Below is the manuscript to this Sunday’s sermon. Chances are, you will encounter grammatical errors. Please be gracious. I pray this will be beneficial to you as you study the Word of God that is “profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work (2 Tim. 3:16-17).”
John 9 is truly a remarkable chapter. It’s quite possibly my favorite. In this chapter there’s a clear tension between those who can see and those who are blind. In it we find this paradoxical reality where the physically blind receives spiritual sight, while those who can physically see remain spiritually blind.
RECAP
Let’s refresh our memory of what we’ve learned last week at the start of John 9.
As Jesus’s hour (his time to die on the cross) is approaching, he’s been greeted with more and more hostility.
So, at the start of John 9, as Jesus is leaving the temple (because the Jews are seeking to stone him), he sees a man who was born blind. In the face of hostility, he does not stop ministering to those in need. As Jesus notices this man, his disciples asked who’s sin was to blame for this man’s blindness.
Although all suffering can be traced back to the garden, which means that all suffering is a result of sin. Jesus teaches his disciples that not all suffering is a result of specific sin. “It was not that this man, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.” God was not punishing this man because of sin in his life; rather, he had a redemptive purpose for his suffering.
Last week we thought about how freeing that must have been to hear as the blind man. Where his entire life he’s heard and thought that his suffering is a result of punishment, he now hears someone say, “No, God has a purpose in his suffering.”
Some of us, like this man, may be weighed down with guilt, thinking that God is punishing us because of sin that we’ve committed in our past. And this guilt prevents us from having joy in the midst of suffering because we think God is mad at us.
So, may these words comfort us.
“It’s not that you’ve sinned, it’s not that your spouse or parents have sinned, but that the works of God might be displayed in your life.”
Jesus is showing his redemptive purpose in suffering.
Jesus then bends down, spits in the mud, wipes the loogie-mud on the mans eyes and sends him to a pool to wash. As crazy as that command was, the man was obedient.
He rumbles and stumbles his way to the pool, washes; and in perfect John fashion, where he nonchalantly records the miraculous, we see the man goes and washes and comes back seeing.
Well, that leads us to our passage today.
It’s in verse 8 that the commotion starts.
John 9:8-41
Look at verses 8-12,
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?” Some said, “It is he.” Others said, “No, but he is like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.” So they said to him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” 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.” They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.”
What we first see here is that everyone immediately began to notice a difference in this guy. In this context, the life of a blind man is drastically different than the life of a man who has sight.
I would assume that where this man bumped and stumbled his way to and from his house, he’s now probably skipped and ran around the city. Where he probably looked past his peers with a hazy stare all his life, I would bet that he’s made eye contact with every person in the city, saying, “Hello.” He’s probably spent many hours laughing and crying over the things he’s now seeing.
We could spend hours speculating over what this man’s life must be like now. But, one thing we know from the text is that he is no longer sitting and begging.
Look at verse 8, “His neighbors are asking, ‘Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?’”
“Used to” insinuates an action previously done that is no longer currently being done.
There’s no need to sit and beg as a blind man when you can now see. Because of his encounter with Jesus, this man can now stand and work. He can now do things that he could never do before. His life is drastically different.
Listen to me, I think there’s a spiritual truth for us here. If we have miraculously received spiritual sight through belief in Christ, people will notice. Receiving spiritual sight is not merely intellect.
As Paul in Ephesians 4 says, “…you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.”
There is a way of life that we once lived, that we are to no longer live. People who knew us before our encounter with Jesus, should now look at the lives we live and say, “Is this not the man who used to live in darkness?”
There is a taking off and a putting on in the Christian faith. Where we were once selfish, we are to now be selfless and generous. Where we used to speak falsehood, we are to now speak truth. Where we used to tear everyone down with our words, we now build others up with our speech. Where we used to be angry, we are now peaceful. We are now kind and tenderhearted. Now we forgive others just as God in Christ has forgiven us. Where our life used to consist of serving ourselves, we now live to serve God and others. The christian walk consist of a putting off of our old self and a putting on of our new self, which (as Paul tells us) is created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
So, the people are looking at this man saying to one another, “I wonder if that’s Stevie (pun intended)?”
Some are saying, “Yes.” Others are saying, “No.
But, Stevie’s interjecting himself saying, “This isn’t superstition. The writing’s on the wall, guys.” “I am the man.” I am the man who was once a blind beggar.
Then, in verse 10, we see for the first time someone other than Jesus specifically address this man. They said to him, “Then how were your eyes opened?”How are you now able to see?
He responds, “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.”
