Flannel Graph 2012 Part 2 Jesus Heals The Man Born Blind Turn with me to John 9 as we look at one of the miraculous healing s of Jesus. John only records seven miracles of Jesus in his gospel: turning water into wine, the healing of the nobleman s son,, curing the crippled man at the pool of Bethesda, feeding the 5,000 that we talked about last Sunday, walking on water, healing this blind man and the raising of Lazarus from the dead. John declares in his gospel, Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. John 20:30-31. John chose these particular miracles because they pointed to who Jesus was and what he had come to do. They were indeed miraculous signs. Jesus himself used miracles as well as object lessons and parables to explain to the people who he was. For instance, last week he fed the 5,000 with five loaves and two fish. While people were still discussing the implications of the miracle bread, Jesus said to them I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. John 6:35 In order to get the full significance of the healing of the blind man as a sign in our lesson today, we need to go back to the events described in John 7:14. This passage refers to the Feast of Tabernacles. There were three pilgrimage feasts where the people were expected to go up to Jerusalem: Passover, Pentecost and now the Feast of Tabernacles, also called the Feast of Booths or Sukkot. It celebrated the autumn harvest and it was a time of remembering God s faithfulness to Israel when they were dwelling in temporary booths or shelters during the wilderness wanderings. The feast lasted for seven days and there were special ceremonies that happened during the week. One involved a prayer for the later rains to come and replenish the country s water supply. A priest would walk to the Pool of Siloam - which happened to be the only source of spring water in the city with a golden pitcher as the choir sang Isaiah 12:3 With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation, and then he would ascend the hill back to the temple. On the seventh day this was repeated seven times. The people are focused on this ceremony involving water which was the life source for Israel, and if they have been walking this steep hill seven times they are thirsty by now. The bible indicates it was at this point, On the last and
greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him. John 7:37. Jesus is saying, you think that water that sustains you physically is important, wait til you taste of the life giving water of the Spirit that I give you! The Feast of Tabernacles also coincided with the fall equinox, when the days grow shorter and the nights longer. Recognizing this dying of the light, on the temple mount in the Court of the Women, sixteen golden bowls were filled with oil and erected on four different stands and they were then lit so that, in the words of one of the rabbis, all of Jerusalem was illumined. Consider there were no public lights so thus would have been quite a spectacle of light. And now, after declaring he is the water of life, now with this background Jesus declares, I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. John 8:12 With all of this as background, now let s look at the story in John 9. Follow along in your Bible. Jesus encounters a man who has lived in darkness his entire life. Born blind, physically and spiritually. Here is the sign John wants us to see, that as the light of the world, Jesus can open the eyes of the blind, both physically and spiritually. (Read John 9:1-5) The disciples see the blind man begging and ask Jesus a stupid question Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? How could he have sinned before birth? Really? Jesus says Neither but so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. Jesus, in verse 5 affirms again to the disciples and no doubt in the hearing of the blind man, I am the light of the world. Verse 6 - Having said this he spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva and then put it on the man s eyes and told him to go wash in the pool of Siloam. This is the only source of spring water in the city. The man makes his way to the pool at the south end of the old city of David, washes his eyes and comes home seeing. You should notice that the verse said Jesus made some mud with the saliva. This is going to be a problem in about three minutes. Verses 8-12 - The neighbors and the crowd that saw him begging every day gathered
and began to argue about whether this was the same man. He is standing there and people are arguing He looks like Louie the blind man but it can t be. And Louie is saying I know myself. I am the man! If you re the man, how is it you can see? 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. John 9:11 They asked where is this man and Louie says, I don t know. I wouldn t know him if I saw him. How could I? I ve never seen him. Verse 13-18 These people brought the man to the Pharisees and instead of rejoicing over the miracle that had occurred, they asked how he had received his sight. When they heard Jesus made mud on the Sabbath, they said, This man can t be from God because he broke the Sabbath. You couldn t make mud on the Sabbath. That was considered working, just like you couldn t light a fire and so many other prohibitions. Jesus has to be a sinner - he is a Sabbath breaker. Others said, How can a sinner do such miraculous signs. So the Pharisees were divided among themselves. Notice when they asked the former blind man what he had to say about Jesus, this time he called him a prophet in verse 17. The Pharisees couldn t believe