John 9: Sight for the Blind
Imagine being blind. I don’t think you and I can really imagine that. Unless you’ve felt it, you probably have no idea. I did think it was interesting that in the movie Ray, about the blind musician Ray Charles, the actor that played Ray Charles insisted on being blind every day. The actor didn’t just wear dark glasses and pretend to be blind. Instead, when he woke up early in the morning, he would eat breakfast, and then he would put on some sort of blindfold that would cover his eyes, and he wouldn’t remove it, not even for a break or for lunch or dinner – he wouldn’t remove that blindfold until the very end of the day. As a professional actor, he wanted to feel what it was like to be blind. Can you imagine doing that, even for one day?
This morning, we’re going to see how Jesus healed a man that was born blind. And as we look at this story, it’s going to become clear that this is also your story – Jesus has healed you too, but from a different kind of blindness. Jesus literally changed the way this man saw the world, and Jesus has done the same thing for us.
Jesus and his disciples were walking along, and they saw a blind man begging on the side of the street. They didn’t have welfare or disability back then, and so if you were unable to work, you were often forced into the street to beg. The disciples asked Jesus a common question when they saw that blind man – “Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” It was a very common belief back then, that if someone was born with a disability, it was a punishment from God. Whose fault is it that this man was born without the ability to see, the disciples were wondering.
Jesus answered that it was no one’s fault. Look at the reason Jesus gave for this man’s birth defect: “This happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.” God was going to do something special in this man’s life, something big, something out of the ordinary – and being born blind was part of God’s plan. And that’s a good thing for us to keep in mind today, as we come into contact with people who might have some disabilities – why are they born that way? We don’t always know. But sometimes, God lets those things happen so that he can do something special, something out of the ordinary, in that person’s life.
That was the case for this man here. Notice how Jesus connects this situation with his outlook on life: “As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming when no one can work.” In other words, Jesus was telling his disciples that he wasn’t going to procrastinate when it came to doing the work of the Heavenly Father. The time to deal with this blind man and to reveal the glory of God was right now – they weren’t going to go out to lunch, and afterwards have a meeting to decide what to do about that blind man. The time to act was right now. Jesus told his disciples, “While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” Jesus here is giving a hint of what he’s going to do for that blind man. I am the light of the world. For those living in darkness, for those that are blind - I’m going to do something for them – I’m going to be their light.
Then he spit on the ground, made some mud, put the mud on the blind man’s eyes, and told him to go and wash in one of the public pools that you would see around the city back then. And when the man did that, he was able to see, for the first time in his life. Can you imagine what that must have been like for that man? He could finally see what people looked like, what food looked like. Colors. The sky. Himself. Water. All these things he knew about, but could never see – now he could. Some things probably surprised him – how beautiful some things looked, that he had never seen before. And maybe there were a few things that he could now see that weren’t so pretty – things like crime or disease. His eyes were opened by the light of the world. What people don’t realize when they read this miracle is that Jesus probably had to rewire this man’s mind to be able to interpret what he saw. There are a number of stories of people who were born blind, and later in life, they were able to see because of some sort of operation. But they had problems processing what they were seeing. Their brains couldn’t interpret the colors and the shapes because they had never dealt with those things before. That wasn’t the case with this man. Jesus totally healed him – his eyes, and his ability to understand what he was seeing.
But there was something else Jesus wanted to do for this man. You see, the eyes on his face were now opened. But the eyes of this man’s soul were still shut tight. But not for long. The Bible goes on to describe how the religious leaders of that day were spiritually blind. The eyes on their face were working. But the eyes of their soul were shut tight. Those religious leaders interviewed the man who had been healed by Jesus, and the interview did not go well. They didn’t think Jesus could be connected to God, because he had healed on the Sabbath. They asked the man what he thought, and the man said, I think he IS from God: “He is a prophet,” the man said.
We didn’t include the entire story here, but the Bible tells us that they also interviewed the man’s parents. They still couldn’t see it. They interviewed the man again, and the man held firm to his belief that Jesus was somehow connected to God. The Pharisees were so spiritually blind that they finally said to the man, “You were steeped in sin at birth. How dare you lecture us!” And they threw him out,” probably out of the synagogue. They literally “kicked him out of church,” you could say.
