John 9:1-41
“An Identity Crisis”
By Kenneth Sauer, Pastor of Parkview United Methodist Church, Newport News, VA
When Ross Perot was running for President against George Bush Senior and Bill
Clinton....Perot’s running mate in the Vice Presidential debate began his remarks with, “Who am
I? Where am I ? And What am I doing here?”
Many people thought this to be a very clever and funny way to begin.....but as the debate
went on...it became painfully clear that this poor guy was serious.
And I think that this is the question that many of us find ourselves asking.
“Who are we, where are we, and what are we doing here?”
Let’s face it, in this day and age, many of us are living with an identity crisis.
I was speaking with the mother of two teenagers this week, and she told me about how
different things are these days compared to when she was growing up.
“It was so much easier back then,” she said.
Today, children are confronted with so much evil...with so many things that are not just
bad....but are plain and simply evil and dangerous....
From the hate-filled, porno-graphic lyrics of the rap and and rock songs that many artists
are spewing out...
To the wickedly bloody and violent video games that kids seem to be drawn too...
To the prevalence of drug abuse and a general lack of personal ethics and self-control...
She said that it seems as if people are either committed to Jesus Christ...
Or they are committed to something else which is unsettlingly different.
With all the other activities that we have created to distract our attention and entertain us,
we have become a very busy people.
But are we a more happy people?
What we need to do is find our identity.
After Jesus healed the man who was born blind, there was a question as to whether this
sighted man was really the blind beggar.
He was known as the blind man. This was his identifying characteristic, and since
he was no longer blind, he must be someone else!
The Pharisees just didn’t want to believe that Jesus had healed him.
Because if Jesus had healed him...then Jesus must be who Jesus claims to be......and that
means that things are going to have to change.
So they went to great lengths to disprove the validity of Jesus’ miracle.
Instead of rejoicing with the man, over his new found sight....
Those who did not want to believe that Jesus is the Christ--threw the man out of the
Temple.
They made their decision....no matter how much evidence their was in favor of Christ’s
miracle.
So, Jesus told them, “For judgement I have come into the world, so that the blind will see
and those who see will be blind.”
To accept that Christ does change people, is to open our hearts to Christ.
But many of us do not want to do this.
Because this means that there are some changes that are going to have to take place in
our lives.
There are some decisions we are going to have to make.
We are going to have to admit that we have an identity crisis!
We are going to have to admit that our priorities are out of wack.....and that Christ must
become our number one--first priority!
And when Jesus calls us to follow Him, we must allow the Holy Spirit to take over our
lives as we take on a new identity!
The Rich Young Ruler wanted to follow Christ, but he was unwilling to make that
decision because his identity was in his riches.
The things of this world, the lusts of the flesh, the dreams of wealth and priviledge are
what many of us cling to as our identifying mark....
Therefore the decision to follow Christ is a big decision.
I think it’s George Thoroughgood who sings the song: “Who do You Love?”
Those words could be easily changed to “What Do You Love?”
What do you love the most?
What is most important to us?
“Whoever loves their life will lose it.....” Jesus said.... “And whoever loses their life for
my sake will find it.”
Notice that Jesus tells the Pharisees, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin;
but but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.”
The Pharisees could have accepted Christ...but they would not.
They rejected Him, and they deliberately willed to turn from Him.
They could see the truth.
Deep down inside, they knew that Christ had healed this man, but they made the decision
not to believe it.
And many people can see the truth, but make the deliberate decision not to embrace
it.
We are very good at making excuses.
We are very good at lying to ourselves...
and saying....no that’s not really what happened...
Awe...and that means I don’t have to accept it...
Awe...and that means I don’t have to change....
Awe...
Many experts in the law and psychology say that it is very possible for a murderer to deny
the truth with such conviction...that even though they committed a horrible crime....they can
come to believe their own lies....that they didn’t actually do it!
Some of us have become so acustomed too and so good at lying that we actually
believe our own lies.
And I’m afraid that this is part of Satan’s dilema.
And this is the dilema that many of us find ourselves in.
In the preceding chapter of John Jesus says, When the devil lies, “he speaks his native
language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”
And those of us who choose not to embrace Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and give our
lives completely over to Him...when we’ve seen the truth...but have deliberately decided not to
embrace it...then we have decided to follow the devil....
I beleive that we all have a moment of grace, where we are confronted with the
truth...and where we understand what the truth is.
And like the Pharisees, we all have a moment in life where the decision is ours to make.
Will we follow the truth....allowing our eyes to be opened to new and wonderful spiritual
truths that give us a new identity....or will we decide to remain blind?
The man who had been born blind had his life turned on its ear by Jesus!
He could no longer earn his living as a beggar through the sympathy of bystanders.
His world was immeasurably enlarged and transformed...almost like being on
another planet!
His identity had changed!
And when Jesus heard that the man had been thrown out of the Temple, He went and
found Him....
He said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”
“Who is he sir?” the man asked, “Tell me so that I may beleive 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 worshipped him.
Now, Jesus had not only opened this man’s eyes to the physical world--but also to the
spiritual world.
The restoration of his vision was complete.
But at the same time, the sighted Pharisees were spiritually blind, and would not, and
could not make this confession.
The earliest Christian confession of faith is found in Romans chapter 10:9: “If you
confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the
dead, you will be saved.”
By confessing that Jesus is Lord, the earliest Christians were marking their identities, and
were literally risking and in many cases giving up their lives.
Because they were saying that Jesus is Lord--not the Emperor of Rome.
And that was against the Law!
And in many were put to death because of their faith--because of their identity.
What is our identity?
What do we put to death for the sake of our faith in Christ?
What passions, desires, possessions, dreams, fantasies, lifestyles.....?
What do we put to death in order to find new life?
in order to find meaning...
in order to know who we are....
in order to know who’s we are....
in order to have our eyes opened....
in order to fall to the ground and worship Jesus....
Many of us suffer from an identity crisis, but to know Jesus is to get a handle on our
identity crisis.
As we find our lives being changed in the most beautiful and wonderful ways.
As we are finally able to see what is around us...
To appreciate the beauty of God’s love for us...
To appreciate the beauty of God’s love for all of humankind....
And to see so that we can reach out to others with Christ’s love.....
To know who we are...To know we are Christians because we are able to love and
are able to help make this world a better place...
To have a hope, and a reason to live!
There is nothing in this world that compares to giving all that we have in order to be
found to be Christ....
In order to become part of the body of Christ....
Let us not be judged as those who have decided to become blind!
The decision has to be made....one way or the other it must be made....
“Who are we; where are we, and what are we doing here?”