he had really been blind since birth so they called his parents in to interrogate them. (Read v18-21) Verse 22 - The parents knew that the leaders had already threatened to excommunicate from the synagogue anyone who acknowledged Jesus as Messiah. They were afraid so they simply said, We know he is our son and he was born blind, but as to how he can see...we don t know. He s grown. Ask him. He can speak for himself. Verse 24 - Give glory to God, which was a way of saying Stop lying and tell the truth - so help you God. We know Jesus is a sinner so stop giving him credit. Who healed you? It is one of the great responses in literature and in Scripture. In response to the statement that Jesus is a sinner, the former blind man replies, Whether he is a sinner or not, I don t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see! John 9:25 Isn t that great? I don t know about theology or what the Scripture predicted about the Messiah but one thing I do know, I was blind and now I see! The Pharisees ask him again, What did he do to you? I ve already told you. Why do you keep asking? Do you want to become his disciples as well? At that they began to verbally
attack and abuse this poor man. How about rejoicing with him that he could see? Notice what they say about Jesus in verse 29. We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don t even know where he comes from. They are using this as an excuse to reject Jesus He can t be the Messiah because we don t even know where he comes from. But some had taught that very thing, that when the Messiah came, no one would know where he came from. Look back at John 7:27. But we know where this man is from; when the Christ comes, no one will know where he is from. John 7:27. They sounded like most politicians, twisting the facts, wanting to have it both ways. (Read v30-33). Notice in verse 33 he declares his belief that this man Jesus was from God. Verse 34 tells us the leaders threw the man out of the synagogue. Stop and think for a moment what had been going on with this man over the past few hours. He woke up that morning like every other morning of his life. Stumbling in the darkness he made his way to the gate where he sat begging, the only life available for a blind man. Life was dark and hopeless for him, physically and spiritually. Then Jesus comes by, puts mud on his eyes, sends him to the Pool of Siloam to wash off the mud and when he does he can see. I imagine him looking up and the first thing he sees is the temple mount, the gates towering above him. He makes his way home, staring in fascination at everything, seeing it all for the very first time and suddenly finds himself at the center of controversy. Everyone of his senses must have been on overload. He had never seen his parents before and they show up. Of course, they didn t exactly stand up for him, did they? He has been excluded and outcast his entire life because he was blind. Now he can see and because Jesus healed him on the Sabbath, he is excluded, vilified and outcast once again. But look what happens. Verse 35 tells us, Jesus heard that they had thrown him out so he went looking for the man, finds him and reaches out to him with more than just physical sight. He opens this man s eyes to the truth of who Jesus really is. Lord, I believe, and he worshiped him. It is an amazing story of Jesus, the light of the world, bringing light into the darkness of one man s world. Let me just wrap up the story with a few final observations. 1. Be careful looking for cause and effect in human suffering. This whole story began with the disciples trying to figure out the cause and effect of this man s blindness. What caused this?
Who failed? Who sinned? Who didn t have enough faith? This is the judgement of God, right? It is easy to become judgmental, assigning blame and offering pat answers like Job s poor comforters. Be careful because often, like the disciples, we start speaking of that which we know little of. The disciples were looking for what caused the blindness, perhaps in order to condemn. Jesus shifted their focus away from the cause and towards the purpose. It wasn t time to debate the question, it was time to work the works of the One who sent Him. Let s look for God s grace and find ways that God can use the problem for his glory and our good. Maybe if we spent less time assessing blame and more time showing mercy it would result in God s glory being seen among the blind and hurting everywhere. 2. Don t lose sight of the person in the midst of controversy. The disciples are discussing hypothetical situations of good and evil and suffering. The Pharisees are discussing the matters of the law and the minutia of Sabbath keeping. They are so focused in fighting about what pleases God that they completely overlook what pleases God in the midst of this - healing a man born blind. This wasn t a case study, this was a man born blind in need of healing and salvation. We can lose people in the controversies of our culture. Gay marriage will continue to be a hot topic. Be careful as you state your beliefs about marriage and homosexuality that hurting people aren t overlooked and destroyed in the controversy. These aren t case studies, these are real families, children, individuals that are in need of Jesus. Like the blind man, people get demonized by arguments and controversy. Don t overlook the people who are waiting in darkness, not for someone to shout at them about how blind they are, but rather waiting for someone to bring them the light. (Imagine how Louie the blind man felt. He has just been given sight, healed, set free from the dark prison that has been his life and now people are yelling at him, insulting him and excommunicating him for being a sinner and collaborator with a Sabbath breaker!) 3. Don t lose sight of God s purpose. The healing of the blind man is a sign for all of us. It is a revelation of God s saving purpose. All of us are born blind. All of us need the Light of the world to come to us and when we have received sight, then we have work to be done. Notice this is one time the blind man didn t ask Jesus for anything. He didn t ask to be healed. He had never seen so he didn t even know what he was missing. He didn t ask for