Here he pulls no punches and explicitly proclaims the the truth about Jesus. Which, as we will see in a minute, is a risky move. Anyone who confesses Jesus to be the Christ will be put out of the Synagogue.
Listen, this should tell us that a true encounter with Jesus leads to proclamation. If you live a life in darkness and then are miraculously given sight, people will notice and you will proclaim. If you’ve been miraculously given sight, then you will boldly proclaim the truth of Jesus.
But, as we see by his example, you don’t always have to have eloquent words and you don’t always have to have lofty answers. Sometimes it’s alright to simply say, “Hey! This is what Jesus has done for me! I was once blind, but now I see.”
A true encounter with Jesus leads to proclamation.
Well, in verse 12 they respond by asking, “where is he?”
He responds, “I don’t know.”
So, at this point, Jesus is unable to be found. His neighbors want to find his healer, but the healer cannot find him.
Well, in the midst of all of this curiosity, the record scratches and we see a problem presented in verses 13-14,
“They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes.”
Oh no. Here we go again.
Back in John 5 a tension of Jesus working on the Sabbath was presented to us. In John 5 Jesus healed a man who had been an invalid for 38 years.
Rather than marvel over this miraculous work of healing, the religious leaders sought to persecute him. And in the face of persecution, Jesus didn’t let up or back down. Rather than debate the religious leaders on whether or not what he did was work, Jesus justified his actions by alluding to his divine Sonship.
In John 5, Jesus referenced their understanding of how God interacted with the Sabbath and he said, “I know that you know that God works on the sabbath. Well, my Father is working until now, so I am working.”
In a nutshell, the religious leaders understood that God was the Lord over the Sabbath, which allowed him to work on the Sabbath. But, they didn’t understand that the Lord over the Sabbath was standing right before them. They didn’t understand that Jesus can work on the Sabbath because the Father works on the Sabbath. The Son and the Father are one. Whatever the Father does, the Son does.
So, Jesus healing on the Sabbath should reveal and affirm the truth that Jesus is God in flesh, the Lord over the Sabbath. However, the religious leaders Jordan shrugged the healing and began to accuse Jesus as a law breaker.
Well, here we are once again. Jesus heals a man on the Sabbath.
Let’s see where that leads to. Look at verses 15-17,
“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.” 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. 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.”
They probably studied the man, holding up three fingers and asked him the question, “How many fingers am I holding up?” They came to the obvious conclusion that this man can in fact see.
So, they ask how he received his sight. The man gives his truthful answer. “Jesus put mud on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.”
Well, because Jesus did this on the Sabbath, some of the Pharisees say, “This man is not from God.” But, others are looking at this miracle and are asking, “How is this possible apart from God?”
There’s a division surrounding Jesus. Some are claiming that he’s a sinner, a law breaker. Others can’t place that title on him because of the work he just accomplished.
So, they ask the man, “What do you say about him?” And he proclaims that he’s a prophet. So, he’s saying that Jesus is not a sinner, but someone from God.
So, we’re beginning to see the man and the pharisees going in opposite directions. The man’s eyes are beginning to open, while the Pharisees eyes are beginning to shut.
Then, in verses 18-23 we see they apparently dismissed the boy and summoned his parents,
“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.” (His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess Jesus to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue.) Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”
So, first we see the skepticism of the Pharisees surrounding the authenticity of this miracle. They did not believe that this man had been blind and had received sight. They’re thinking, “Maybe this is a sham and he’s been faking it.”
Which, their uncertainty may be a bit of a tragedy in and of itself.
If it’s true that this man would have been begging outside of the temple, then that means that these religious leaders, whose entire work and life would have been centered around the temple, would have not recognized a man in need outside of the temple.
My office is downtown. I park in the same parking garage every day. Every day I walk past the same hotel workers and the same police officers who works next to my office. If that police officer walked in here today, I would recognize her and she would recognize me. Yet, they’re unable to recognize a blind man who sat outside their temple every day.
Christians, may we observe, recognize, and know the people in our lives. Look up when you walk. Make eye contact and smile at folks when you pass by them.
I remember having conversations with folks who are homeless in this area and hearing them say, “Man, we’re not stupid. We see people walk on the other side of the street when they approach us. Sometimes it would be nice to be treated as a regular human being.”
May we observe, recognize, and know the people God has placed in our lives.
So, the religious leaders did not believe this man had been blind and had been given sight. So, they call the parents and ask them three questions.
Is this your son? “Is this your son…”
Was he born blind? “Is this your son, who you say was born blind?”
How does he now see? “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?"
And interestingly, the parents answer two out of the three questions.
