” So they reported it to the Pharisees for them see what they thought.
And Jesus fades into the background now in the story for a little while as we see what happened when the blind man was questioned by the Pharisees.
He says ‘Jesus must be a prophet.’ They don’t like the sound of that. Call him a liar. Then his parents were questioned. Then he was questioned again. And they refused to believe that the healing was real or that Jesus had done it because the Pharisees had already concluded that Jesus was a sinner. How did they know that? They just decided it, they didn’t have to be told. They already knew everything. ‘My mind’s made up, don’t confuse me with the facts!’
The man told his Jesus-story. Some of you have got a Jesus-story too. You’ve met with him, he’s touched your life in some way too. You’ve gone away different after meeting with him. Isn’t that true? (Hands in a minute).
Isn’t it interesting how the things we think we know can be the very things that stop us knowing God- or seeing how he’s at work? Even when God was so clearly at work, doing a wonderful miracle- the Pharisees wilfully chose to disbelieve.
They had decided, they said “We know.” We know Jesus is not the Son of God, we know he is a fake, we know that He couldn’t have done this miracle. They pretended to be fair-minded judges, but they would not change their minds no matter what evidence was presented. They pretended they wanted evidence, but whatever was presented was never enough. Their bias rejected the facts, caused them to reject and hate not only Jesus but the man he had healed!
They denied the blind man’s story, they kept harassing the blind man (No-he’s not blind any more is he?). The man who had been healed since he met Jesus kept on telling it straight. A no frills miracle. He told em straight: Simple logic, great insight, from an uneducated man; “If this man was an imposter, if he was not from God, if he wasn’t God’s man, he could do nothing.” God’s plan was shown. By God’s power alone. God’s Son was made known.
The more they harassed him, the stronger his testimony got. So they started calling him names. They said “You are dirt!” And then they picked him up and launched him out of the building they were in and unsynagogued him. They put him out of the community life of Israel. His testimony was true, honest and concise- so they rejected it and physically threw him out.
Now it’s your turn. I don’t want you to speak. Don’t worry. I’m not going to single anyone out. If you know you have a Jesus-story, a story of how you met with Jesus, how God met you at your point of need, how his compassion, his care, his plan was shown in your life, his power alone, of how the God-man was made known to you too- I just want you to put your hand up, right now, so I can see you as I pray for you.
Don’t miss the opportunity. Put your hand up if you have a story you could tell about how Jesus has made a difference in your life. Maybe you’ve never told anyone. Or you’ve tried to tell it before and people rejected you too. Maybe you’ve never tried to tell it because you’ve been frightened of what others might think, say or do.
Now those people with your hands up, I want to tell you about a course we’re going to be running here at St Mary’s starting Tuesday 25th September and running for 4 weeks to the 16th of October. It’s called ‘Becoming a Contagious Christian.’ It’s a practical, nuts & bolts workshop that helps ordinary Christians share their faith in a way that suits them. Not to try to get everyone just the same, not to turn you into a tub-thumper. Just to give some ideas on how you can naturally communicate something of the goodness of God to your friends, your neighbours, people you love who matter to God. If you want to go on this course, numbers are limited- so sign up really soon. Decide to do it today.
Those of you who have not put your hand up. Maybe you’re a little nervous, sorry, that wasn’t my intention. Just look at those with their hands up for a moment (keep ‘em up!). Like the blind man, these people have a story. The fact that their hands are in the air means they believe that God has met with them, shown then his love, communicated something of his plan to them, shown them his power in some way. These people believe Jesus comes from God and that he really is who he claimed to be, the Son of God. Like the blind man, in the words of Amazing Grace- they could say “I once was lost but know I’m found, was blind but now I see.’
What are you going to do with that story?
What are you going to do with it?
What will it take to convince you?
Are you really willing to take a long, hard look at the evidence?
Will you give Jesus a fair hearing- or have you already made your mind up?
What’s your response?
(Alpha course- sign up at back, or see details on service sheet).
Pray; For more boldness for those with hands up. Thanks be to God that you are making your plan know, by your power alone, help us make Jesus known.
If there’s anyone with their hand up who’s really seeking, really wants to know God, give them courage too, and reveal yourself to them, so that the blind may see the light of the world.