anything, but what was it Jesus said? This happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his 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. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world. John 9:3-5 Jesus says WE must do the work of him who sent me. What is the work we are to be doing the work of the Kingdom of God? Announcing the good news that Jesus has come to save; healing the sick and blind, both physically and spiritually; going after those that have been forsaken by the world, the outcasts, the forgotten, the broken. What is the work of the kingdom? Going after those that have been thrown out by religion, that have been scarred by legalism and condemned by the blind judges of self-righteousness, and turning them back to God s grace. God s purpose is to save and heal and redeem and we are running out of time. The night is coming when no one can work, but while we have the chance, while we can, we are to carry his light into the darkness of this world. Shine his light into every dark and blinded heart. We have to work while we can, make the most of every opportunity to share his light, his healing, his saving grace. Don t lose sight of His purpose - our purpose. 4. Don t miss the embrace of Jesus. I love this part of the story. Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, Do you believe in the Son of Man? John 9:35 Jesus went looking for this man! You see, the work that the Father sent him to do wasn t completed with a healing miracle. To give him physical sight wasn t enough. Physical healing is temporary anyway. Without salvation, without seeing the Son of God and believing upon him, he was still blind to salvation and heaven and hope. The job wasn t done, so Jesus went looking for him. He is still searching for the lost and blind. How amazing. Jesus finds him and asks if he believes in the Son of Man. Son of Man appears to be a Messianic reference that people recognized. The formerly blind man said, Who is he sir? Tell me so that I may believe in him. He wanted to know. He was convinced that Jesus was more than just another teacher or rabbi. How do we know? Look at this progression, this revelation that came to him: in verse 11 he said, The man they call Jesus... He didn t know anything about him. The more he considered his healing, the more he was convinced Jesus was more than just an ordinary man. In verse 17, in response to their question, what have you to say about him? The man said, He is a prophet. They continued to berate him, hurling insults at him. When they said we know God spoke to Moses but we don t even know where this fellow, Jesus,
even comes from. The formerly blind man now says, Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing. John 9:32 From the man they call Jesus, to prophet, to a man come from God and now he stands in front of Jesus, but still not knowing who he is. So he asks, Tell me so that I may believe in him. And Jesus said, You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you. You have now seen him. What a powerful thought. For the first time you have seen him, not just with the physical sight Jesus gave him, but now he sees him with eyes of faith, with spiritual sight that translates into saving faith. Now you have seen Jesus, the light of the world. Then the man said, Lord, I believe and he worshiped him. John 9:38. He believed and he worshiped him. And now the work was done. Now the healing was complete. Now he could see not just the people around him and the sights of Jerusalem - now he could see Jesus for who he really was the light of the world! The light of his world. He saw him as Savior and Lord and worshiped him. Don t miss the healing embrace of Jesus. He is looking for you, just as he looked for this man born blind. The truth is we ve all been born blind. We are all sinners in need of a savior. We need to embrace the light of the world. Let him give you sight to see, to believe and be saved. Maybe you are like this man born blind. Jesus has healed you and given you sight, but you got thrown out by a legalism that lost sight of God s purpose and grace. Jesus has been looking for you. He wants to finish the work of grace he started in you. Let Jesus embrace you and heal you and give you 20/20 vision in your spirit and in your soul. You don t have to be blind any longer. The Pharisees chose to be blind. They had eyes to see the miracle. They had knowledge to understand but they chose blindness and because of that, Jesus said their guilt would remain. But not you. Your eyes are open. You know Jesus to be the bread of heaven and the light of the world. You know what he has done for you. He is the one who speaks to you. You ve seen him with spiritual eyes. It s time to believe and open your life to him. Don t stay in blindness when he offers you light and sight. Others have rejected you, but Jesus comes looking for you, to find you, to embrace you, to give you sight and to give you life. What will you choose?