Escalating Christology

Intro - Power of a Good Question

Think, if you will, about a time when someone asked you a really good question

Maybe a question that led you to some new insight, helped you break through something you felt like had been blocked or holding you back

Or maybe a really funny question

I’ve asked as an icebreaker a question like, “If you were in a battle to the death and knew you would win the battle, who would you be fighting against and what would your weapon be?”

Really offbeat answers can come to a question like that

One gal said she would want to fight a giant slug and her weapon was a salt shaker

When I am interviewing a candidate for a job, I like to ask, “If you could put two teleportation devices anywhere in the world and you could instantly go back and forth between those two places, where would you put them and why?”

I like to hear how people think that out

Always kinda thought there was no wrong answer to that question until one time a guy said he would put one in his house (ok, that’s standard) and one at Publix because he goes to the store a lot

Immediately I was thinking, I just gave you the most all powerful transit tool ever and you are using it to save the mile and a half to your closest Publix?

Our passage here today includes 16 separate questions

It is the questions at the beginning and end of our passage that I really want to focus on here today

The very first of those 16 questions

John 9:1–2 “As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?””

This is helpful for us to address right away

Have you ever experienced something really awful or ended up in some terrible predicament and wonder what you did to deserve that?

That’s what happens here with the disciples

They see this man that was born blind and wonder whose fault it was

Is he bearing the consequences of something terrible his parents did?

Did he do something in a previous life that caused this?

Did he somehow sin while still in his mother’s womb leading to this defect?

At one level, all that is wrong in this world is a result of sin and is part of why we long for the New Creation when all that is wrong - including birth defects - are gone forever

But it is both wrong and unwise to try and find some 1:1 formulation to equate some specific circumstance with a specific sin

As Jesus replies in verse 3, this was not about sin - his sin or his parents’ sin

But an opportunity for the glory of God to shine through

This first question raises a matter that causes tension for many of us

When we see suffering, we want an explanation, we want to know what happened, what’s wrong

My encouragement to all of us is threefold:

Grieve the reality of life in a fallen in world - it should make us deeply sad when we see sorrow and suffering

Pray for the return of Jesus when he makes all things new and all things right

Until that day, look expectantly for the work of God - how is God going to display his glory in our midst?

Transition

Now, let us turn our attention to the whole of our passage

Because this encounter with Jesus is pretty long, we have already read a good portion of it earlier in the service

Let’s continue in John 9, picking up at verse 18

Scripture Reading: John 9:1-41

John 9:1–41 ESV

As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 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 and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing. 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.” 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. 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.” 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 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.” He answered, “Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” 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?” And 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.” The man answered, “Why, this is an amazing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. 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. 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.” They answered him, “You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?” And they cast him out. Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.” He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him. Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.” Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.

Pray

Most Important Question

We started looking at the first question in the passage

But now we are going to jump to the end and one of the last questions in the passage

And this question is, I would suggest, the most important question ever asked - both for this guy and for us

John 9:35 “Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?””

That is the question upon which all of eternity hinges for each of us

Who is Jesus?

John here, in telling this story of the man born blind, captures several aspects of who Jesus is

Glory

We already saw this with the first question where Jesus says that the work of God is going to be displayed in the man born blind

Jesus radiates the glory of God and his work reflects the glory of God into the world

The irony is that the Pharisees declare “Give glory to God” and yet they see the glory of God to heal this man and yet, somehow, miss it

Power

Jesus spits in the ground to make some mud

And can we acknowledge this is one of the weirder tactics Jesus ever took in one of his miracles?

For reference, Jesus used saliva in 3 of his miracles, but it can still be confusing why he used saliva

Tells the guy to go wash his face and the guy can see

Jesus is so powerful that even his spit is able to heal!

Light of the World

In John 8:12 Jesus declared that he is the “light of the world”

Then again in John 9:5 he again states that he is the “light of the world”

Of course this is all in the context of Jesus gives sight to the blind

For a man that had lived his whole life in the dark, light came to him for the first time ever

And yet, that is just a picture of Jesus who, as the light of the world, shines in the darkness

Even more, by his death and his resurrection, he conquered the darkness!

Lord

Imagine the day this guy had

What started as a day just like any other - at the synagogue begging - changed in a hurry as he encounters Jesus

He gets spit mud put in his face

He starts to see for the first time ever

Then he gets scolded for being healed on the Sabbath

Then his parents throw him under the bus as they don’t want to get in trouble

Then he gets scolded by the Pharisees again and kicked out of the synagogue

And then he encounters Jesus for the second time on that long day

And how does he address Jesus?

