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Nov 13, 2022

Man born Blind

Passage: John 9:1-41

Preacher: Jess Achenbach

Series: Encounter

Category: Christian Walk

Keywords: suffering, healing, blind

Summary:

Jesus encounters a man born blind

Detail:

Outline

Video bride and groom with color blind glasses.

This video is touching as a groom sees the world for the first time in color.  You see this every day? He said it twice, such a difference going from semi color to full color.  Can you imagine the difference going from complete blackness to full sight?  How much more emotional would it have been for someone who has never seen to be able to now see in 20/20 the full spectrum, all of the things he imagined, now with full understanding.

This Fall we have been going through the gospels and preaching on encounters with Jesus.   This morning I am going to be speaking about the man that was born blind and what happened when he met with Jesus in John chapter 9.  The book of John really highlights the divinity of Jesus and I want to back up and go over what was happening in chapter 8 right before Jesus heals this man.

 

The book of John proclaims Jesus as God

  1. Read Chapter 9
  2. I want to go back to the first part of the chapter here, because the disciples questioned the reason for the blindness in the beginning and one of the reasons suggested is that the child sinned or maybe the parents sinned.
  3. My heart breaks for any parent that has a child that is born with abnormal issues. Perhaps it is blindness like in this story here, or maybe spina bifida, asthma, adhd, unable to walk, deafness, heart problems, or in my childs case, adhd, and mental problems.  If I was to ask who’s fault is it that my child has these problems (like the disciples did) the answer would be the mother.  She was drinking and using meth and a host of other drugs while she was pregnant with lily and that resulted in lifelong problems that will plague her for her entire life.  It also causes our entire family additional pain and frustration.  I can’t parent my other kids like I would like because this one takes more emotional and physical attention that the other four children combined.  However that is not the thing to dwell on.  Jesus give an answer that it is for the works of God might be displayed in him.  He is speaking to the sovereignty of God here.
  4. Have you ever heard that term? “God is Sovereign”?  What does that mean exactly?

Well God is Omniscient, Omnipotent, and Omnipresent. He is in full control and has the ability to do whatever he wants with his creation.  But how much does he exert his will on the will of men’s lives.  God has direct control and indirect control.  Since God has the power to control every facet of life, if bad things happen we have to acknowledge that He at least allows them to happen.

  1. We also understand that God allows man to have his own will. Deuteronomy 30: 15-19 “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. 16 If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God1 that I command you today, wby loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules,2 then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. 17 But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, 18 I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. 19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore, choose life, that you and your offspring may live”

And that God will hold man responsible for their sinful decisions Exodus 20:5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me,

The very fact that there is sin at all shows that God doesn’t dictate every action that we do.  We have a free will and the ability to choose sin, when God tells us to choose holiness. 

Just because God has the ability to dictate our circumstance it doesn’t mean that he has to.  God allows the brokenness of this world to happen so that ultimately His name will be glorified.  Like in this passage – Jesus says that “it is that the works of God might be displayed in him”.

This last week we had an extremely difficult time with our adopted daughter Lily.  There were multiple meetings with the principal and her teachers.  At the end of the week Candice and I were both so exhausted and I turned to her and asked her this question.  “If you could go back in time, would you?”

Her answer humbled me and also reminded me of God’s Sovereignty.  We trusted God when we prayed about whether we should adopt Lily or not, and His answer was, Yes, we should.  This suffering we are going through is so that the works of God might be displayed!

So regardless of whether or not it is the fault of Lily’s birth mother, we have been placed in the position where we get to glorify God regardless of who’s fault it is. 

 

Jesus as God

  1. Chapter 8 overview- setting the scene
    1. Jesus is the light of the world 8:12, 12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life.”
    2. Proclamation that he is greater than Abraham Chapter 8:58-59 “Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” 59 So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.”  He was proclaiming that he was God.
    3. In the OT there were healings of different kinds, leprosy, snake bites, etc, three people had been raised from the dead, but never blindness healed, this was to be something that the Messiah did. In Isaiah he predicted that this would be a sign of the messiah: First in Chapter 35 he says: Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,

And then in chapter 42, also a section predicting the future Messiah “I am the Lord; I have called you[b] in righteousness;
    I will take you by the hand and keep you;
I will give you as a covenant for the people,
    a light for the nations,
7     to open the eyes that are blind,
to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,
    from the prison those who sit in darkness.

