“A Costly Commitment”

As one reads through the Bible, it is amazing at all of the failures which are listed within the pages.  From the very outset, we see this when Eve and Adam listened to Satan’s voice, as he caused them to question God’s love and commitment to them.  The patriarch, Abraham, was certainly a man of faith; yet, we see him doubting God’s commitment to His promises in more than one situation.  Then we come to the exodus of God’s people out of Egypt.  It wasn’t enough that the people were more than fickle in their trusting God’s commitment to fulfill His promises; Aaron and Moses were also less than exemplary in their faith walk.  

Finally, the nation gets established in the location which God had promised generations earlier.  However, the people showed an incredible lack of commitment to God multiple times.  Regardless of how often the people recognized God’s hand of blessings in their lives, they continually, except for a remnant, showed their lack of commitment to God and His ways.  

Here, in the book of John, we continue to see the religious leaders showing an outward commitment to all things religious.  However, they were more willing to listen to the wrong whisperings of Satan, believing that to be from God.

My friends, this is very much like our world today.  The world will try to convince Christians that God doesn’t have our best interests at heart, if He even exists.  The wrong teachings of many religious speakers and writers show a commitment to a humanistic or a spiritualistic outlook on the things of God.  Sometimes, it even is disguised as disciplined and pious with all the rules and regulations proving that one belongs to God.  This is very close to the religious leaders in Jesus’ time.

Coming to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior is not for those who are looking for an easy escape.  Coming to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior is not for those who are looking to belong to a unique social circle.  Coming to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior is not for those who are looking for a luxurious life.  

Coming to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior is for those who are willing to give up their rights and personal authority in their own lives and surrender and submit themselves totally to Christ. 

Coming to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior means that we cast away fear and willingly follow Jesus regardless of what may come our way.

Truth versus Tradition - 9.13-16

They brought to the Pharisees the man who was formerly blind.  Now it was a Sabbath on the day when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes.  Then the Pharisees also were asking him again how he received his sight. And he said to them, “He applied clay to my eyes, and I washed, and I see.”  Therefore some of the Pharisees were saying, “This man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath.” But others were saying, “How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?” And there was a division among them.

You recall from the last message, how those people who knew about this blind man could hardly believe what they had observed. Now we find them bringing this man to the Pharisees. We can only assume that they brought him the next day since the Pharisees would not deal with this type of thing on the Sabbath day. We might wonder as to why they would bring this man to the Pharisees. One obvious answer would be that this is indeed a miraculous event. They probably wanted to get the Pharisees perspective, since that is where you would go to find answers relating to anything about God. In addition, the healing was done on the Sabbath which would cause them to raise some questions because of the wrong teaching of the Pharisees.

The Pharisees asked the same question of this man as the other Individuals who brought him. The man simplified his response this time by stating, "he applied clay to my eyes, and I washed, and I see."

How sad to read the response the Pharisees gave. Rather than looking at the possibility that this type of miracle could only happen from God, they chose to nitpick and focus on their man-made regulations about the Sabbath. They wanted to make it clear that Jesus, or whoever this person was who caused this healing, could not be from God since he did this on the Sabbath. Even though the prophecies about the Messiah spoke of him healing the blind, not once did it speak of him keeping the Sabbath. I wonder what some of these strange rules were about the Sabbath.

We know that Jesus would never have broken any of God's specific Commandments. Let me share a few of the extra biblical teachings which John MacArthur has pointed out in his commentary.  Jesus had made mud from His saliva and some dust, which supposedly violated the prohibition against kneading on the Sabbath. The rabbinic regulations also forbade giving medical treatment on the Sabbath unless a person’s life was in immediate danger, which was obviously not the case with the blind man. Additionally, some rabbis taught that it was not permitted to anoint the eyes with medicine (saliva was thought to have medicinal qualities) on the Sabbath.

Interestingly, there were a number of Pharisees present who were actually using their brains. We see this as they asked the obvious question that should have been asked. "How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?” 

Do you ever fear doing what is right because of old traditions or what some people might say or think about you? Often, the world looks at Christianity to be known for its do’s and don'ts, it's rules and regulations, rather than what the Bible actually presents. We must carefully look at what the Bible says and ignore any tradition or rules that would contradict what Christ calls us to do.  Coming to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior means that we cast away fear and willingly follow Jesus regardless of what may come our way.

Confession versus Callousness - 9.17-24

So they said to the blind man again, “What do you say about Him, since He opened your eyes?” And he said, “He is a prophet.”  The Jews then did not believe it of him, that he had been blind and had received sight, until they called the parents of the very one who had received his sight, and questioned them, saying, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? Then how does he now see?”  His parents answered them and said, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; but how he now sees, we do not know; or who opened his eyes, we do not know. Ask him; he is of age, he will speak for himself.”  His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone confessed Him to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue.  For this reason his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”  So a 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.”

Obviously, the Pharisees could not contradict the fact of the healing. They even admitted to it by the wording of their question in verse 17. However, instead of dealing with the facts, they try to elevate themselves by putting the individual down by asking him a philosophical question.

The formerly blind man responded by stating that Jesus was a prophet. This former blind man had more insight then the Pharisees who studied the Scriptures constantly.

By John's use of the word "then" in verse 19, we assume that the religious leaders felt this must be a case of mistaken identity; thus everybody else was simply confused or tricked. The Pharisees felt that the parents would obviously know who their own son was.

When the parents came, they were questioned. But rather than simply deal with the identity, the Jewish leaders wanted to force the issue and get an explanation from them as to how it was possible for him to suddenly be able to see. They responded by giving the facts: this man is their son; he was born blind; He is now able to see; they do not know who enabled him to see. They did not know how he is able to see. Sp they turn it back to the Pharisees to ask the son themselves.

