I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to John 9:1-12
John 9:1-12 New
International Version (NIV)
1 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 works
of God might be displayed in him. 4 As long as it is day, we must do the works
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 After saying
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.
8 His neighbors
and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, “Isn’t this the same man who
used to sit and beg?” 9 Some claimed that he was.
Others said, “No,
he only looks like him.”
But he himself
insisted, “I am the man.”
10 “How then were
your eyes opened?” they asked.
11 He replied,
“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.”
12 “Where is this
man?” they asked him.
“I don’t know,” he
said.
-- I don’t know of any of you have
been down Bemiss Road towards Moody Air Force Base from Valdosta lately, but
they just installed a new traffic light at the intersection of Bemiss with the
Forrest Street Extension -- this is the way I usually I drive -- and that can
be a hard intersection to get through -- so I was glad to see the light go in
-- when the put the light up, they
didn’t immediately activate it -- instead, they put up huge neon caution lights
with the message, “Traffic Light will activate on Sept 19” -- and they left
that sign up for about two weeks
-- so, the light’s been there for a
little over a week now, and everyone is getting used to it -- or, so I thought
-- when I was going home Friday, I merged over into the left turn lane behind
another car to take a left onto Forrest Street Extension -- the light was red,
and had been so for some time
-- the car in front of me pulled up
to the intersection -- the driver looked at the traffic -- and made an
immediate left across Bemiss Road -- blindly running the red light -- luckily,
there was no cross traffic, and they made it across safely -- it was almost
like he didn’t see the light -- he didn’t the sign -- he was just going through
the routine that he had probably done for the last twenty years in order to
beat the traffic and get across the intersection
-- this morning, we’re going to look
at a passage where a group of people in the Bible are doing the exact same
thing -- there’s a new sign in town -- and even though there’s been huge neon
caution lights up announcing a change, these people are blind to the sign --
they’re still doing business in the same old way -- they’re doing the same old
thing they’ve always done and are following the same old routines and
traditions they’ve always followed -- they’re not paying attention to the sign
before them -- and they’re going to miss what’s coming
-- as you know, we’ve been in a
sermon series on the miracles of Jesus as recorded in the Book of John -- John
tells us these miracles were given as signs to the people that the Messiah had
come to Israel -- and, last week, we talked about the audiences that were given
the signs -- how the miracles targeted specific people and specific groups
-- so far, only one miracle has been
performed in Jerusalem -- the healing of the paralytic man by the Pool of Siloam
-- as we discussed when we looked at that miracle, that healing was an initial
sign given to the people of Jerusalem that the Messiah had come -- the healing
by that pool had spiritual significance, as it was related to the drawing of
water from the pool as an offering during the Feast of Tabernacles
-- it was also the initial
pronouncement by Jesus to the Jewish leaders -- especially the Pharisees --
that Jesus was in town and that He was proclaiming Himself to be the
long-awaited Messiah -- if you remember, Jesus specifically healed the
paralytic man on the Sabbath, which provoked the long-standing traditions of
the Pharisees
-- in the miracle we are looking at
today -- the healing of the blind man -- Jesus once again sends a direct
message and sign to the Pharisees and the Priests that He has come by healing
the blind man on the Sabbath, just like He did the paralytic man -- He’s
already been debating the Pharisees in the temple courts -- they’re already
plotting against Him because of the miracles on the Sabbath and because of His
declaration in John 8:58 that “before Abraham was born, I Am,” essentially
claiming to be God in the flesh
-- and now Jesus continues to
confront the Pharisees by once again healing someone on the Sabbath in
violation of the man-made rules the Pharisees had enacted -- keep in mind,
Jesus isn’t doing this just to start a fight -- His actions are flashing, neon
lights that are announcing the Messiah has come -- He’s trying to get the
Pharisees to see past their religion -- past their man-made rules and ideas
about who God is and what the Messiah is going to look like
-- He’s trying to reach their hearts
-- He’s trying to bring them to a place of repentance and forgiveness, so that
they might be saved through faith in Him -- but, they’re blind to the signs --
running the red lights so that their religious traditions might not be
challenged
-- the interesting thing in this
story is that the blind man saw Jesus, but the Pharisees didn’t
-- let’s look now at the story of Jesus
healing the blind man from John 9 and see what we can learn from this passage
II. Scripture Lesson (John 9:1-12)
-- verse 1
1 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 works
of God might be displayed in him.