And now we see Jesus perform the big miracle here – he opens the eyes of this man’s soul. Jesus found the man and asked him if he believed in the Son of Man. “Tell me who he is,” the man said. Jesus said, “You’re looking at him.” And then look at verse 38 – here’s the real miracle of this story – “Then the man said, ‘Lord, I believe,’ and he worshiped him.” The man became a believer. In contrast to the spiritually blind Pharisees, the eyes of that man’s soul were opened wide by Jesus. And when he saw Jesus, he didn’t see just a prophet, or a man of God. With his brand new eyes of faith, he saw Jesus for who he really was – the Son of God, the Savior of the world. And that’s when he bowed down and worshiped him.
After Jesus healed the man, he said that this is why he had come into the world – so that the blind will see – in other words, so that he could give eyes of faith to those whose souls are spiritually blind. Jesus also came to cause some to become blind. In other words, for those who think they know everything and keep rejecting the Word of God over and over again – for them, Jesus has come to make them to make them even more blind.
Do you see how this man’s story is your story and my story? Did you know that you were born into this world with the eyes of your soul glued shut? You were born spiritually blind. You couldn’t see who Jesus Christ was. And when you can’t see Jesus, you can’t really see who God is. And when you can’t see God, lots of things don’t make sense in this world. Why am I here, on this planet? What is my purpose for existing? What am I doing here? And where am I going? And what will happen to me fifty or a hundred years from now, when I’m not here? When you can’t see Jesus Christ, you can’t see the answers to these questions. Maybe for some of you, you can remember how that felt, to be wandering through life with the eyes of your soul glued shut – trying the best you can to find your way, but without any success.
A number of years ago in California, fierce winds from a dust storm triggered a massive freeway pileup. At least 14 people died and dozens more were injured as topsoil whipped by 50 mile-per-hour winds reduced visibility to zero. The afternoon disaster left a three-mile trail of burning vehicles, some stacked on top of each other. The problem was, no one was able to see. Many of the motorists blindly drove ahead, right into the disaster. Spiritually, this is you’re born. You can’t see what you need to see. And unless someone intervenes, you’re going to blindly drive your soul right into the disaster of hell, condemned and separated from God for an eternity.
But Jesus didn’t let this happen to you, did he. Jesus intervened. What Jesus did for this man in this story, Jesus has also done for you. He came to you, and he opened the eyes of your soul. He didn’t use mud. For some of you, Jesus opened the eyes of your soul when he came to you in baptism. There, through water and the Word, Jesus gave you eyes of faith, so that you could see him, so that you could see God and understand and believe all these things that you had never seen or understood before. For some of you, Jesus gave sight to your soul when you were older – and he came to you through the Word, and opened your eyes with the message of the Gospel. I forgive you, Jesus said. I died for you. You are my child, and I will be your shepherd. That’s the Gospel – and that’s how Jesus has opened your eyes to things about God you had never seen before.
There is the story of a 51 year old man who was blind, but after a complicated operation, he could see, and it worked out for him. And this is how he talked - "I never would have dreamed that yellow is so...yellow. I don’t have the words. I am amazed by yellow. But red is my favorite color. I just can’t believe red. I can see the shape of the moon--and I like nothing better than seeing a jet plane flying across the sky leaving a vapor trail. And of course, sunrises and sunsets. And at night I look at the stars in the sky and the flashing light. You could never know how wonderful everything is to be able to see."
And so it is for you – “I never would have known that God was so forgiving. Jesus has opened my eyes. I am amazed that God would love me enough to send his Son, to take my sins away. I could never picture that kind of love until now. I can see grace now – I couldn’t see it before. I never knew that God could be so wonderful, so good, so loving, so full of grace – but now I can see it all. Jesus has opened my eyes.”
That’s why I have come to you, Jesus says. I have come so that you can see all these things, so that you can believe all these things, and understand all these things, and have life, and have it to the full. I hope this story does a couple things for you. I hope it increases your faith, your love, and your appreciation for Jesus Christ, and what he has done for you in your life. I hope this also reminds you that there are people you know, that you love and care about and enjoy being around. But the eyes of their souls are glued shut. They don’t see what you see. If only they would come into contact with Jesus Christ. A month from now is Easter. What better time than now, the present, to introduce someone to Jesus Christ? He can open their eyes, so that they could see the grace of God, just like you can right now. Jesus can make that happen. And the time to do that, Jesus says, is right now – don’t procrastinate. As long as it is day, as long as the world is still existing – now is the time to share your Savior with others. Night is coming, when the opportunity to do that will be over. All it takes is one visit with the light of the world, and someone’s eyes could be opened, just as was the case for that blind man. “Keep your eyes open” for those whose eyes haven’t been opened yet. Amen.