In verse 20 they say,
We know that this is our son… So, yes, that’s my boy.
“We know that this is our son and that he was born blind.”
But, we don’t have an answer to your third question. “(v.21) But how he now sees we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes.”
Do you think this is an honest answer? Do you honestly think that if your child who’s been blind since birth comes home seeing one evening, you’re not going to ask questions? No one probably, apart from the man himself, celebrated this healing more than his parents. No one probably asked more questions than his parents, and no one has probably heard his testimony about Jesus more than his parents.
Yet, they avoid giving an answer to the question. They say, “Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.”
Why do they do this?
They don’t do this out of a lack of knowledge. They do this out of a fear of man. John exposes their motives in verses 22-23. They feared the Jews. They feared being banned from the synagogue.
They knew that the answer to the question of “how” was Jesus. But, out of fear of what that confession might bring, they withheld that truth.
Listen, it’s way too easy to follow in the parents footsteps in our proclamation. It’s easy to speak partial, general truths, while denying proclamation about Jesus. It’s easy to talk about football. It’s easy to talk about life. But, sometimes speaking the truth about Jesus is difficult because we fear what might happen if we do so.
The parents said, “Ask our son. He is of age. He will tell you how he received his sight.”
So, what do the Pharisees do? They, for a second time, bring in the formerly blind man.
Verse 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.”
Please notice that they’re satisfied with giving glory to God for this man’s healing on the Sabbath. Which means that they’re 100% okay with God working on the Sabbath because he’s Lord of the Sabbath.
Jesus being able to give sight to the blind on the Sabbath should therefore reveal that Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath (i.e. God in flesh). It’s clear as day. However, they don’t want to accept the fact that Jesus is God, proving themselves to be blind. Therefore, they want to call Jesus a sinner for healing on the Sabbath. So, they say, “Give glory to God. We know that this man (Jesus) is a sinner.”
The man responds,
“Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.”
So, he’s saying, “I don’t know anything about the character of this man. All I can speak on is what he’s done in my life. I was once blind, and all I could ever see was darkness. But, now I can see because of him.”
You can begin to sense the frustration in the Pharisees by their next response in verse 26.
They said to him, “What did he do to you?” How did he open your eyes?”
Whenever you’re not satisfied with an answer given, you find yourself continually asking the same question over and over again, hoping for a different answer.
This is the fourth time this question has been asked in John 9. In verse 10 the man was asked the question, “How were your eyes opened?” by the crowd. In verse 15 he was asked that question again by the Pharisees. In verse 19 his parents were asked that question. And now, in verse 26 he’s being asked the same question.
Well, insert an eye roll emoji, and let the sass flow. In a perfect drop the mic fashion, the man responds in verse 27,
“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?”
Dohhhhhhhhh.
Well, frustrated and offended,
They reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.”
They claim to be disciples of Moses because they know that God has spoken to Moses. How do they know that God has spoken to Moses? They know this because the Scriptures bear witness to the fact that God has spoken to Moses.
Well, ironically and tragically, if they truly knew the Scriptures then they would recognize Jesus as the Son of God. If they were truly disciples of Moses, then they would know that Jesus is the Prophet that Moses was speaking about. However, their uncertainty about Jesus is revealing that they’re blind.
The man answered,
“Why, this is an amazing thing! You do not know where he come from, and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshipper of God and does his will, God listens to him. Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”
The blind man is essentially saying to the Pharisees, “You’ve got to be kidding me!? No one has ever been healed like I’ve been healed. I’ve told you 100 times that Jesus was the one who healed me.But, you’re telling me you don’t know where this man came from? It’s obvious that he’s from God.”
God does not listen to sinners. It would be impossible for anyone to perform a miracle of this magnitude without God. So, the fact that Jesus was able to give sight to the blind, on the Sabbath, should lead to the obvious conclusion: Jesus is the Son of God, who was sent down from heaven, by the Father, to redeem the world.
How do you think they respond? Do you think they respond by saying, “You know what? You’re right!”
No way.
They answered him,
“You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?” And they cast him out.
They pick back up the accusations that were once thrown at him. He was born in sin. How could a man born in sin teach the righteous Pharisees?
And they cast him out. They cast him out of the house of worship. He has been banned from fellowship with God’s people and he is now unable to worship God.
Now, verse 35 is where things get good.
“Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, ‘Do you believe in the Son of Man?’”
Stop.
Please don’t miss the intentional language John uses here.
Jesus found this man.
He intentionally sought him out.
It’s very easy to say things like, “I found God” or “I found Christ,” but may we never get confused. The Father and the Son were never lost. We are the ones lost, and it is God who finds us.
