Blindness, Sight, and the Light

John 9:1-41

John 3:19-20

(vv. 1-3) A man born blind

This is a spiritual dimension to this passage that has already begun

John could have written 1,000 other things here, so why this story?

John 20:30-31- Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

Not only does John want to draw our attention to this man’s physical blindness, but also to man’s natural spiritual blindness

Who sinned, this man or his parents?

It was neither this man nor his parents

It is so that the works of God might be displayed

Do we ever think in this way?

Even though we can’t fully understand all of the reasons why, we see in passages like this one that it is God’s wise purposeful design that is behind things like physical handicap

The “works of God” is not primarily referring to the miracles of Jesus, but rather the working of God in the man’s life

(vv. 4-7) The works of the mission

We must work the works of Him who sent me

Who is we?

There are three possibilities

It could be Jesus and His disciples until the end of the age when the judgment comes

This is unlikely because He connects this statement with His earthly ministry (v. 5)

It could be Jesus and His immediate disciples

This is plausible, but the Apostles go onto do their greatest ministry after Jesus has ascended

It could be Jesus and the blind man- Jesus’ miracles, but also the display of His spiritual sight-giving power in the life of the blind man

This seems to be the best option because His time is soon coming to die and He seems to be saying that He must do this miraculous work before His time comes

The night is coming

If this is right, then the night that is coming is His death,

Therefore, the reason that noone can work when the night comes is because His earthly ministry will have been completed and this sight-giving miracle will not happen after His death

I am the light of the world

This statement begins to make abundantly clear that He is speaking of spiritual realities, not just of retinas and optic nerves

The first act of blinding

He makes mud with His saliva

Why?

From the context it seems clear that He does it to upset the Pharisees about doing it on the Sabbath

The first step toward sight-giving

Go and wash

He obeys and suddenly he regains his sight

(vv. 16-17) The big question

What do you say about Him?

Some of the Pharisees said that this man is not from God

“He does not keep the sabbath”

Others asked how can a sinner do such things

The blind man says that He is a prophet

They press the blind man again

They bring his family to ask if he was actually blind

They confirm that he was

He says that all he knows is that he was blind and now he can see

They ask to hear what happened to him again

He asks them if they would like to become Jesus disciples too

They respond by telling that he is Jesus’ disciple but they are disciples of Jesus

The blind man responds in sharpness and declares that Jesus is from God

The Pharisees become furious

They insult him by saying that he was born in utter sin

They put him out of the synagogue

This would have resulted in being shunned and losing all of your relational connections

(vv. 35-38) The blind man sees

He asks him if he believes in the Son of Man

The blind man asks Jesus to tell Him who this Son of Man is

Jesus says that He is the Son of Man

The blind man declares his belief and worships Jesus

His blind eyes have been opened and He sees the Light of the world

He has been set free from sin and Satan.

He has been healed of his hell-bound terminal sin-sickness.

He has come to know Sight-Giver and He means everything to him.

This is the means by which God saves sinner, and this is how He has saved you who believe.

He is able to give sight, so shine brightly the Light of Jesus

In God’s grace, you who see Christ as the beautiful Savior have had your blind eyes opened

You didn’t earn it

You didn’t deserve it

You weren’t a better candidate than anyone else

Rejoice and marvel at the amazing grace of God!

Cling to Jesus who is the life-giving Light of the world

Never forget what He has done in making your blind eyes to see

Know that if He began this good work in you, then He will surely complete it on the day of Jesus Christ (Philippians 1:6)

He is able to do the same thing in the life of any unbeliever in your life

Pray for them with all of your heart

Share the Good News of Jesus in love even if you have before

Love them sacrificially for their eternal good and Christ’s glory

He is abundantly able, so will you trust Him?

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Intro

Does theological precision matter? Should a Christian care about the details of the Bible and the “therefores” and “in order thats” of sentences? Or should we simply take a step back, stick with the gospel basics, and live there each week? I think that the clear answer to these questions is that theology really matterts, discovering how sentences and passages and books of the Bible really matters. The type of teaching, preaching, and learning that is content to stay at the basic gospel level is extremely unwise and will let you down when the waves of life come rolling in and you need the rich truths of God’s Word to cling to and be guided by. John, so far in this Gospel account, has been very selective with the content of what he has written because he wants for his readers to be drawn inside of a particular framework of thinking and lens of seeing. We have been confronted again and again by unbelief and belief, sight and blindness, light and darkness, judgment and mercy. This passage is now, not only an accounting of a miracle that Jeus performed, but a real-time example of what John has largely been talking about over the past 8 chapters.

1.

Jesus, after the completion of His temple discourse, “passed by” and what does He see? He sees a man who has been blind from birth. There has never been a single day of his life that he could see anything at all. On the surface it seems as though John is simply switching gears to begin talking about Jesus’ miracles, but we must remember that John could have written 1,000 other things in this passage and yet he chose to write about this story. John says, in John 20:30-31: “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” It is in this reality that we must recognize that there is a spiritual dimension to this passage that John has been establishing. If this would simply come to this passage at random without spending time in the preceding passages, then we would be bling to this reality. But we have been confronted with the spiritual dimensions behind sin, life, and salvation. This is why, I don’t think that the physical blindness of this man is John or Jesus’ main point or concern. It is the man’s natural spiritual blindness to which our attention ought to be primarily drawn.