John the Baptist knew the scripture and the predictions that were associated with it.

Luke 7: 18 The disciples of John reported all these things to him. And John, 19 calling two of his disciples to him, sent them to the Lord, saying, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” 20 And when the men had come to him, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to you, saying, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?’” 21 In that hour he healed many people of diseases and plagues and evil spirits, and on many who were blind he bestowed sight. 22 And he answered them, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers[e] are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them.

At the time, John was languishing in the prison of Herod, and he began to have questions, even though he had baptized Jesus, was his cousin, and heard the prophesies, he began to doubt.  The phrase the blind receives their sight would have been enough to reassure him that Jesus was the Messiah.  The scripture tells us of 6 different people on 4 different occasions were healed of blindness, we don’t know the full amount, but in Luke 7 is says … “many who were blind he bestowed sight”.

We see that the blind man new the prophesies as well.  In verse 32 he tells the Pharisees, “32 Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”

Jesus is healing the blind, fulfilling the prophesies about him,  he is drawing a correlation between being a slave to sin and a true follower of God.  We are blind and in darkness, and then once we follow Christ we are freed from the slavery to sin and our eyes are opened, we see the truth of our position.

  1. II Cor 4. 4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5 For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants[c] for Jesus' sake. 6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
  2. As Christ followers we have the knowledge and ability to turn from sin and be obedient to Christ, and yet we continue to give in to our own desires and return to our sin.

There is a sense of the familiar when it comes to sin.  We often crave the comfort of the life that we lived in sin.  As we think about the bind man, I have to wonder.  He was a beggar from the time he was able, and never had the opportunity to to learn a trade, and now that he can see he is going to be forced to fend for himself.  No longer does he have an excuse, in fact, it must be quite an infamous account of his healing as he was cast our of the synagogue for mouthing off to the religious leaders.  Did he feel the pull of wanting things to be back how they used to be?  Was there a burden now begin able to see?

 

 Story of Micah  NATE: Overall tell him to prepare his heart and mind for challenges and frustrations as well amazing beauty and glimpses of freedom.  It's a weird paradox world at the halfway house where you love a little freedom but sometimes wish you were back in prison."

 

 

 

  1. Chapter 9 Read
    1. God is sovereign (John 9:1-7)
      1. Characteristics of God
        1. Omniscient
        2. Omnipresent
        3. Omnipotent
      2. Permissive Will vs. Decretive Will and Moral Will
  • Sovereignty of God and Suffering of Children
    1. Lily’s Story
  1. Sovereignty of God and Our Suffering
    1. Regardless of our situation – what is our role/responsibility in suffering.

 

In chapter 8 Jesus says this: 12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” They (the Pharasees) start getting angry and question him.  They say that you are just making these claims, who are you really?  He claims his divinity that he was sent from the Father and then in vs. 24 24 I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.”  31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

We see that there is a strong correlation between slavery to sin and blindness, as well as the opposite, obedience to God, truth and freedom.  Enlightenment – to have your eyes opened.

His call is to follow Him, and not live in the blindness of trying to earn their way to heaven by following the law. Jesus pressed the issue and says that he before Abraham.  He is pushing their hot button

58 “Very truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!” 59 At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.

Why were they mad?  Was it because He said that He was older than Abraham?  No, in fact we can see in the Greek, the words “was born” is better translated “existence”, and the word “before” comes from the word meaning superior or first.  So it would sound more like Jesus was saying “I was before, and better than or superior to Abraham”.  That could only be God.

Of course, this enraged the Pharisees which is why the chased him and tried to stone him.

From there he leaves the temple and as he comes out, he encounters the blind man.  Although he is in danger, he pauses to take the time to speak this man and that is the context of this passage we are going to read.

Healing the Man Born Blind

As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3 Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. 4 We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 6 Having said these things, he spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man's eyes with the mud 7 and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing.

8 The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar were saying, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” 9 Some said, “It is he.” Others said, “No, but he is like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.” 10 So they said to him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” 11 He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed and received my sight.” 12 They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.”

