Sermon

February 24, 2008
A- Lent 4
John 9:1-7, 34-39
Pastor Robert Raasch

Jesus Gives Sight to the Blind

1. Physically
2. Spiritually

(John 9:1-7)  As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. {2} His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" {3} "Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. {4} As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. {5} While I am in the world, I am the light of the world." {6} Having said this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man's eyes. {7} "Go," he told him, "wash in the Pool of Siloam" (this word means Sent). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.

(John 9:13-17)  They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. {14} Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man's eyes was a Sabbath. {15} Therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. "He put mud on my eyes," the man replied, "and I washed, and now I see." {16} Some of the Pharisees said, "This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath." But others asked, "How can a sinner do such miraculous signs?" So they were divided. {17} Finally they turned again to the blind man, "What have you to say about him? It was your eyes he opened." The man replied, "He is a prophet."

(John 9:34-39)  To this they replied, "You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!" And they threw him out. {35} Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" {36} "Who is he, sir?" the man asked. "Tell me so that I may believe in him." {37} Jesus said, "You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you." {38} Then the man said, "Lord, I believe," and he worshiped him. {39} Jesus said, "For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind."

Just for a minute, I want you to close your eyes and imagine how you would feel if suddenly your window to the world went completely dark.  How would you feel if suddenly you were blind?  Can you imagine?  Say goodbye to reading the words in the hymnal.  And when it’s time to leave, you’d better plan on feeling your way down the pews as you try to find your way to the door.  And driving home?  Well, that’s out of the question.  From this day forward you could never see a smile, or a rainbow, or touchdown pass again in your life.  Wow!  That would be pretty traumatic, wouldn’t it?

But now, imagine that rather than losing your eyesight today, you in fact had never been able to see.  You had never seen someone smile, never seen a rainbow, never seen anything at all, from the time you were born.  Man, that would be an even greater hardship, wouldn’t it?  To be blind from birth!  You realize, don’t you, that that is not just an imaginary scenario—at least not for the man we meet in our text for today.  This morning/evening, we take up the Biblical account of the man born blind, and more importantly, how Jesus addressed this man’s problem—in fact, how he addressed this man’s two problems.  Today, we take as our theme:

Jesus Gives Sight to the Blind

1. Physically
2. Spiritually

Our text begins with the words, “As (Jesus) went along, he saw a man blind from birth.  His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”  Boy, there’s a question that so often is found spooking around in the human mind, even today.  The question is, “Whose fault is it?”  When a child is born with a birth defect, when a loved one is diagnosed with a rare disease, when we or someone we know has something bad happen to us, there’s always this voice inside our head saying, “I wonder why that happened?  Was it something I did?  Is God somehow punishing me for a sin I committed?  Or maybe a sin my parents committed?”

But here in our text, Jesus makes it clear that that kind of thinking is wrong.  When bad things happen in our lives—be it sickness or trials or setbacks in life—these things are not necessarily the result of some sin we or anybody else committed.  How does Jesus put it?  When the disciples asked whether this man’s blindness was the result of his sin or his parents’ sin, Jesus says, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.”  In other words, this man’s physical hardship was not some kind of punishment for a specific sin he or his parents committed.  Rather it was an opportunity for God’s power to be displayed in his life.  Isn’t the same thing true for you and me today?

When you and I face trials and tribulations in life, we can be sure that these are not punishments from an angry God.  Even though we deserve to be punished for our sins, the fact is, Jesus has already endured the punishment for our sins.  And that leaves the various sicknesses and heartaches, trials and tribulations as opportunities for God’s power and grace to be revealed.  Think of the examples.  A person is diagnosed with cancer and given three months to live.  Two years later, she’s still going strong, and praising God for it.  Another person suffers a heart attack and God uses it as an opportunity to draw his family closer together as they look to God’s Word for hope and comfort.  

A family loses their home in a fire—and God provides his people an opportunity to express their love and support for someone in need.  A car accident claims the life of a loved one—and God uses the event to call one of his children home to heaven.  Time and time again, God uses our earthly hardships and weaknesses to display the glory of his grace.  Or as the old saying goes, “When the sky is the darkest—that’s when the stars shine the brightest.”

Certainly, that was the case here in our text, right?  Jesus uses this man’s blindness as an opportunity to display his power as the Son of God.  But notice how he does it.  John tells us that Jesus “spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva and put it on the man’s eyes.”  Can you believe it?  I mean, my wife works for an eye doctor and he uses a lot of different fancy procedures, but I don’t think that putting mud on the eyes of a patient is one of them.

What in the world is Jesus up to?  Well, I believe there are a couple of purposes that Jesus has in mind with this unusual action.  First of all, Jesus incorporates what we might call, “touch language.”  If Jesus had been dealing with a deaf man, he might have used sign language.  With this blind man, he uses touch language.  Rather than just snapping his finger, or saying “Be healed,” Jesus physically smears this mud to the man’s eyelids.  Jesus want to make it clear to the man that when he comes home seeing, it is because of something Jesus did.  Jesus wants the man to understand the direct connection between the healing and the Healer. 

But notice, after applying the mud, what does Jesus ask the man to do?  “Go and wash in the pool of Siloam.”  By means of that request, what was Jesus asking the man to do?  He was asking him to trust him, that is, to take him at his word.  Even though his brain was saying, “This is absolutely illogical.  Put mud on my eyes and go wash it off?  Like that’s going to do any good.”  But the man trusted Jesus, and his unusual command—and the end result?  “The man…came home seeing.”

