Testifying to Experience

CONTEXT

Jesus is in Jerusalem.

Fame as a teacher and a healer is immense among the people.

But the religious leadership, here represented by the Pharisees, clergy of the day, are skeptical and hostile.

Another lengthy reading...invite you to notice how Jesus engages with a man born blind and what happens as that man shares his experience with others.

TEXT

John 9:1–41 NLT

As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man who had been blind from birth. “Rabbi,” his disciples asked him, “why was this man born blind? Was it because of his own sins or his parents’ sins?” “It was not because of his sins or his parents’ sins,” Jesus answered. “This happened so the power of God could be seen in him. We must quickly carry out the tasks assigned us by the one who sent us. The night is coming, and then no one can work. But while I am here in the world, I am the light of the world.” Then he spit on the ground, made mud with the saliva, and spread the mud over the blind man’s eyes. He told him, “Go wash yourself in the pool of Siloam” (Siloam means “sent”). So the man went and washed and came back seeing! His neighbors and others who knew him as a blind beggar asked each other, “Isn’t this the man who used to sit and beg?” Some said he was, and others said, “No, he just looks like him!” But the beggar kept saying, “Yes, I am the same one!” They asked, “Who healed you? What happened?” He told them, “The man they call Jesus made mud and spread it over my eyes and told me, ‘Go to the pool of Siloam and wash yourself.’ So I went and washed, and now I can see!” “Where is he now?” they asked. “I don’t know,” he replied. Then they took the man who had been blind to the Pharisees, because it was on the Sabbath that Jesus had made the mud and healed him. The Pharisees asked the man all about it. So he told them, “He put the mud over my eyes, and when I washed it away, I could see!” Some of the Pharisees said, “This man Jesus is not from God, for he is working on the Sabbath.” Others said, “But how could an ordinary sinner do such miraculous signs?” So there was a deep division of opinion among them. Then the Pharisees again questioned the man who had been blind and demanded, “What’s your opinion about this man who healed you?” The man replied, “I think he must be a prophet.” The Jewish leaders still refused to believe the man had been blind and could now see, so they called in his parents. They asked them, “Is this your son? Was he born blind? If so, how can he now see?” His parents replied, “We know this is our son and that he was born blind, but we don’t know how he can see or who healed him. Ask him. He is old enough to speak for himself.” His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders, who had announced that anyone saying Jesus was the Messiah would be expelled from the synagogue. That’s why they said, “He is old enough. Ask him.” So for the second time they called in the man who had been blind and told him, “God should get the glory for this, because we know this man Jesus is a sinner.” “I don’t know whether he is a sinner,” the man replied. “But I know this: I was blind, and now I can see!” “But what did he do?” they asked. “How did he heal you?” “Look!” the man exclaimed. “I told you once. Didn’t you listen? Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples, too?” Then they cursed him and said, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses! We know God spoke to Moses, but we don’t even know where this man comes from.” “Why, that’s very strange!” the man replied. “He healed my eyes, and yet you don’t know where he comes from? We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners, but he is ready to hear those who worship him and do his will. Ever since the world began, no one has been able to open the eyes of someone born blind. If this man were not from God, he couldn’t have done it.” “You were born a total sinner!” they answered. “Are you trying to teach us?” And they threw him out of the synagogue. When Jesus heard what had happened, he found the man and asked, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” The man answered, “Who is he, sir? I want to believe in him.” “You have seen him,” Jesus said, “and he is speaking to you!” “Yes, Lord, I believe!” the man said. And he worshiped Jesus. Then Jesus told him, “I entered this world to render judgment—to give sight to the blind and to show those who think they see that they are blind.” Some Pharisees who were standing nearby heard him and asked, “Are you saying we’re blind?” “If you were blind, you wouldn’t be guilty,” Jesus replied. “But you remain guilty because you claim you can see.

INTRODUCTION

Testimony.

Sharing what you have seen, heard, experience.

Courtroom for example. A witness is called forward to share his/her testimony. All they have to do is honestly describe their experience.

Outside the courtroom, in every day life, we testify about all kinds of things.

Pickleball with my daughters. Hit to each other, just to get a rally going.

This morning, I poured my coffee and it was just the right temperature.

Sharing our experience connects us with life, with others.

As Christians, we have experienced God through Christ.

Do we testify to that experience?

Our testimony about our experience of Christ connects us with Christ, with experience, with others.

Our lesson illustrates this for us.

Exegesis 1: Jesus enters into suffering experience

When Jesus comes into Jerusalem, he and the disciples see a man who had been born blind sitting by the side of the road.

Presumably the man is begging.

The disciples ask Jesus who sinned that the man should be in this condition? Was it his parents fault? The man’s own fault somehow? If I were with Jesus I might ask those very questions.

Many of us parents have wondered, when a child is suffering, Was it something I did?

Many of us, when suffering, have asked ourselves: Did I somehow deserve this bad situation?

Suffering naturally provokes the question: is this the result of sin? Something I did wrong?

In this instance, Jesus sets that speculation aside.

He says the blindness serves a different function.

The blindness will be an occasion for the power of God to be displayed.

Jesus is NOT saying the man was born blind, just to set up for this miracle. That would be cruel.

What Jesus means is that every occasion of suffering is an opportunity for him to engage people with God’s power.

My wife — why is this shelf so high? Are they trying to make life hard for short people?! Me: So I can get it down for you..

Jesus: This man is born blind so that I, being the light of the world, can be his light.

That is exactly what Jesus does.

He makes a paste. Places it on the mans eyes. Tells him to go to the Pool of Siloam and wash.

The blind man obeys Jesus.