Jesus’ disciples see this man and ask Him “Who sinned, this man or his parents that he is blind?” They are working frome the commonly held framework of their day that if something bad happens to you, then it must be because of a sin that you have committed. In this man’s case, the question even arises “Since he has been born blind, then was it his parent’s sin that did this to him?” But Jesus tells them that it was neither this man nor his parents. Rather, It is so that the works of God might be displayed in him. Even though we can’t fully understand all of the reasons why, we see in passages like this one that it is God’s wise purposeful design that is behind things like physical handicap. The question is, do we believe that? This is counterintuitive and to many is offensive, but God is God and we are not, so we must submit to His Word and trust His good wisdom. And, as D.A. Carson points out in his commentary, “works of God” is not primarily referring to the miracles of Jesus, but rather the working of God in the man’s life. This is what I’d like to spend the rest of our time seeing.

2.

Now Jesus focuses in on the works of His mission. He says “We must work the works of Him who sent me.” But you should be asking a question right now. Who is we? I think that there are probably three legitimate possibilities. 1) It could be referring to Jesus and His disciples until the end of the age when the judgment comes. However, this is unlikely because He connects this statement with His earthly ministry in verse 5. 2) It could be referring to Jesus and His immediate disciples. But the problem here is that the Apostles go onto do their greatest ministry after Jesus has ascended. 3) It could be referring to Jesus and the blind man. I agree again with Carson, who said that Jesus’ point in saying this is primarily about the display of His spiritual sight-giving power in the life of the blind man, not the physical healing of his eyes. This seems to be the best option because His time is soon coming to die and He seems to be saying that He must do this miraculous work before His time comes. But He doesn’t stop there. He also says that “the night is coming when noone can work.” If the interpretation is right that He is mainly referring to His display of power through physical sight-giving to point to His spiritual sign-giving power, then the night that is coming is His death. Therefore, the reason that noone can work when the night comes is because His earthly ministry will have been completed and this sight-giving miracle will not happen after His death. Then He says “While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” This begins to make abundantly clear that He is speaking of spiritual realities, not just of retinas and optic nerves.

Now, He performs the miracle. He makes mud with His saliva. But why? Why not just speak or touch him? From the context, it seems clear that He does it to upset the Pharisees about doing it on the Sabbath. Not only are we about to see Jesus’ awesome power to open the hearts of the heart, but also His right and power to further blind the eyes of the heart. The mud on the eyes of this man is the first step of blindness producing. But Jesus tell the blind man to go and was, and as the man is obedient and washes he sees for the very first time! This is the first step toward true sight-giving in the story.

3.

Now comes the big question of the passage. The Pharisees catch wind of this miracle, and so they ask the blind man “what do you say about Him?” Amongst themselves some of the Pharisees say that this man is not from God because He does not keep the sabbath. Others asked how can a sinner do such things. The blind man’s assertion is that He is a prophet. They call for his parents becasu they don’t even believe that he was once blind, but they verify that he was once blind. Not content with his answer, they press the blind man again. He says that all he knows is that he was blind and now he can see. They ask him again how Jesus did it, so the man asks if they want to be His disciples. They angrily declare that he is Jesus’ disciple

The blind man now responds in sharpness and declares that Jesus is from God. The Pharisees become furious. They insult him by saying that he was born in utter sin and put him out of the synagogue. This was a big deal because it would have effectively resulted in being shunned and losing all of your relational connections.

Do you see what is happening? This once-blind man can now see and the Pharisees are perplexed about it. The blind man, however, is still blind in the deepest and most significant way, but the interchange between he and the Pharisees is used by God to slowly begin to cause light to flow in and the blindness to be lifted. He is even far enough along at this point that he is willing to make a statement about Jesus that he probably knew would get him booted from the Synagogue. His heart is being soften and prepared, and it is all leading up to what we are about to read in verses 35-38.

4.

Jesus hears that the blind man has been put out of the Synagogue, so He goes and finds him. When He finds him, He asks him if he believes in the Son of Man. I can imagine the excitement that must have suddenly filled his face from which he said to Jesus “who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” You can hear the utter genuineness of his request. He wants Jesus to show him who this Son of Man so that he can cast himself on Him in faith. It is at this point that I can imagine a smile coming across Jesus’ face, knowing what is about to happen in this man’s heart, and he says “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.”

Then it happened. The miracle of sight pours into this man’s heart by the power of God Almighty, and for the very first time this blind man sees. His blind eyes have been opened, he sees the Light of the world, and he worships Him in genuine faith. Brothers and Sisters, a miracle has happened and it isn’t mainly that a man’s eyes work for the first time. The main miracle in this story is that a man was raised to life from the dead in New Birth. He has been set free from sin and Satan. He has been healed of his hell-bound terminal sin-sickness. He has come to know Sight-Giver and He means everything to him. This is the means by which God saves sinner, and this is how He has saved you who believe.

5.

In God’s grace, you who see Christ as the beautiful Savior have have your blind eyes opened. You didn’t earn it. You didn’t deserve it. You weren’t a better candidate than anyone else. In His free sovereign grace, He chose to open the eyes of your blind heart and give you life. Rejoice and marvel at the amazing grace of God! Cling to Jesus who is the life-giving Light of the world! Never forget what He has done in making your blind eyes to see! Know that if He began this good work in you, then He will surely complete it on the day of Jesus Christ (Philippians 1:6)

Finally, He is able do the same thing in the life of any unbeliever in your life. Even the hardest of hearts and the blindest of eyes can be opened by the power of God through Christ saying into the darkness “Let there be Light”, and there will be light. Pray for them with all of your heart. Share the Good News of Jesus in love even if you have before. Love them sacrificially for their eternal good and Christ’s glory. He is abundantly able, so will you trust Him?