Some might suggest that this was a very wise thing for them to do. However, they most likely did this out of fear. The fear was that they would be kicked out of the synagogue. That would be one of the harshest things to be done to a Jewish follower of God. The Pharisees had already stated that if anyone confessed that Jesus was the Christ, that person would be disfellowshipped from the very core of Jewish life.  According to one commentary, to be put out of the synagogue meant to be excommunicated or put under a ban and a curse; a banishment that meant being cut off from the religious and social life of Israel; it was therefore a dreaded punishment.  Warren Wiersbe says, this meant, of course, losing friends and family and all the benefits of the Jewish religion. 

The Pharisees, in verse 24, once again called the formerly blind man into their presence . Basically, they were stating that he needed to come clean because they knew that Jesus was a sinner. What a manipulative thing to attempt to do.

Sometimes, we might find ourselves thinking it would be simpler to be quiet and not tell others of the incredible things Jesus has done in our lives. There is always the fear of being mocked or put down or fired or ostracized. Those who want to silence everything about Jesus will do whatever they possibly can to make sure that happens. Whether it is at a bakery, photography shop, bowing the knee to a government, attacked at a college, losing your job, and the list goes on and on.  Coming to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior means that we cast away fear and willingly follow Jesus regardless of what may come our way.

Let's look and see how this formerly blind man responds.

Faithful versus Fearful - 9.25-34

He then answered, “Whether He is a sinner, I do not know; one thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.”  So they said to him, “What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?”  He answered them, “I told you already and you did not listen; why do you want to hear it again? You do not want to become His disciples too, do you?”  They reviled him and said, “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 is from.”  The man answered and said to them, “Well, here is an amazing thing, that you do not know where He is from, and yet He opened my eyes.  We know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is God-fearing and does His will, He hears him.  Since the beginning of time it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind.  If this man were not from God, He could do nothing.”  They answered him, “You were born entirely in sins, and are you teaching us?” So they put him out.

As I read through this over and over, I find myself wanting to jump up from my chair, pump my fist in the air, and shout, you tell it like it is, man!   This formerly blind man had no fear of these individuals or of what they might do to him. He spoke with wisdom beyond any of those religious leaders present. He made it clear that he was not one to judge whether or not this person was a sinner. All he could judge is that he used to be blind and now he is able to see. 

The Pharisees resort to harassing this man by asking him again what Jesus did to open his eyes.  Again, we find the incredible depth of wisdom this man had. He explains that he had nothing new to share because he told them already and they refused to listen. Then he asked a very pointed and somewhat sarcastic question, "You do not want to become his disciples too, do you?"

For the religious leaders, this formerly blind man had gone too far. They now found themselves on the defensive. They spoke harshly back to him, stating that this man was a follower of Jesus, but they were followers of Moses. They acted as though God spoke to Moses and not to Jesus. They state once again that they do not know where Jesus is from, even though Jesus had told them multiple times.

The formerly blind man was not dazed by this. He did not fear man. He did not fear what these religious leaders would attempt to do. In fact, he spoke plainly and simply and pointedly to them. For as smart as they were supposed to be, this individual, who was Jesus, did what only God could do, and he comes from someplace they do not know.

This formerly blind man, along with the religious leaders, knows that God does not hear sinners and answer their prayers. He, along with the religious leaders, knew that for the person who fears God and does what God wants us to do, God will hear them. The reality is, from this blind man's perspective, there was no historical precedent where a blind person's eyes had been opened by anyone. Now it has happened. 

And if, in fact, Jesus were not from God, then he certainly would not have been able to do this.  Borchert remarks: The officials who supposedly represented the perspective of God actually failed to recognize the work of God. As a result, not only did they not recognize God’s work in this unique healing event (the healing of congenital blindness), but they also failed to recognize the origin of the healer. 

Of course, we understand from other passages of Scripture that not all incredible things such as this are genuinely from God.  Just as we cannot assume that when healing doesn’t take place that God is not a part of that. 

The Pharisees did not even respond with an intelligent comment. They simply stated, "you were born entirely in sins, and are you teaching us?” Then they proceeded to excommunicate him from the synagogue. Rather than dealing with the truth of God’s Word and what God had done, they chose to hold onto their power, use people for their selfish purposes, and abuse their position.  And they did it as if they were doing it for God.  Anyone who challenged their belief system was automatically labeled as a sinner.  As Wiersbe comments:  The simple-hearted believer knows more spiritual truth than unsaved, educated theologians. 

Coming to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior means that we cast away fear and willingly follow Jesus regardless of what may come our way.

Reflections

There are some things which we can learn from this in our own lives today. Too often, Christians spend a great deal of time trying to explain God or how things take place from God. All we need to do is simply explain the truths of what God has done for us. We don't have to know how. We don't even have to explain why. We just tell others what God Has done for us.

Even as we look at the Pharisees, we can learn something from them. They are not much different than those all around us who know the Bible or who know about Jesus, yet refusing to acknowledge Jesus while holding onto their sinful lifestyles. We cannot fear these people. We must be willing to share the good news of Jesus Christ even with those who think they have all the answers.

Something else which makes me smile is that this formerly blind man was actually much more learned and much wiser than the esteemed Pharisees. A person does not need to have a theological degree to recognize the power and the working of Jesus Christ.

My friends, it might seem easier and simpler to keep quiet about Jesus and avoid controversy.  Yet, when we think about the difference Jesus Christ has made in our lives, we will want to be bold and share with others the incredible Good News. 

Coming to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior means that we cast away fear and willingly follow Jesus regardless of what may come our way.