John 9:1-7
Sermon preached on June 25, 2006 by Laurence W. Veinott. ©
Copyright 2006. All rights reserved. Other sermons can be
found at http://www.newlifeop.org/.
Okay, I need a show of hands here. If I said that Jesus
needed a volunteer, someone who would be blind for 20 or 25
years, just so that Jesus could heal him after that period
of time. But not only that, but people will be talking
about you and your parents, looking down on you and
wondering which of you was the great sinner. Any
volunteers?
Actually, God doesn’t need volunteers. He could just
pick someone. What if God picked you? Or imagine that God
picked you even before you were born—that He decided
that you would be born blind and live like that for 20 or
25 years until Jesus came along to heal you.
How would you feel? Would you feel that it was unfair?
Would you feel that God shouldn't have done that to you?
Before us we have an incredible chapter. Jesus starts it
all off. The blind man doesn’t call for him for help.
The disciples don’t point him out. Jesus sees him and
it is possible that He paused to look at him. The disciples
knew about the man and asked Jesus about him. They said,
“Rabbi,
who sinned,
this man or his parents,
that he was born blind?”
They
assumed that there was a direct relationship between some
sin and this man’s blindness. Sometimes there is such
a relationship. We see this in
Numbers 12 where
Aaron and
Miriam spoke
against Moses because he married a Cushite woman. Because
of this Miriam was temporarily afflicted with leprosy. We
also see it in the case of Elisha’s servant
Gehazi. He was
afflicted with leprosy because of his greed. (2 Kings 5)
But the story of
Job shows us
that many times there is no link between suffering and a
specific sin. But the disciples hadn’t learned that
lessons. They assumed that there must have been sin
associated with his condition. He had been born blind. Why?
There seemed only two possibilities but both of them were
problematic. Perhaps the man had sinned before he was born.
But how could anyone do that? Some suggest that some of the
disciples thought that the soul was pre-existent (a belief
that appears in a book in the Apocrypha, the Wisdom of
Solomon, 8:20) and so the man could have sinned before he
was born. But such a thought is not biblical and as
Morris says,
(John, p. 478, note 7)
“does
not appear to have been held widely in Judaism.”
Others
suggest that perhaps the a person can sin in the womb, and
point to Genesis 25:22f where we read about the pregnancy
of Isaac’s wife Rebekah. It says,
“The
babies jostled each other within her,
and she said,
‘Why is this happening to me?’
So she went to inquire of the LORD.
The LORD said to her,
Two nations are in your womb,
and two peoples from within you will be separated;
one people will be stronger than the other,
and the older will serve the younger.’”
You’ll
also remember that Esau came out first and when Jacob came
out he was grasping Esau’s heel.
But neither of those explanations seemed satisfactory. So
perhaps it was his parents who sinned. But there are
problems with that as well, for it is difficult to think of
God punishing a man so much for something his parents did.
In fact one of the rules that God gave to His ancient
people was that they were not to punish children for the
sins of their parents. (Ezekiel 18)
So Jesus’ disciples are puzzled. They ask Jesus about
it. Jesus replies,
“Neither
this man nor his parents sinned,
but this happened
so that the work of God
might be displayed in his life.”
The
great truth we see here is that
this man
suffered for God’s glory.
For
years and years this man had suffered blindness. For years
and years this man did not know what sight was
like—and it was for God’s glory. He was born
like that so that the works of God might be displayed in
his life.
The man was blind for all those years so that the works of
God might be displayed in His life.
Now the main thing that this shows us is that
Jesus is
someone who is absolutely unique. He is the light of the
world.
Jesus
did things that no one else ever did. Jesus healed a man
born blind.
Leon Morris tells us
that there is
no account of anyone giving sight to the blind in anywhere
in the Old Testament. Nor do
we ever read of Jesus' disciples healing anyone who was
blind. The closest we have is Ananias laying his hands on
Saul of Tarsus to relieve his temporary blindness. Morris
writes, (John, p. 475)
"In the
Old Testament the giving of sight to the blind is
associated with God Himself (Exodus 4:11, Psalm 146:8). It
is also a messianic activity (Isaiah 29:18; 35:5; 42:7) and
this may be its significance in the New Testament."