Tell me, is there a parallel in our lives today?  Absolutely.  Think of all the things that God has told us, which to our human way of thinking, really make no sense at all.  For example, in his word, God tells us that if you apply a little water to the head of a baby in the name of the Triune God, that baby’s sins will be washed away.  Our human reason says, “That makes no sense.”  But the Lord says, “Trust me.”  In his Word, God says that when you eat and drink the wine and bread of Holy Communion, you are eating and drinking the body and blood of Christ.  Human reason says, “I don’t understand.  That makes no sense.”  But God says, “Trust me.”

The same thing can be said of so many things God tells us in his Word.  God says that by the death of one man, the whole world of sinners has been declared not guilty.  God says that my faith is not a decision I make, but a gift that God gives.  God says that in all things he works for the good of those who love him.  In each of these cases, my human reason says, “How can that be?  I don’t understand.  That makes no sense.”  And yet, just like with the man born blind, Jesus invites us to take him at his word, to believe what he says, and to act accordingly.  For when we do that, we will receive the blessings that God has promised us.  In the case of this blind man, the blessing was the gift of physical sight.

And yet, it must be said that the greatest miracle that Jesus performed for this man was not that he opened the man’s eyes physically, but rather that he opened them II. Spiritually.  Jesus gave spiritual sight to the blind.  What does that mean, that Jesus granted this man spiritual sight?  Well, that becomes apparent as we consider what happened after the man was healed.  Our text skips around a bit, but the main story line is this: After the man comes home able to see for the first time in his life, it creates a huge stir among his family and friends.  “Are you really the guy that used to be blind?  What happened?  Who did this to you?”  The man’s answer: "The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see."  Notice that the man’s words are a little vague.  “The man they call Jesus.”  It’s like he knows what happened to him, but not a whole lot about exactly who this Jesus is.  The next thing you know, it’s the Pharisees who call the man in for a little interrogation.  Same questions, “Who did this?  How did it happen?”  They ask, “What do you have to say about (this Jesus)?  

The man’s answer?  “He is a prophet.”  In other words, “I believe that Jesus speaks and acts with the authority of God.”  But the Pharisees refused to believe it.  They’re determined to find some other explanations for the man’s sight.  After interrogating the man’s parents, they call the blind man in one more time.  They put him under oath and say, in effect, “We know this Jesus is a sinner, so how could this fake, this religious imposter, heal you of your blindness?” 

The man’s answer: "Whether he is a sinner or not, I don't know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!"  In other words, “I don’t understand everything, but this is what I know.  This Jesus healed my blindness.”  And yet still the Pharisees refused to believe it.  They keep hammering him with questions, until finally the blind man asks with what I believe in a bit of sarcasm, “Why do you want to hear it again?  Do you want to become his disciples, too?”

Well, that put the Pharisees over the top!  They start hurling insults at the man.  They accuse him of being one of Jesus’ disciples and ultimately, they throw him out of the temple area.  But here’s where the story gets really interesting.  It’s at this point that Jesus comes back to him and asks him this question, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”  Now, we need to understand what Jesus means by that term, the “Son of Man.”  That’s the term that Jesus used to describe the Promised Messiah, the one whom the Old Testament Scriptures foretold would come to rescue all mankind from sin and hell forever.

When Jesus asked, “Do you believe in the Son of Man”, what did the blind man say?  “Who is he, sir?  Tell me so that I may believe in him.”  In other words, this man already recognized Jesus as someone who had healed him from his physical ailment.  Now he was looking to Jesus to identify the Messiah who could rescue him from the spiritual consequences of his sin forever. 

Jesus’ reply?  “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking to you.”  What a powerful statement that was!  In response to that statement the blind man says, “Lord, I believe.”  And John tells us that the blind man worshipped Jesus.  In other words, the eyes of the man’s heart were opened.  By the power of the Holy Spirit, he now saw Jesus as more than a miracle worker.  He saw him as his Savior from sin.

Do you realize what a miracle that was?  For the first time in his life, he could not only see where he was walking, he could see where he was going, I mean, after he died.  He could see that God’s love for him was unconditional.  Suddenly, he could see that Jesus had rescued him from the fear of death and the consequences of sin forever.

My friends, hasn’t God worked that same miracle in our hearts as well?  When you think of how many people in the world refuse to accept that Jesus of Nazareth is in fact, God’s Son and the world’s Redeemer.  When you think of how many people refuse to believe that Jesus’ miracles are anything but fables, legends and figments of man’s imagination.  This Easter, there’s sure to be an article in Time or Newsweek magazine claiming that Jesus’ resurrection is unscientific or unprovable.  There will always be plenty of people who say that Jesus is just one of many paths that lead to heaven.

And yet, by the grace of God, you see Jesus differently, don’t you? God has opened your eyes and mine to see what those Pharisees just couldn’t see.  By the calling of the Holy Spirit, we see that Jesus is the perfect Son of God, who became a man, to live and die in our place, and for the sake of his sacrifice, God has declared us to be holy.  We know we’re all right in God’s eyes and heaven is our eternal home. 

And now that God has opened our eyes to that fact, now we’re able to see all kinds of other things as well.  We’re able to see that the trials we face in life are not punishments from God, but rather opportunities to draw closer to God.  We see that the commandments that God gives are not meant to keep us from having fun, but rather keep us from getting hurt.  We see that going to church is not an obligation one must meet.  Rather it’s an invitation to unload our guilt and be spiritually restored to live a new and holy life.  Through the eyes of faith, God has opened our eyes to see that as Christians, we are not perfect, just forgiven.

My friends, that’s the spiritual sight that God has given you purely by grace.  We were all once stumbling around in the darkness of sin and unbelief.  But now God has opened our eyes.  Or, in the words of that old gospel hymn, “I once was lost, but now am found; was lost but now I see.”  To God be the glory, for a miracle so great as this!  Amen.

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