BELIEVING IS SEEING
Today I want to talk to you about the encounter Jesus had with a man who was born blind.
In this story, we have the answers to some of life’s toughest questions.
1. Why does God permit suffering?
2. How can we trust Jesus more?
Text: John 9:1 – 7
Like many people of that time, the disciples had evidently been taught, through their upbringing in Judaism, that human hurt is the result of human sin. Notice - Jesus didn’t deny this.
It is helpful for us to note that Jesus recognizes this can happen to some. However, this was not what happened to this man.
Jesus knew the disciples (and others) had many questions they needed answered. This is one of the reasons for coming to church – often.
We should remind ourselves of a few things:
1. We are not living in a world where we can always expect perfection.
2. God does not try to operate the world in such a way that everything works out beautifully.
3. As a result of sin, we are living in a fallen world.
4. It’s not God’s fault that bad things happen to people.
From Genesis to Revelation, the Scriptures declare that we are living in a broken world, a fragmented world, a world which is not what it once was.
Thank God! This world will soon become what God intended.
Jesus is coming back!
For the present time, we all suffer with hurts and injuries and difficulties and hardships. That is part of life today.
We can’t sit around and cry about these disappointments.
Life’s disappointments are all a direct result of the fall of man.
Many of us may think we have escaped having a disability because we were not born with the evidence of any debilitating handicaps.
But in fact we all have handicaps.
I would suggest that as far as our spiritual health is concerned, we all were born handicapped.
Sin is the worst disability you can have.
Jesus makes clear that suffering is not always a direct result of personal sin. And there are other times it is!
There are scriptures, throughout the Bible, that clearly indicate that people are hurting, suffering and physically depraved and deprived because of their own evil ways.
In the day of this passage of scripture there was a Jewish teaching that it was possible for a baby to sin while still in the womb of it’s mother.
(I believe we are “born” into sin…)
This may be what lies behind their question. But Jesus declares, "No, it is not that. It is not the parents’ sin."
As we well know today, babies are born with herpes or with AIDS because of their parents’ sins. But, in this particular story, Jesus specifically says it is not for that reason that the man in question was born blind.
Why, then, was he born blind?
Jesus said, "That the works of God might be made manifest in him,"
Jesus has given us a very positive reason for this kind of affliction.
This affliction of blindness was an opportunity, not a disaster. Certain things were to be accomplished.
Are there examples of this in our day?
Oftentimes those who are handicapped from birth -- frequently develop inner qualities of peace and joy and strength that otherwise normal people do not have.
The handicapped oftentimes show a tremendous strength of spirit that is able to face challenges, and endure difficulties that other people cannot.
Fanny Crosby wrote "Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!"
Fanny was blind from her earliest babyhood as a result of an accident.
When she was only 8 years old she wrote this rhyme,
Oh, what a happy child I am,
Although I can not see.
I am resolved that in this world,
Contented I will be.
How many blessings I enjoy
That other people don’t.
To weep and sigh
Because I’m blind,
I cannot and I won’t!
She lived to be 90, and she kept that beautiful, rejoicing spirit all her life.
The fact is this - God sometimes allows handicaps in order to awaken compassion in the hearts of others.
Jesus goes on to say in verse 4 that the day for healing had come to this blind man:
"I must work the works of him who sent me…”
It was in John 5 that Jesus said, "My Father is working still, and I am working,"
When Jesus "saw" what the Father did, he would do the same thing.
Likewise, when we see what Jesus did we should be doing the same thing.
Jesus was a man of purpose and resolve. He did what needed to be done. He didn’t sit around talking about what needed to be done.
He did it!
With the blind man, immediately Jesus felt a sense of urgency. Once again, Jesus stopped what He was doing and met the need.
Jesus has a clear understanding of what was needed or has to be done.
He said,
"I was sent into the world to be the light of the world.”
In other words Jesus said, “Thus to give light is my function and purpose, and here is a man in darkness."
And immediately the miracle of the opening of this man’s eyes happened
…he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and anointed his eyes with the clay, and said unto the blind man, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam.”
