True Blindness

Introduction

Our text this morning is John 9.

John 9 ESV

1 As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3 Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. 4 We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 6 Having said these things, he spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man’s eyes with the mud 7 and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing. 8 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?” 9 Some said, “It is he.” Others said, “No, but he is like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.” 10 So they said to him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” 11 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.” 12 They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.” 13 They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. 14 Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. 15 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.” 16 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. 17 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.” 18 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 19 and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” 20 His parents answered, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. 21 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.” 22 (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.) 23 Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.” 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.” 25 He answered, “Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” 26 They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” 27 He answered them, “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?” 28 And they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. 29 We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.” 30 The man answered, “Why, this is an amazing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. 31 We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. 32 Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” 34 They answered him, “You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?” And they cast him out. 35 Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” 36 He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” 37 Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.” 38 He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him. 39 Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.” 40 Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?” 41 Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.

Let’s pray:

“Father, we thank you for your word. In your unknowable transcendence, you have descended to make yourself known. You didn’t have to, but out of your sovereign love, you have. We glorify your name because you have told us your name. We are grateful that you have given us the word to study, to correct us, to reprove us, and to show us how to live for your glory for all of our days. Change us, Holy Spirit, as the Word is able to do so. We trust in you to change our hearts, our attitudes, and our motivations. Now, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. Amen.

What was this man’s greatest problem? He was born blind. His life was reduced to begging. He was probably destitute. What was his biggest problem? Was it his physical condition? Was it his lack of money? Was it his social status? We could make a case for each of those. They are all related, anyway. He couldn’t get a job because he was blind, and he was poor because he couldn’t get a job. I am sure all of his life had been a struggle. I want to posit, however, that this man’s greatest struggle in life was not his physical blindness. The immensity of struggle brought on by his physical condition was nothing compared to the eternal struggle brought by an un-redeemed soul. Today, we will look at true blindness.

As we continue to move through Jesus’s life, he is going to have another encounter that we need to make note of. Before we dive into the text deeply, though, we need to remember why John wrote this book. Look at John 20:30–31 “30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 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.” This is John’s thesis statement. John has written this book about Jesus based on his own eyewitness testimony so that we might believe. Believe in what? That Jesus is the Messiah, the long-awaited Savior, the Son of God. And based upon that belief we get to experience eternal life in his name. So when we read John, we must always do so knowing that John is playing offense: he has a point. He is trying to get us to believe. This is why we see this miracle-faith pattern throughout the book. Jesus does a miracle and then people believe. Miracle; belief. Miracle leads to belief. Signs and wonders point to true faith. Faith is evidenced by truly abiding in God’s word. It’s a pattern for us!

In this chapter, we will see another healing — a miraculous event. Jesus has just escaped the angry crowd once again, and is somewhere near the temple in Jerusalem. He encountered a blind man, who had been born blind. His blindness was not a result of an accident or a disease, but rather a lifelong blindness. As we follow the story, I want us to focus on the theme of God’s glory being revealed today. And throughout this passage, we will see that God’s glory is revealed in unique and unexpected ways. And the main point today is this: Because God heals not only physically, but spiritually, he is glorified in all things. And our text will show us three ways that God’s glory is revealed: His glory is revealed in healing, in rejection, and in salvation.

God’s Glory in Healing

Let’s look at the first few verses. This man was born blind, and the disciples ask the total wrong question. The disciples are espousing a view that all suffering is a type of punishment for sin of one kind or another. They sound like Eliphaz when he questioned Job’s suffering in Job 4:7 “7 “Remember: who that was innocent ever perished? Or where were the upright cut off?” Now, all suffering does ultimately find its origin in the fall. If the fall had never happened, the natural order would have never been cursed and there would be no suffering. And yes sometimes there is an obvious connection between suffering and sin: Think in terms of Romans 1: People sin sexually and bear the due punishment in their bodies for such carelessness and licentious living. But this is a different situation. The disciples are implying that this man’s blindness was a punishment for sins of unborn children committed in their mothers’ wombs or visited upon children for the sins of their parents. These were common worldviews during the first century.

They were looking for an explanation—a purpose—for this man’s suffering. We can relate, right? When something goes awry or we lose someone or we get that bad news, we want an explanation. Especially when there’s no rational reason for what just happened! We want to know why! We search and search and search for a purpose in the pain, but we often come up short. We go to support groups or read books or repress it or suppress it or whatever just to try to explain away why this bad thing happened. And Jesus gives us the answer: This happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.