13 They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. 14 Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. 15 So the Pharisees again asked him how he had received his sight. And he said to them, “He put mud on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.” 16 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?” And there was a division among them. 17 So they said again to the blind man, “What do you say about him, since he has opened your eyes?” He said, “He is a prophet.”

18 The Jews[a] 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 19 and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” 20 His parents answered, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. 21 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.” 22 (His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess Jesus[b] to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue.) 23 Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”

24 So for the second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, “Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.” 25 He answered, “Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” 26 They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” 27 He answered them, “I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?” 28 And they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. 29 We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.” 30 The man answered, “Why, this is an amazing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. 31 We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. 32 Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” 34 They answered him, “You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?” And they cast him out.

35 Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”[c] 36 He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” 37 Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.” 38 He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him. 39 Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.” 40 Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?” 41 Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt;[d] but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.

PART I

The disciples see that Jesus has noticed this blind man and they ask Jesus was it this man’s sin that that caused him to be born blind or was it the cause of his parents?  The religious leaders during this time had different groups that had different beliefs about all parts of scripture and they would debate them, one of the ideas was that you could sin in the womb, they would argue about the minutia of sin and the law.  So the disciples just assumed that it was a theological reason that he was blind. Maybe they were hoping Jesus would solve the debate for them.

One thought is that his blindness could have been caused by an STD called Gonorrhea.  Here is what the CDC says about it: If a pregnant woman has gonorrhea, she may give the infection to her baby as the baby passes through the birth canal during delivery. This can cause blindness, joint infection, or a life-threatening blood infection in the baby. And this is in the day and age when we have medication to treat such things that has been mostly eliminated here in the US but is still fairly common in third world countries.  At the time it could very well have been the intent of the question, what it some what that this guy sinned in the womb, or was it that his parents fooled around with other partners and got an STD that made him blind.  Either way sin must have been involved right?

Jesus’ answer is strait forward.  Neither! He doesn’t fall into the argument of who is to blame, but instead brings it to another idea of purpose.  The purpose of the blindness was so that: Verse 3 “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him”.

Job 13:15a “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him”.

Jesus tells us that it happened that the works of God might be displayed in HIM.  Again, John showing us that Jesus is the Messiah. Jesus makes the statement that “I am the light of the world” speaking both (in this case) figuratively and spiritually.  He is bringing light to the eyes of the blind man, and eventually we see at the end of the chapter, spiritual light to his life.

 

Here then Jesus makes mud out of some spit, puts it on the guy’s eyes and tells him to go off to the pool called Siloam and wash. 

PART II

In the chapter we see these headings that were put in, it starts at verse one through twelve and the heading is “Healing the Man Born Blind”.  Then in verse thirteen the header of that section is “Controversy over the Man” but I like the heading that is found in the NIV here and theirs calls it “The Pharisees Investigate the Healing”.  It really seems to be that idea where they are out to get Jesus and they have lost all sense of right and wrong; they are just trying to prove their position.

John wrote his gospel to show that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God, and we can see that through the book the Pharisees get angry with Jesus and that anger grows up until the end when they crucify Him.  We see here part of that process where they are searching out Jesus and trying to trap him like in chapter 8 when they brought the woman caught in adultery to Him.

Twenty five years ago while I was working in Alaska, there was a coworker that was so annoying, he was a “know it all” and he was always telling us what to do, even though he didn’t have the authority to do it.  Everyone was irritated, but I really let it get under my skin.  It got to the point where I was just looking for an offense.  He would do something that anyone else would do, and it wouldn’t bother me if they did it, but because of my attitude about this guy if he did it I would go ballistic, it got worse and worse until things really blew up.  It was needless, but I think that is what was happening to the Pharisees here.  They were so irate that anything Jesus did set them off to the point where it seems they were following Him around trying to find any little thing that He did.  And what they accuse Jesus here of doing is breaking the Sabbath law so that they can use it to get rid of Him.  The funny thing is, it wasn’t a sin to heal on the Sabbath, but the rule was you could only heal “whenever there is doubt whether life is in danger, this overrides the Sabbath” (m. Yoma 8:6; cf. b. Yoma 84b-85b; Lohse 1971:14-15).