His sight is restored. He can see the light of the world.

Application 1: our testimony begins with our need.

Painful situations for us are many: Struggling with cancer. Loss of a child. Blew up our marriage or our career. Gotten wrapped up in an addiction. Getting arrested. Losing our life savings. These are the kinds of things we experience. They are painful.

We are tempted to focus on blame.

Jesus sees our suffering…his focus is not blame.

Offers healing and help.

Many of you have experienced this.

He gave you hope when you thought your story was over. comforted you. put your life back together. Set you free from something.

The pains in our life are the places where Jesus can and does engage with us.

AMAZING:::An experience of Christ!

What was “bad” becomes the start of good news!

Our testimony is based on these experiences….

Exegesis 2: The people reject Cedonius’ story.

The man born blind was healed.

He offered his testimony.

I was blind. Jesus healed me. Now I can see.

Personal. Concrete. Experiential.

I was that way. Then Jesus. Now I am this way.

When the man shares his story people react in different ways.

His neighbors, townspeople, react with uncertainty.

Are you the same man? Maybe you just look like him!

His parents react with fear.

They don’t want to back his story about Jesus because it could get them kicked out of the synagogue.

The religious leaders react with hostility.

They argue with him.

They curse him.

They eventually throw him out of the synagogue.

But through it all the blind man is steady and clear.

to the people: I am the one who was healed.

to the leaders: I don’t know how Jesus fits into your rules, but he is from God.

to everyone he says: ask me as many times as you want, I’ll tell you the same story.

In fact, the more the people around him challenge his testimony, the clearer the man becomes about what is at stake.

He realizes the issue is not his physical sight. The issues is his spiritual experience.

The man maintains that Jesus healed him and that this was proof that Jesus was sent from God.

He will not budge from this position because to deny that experience would be to lose the real gift he had been given: a experience of God’s power.

Application 2: We stick to our story

When we are helped by Jesus, we know it.

He makes a change in us.

Others will see the effects.

But they will not necessarily know the cause.

They will come up with all kinds of reasons for it.

They might say, lucky you.

It was just psychological — all just in your head.

You certainly helped yourself.

But if we have experienced God’s grace, we know those explanations are not sufficient.

We do not want to act as if they were: Our experience of being forgiven, saved, helped by Jesus is what connects us to God.

Yesterday: Playing pickleball with my daughters. You could have had that experience with anyone…no, it was with my daughters!

The value of all other explanations fade in comparison to that. What we need, what the world needs, is the Lord and Savior. The light of the world that shines into our darkness.

Our testimony has the power to keep us connected to Christ and to bring us into his ministry.

Exegesis 3: Jesus comes to Cedonius

The leaders throw the man out of the synagogue.

This was probably disappointing for the man. Having his sight, he thought he would rejoin the community. But he was alone again.

Jesus re-enters the story.

Jesus has heard how the man had stood by his testimony.

Jesus comes and finds him.

And asks him — Do you believe in the Son of Man. (This was one of the ways Jesus described himself as the Christ and Son of God)

Now recall, the man does not know Jesus on sight. He has not seen Jesus before. Jesus placed the mud on the man’s eyes while he was blind.

So, the man answers - Yes; I do. Who is he? Where is he?

You are looking at him and talking with him right now.

Jesus reveals his divine identity to the man. He confirms through physical sight what the man had clung to by faith.

The man worships him. Gives to him reverence due only to God.

What has happened.

The man was faithful to his experience. Jesus gave him more.

Tradition says that this worshipful relationship endured.

Tradition gives the healed man the name Celidonius and links him to the story in Luke 10,

Jesus sending out 72 disciples ahead of him into towns where he would later come. Celidonius was one of them. What a testimony he offered...I was blind but now I see.

And the blind believed and were healed.

One tradition claims that Celidonius went on to found a church in Gaul, modern day France.

He is celebrated annually in the Eastern Orthodox Church.

He was thrown out of the synagogue for his testimony, but Jesus gave him another ministry.

Application 3 - Jesus works through our testimony

When we stick to our testimony, our experience of Christ, there will be consequences.

Some of them not easy.

May not fit in with friends or families

Have to keep struggling to overcome old habits

Maybe we even have to lose a job or a familiar haunt.

Yet, Jesus who started the whole thing stays involved.

He comes to us when we need him.

Leads us deeper into relationship with himself.

One Christian shared with me about caring for his ailing wife. He had always believed in eternal life. But by sticking to that faith, when he really needed it, Christ came and made it all real. The Christian reported, we had a deeper peace toward the end of her life than we had at any other time.

If we are open to it Jesus will send us out to share what he has given us with others.

He sends us to the people we can help because of our own experience with him. I have seen it over and again:

Me: all for a reason. Yet stressing. Go look at stars. Cloud. This too shall pass. Bad. The good. The whole thing. I am here for you.

Someone struggles to stay sober. Christ will send one of you, who has found freedom, to point to Jesus the Highest Power.

Yet another person is scared about their financial situation. Christ will send one of you, who have experienced his faithfulness to provide, with a testimony of trust.

Sometimes you can’t do anything to change the situation, but you can offer your testimony…and that gets them through!

People are looking for something real. Experience. You/we have that experience. You/we are real person with a real relationship with Jesus. So your testimony is powerful.

CONCLUSION

Testimony.

Sharing what you have seen, heard, experience.

We testify about all kinds of things. Traffic, coffee, our work.

We want Christ to be on that list.

We want to be honest, clear and committed to what H has done, is doing, in our lives.

When we testify about our experience of Jesus we make clear that God’s power is present. We are drawn deeper into our relationship with Jesus. And Jesus uses us to bring his saving power to others.