The purpose of the congenital blindness of this man was so that the works of God might be displayed in him. So that the glory of the God would be revealed in him! And we know that this man would be healed and the glory of God is revealed in his being healed. But I want to stop for just a moment. Everyone—and I mean everyone—in this room has some sort of suffering that just simply doesn’t make sense. And I am here to tell you today that the purpose in your suffering is that the works of God will be revealed in you, that his glory would be revealed. And this means even if you don’t experience physical healing. Even if your problem is not solved. Even if you lose someone.

Brothers and sisters, there is a purpose to your pain, a why to your wounds, and a strategy behind your suffering. And it is that God’s works would be displayed in you. His ways are higher than our ways. I remember an old hymn we sang when I pastored Sedgwick Baptist Church:

Farther along we’ll know all about it

Farther along we’ll understand why

So cheer up my brother, live in the sunshine

We’ll understand it all by and by

Here’s a consolation to you who might be experiencing acute levels of suffering even now: God has already made sense of your life. He has already written your story. He’s not writing it. The ink has dried and the end is written. The story ends with God’s glory. This man was healed. You might not be. Lazarus was raised. Your loved one probably won’t be. But take heart, because behind all of life’s struggles and all of the chaos, there is purpose and order and beauty. If you are in Christ, this means that no matter what happens during this physical life, you will one day be glorified. God will be glorified in your salvation. You will be fully healed and in the presence of God.

If you are not in Christ, your life still redounds to God’s glory, though in judgment rather than salvation. Understand: He will still be fully glorified in your life, but you will not be. Your life’s purpose is still that God will be glorified, but that will be in executing perfect justice on you by pouring out his wrath on you for your sin. Escape his judgment by receiving Christ as your Savior today. Repent of your sin and turn to him. I am inviting you to do so. If you have questions about that, please talk to me after the sermon.

With all that in our minds, let’s look forward in this passage. We know that God is going to show a display of his works through this man. That’s the purpose of his blindness. Let’s see what the first work of God was: Jesus reminds them who he is: He’s the light of the world. Then he makes mud on the ground, puts it on the man’s eyes and the man washes and comes back healed. Fully seeing. Light in darkness. A couple of things: John uses the word anointing here which, under Pharisaical law was allowed on weekdays but not on on Sabbath. The act of making mud was kneading, like one would knead bread dough. This was also forbidden by the Pharisees on the Sabbath.

Now, was Jesus breaking Sabbath? No - he was showing the silliness of man-made customs that were designed to keep people from breaking Sabbath.

Jesus was showing the Pharisees — and us — that Sabbath is holy and instituted by God. It was never intended to become a legalistic thing to lord over others and show off our supposed righteousness. Rather, the Sabbath was made to restore and revive the people of God as they rest in his tender care and mercy. What better way to do this than for Christ to heal this man?

God’s glory was revealed in this healing, because the purpose of this man’s life — and indeed, the purpose of all things — is to display the glory of God. Anytime the miraculous happens, it is the glory of God that is on display. Anytime someone is healed in the gospels, glory must be given to God. God is glorified through this man’s healing.

But the story doesn’t end there.

God’s Glory in Rejection

Obviously, a man who was born blind being suddenly healed is going to raise some eyebrows. The town was turned upside down. This leads to four different conversations.

The first is between the man and his neighbors. His neighbors grow concerned and don’t believe that he is the one who has been healed. The thing to note here is that he testifies to Jesus immediately. He doesn’t know who Jesus is, but he know that he was blind and now he sees. What a sweet testimony. He doesn’t even know where Jesus went.

Apparently, the neighbors didn’t like this, or they just wanted to check it out a little more, so they grab the Pharisees. Now, we are told that this happened on Sabbath. Therein lies the rub, right? The Pharisees begin to question how this man was healed. “Well, he kneaded dirt into mud and anointed my eyes.” Two sabbath violations. For them, since he was breaking not God’s laws but their own traditions, this means that this cannot be from God. However, the man was clearly healed, so it had to be an act of God. They are divided. The opponents of God cannot make sense of the work of God because they do not have an eye to see God or a heart to glorify God. It makes no sense to them that lord Sabbath regulations over people that Jesus would use the Sabbath for healing, for restoration. They had become too wrapped up in their own supposed obedience that they forgot that the Sabbath existed for the glory of God, not of man.

They can’t make heads or tails of Jesus. So they ask the man who he thinks Jesus is. All he can muster is that the man must be a prophet.

In a pursuit of unbelief, people will go to great lengths to attempt to legitimize the absurdity of their position. But these Pharisees were dead set on not believing in Christ, so they bring out this man’s parents to simply prove the facts. And they do: This is their son. He was born blind. He is not blind anymore. But they were so intimidated by the Pharisees and the religious leaders that they would not testify to Christ.