4 As long as it is
day, we must do the works 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.”
-- so, John tells us that while
Jesus is in Jerusalem for the Feast of the Tabernacles, He and His disciples
are walking along and happen upon a man who was blind -- we can assume this man
is probably sitting by the road begging, as someone who was blind in Jesus’ day
probably didn’t have any other way to make a living
-- the disciples pointed the man out
to Jesus and immediately assumed that the man was suffering because of sin --
either his own or his parents
-- this idea that suffering came
through sin was a common idea in Jesus’ day -- there is some truth to this
belief -- we know that -- we have experienced that in our own lives -- people
suffer because of the consequences of their sins -- and, sometimes, others
suffer because they are affected by those same sins -- we all know people whose
sins have caused families to divide, affecting spouses and children for decades
-- we all know people whose addictions affect not only themselves, but their
whole families -- we all have seen the effect of sin in the case of crime and
violence and war -- sin can cause suffering -- there is no doubt about that --
but, as Jesus points out here, not all suffering is caused by sin
-- some suffering happens because we
live in a fallen world -- we live in a world that has been corrupted through
the original sin of Adam and Eve -- and, as we move farther and farther away
from the perfection of Creation, this world continues to decay and degrade --
our environment is affected -- we suffer from storms and natural disasters --
we suffer from maladies caused by disease and sickness -- this is part of
living in a fallen world -- suffering is a part of life
-- this is part of the reason why
the Father sent Jesus to earth -- He came to not only heal and save us from our
sins, but to heal this land -- as the Bible and our Christmas songs proclaim, the
Messiah has come to bring healing “as far as the curse is found” -- Paul said
that all Creation was groaning in anticipation of the coming of the Messiah and
the healing He would bring
-- sometimes God protects us from
the consequences of our sins and the sins of others -- sometimes God protects
us from the suffering inherent in this fallen world -- but, sometimes, He
allows us to experience pain and suffering for His purposes -- trials and
tribulations can grow us -- they can mature our faith in Jesus -- and they can
be opportunities for God to touch our lives in miraculous ways
-- that’s the very point that Jesus
was trying to make to His disciples here -- in response to the disciples’
question about sin in the life of this man, Jesus said that his blindness was
not the result of any sin -- instead, the Father had allowed it into his life
in order that the work of God might be displayed
-- when you see someone in pain --
when you see someone suffering -- you shouldn’t immediately assume it’s because
of their sin -- it may be because of another reason -- God may have allowed
that suffering into their lives for a purpose
-- Jesus is trying to teach His
disciples and us that we should not judge -- we should not seek to cast blame
or condemn someone for the place where they are -- instead, we should do the
work of Him who has called us -- as long as it is light -- as long as the
presence of God is here in this place and we are His people -- saved by His
name and called to His hands and feet in this world -- we should seek to help
those around us -- to reach out to them in the name of Jesus -- to bring
comfort and healing to their bodies and minds and spirits, so that they might
come to know and experience God in a miraculous way
-- our question should never be,
“What did you do to get in this situation?” -- instead, it should be, “How can
I help?”
-- verse 6
6 After saying
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.
8 His neighbors
and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, “Isn’t this the same man who
used to sit and beg?” 9 Some claimed that he was.
Others said, “No,
he only looks like him.”
But he himself
insisted, “I am the man.”