This is something of which Jesus never did with any other person. What Jesus did was a symbolic action that teaches us all something deeper than the mere opening of a man’s eyes. We must understand what Jesus has done if we want to get at the deeper meaning of this miracle.
This is clearly a parable in action. Jesus is not merely interested in restoring his physical sight. That is certainly a part of it, but that is something he can do easily.
There is a deeper meaning here. It is brought out by the symbols He uses.
What does clay symbolize?
In Genesis we are told that God formed man from the dust of the ground, from the clay of the earth. That symbolism is used many times in Scripture.
We can see Father God as the Potter.
We read in Jeremiah 18:3-6.
3 Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something at the wheel.
4 And the vessel that he made of clay was marred (batter/destroy) in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make.
5 Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying:
6 "O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter?" says the LORD. "Look, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand…
Church, there is nothing more basic in this life than good old Indiana clay. That is where we have come from and (should Jesus tarry) that is where we will return. We are the clay.
He is molding and shaping us.
We are the work of the hands of the Almighty God!
Jesus knew what the blind man was made of. The same thing we are.
Listen to II Corinthians 4:7
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.
Listen. We are all clay pots.
These pots are not very strong.
Clay is not a very powerful substance. It is fragile and can easily break.
We can see this plainly all through the Bible. We are all made of clay.
We are clay pots. Some of us are even a little cracked!
Did you know - There is a science being developed here in California called "psycho-ceramics" to deal with cracked pots? (Good place for that.)
Seriously. This is where we are.
We are in the hands of the Almighty.
When Jesus smeared clay over this man’s eyes he is saying that there is something hindering this man.
It was his spiritual sight.
Not only his physical.
But his spiritual sight, also.
Jesus is dealing with the clay and the weakness of His creation everyday.
The fallen nature of mankind is a hindrance to us really seeing Jesus.
We have to understand that Jesus made sure that this blind man would first trust Him before he would receive his sight.
We know this to be the case in that Jesus sent this blind man on a journey to the pool of Siloam. And according to the research I have read, this was not going to be an easy task. The path the blind man had to walk was filled with rocks and crevices. Not an easy path for anyone without sight.
This kind of command given by Jesus may surprise some of you about Him.
Jesus may have a difficult path for you to walk in before you are going to get what you so desperately need.
Please remember this verse -
Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.
The process of healing for this blind man would involve a prolonged and difficult journey that would be filled with many obstacles.
It is only when he gets to the pool that
his inner sight would be granted him.
If you were at the place where Jesus healed the blind man you could take a walk from the temple area down the deep Kidron Ravine to the pool of Siloam. You will find many obstacles along your way. You would have the blessing of good eyes, but for a blind man this would be very difficult.
He would have to ask for directions and for help. The blind man might easily fall into some of the crevices alongside the road on the way down to the pool of Siloam.
It was a difficult journey the Lord sent the blind man on, but it didn’t really matter. The blind man was willing to do whatever Jesus told him to do.
And when he found his way to the pool, whose meaning is "Sent," then his eyes would be opened and he would be washed and cleansed.
The point I am trying to make here is the spiritual Truth that is proven to us by Jesus. BELIEVING IS SEEING!
Many times we must first believe in what Jesus has spoken to us.
No matter how strange it may seem.
His ways are not ours.
His paths for healing are not ours.
We should know that Jesus has a much bigger picture in mind for us.
There is a need in our culture for more faith and less reasoning.
As an example:
We are living in a day of modern technology and the highest level of intellect mankind has ever known.
Mankind is becoming more and more dependent on logic and reasoning with each day that passes.
It is obvious that the “War on Terror” our nation is fighting will not be won with brute force. But it will be won with an extremely high level of intelligence, logic and reasoning.
We may very soon find our nation relying more and more on it’s own strengths instead on the One Whom has created us and will heal us.
As we approach the last days before the soon return of Christ, we must learn the importance of simple faith, simple trust and simple obedience to the Almighty Jehovah God.