Morris goes on
to show that John here is showing Jesus to be the
Messiah,
the Light of the world. In
verse 5 Jesus said,
"I am
the light of the world."
He was
showing that He was the fulfillment of all the Old
Testament promises regarding light coming into the world.
We saw that in our responsive reading in Isaiah 42. We also
see it in
Isaiah 9, which
is the great prophecy about a child being born, unto us a
son is given, and the government will be on His shoulders,
and He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. That section begins
with these words, (Isaiah 9:2)
"The
people walking in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of the shadow of death
a light has dawned."
John
Calvin comments
on Jesus using the clay to heal the man's blindness.
"as man
was first made of clay, so Christ used clay in restoring
his eyes, to show that He had the same power over a part of
the body that the Father had exercised in creating the
whole man."
All
these things show us that Jesus was the Messiah, the One
who was long predicted in the Old Testament—the One
who would come and bring light, who would heal the blind.
Remember when John the Baptist sent disciples asking if
Jesus was the Messiah. Are you the one we are looking for
or do we seek someone else? Luke mentions that at the very
time when these messengers came, Jesus was curing many who
had diseases, sicknesses and evil spirits, and gave sight
to many who were blind. So Jesus replied, (Luke 7:22)
"Go back
and report to John
what you have seen and heard:
The blind receive sight,
the lame walk,
those who have leprosy are cured,
the deaf hear,
the dead are raised,
and the good news is preached to the poor."
There
was no one ever like Jesus. He is the light of the world.
Jesus puts this healing of the man born blind not long
after Jesus words in John 8:12.
"I am
the light of the world.
Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness,
but will have the light of life."
Jesus
came to save sinners. John 8 ends with the story of
the
woman taken in adultery, and
shows Jesus' love for sinners. It comes before
John 10 where
Jesus said that He was the Good Shepherd, who was going to
lay down His life for His sheep.
Jesus is the light of the world. He came to save sinners.
He came to put fallen, sinful, blind man—right.
Jesus is the light of the world and He here teaches you
many things. What light does Jesus bring you?
There are five lessons that the Light teaches you here.
First,
when you see someone who is suffering, you ought to
recognize God's hand in it, take note and turn from your
sins.
Remember
what Jesus said about those on whom the tower of Siloam
fell? In
Luke 13 Jesus
was asked about the Galileans that Pilate had slaughter in
the temple area. Jesus said, those
"Do you
think that these Galileans
were worse sinners than all the other Galileans
because they suffered this way?
I tell you, no!
But unless you repent,
you too will all perish.
Or those eighteen who died
when the tower in Siloam fell on them—
do you think they were more guilty than all the others
living in Jerusalem?
I tell you, no!
But unless you repent,
you too will all perish."
We're
all sinners. We all need to repent. We all need to turn to
the Light of the World to save us.
The NIV is a little inaccurate in verse three because it
translates it 'work' when in fact the original Greek word
is
plural. Jesus
said that he was born blind so that the
'works'
of God might be displayed in His life.
The reason this is significant is because it points us to
more than just Jesus' healing him. We ought to see the
other side to it—his years of suffering. John
Calvin writes,
"He does
not say one work, but works in the plural; for so long as
he was blind, there was exhibited in him an example of the
divine severity, from which others might learn to fear and
to humble themselves. It was followed by the benefit of his
deliverance, in which the wonderful goodness of God was
reflected."
This man
was blind for 20 or 25 years for a reason. Part of the
reason has to do with you. That's right, with you.
God had something so important to tell you, so important
that you not miss it, that he had this man be blind for all
those years and for you to hear about it, to hear about
Jesus healing Him. He was
showing you that Jesus is the One you need—that you
need to turn from your sins and be given true life in Him.