-- so, Jesus spit on the ground,
made mud with His saliva, and put it on the eyes of the blind man -- He told
him to go and wash in the Pool of Siloam -- the pool of healing -- the pool
known in Jerusalem as the Pool of the Messiah
-- “Go and wash,” Jesus said -- “Go
and make yourself clean” -- and the man did just as Jesus commanded -- he went
and washed the mud from his eyes and came home seeing
-- Jesus had just proclaimed to His
disciples in verse 5 that He was the light of the world -- and, immediately, we
see Him bringing light to a man who had lived forever in darkness
-- you need to understand why this
miracle of bringing sight to the blind was such a bold pronouncement of the
coming of the Messiah -- this was one of the signs prophesied by Isaiah in the
Old Testament
-- in Isaiah 35:5-6, Isaiah said
that when the Messiah came, “the eyes of the blind will be opened -- the ears
of the deaf unstopped -- the lame will leap like a deer -- and the mute tongue
will shout for joy” -- and in Isaiah 42:6-7, Isaiah wrote that the Messiah
would be a covenant for the people -- a light for the Gentiles -- and that He
came to “open eyes that are blind -- to free captives from prison and to
release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness”
-- when the people of Jerusalem saw
this healing, they knew what it meant -- it was a sign of the Messiah in their
midst -- people weren’t just healed of blindness -- sometimes, healing from disease
happened -- the sick got better -- sometimes, healing from lameness happened --
bones were reset -- muscles came back together -- people could walk again --
but blindness? -- no one ever recovered from blindness
-- when the people saw this man walking
along seeing, they just couldn’t believe it -- some wouldn’t even believe it
was the same person
-- that’s common when Jesus touches
someone’s life -- their lives are changed -- and, sometimes, they’re changed so
radically, that we just can’t believe it’s the same person -- we’ve all heard
testimonies from people who were criminals -- who were bound up in addictions
-- who lived terrible lives -- and who were touched by Jesus and were healed
and changed in a miraculous way -- that’s what’s going on here -- this man was
blind, but now he can see -- a walking billboard proclaiming the coming of the
Messiah
-- everyone wants to know how this
happened -- everyone wants to hear his testimony -- it’s the same with us --
when Jesus changes our lives, people want to know how it happened -- when Jesus
does something miraculous through us or through this church, they’re going to
be drawn to this place to find out what’s going on
-- they people asked him, “How were
your eyes opened?” -- and when he told them that Jesus did it, their next
question was, “Where is this Man?”
-- they know what the healing means
-- they know that Jesus is the Messiah -- and now they are looking for Him --
they saw the sign and believed -- but others didn’t
-- we’re not going to finish this
chapter today -- but, as this chapter continues, we see the Pharisees
investigating the healing of the blind man -- they want to know how this
happened -- who did it -- and what it means
-- this miracle was a sign from
Jesus to everyone in Jerusalem -- but, especially to the Pharisees who wouldn’t
believe Jesus when He proclaimed “I Am” in their presence
III. Closing
-- someone once asked Helen Keller,
“Isn’t blindness the worst handicap a person can have?” -- she replied, “no,
it’s far worse to have eyes and not be able to see”
-- spiritual blindness was not just
a problem in first century AD -- it’s a problem that continues to plague us --
everyday we walk past people who are blind -- they just don’t know it -- their
eyes are closed to the spiritual reality of God in this world -- their eyes are
closed to their need for a Savior -- their eyes are closed to the healing and
forgiveness that is offered to them through Jesus
-- our calling this morning is to be
a sign to this world -- to look for the blind around us -- but, unlike the
disciples, to not blame them for their blindness but to reach out to them with
healing hands and healing words
-- in his song, “Fingerprints of
God,” Steven Curtis Chapman points out that the signs of God’s presence in our
lives is always visible, if we but look -- just like the sign that Jesus gave
the Pharisees and the people of Jerusalem by healing the blind man, God is
constantly speaking to us today and giving us and others signs of His presence
and calling in our lives
-- we just need to learn to see with
eyes of faith so that we might receive His healing and experience His grace in
our lives -- and we need to learn to reach out to others so that they might
experience a miracle through Jesus’ healing touch
-- miracles still happen today --
Jesus is the same yesterday and today and forever -- He still touches lives and
changes hearts -- He still brings healing -- physically and spiritually -- and
He has invited us to join Him in this ministry
-- as we leave here today, I want to
encourage you to open your eyes and look for the blind -- reach out to them --
give them the message of the cross -- give them the message of Jesus -- and be
a sign to this world of what Jesus can do
-- let us pray
No comments:
Post a Comment