With logic and reasoning the world may say,
“Well I will believe it when I see it…”
But God is clearly speaking to us –
“You must now BELIEVE IT TO SEE IT!
Closing:
This blind man had obviously never seen anything Jesus had ever done for him or anybody else (as far as that is concerned). Regardless, his need to open his eyes was far more important to him than anything else in life. The blind man had already put a price on his being able to see.
You and I need to put a price tag on just how important it is for us to see the power of God in our lives.
Questions for those who will admit they are sometimes spiritually blind:
1. Do we desperately desire to see a miracle take place?
2. Or, do we just want God to pamper our situation and/or our physical needs?
3. Will we be willing to do anything Jesus commands us to do? No matter how unusual it may seem to us?
4. How many times has God told (or, given) us something to do, and the first thing we say is, “I don’t want to do this.”?
5. Will we go to the pool we have been “sent” to? Even though we may stumble along the way?
Clearly this is a description of what follows in this man’s life. Our Lord has worked it out in this beautiful object lesson to indicate what it takes to open blinded spiritual eyes. Physical eyes can easily be opened by his power, but to open spiritual eyes takes a process of overcoming obstacles that lie in the way. Only as that process is completed, and men come to the place where at last they see who Jesus is, are spiritual eyes opened. This is the story of the remaining verses of this chapter. It is a story of the resistance that this man met, the obstacles to faith that he overcame, and the gradual insight that he gained as he learned more and more about Jesus until he found himself at last at Jesus’ feet and his spiritual eyes were opened. It is all worked out in a most dramatic way.
The narrative is self-explanatory and requires little comment:
First, the man comes to his neighbors. He cannot find the Lord when he returns so he goes home, and his neighbors react.
The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar, said, "Is not this the man who used to sit and beg?" Some said, "It is he"; others said, "No, but he is like him." He said, "I am the man." {John 9:8-9 RSV}
There is some reluctance to believe that this has actually happened. Some say, "Hmmm, I’m not sure. It may be him, but he looks different." But the man said, "I am the man." (He seems quite definite about it.)
The account continues:
They said to him, "Then how were your eyes opened?" He answered, "The man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, ’Go to Siloam and wash’; so I went and washed and received my sight." [This is his invariable testimony.] They said to him "Where is he?" He said, "I do not know."
[In their uncertainty they did not know how to investigate what had happened, thus] They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. {John 9:10-13 RSV}
The keys to that section is what the man thought of Jesus. Notice that all he knows is his name, "the man called Jesus." He has heard his name, but he knows nothing more about him. That is where he begins.
Then immediately a new difficulty arises.
Now it was a sabbath day when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. The Pharisees again asked him how he had received his sight. And he said to them, "He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and I see." {John 9:14-15 RSV}
I love the simplicity and directness of this man. He never complicates anything.
Some of the Pharisees said, "This man is not from God, for he does not keep the sabbath." But others said, "How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?" There was a division among them. {John 9:16 RSV}
Here we see the resistance developing. At the leading of the Father, Jesus had once again deliberately run afoul of the petty regulations of the Jewish leaders concerning the Sabbath. In their eyes he had broken the Sabbath in three separate ways:
First, he spat on the ground and made mud. The rabbis held that it was all right to spit on a rock on the Sabbath day because that would not make mud, but spitting on the dirt violated the Sabbath because that made mud -- and making mud is work, and work is forbidden on the Sabbath day! That is how ridiculous their regulations became.
Second, the rabbis said it was forbidden to heal on the Sabbath day. They specifically said, "If you find somebody with a broken leg you can keep it from getting worse, but you cannot make it any better."
The third thing Jesus did was to use spit. There is a specific instruction in the rabbinical literature that spit could not be used because spit is medicine. The use of medicine was forbidden on the Sabbath day because that too is a form of work.