So, Jesus heard this man was cast out, he finds him, then he asked the man a pivotal question, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”
We’ve seen this terminology used often throughout the gospel of John. We see the Son of Man prophesied about in Daniel 7. In Daniel 7 we see the Son of Man being described as an eternal ruler who was going to come and establish an eternal kingdom that could not be destroyed or pass away. All peoples, nations, and languages will serve him. The Son of Man will reign forever.
What a vague, yet very specific question! In a vague sense, even the Pharisees would give an answer “yes” to this question. Of course I believe in the Son of Man. He going to come and establish his eternal dominion.
But, Jesus isn’t asking a vague question and the man doesn’t respond with a vague answer.He responds with a question himself. He said,
“And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?”
His response here reveals that Jesus either (1) possessed a knowledge of who the Son of Man was, specifically, or (2) that Jesus himself was the Son of Man.
“Who is he?” “Show me, that I may believe in him.”
Jesus responds to him,
“You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.”
What an answer.
Up until this point, this man had yet to see his healer face to face. But now, Jesus is saying, “I am the one who has given you sight to see. I am the one who has found you. The one who is speaking to you now is the eternal ruler. I am the Son of Man, who was sent from the Father to redeem you from your sins.”
And look how the man responds. Does he respond by picking up stones to kill him?Does he ask more questions?
No.
“38 He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshipped him.”
This word for worship means to fall prostrate before someone’s feet in reverence and awe. This is the only place in John where anyone is said to worship Jesus. It’s used a handful of times in chapter 4 in reference to worshipping God. But, now we see it used in reference to Jesus. So, this man has already acknowledged the fact that Jesus must be from God. But, now he’s taking this understanding a step further. He’s giving to Jesus the reverence and awe that is only acceptable for God. And Jesus is allowing him to! Which is yet another claim to him deity!
If you have been given spiritual sight, if the eyes of your heart have been opened to the truth of the gospel, then you will respond in worship. Worship is a byproduct of belief.
Please don’t miss the beauty packed into these verse. In verse 34 this man was cast out of the synagogue. He had no place to worship the Lord. But, what does Jesus do?He finds him and reveals himself to him. And now the man is able to worship the Lord. As one commentator put it, “The Jews cast him out of the temple, but the LORD of the temple found him.” The LORD has now come to him so that he can worship him in faith outside of the temple.
Rather than shake his fist at Jesus saying, “It’s because of you I’ve been having all of this trouble,” he responds in worship and awe.
Jesus then said to the man,
“For judgment I came into the world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.”
The purpose of Jesus, the light of the world, coming into the world is to reveal himself to the world and expose the darkness of the world. On one hand he gives life to those in need. On the other hand he reveals sin and blindness. Some who could not see (spiritually) will receive sight through belief. While other will see the truth and will become blind through unbelief.
Well, the eavesdropping Pharisees hear him say this and they ask,
“Are we also blind?”
Jesus responds,
“If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.”
In other words, if you were to confess your need for help then you would be on your way to seeing. If you would confess that you are weak, then your guilt would be removed.
Yesterday Kayla and I went to Jackson for a family Christmas lunch. On our way to this Christmas lunch, we decided to stop at McDonalds (why we stopped to get something to eat on our way to lunch, I’m not sure).
As we’re sitting in line, I notice the drive through has two lanes. However, I also notice that everyone is in the left lane. So, me being impatient, I decide to go around everyone in the left lane in order to get in the right lane. As soon as I do that, I notice that the right lane is blocked off.
At this point I had two options:
I could admit I was wrong and turn around and go back to the end of the line…
Or I could keep driving, acting like I know what I’m doing, then park on the other side and get out to order.
I chose the latter. There’s no way that I was going to show everyone that I made a mistake. So, I acted like I was fine and planned to do what I did the whole time.
I think we see something similar here in verse 41. If the Pharisees were to confess their need for a savior, then their guilt would be removed. But, rather than confess their need for help, they claim “to see.” They continue to boast in their own works, rather than confess their need for a savior. Therefore, their guilt remains.
It is those who admit that they are blind and helpless, and that boast in Jesus as their only hope for sight, that will receive sight and life. While on the other hand, it is those who cling to their own works and who reject Jesus, that will remain guilty.
Listen, we never outgrow our need for Jesus. May the gospel never become flavorless to us, church.
So, today I want us to close a little different. I want us to close by taking part in communion together as a church. Then, I want us to spend a few moments, like this man in our passage, worshipping Jesus together as a church. If you have received spiritual sight, then you will worship Jesus.