By the one name that best fits Jesus: Lord

Jesus is Lord of all

Jesus already was all those things

He already was powerful, glorious, light, and Lord

It’s important to recognize that Jesus didn’t become those things

Rather, he is all those things - because he is God the Son

Escalating Christology

But this man goes on a journey to discover who Jesus is

It normally takes a lifetime of discovery and growth for someone’s understanding of Jesus to come to this, and yet this man experienced it all in a single day!

So it is a pretty cool insight into the path of spiritual growth

I refer to it, and this is your $10 word of the day, as “escalating Christology”

Escalating - growing, increasing

Christology - study and understanding of Jesus

Escalating Christology - a growing, increasing understanding in Jesus

6 steps in this guy’s spiritual journey in his understanding of Jesus

Man

When first asked how he was healed, he answers, “The man called Jesus” (vs 11)

An important realization - that Jesus was a man

And if we were to go through church history, we would find that more people argued against Jesus being a man than argued against him being God

So this is a simple, but profound first step: Jesus is a man

Prophet

Shortly thereafter he is asked again but notice the next step in his faith journey

“He is a prophet” (vs 17)

That is the declaration of faith of someone who knows there is something unique and special happening, even if he doesn’t get it

This guy is a prophet, he has been blessed of God

Testimony

John 9:25 “He answered, “Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.””

They keep pressing him but he doesn’t know

Many of us feel embarrassed when we don’t know all the theological answers

But this guy doesn’t back down

Even when he doesn’t know all the answers - even when he couldn’t pass a theology exam - he has the story of God’s healing power

“Uhh, yeah, I don’t know about all that stuff, but I do know that I could not see, and now I can”

Sometimes, the only thing to cling to when others question us or or our faith is tested is to cling to the testimony of God’s work

What has God done in you?

Even when you don’t know all the theological answers, you can hold to the story of God’s faithfulness and kindness to you

His disciple

The Pharisees continue to push even after he has shared everything he knows

John 9:27 “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?””

Do you hear that?

“Do you also want to become his disciples?”

Somewhere along the line here this man begins to identify himself as a follower of Jesus

From God (vs 33)

Next the man recognizes that Jesus must be from God

If he were not from God, he could do nothing

But since he can do these miracles - since he can make me see - the man concludes that he must be from God

“Lord, I believe” (vs 38)

And then we come to the last words the man speaks in this passage

Words that come in reply to that most important question Jesus asks

“Lord” - the man recognizes Jesus as the rightful ruler over all and worships Jesus as God

The man experiences a lot for one day

His growth doesn’t just gain him better titles for Jesus, it gains him a Lord and Savior!

But that one day serves as a helpful picture to us of the journey of the Christian life where we are ever learning more about who Jesus is

Conclusion: The Most Important Question (Reprise)

As we close, let’s go back to the most pivotal question ever asked and which any of us will ever answer

Oh, and not only is the the most important question we could answer, but a question that we will answer

Each of us, one day, will stand before the throne of God and be asked this one question

It is this one question on which all eternity will hinge for you

Because there is nothing you could ever do to earn your way into eternal life

You could never be good enough or do enough

If eternity depended on that, all of us are in insurmountable trouble

But that is not the gospel - that is not good news

Jesus is the good news - He has the favor of God upon him

And he has, by his death, made a way out of the darkness, out of the hopeless, insurmountable trouble each of us is in because of our sin

We are not merely blind, we are dead, lost, condemned in our sin

Jesus doesn’t merely take away our blindness; he gives us eternal life and eternal hope

And it all hinges on that one, most important, question:

“Do you believe in the Son of Man?

In our passage, the man goes through a lifetime of discovery of who Jesus is all compressed into a single day

From “the man called Jesus”

To a prophet

To Jesus being from God

To “Lord, I believe”

We also see a very different response to the question from the Pharisees

Throughout this passage they mock the newly healed man

They call Jesus a sinner

They claim they have no guilt

They cast anyone out of the synagogue who believes in Jesus

And now it is your turn

Throughout this series on Encounters with Jesus we have said the whole point of John’s gospel is to invite us to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God

So here is the most important question: “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”

Do you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God?

Do you believe that Jesus is the One who came into the world to save sinners?

Do you believe that he came to save you?

And will you call him your “Lord” and worship him?

Because your healing comes not from the spit of Jesus’ mouth, but from the blood that poured from his pierced side

And your salvation comes not from the washing in the pool of Siloam, but from being washed by the One who was in the tomb for 3 days before rising from the dead!

And your seeing comes only when he, Jesus, the Light of the world, shines into the darkness of your heart to call you to himself in faith

Pray