The fourth conversation is again between the Pharisees and the man who had been healed. This is what they say: Give glory to God. His life was already giving glory to God through this miraculous healing. He was already a shining light of Christ’s work in his life because he could see! Give glory to God? He was! They were seeking a man who would throw Jesus under the bus. But you can’t glorify the Father and reject the Son. Give glory to God? If they were concerned with God’s glory they would repent of their hardened hearts and turn to Christ as the Messiah.

This conversation goes off the rails with their plea. He says, “I don’t really know this man — all I know is that I was blind and now I see.” He gives them the what-for, and reveals the absurdity of their unbelief. Here he was, looking at them. He could tell them what color their robes were. He could see them. But they couldn’t see past their own noses. So we have to ask ourselves, “who was really blind here”? They go back to Moses, to the Old Testament Law, to prove their superiority and authority. But they come up short. They can’t figure Jesus out.

And isn’t the absurdity of unbelief still alive and well today? There are people who will scoff and yell and reject and do everything they can to not believe in Christ. The gospel is the clearest message in the history of the world. But in order for this message of redemption to make sense, you must have new eyes. You must be made to see its truth by the author of the story. The man was physically blind, and was made physically well. The blind man and these Pharisees were spiritually blind, but he would be given spiritual sight at the end of the chapter. They would go on being blind, the blind leading the blind.

They were closing their eyes tighter and tighter, refusing to see. Their hearts were growing stonier and stonier. God was still glorified in them, however. Not through healing but through their rejection. This is what Jesus is talking about in verses 39-41. They claimed to see. They claimed to lead people to God. But Jesus’s teachings revealed them to be blind. They are guilty. And those who go through life rejecting Christ will be rejected by him. If you reject Christ, it is no surprise that he will reject you on the last day. Receive him today.

God’s Glory in Salvation

Ultimately, God is glorified in salvation. Yes, he is glorified when the man is given sight. Yes, he is glorified by judging the stony hearts of the Pharisees. Let’s look though, at the end of the passage. Jesus comes to the man and asks him if he believes in the Son of Man. Jesus reveals himself to be the Son of Man, and the man says this: “Lord, I believe.” This is the greatest miracle in this passage. It’s not the restoration of his physical sight, but the restoration of his sinful soul. As I say almost every week that we are in John, Jesus is concerned with the supernatural and spiritual realm more than the physical realm. He is concerned with not merely healing people physically, but taking care of their real need, which is spiritual healing. What Jesus does physically serves belief in him spiritually.

Miracle - belief. This is what happens here, too. The miracles are a signpost pointing to spiritual fulfillment in Christ. If you are healed physically but never spiritually turn to Christ, you’re just a more able-bodied corpse walking around. If you only seek physical healing from Jesus and not life-changing, blood-bought, soul-satisfying, God-glorifying spiritual salvation, then you are really just seeking convenience. Remember, God has a purpose for your pain and a strategy behind your suffering. That purpose, that strategy, is that you might live in such a way that displays the maximal amount of God’s glory in your life. That’s God’s chief concern. And the way he is maximally glorified in the salvation of souls. God was glorified in healing this man’s sight. But he was infinitely more glorified in saving his soul. It’s the same for you. Transferring you from darkness to light is the greater miracle in your life. I would invite you to see your sin as your greatest struggle and your soul as the greatest need of saving today. The only healing your soul can experience is through Christ and him crucified. Turn to him today.

Conclusion

The Westminster catechism, which the Puritans used to train their children in godliness, says this in its first question: “What is the chief end of man?” The answer: “Man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.” Our sole design, our sole purpose, is to glorify and enjoy God. That is the source of our joy in life and what brings light to a dark world, the glory of God. God has revealed his glory to us through salvation. Even in this place today, the gospel has been declared time and time again. God is concerned with your soul. Your soul needs healing, and Christ is the only cure. Would you say with the man in this passage, “Lord, I believe”?

Maybe today you are already a Christian, but you are in the midst of suffering. You might struggle to see the purpose behind your pain. That’s easy to do. I would invite you to continue to remember that the glory of God is the purpose of your pain. You are going through whatever it is so that the works of God might be displayed in you. You might not see it in this life, but God has worked all things for your good and for his glory. That’s the theme of the story he’s written into creation. Paul, who was well-acquainted with suffering wrote this: “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing to the glory that is to be revealed to us.” Christian, there is glory in your life, currently and in the future. In the meantime, you have the gospel as the sustaining hope in your life. So when the struggle seems too great and overwhelms you, remember that you were once blind — truly, spiritually — and now you see. And that is the small thread of bright hope woven into your life. That is the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel that helps us press on. That truth, that we have been transferred from darkness to light, that we were once blind but now we see, will help us, as Charles Spurgeon says, “to kiss the wave that throws us against the Rock of Ages.” Let’s pray.