During this period the religious leaders had a lot of power.  The synagogue was a main center of business and social encounters.  Over centuries of time they had refined the Sabbath laws to be so restrictive that life on the Sabbath had to have been horrible.  Things haven’t changed either.  Candice and I live a few blocks away from one of the very few Orthodox synagogues in the area.  They cannot turn on a light switch, or off for that matter, they all walk to worship on Saturday.  In New York where there is such a high concentration of Orthodox Jews, they will often hire a Shabbat Goy (gentile) to come and turn on their lights or do chores around the house. 

In doing research about this, I found out that now there are settings on smart ovens and refrigerators that cause the lights and any beeps to be disabled during Sabbath. You see opening a door on the oven would cause the light to go on and that would constitute work.

Seven years ago on March 22nd 2015 the NY daily news posted an article about a house fire in Brooklyn that had been caused the day before by a warming plate in an orthodox Jewish home.  They left the plate on to keep the food warm for Shabbat on Friday because they have such limited ability to prepare food on Sabbath.  The hot plate malfunctioned causing a fire that killed seven of their children.

These were and are real laws that have/had real effect. In New Testament times if you were thrown out of the temple you very likely had significant social ramifications, as well as economic.  People believed that you were cursed and wouldn’t bring you business, and they didn’t want to associate with you and end up with the same fate.  It was a real threat to most people, but obviously not so bad for the guy that had been healed.  Since he was blind, and they already believed him to be a sinner or cursed because of sin - he probably wasn’t allowed much anyway.  But after he is healed, all the people that are around, they began to question him.  Finding out that it really was the same guy, they go and get the Pharisees and fill them in on the juicy news and then THEY come out and really start grilling him.

After he tells the religious leaders how he was healed, they try and get him to say that Jesus was a sinner because of the whole “healing on the Sabbath”, but the man replied, “He is a prophet”.  The Pharisees are bound and determined to get someone to call Jesus a sinner, so they drag out his parents.  Fearing that they will be thrown out of the synagogue they just point back to their son.  2 His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders, who already had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. 23 That was why his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”.

I am sure they must have been so conflicted, if my son was born blind and was a shameful beggar, then was healed I would want to be rejoicing not dragged into some political argument. 

So the religious leaders drag him back and continue to grill him. 

24 A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. “Give glory to God by telling the truth,” they said. “We know this man is a sinner.”

25 He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”

26 Then they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”

27 He answered, “I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples too?” Then they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”

27 He answered, “I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples too?”

If you want to irritate your opponent, mock him a little.  That will rile them up.

28 Then they hurled insults at him and said, “You are this fellow’s disciple! We are disciples of Moses! 29 We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don’t even know where he comes from.”

30 The man answered, “Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes.

This guy was a comedian, maybe it was because he had nothing to lose.  But he is not going to be pushed around by these guys.  He is calling it like he sees it.  LITERALLY!

Their response is to mock him and then throw him out.

 

PART III - Spiritual Blindness

Jesus seeks out the man after the story gets back to him and he asks a question.  “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”.   He doesn’t ask what is the son of man, but rather, who is it?  So that I can believe.  Belief here is not just an intellectual or logical understanding.  It is a full trust in the Man (Jesus) as the Messiah.   For him it seems like it would be a short leap of faith, he had already acknowledged Him as at least a prophet to the religious leaders, then his next step is to worship Him.

Jesus used the healing of physical blindness to reveal the need to be healed of the much more serious situation, to be healed from spiritual blindness.

Of course, there were some Pharisees with him and then:

39Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”

40 Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we blind too?”

41 Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.

The know it all leaders were convinced in their hearts that they could follow the law and that was their ticket in.  They claimed to have sight, but they hardened their hearts to Jesus.  They refused to have humility and recognize their need for Him.  While the blind man was humbled, and his eyes were opened spiritually and physically.

Where is your heart?  The spiritual leaders accused the blind man of being a sinner, but the real sin was anger, arrogance, pride and in their own understanding. 

Our three points from today are this:

Jesus took his time for everyone, in this current climate of disaster our job in being Christ like is to follow His example, the classic “WWJD”

Don’t be fearful of the world our hope is in Jesus, stand for him and you will end up with the ultimate healing – Spiritual health

Lastly, don’t be arrogant, perhaps your perspective on Jesus is based on your own understanding of who you think he is, and like the pharisees you might be completely wrong.