So with these infinitely narrow, petty regulations they had surrounded the Sabbath day with such difficulty that one could hardly breathe without breaking the law. This was their excuse to reject Jesus. Some said, "How can he be from God? He doesn’t keep the rules." Others were a little more cautious. "Look at the signs," they said. "These are wonderful things he does. God seems to endorse what he is doing." Thus there was division and doubt.
Now we see the effect this had on the man, who was listening to them:
So they again 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 RSV}
Now he has grown spiritually. He still regards Jesus as a man, but he sees him as God’s man, a gifted man, a man with insight and understanding, a great man. All the resistance to accepting this remarkable miracle has deepened his insight and understanding.
Then the man’s parents become involved.
The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight, until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight, and asked them, "Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?" His parents answered, "We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; but how he now sees we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age, he will speak for himself." {John 9:18-21 RSV}
That indicates that his parents were not ready to go very far in helping him. They admitted he was their son, they confirmed that he had been born blind, but they would not go any further.
The account goes on to tell us why.
His parents said this because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if any one should confess him to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue [excommunicated]. Therefore his parents said, "He is of age, ask him." {John 9:22-23 RSV}
That indicates they did know who opened his eyes, but they lied and refused to say because they were afraid. So the clay of fallen, fearful, weak humanity continues to blind the eyes of these involved in this story.
The resistance grows even more intense.
So for the second time they called the man who had been blind, and said to him, "Give God the praise; [That is an official oath they are putting him under. That is like the oath taken in a court of law, "I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help me God."] "Give God the praise; we know that this man is a sinner." {John 9:24 RSV}
That was their preconceived conclusion. But the man refuses to become involved in a theological argument.
He answered, "Whether he is a sinner, I do not know; one thing I know, that though I was blind, now I see." {John 9:25 RSV}
That is one of the greatest models of how to bear a witness as a believer. Many people are afraid to say anything about the Lord because they think they will be dragged into a theological argument that will be over their heads. But witness is simply doing what this man did -- saying what Jesus did for you, that is all. "Once I was blind, now I can see" -- that is what a witness is. You are the world’s greatest authority on what happened to you. As someone has well said, "A man with an experience is never at the mercy of a man with only an argument." When you stand on your experience no one can deny what the Lord has done in your life. You are a positive, powerful witness for Christ. This man teaches us great things in that regard.
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 too want to become his disciples?" And they reviled him, saying, "You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know [we are the theological doctors here, the experts] that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from." {John 9:26-29 RSV}
That admission was a fatal mistake. At last they had to admit there was something they did not know. The man seizes on it.
The man answered, "Why, this is a marvel! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if any one is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him." {John 9:30-31 RSV}
He has got them now. With this simple, logical argument he has pinned them to the wall. He continues:
Never since the world began has it been heard that any one opened the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing." {John 9:32-33 RSV}
Observe how he has grown. Now Jesus is seen as "from God" -- he is the one sent from God. The man’s insight has grown tremendously.
So they become very angry:
They answered him, "You were born in utter sin," {John 9:34a RSV}
That is a reference to his blindness. That marked him in their eyes as being a sinner, already cursed of God.
"You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?" And they cast him out. {John 9:34b RSV}
They voted him out, excommunicated him from the synagogue.
Note the man’s powerful and beautiful argument: "How can you miss the point so terribly? You are facing the greatest miracle, perhaps, this country has ever seen: ’From the beginning of time nobody has ever heard of a man whose eyes were blind from birth being opened.’ This has never happened in all the history of this nation, now it has happened and yet you argue about whether it is valid because Jesus did not sign the register properly; he did not do what you thought he ought to do on the Sabbath." That is like giving someone a magnificent diamond and having it rejected because the box it came in is made of plastic! Such is the blindness of these men.