Secondly, the Light teaches us that
when you
see someone sick, handicapped, or merely poor—you are
to treat them with great respect.
You are
not to look down upon them and think that you're better
than them. You're not to think that they must be a worse
sinner than you. Jesus' disciples, and probably most other
people looked down on this blind man. They thought that
either he or his parents were great sinners. But Jesus told
them that it wasn't because of a specific sin that he was
born blind. Quite the contrary, it was so that Jesus could
heal him and bring honor and glory to His name and to God.
This man is still talked about today. His story reminds me
of Jesus' words about the woman who anointed His head with
expensive perfume. Some criticized her for her waste, but
Jesus said, (Mark 14:6f)
"Leave
her alone.
Why are you bothering her?
She has done a beautiful thing to me.
The poor you will always have with you,
and you can help them any time you want.
But you will not always have me.
She did what she could.
She poured perfume on my body beforehand
to prepare for my burial.
I tell you the truth,
wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world,
what she has done will also be told,
in memory of her."
It also
reminds me of the widow who put in two small copper coins
into the temple treasury. Jesus said about her, (Luke
21:3-4)
"I tell
you the truth,
this poor widow has put in more than all the others.
All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth;
but she out of her poverty
put in all she had to live on."
The
blind man, the woman who poured expensive perfume, worth a
year's wages on Jesus' head, the poor widow putting her two
copper coins into the temple treasury—all people who
were looked down upon by most people—yet God was
pleased with them. They have positions of honor in glory.
They are among the heroes of the faith. They are among the
ones that
Hebrews 11:38 says,
"the
world was not worthy of them."
God used
them to bring glory to Jesus and to be used to teach people
throughout the ages.
Thirdly, Jesus teaches you that
you are
to use adversity to become a better person.
God uses
us to manifest His works—both in good things and bad.
John Calvin wrote,
"Nor
have men any right to argue with God when He makes them the
instruments of His glory in both ways, whether He appears
as merciful or severe."
Job also
testified to this. When all those disasters came upon Job
his wife urged him to curse God and die. But he said, (Job
2:10)
"You are
talking like a foolish woman.
Shall we accept good from God,
and not trouble?"
The
apostle Paul taught us the same thing. He was willing to
embrace the bad for the glory of Christ. In
Philippians 1:20 he
wrote,
"I
eagerly expect and hope
that I will in no way be ashamed,
but will have sufficient courage
so that now as always
Christ will be exalted in my body,
whether by life or by death."
God
works in us so that His works might be manifested in our
lives. Acts 17 tells us that in Him we live and move and
have our being. Ephesians 2 tells us that we are His
workmanship, created in Jesus Christ unto good works.
Understand that God's works are being manifested in your
life. What happens to you is not an accident. God sometimes
arranges difficult circumstances in your life so that He
would be glorified. Seek to glorify God in what happens to
you. Seek to learn from God's providences. Seek to bring
glory to Christ through them.
This man in John 9 was a remarkable man. Indeed, in this
chapter he stands head and shoulders above all the other
people. Only Jesus comes out ahead of him. He was a
remarkable character and he displayed remarkable character.
He boldly testified about Jesus. He told everyone that it
was Jesus who healed him. When the Pharisees criticized
Jesus for healing him on the Sabbath, the man declared that
Jesus was a prophet. While his parents were afraid of being
put out of the synagogue and refused to acknowledge
Jesus—he boldly told them about Him. When the
Pharisees accused Jesus of sin, he boldly replied,
"Whether
he is a sinner or not, I don't know.
One thing I do know.
I was blind but now I see."
When
they kept asking him about how Jesus healed him, he
ridiculed the Pharisees, asking them if they wanted to
become Jesus disciples too. When they heaped insults on him
and told them that they were disciples of Moses, but they
didn't know Jesus or where He came from—he lectured
them, (verse 30f)
"Now
that is remarkable!
You don't know where he comes from,
yet he opened my eyes.
We know that God does not listen to sinners.
He listens to the godly man who does his will.