The man’s perception of Jesus is that he is the channel of God. He is not only a prophet, but he is the one whom God has sent -- the Messiah. Now he has come to the place where he is ready to see him, and recognize him, because he knows who he is. Spiritually, he has reached his Pool of Siloam. Immediately we read:
Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, "Do you believe in the Son of man?" He answered, "And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?" Jesus said to him, "You have seen him, and it is he who speaks to you." He said, "Lord, I believe"; and he worshipped him. {John 9:35-38 RSV}
What a beautiful scene! Notice that he did not have to find Jesus. When, in the temporary darkness of his human clay he was at last brought to see who Jesus was, then immediately Jesus found him. God’s hour had struck. Jesus opened his spiritual eyes with the simple words, "You are looking at him, he who speaks to you is he." Immediately the man responded by falling on his knees to worship this matchless Lord, this incomparable Christ, this Savior of mankind.
Then follows the Lord’s closing comment:
Jesus said, "For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind." {John 9:39 RSV}
We ought often to read that verse because one of the characteristics of human clay is that it begins to fancy itself wise and powerful. We begin to think that we are strong and know much. One of the tragedies of any age is the arrogance of men of knowledge who claim to know but who cannot see their hand before their eyes. Jesus described them as "blind guides of the blind," {cf, Matt 23:16-24}. Their fate, he said, would be that both will fall into the ditch.
Last week I received in the mail a volume covering the book of Numbers, in a new biblical commentary series published by an evangelical publisher. When I opened the book, I discovered that it was filled with the specious speculations of scholars identifying the events of the Old Testament as legends, as mere old wives’ tales. The book of Numbers records the story of the poisonous serpents which God sent among the camp of the Israelites. As a cure for the bites of the serpents, Moses lifted up a brazen serpent on a pole and said, "If you look at that, you will be healed," {cf, Num 21:9}. In the third chapter of this gospel Jesus himself refers to that very incident. He said to Nicodemus, "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up," {John 3:14 KJV}. That is a direct parallelism; "Just as Moses did that, so must the Son of Man be lifted up [on a cross] that whoever believes in him might have eternal life." Thus our Lord underscores and confirms the historicity of that event. Yet here is a book, published by evangelicals and edited by evangelical leaders, that is nothing but a compilation of the empty speculations of scholars, with no objective evidence whatsoever, that virtually tears the book of Numbers out of the Scriptures! That is the blindness of men who think they see.
This is the blindness our Lord refers to here. In Matthew 11 he prayed, "Father, I thank you that you have hidden these things from the wise and the prudent and revealed them unto babes," {cf, Matt 11:25}. When we are reading the Scriptures we ought to recognize how desperately we are in need of being taught of God. He is able to open our eyes if we admit we do not see. But if we think we know, and we are confident that we do not need any help, then we are stumbling on into blindness. We will find ourselves eventually falling into a pit, unable to be helped.
I have had in my New Testament a verse I found in the writings of Henry Van Dyke some years ago. It is a beautiful prayer, and it states what ought to be the attitude of every believer as he comes to the Scriptures.
Grant us the knowledge that we need
To solve the questions of the mind.
Light Thou our candles while we read,
To keep our hearts from going blind.
Enlarge our vision to behold
The wonders Thou hast wrought of old!
In this Book we have the revelation of the Lord himself. As we come to it we may have to come through difficulty, through hardship, through trial, through resistance, but that is all part of God’s way to teach us what these words mean. As we read through the tears, oftentimes, that circumstances place upon us, our eyes are opened and we see the beauty and the glory and the majesty of our God.
I hope that too is your prayer.
Prayer:
Lord, we pray that you will indeed open our eyes. Help us to acknowledge that we are very inadequate people. We do not know how to solve our problems. There is no course we can take that will deliver us from ourselves. Help us, Lord, to come, like this man, and worship at your feet, to recognize that you have come into the world to give us light in our darkness, to lead us through the bewildering paths that we must trod, and bring us to the place of cleansing and of opened eyes. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Title: Believing is Seeing
By: Ray C. Stedman
Series: The Gospel of John
Scripture: John 9:1-39
Message No: 27
Catalog No: 3857
Date: March 18, 1984
PBC Homepage | Discovery Publishing | Ray Stedman Library
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To all Jesus is a man, a prophet, a disciple maker, the Lord, the Son of God, the One in whom we believe.