Nobody has ever heard of opening
the eyes of a man born blind.
If this man were not from God,
he could do nothing."
Then
they threw him out. What a character. You don't see too
many people standing up for Jesus like that.
The question is—how did He get to be so remarkable?
It wasn't just because Jesus healed him. Character like
that is not formed in a minute. His character wasn't formed
just through Jesus healing him. No. We see that from the
first part of
John 5. Jesus
healed a crippled man at the pool of Bethesda. When the
Jews criticized him for carrying his mat, he told them that
the man who healed him had told him to do it. When Jesus
later found him he told him to stop sinning or something
worse might happen to him. He immediately went and told the
Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him.
He was so different than this man in John 9. They both
experienced a great healing. But it seems that one had used
his suffering to draw near to God, to bring glory to Him,
while the other was still steeped in sin.
Consider this man in John 9. He stood up for Jesus like no
one else. God had been severe with him in having him being
born blind—but he had seen it as God's work and
learned from it.
Hebrews 12 tells us
not to despise the discipline of the Lord. It says,
"Our
fathers disciplined us
for a little while as they thought best;
but God disciplines us for our good,
that we may share in his holiness."
We are
to use God's disciple to become more holy. We read the same
thing in James 1:2f which reads,
"Consider
it pure joy, my brothers,
whenever you face trials of many kinds,
because you know that
the testing of your faith develops perseverance.
Perseverance must finish its work
so that you may be mature and complete,
not lacking anything."
Use
troubles and difficulties to draw closer to God.
I once saw a man interviewed on TV shortly after he had
been released from prison. It had been proven that he had
not committed the crime. He had been in jail for it for
years. Yet, seeing him, I didn't detect any bitterness,
anger or a seeking for revenge on those who had wronged
him. Quite the contrary, he was pure gold. I could hardly
believe what I was seeing. He had improved himself in
prison. He had become a better person. That's how we should
use adversity. As we read in
1 Peter 1:6f,
"In this
you greatly rejoice,
though now for a little while
you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.
These have come so that your faith—
of greater worth than gold,
which perishes even though refined by fire—
may be proved genuine and may result in praise,
glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed."
Fourthly,
the light teaches us here that
you only
have a limited time and during that time you must bring
glory to God.
In
verse 4 Jesus
said,
"As long
as it is day,
we must do the work of him who sent me.
Night is coming,
when no one can work."
Leon
Morris says of this verse,
"Both
'we' and 'must' are important."
Each one
of us has been given great gifts and great
responsibilities. We have been given the gift of life. But
this life carries with it responsibilities. While you live
is your daytime. Night is coming. That's when you'll be
dead. The point that Jesus makes is that we need to work
for God while it is day—while we live.
Note will the word, 'must'. Working for God, bringing glory
to Him is not just expedient or advisable but is a
compelling necessity. (Morris) John
Calvin writes,
"the
course of a man's life is at it were his day. Therefore, as
the shortness of daylight stirs laborers to industry and
toil, that they nay not be overtaken by the darkness of
night in the middle of their work, so when we see that a
short time of life is allotted to us we should be ashamed
of lazing in idleness."
Lastly,
those of
you who are not Christians, take this story to heart.
Don't
close your eyes to the glory of Jesus, His love for
sinners, His willingness to save them. Many heard about the
great miracle that Jesus performed and they closed their
eyes to it. They said that the man wasn't the same one.
They said that he was a great sinner. They ended up
throwing him out. Calvin writes
"ungodliness
is clever at obscuring the works of God and so many thought
it was not the same man."
Open
your eyes to what Jesus did. Open your eyes to how good God
has been to you. You're not suffering like this blind man.
You were not born blind. You haven't been born blind and
had to live 20 or 25 years without knowing what sight is
like. God has been good to you? Why?
Romans 2:4 gives us
the answer,
"Or do
you show contempt
for the riches of his kindness,
tolerance and patience,
not realizing that God's kindness
leads you toward repentance?"
Go to
Jesus. Ask Him to save you.