When The Who’s who is the How To:
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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.”
Sermon: When The Who’s who is the How To:
Sermon: When The Who’s who is the How To:
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.
John
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.
We are looking again at Jesus healing on the Sabbath. So we should be able to expect what will happen next:
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.”
John 9
The Pharisees are on top of it. They are asking the healed man “again” because others had previously asked him in verse 10, where they asked, “How then were your eyes opened?”
In verse 11 the blind man answered saying, “The man who is called Jesus made clay, and anointed my eyes...”
Notice each time the Pharisees are asking how. But the healed man begins with who. This will reveal to us a very important contrast. The blind/healed man will spend his time in the “who”, while the Pharisees will spend their time in the “how”.
In verse 15 of chapter nine the blind man answers them again saying this time He, having already told them who the he was.
The Pharisees were only concerned with the mechanics of the matter. Specifically because it was in the mechanics that they felt that they had Jesus trapped, with it being the Sabbath and Jesus in this healing had again gone against the tradtitions of the Pharisees (and I highlight the traditions of the Pharisees because in their Sabbath law they had strayed far from the law of God.)
However being religious to their traditions, being locked into the how rather than the why, being self seeking, prideful and oporating from a wrong world view they said:
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.
John 9:16
The Pharisees are doing that murmuring thing. They don’t go to scripture, they don’t look to prophecy to see where the messiah will give sight to the blind, no instead they murmmer together and division breaks out and so they ask the blind guy who was heald for his opinion as if they are hoping that he will give their side credence.
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.”
John 9:
In other words the blind man is saying that Jesus is not a sinner but is from God, that he is a prophet, that He is of higher position than the Pharisees.
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
John 9:18
The blind man didn’t give them the answer that they wanted, so…they discredit him and refuse to believe him until they hear from his parents...
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.)
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.”
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.”
John 9:19
John 9:19
The Pharasees seem to be diggin themselves in a deeper hole. The parents identify their son and his being born blind. They destroy the Pharasees out of dicredit and disbelief. And then to drive it further home they send the Pharasees back to their son. I imagine the Pharasees were hoping for something from the parents saying how rebelious their son was or something, but instead they are sent back to the living miracle.
However notice the fear that is involved hear.
John 9:24-
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.” 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.
Here is the most stunning part of how this chapter ends. The Pharasees spend this whole chapter trying to find the how, and in the very end they reveal that they do not even know how blindness occurs. They show themselves ignorant of the very teaching that Christ addressed at the begining of chapter nine before the miriacle and in doing so they show themselves as ignorant of proper understanding of sin and God. I wonder if the blind man smiled just a little when he heard this, for he had just heard the teaching of Christ before he was healed...
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.”
John 9:
Two things that Jesus is not teaching:
1. That this man became blind because of a specific sin commited by him or his parents
2 That this man was born blind in order for Jesus to heal him
This passage could more easily be rendered:
Neither has this man sinned nor his parents. But that the works of God should be made manifest in him, I must work the works of Him that sent Me, while it is day. In other words the theology that Jesus oporates from to teach his disciples is that all physical problems are the result of our fall in Adam where sin and death entered the world. But Jesus is here to do the works of His Father. See the contrast? In Adam came sin and death, In Christ comes healing, life and sight!
The disciples got a great teaching that day, but I want you to notice something in verse 2
And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
The disciples asked “who”?
So what?
We need to start applying the “who” question rather than the “how”. We need to rearange the letters.
Listen for the past few weeks we have been witnessing lessons from Jesus on life, taught through the healing of the blind. The emphasis has been that we might began to see life a little more clearly.
Week One: We learned mankind is selfish, God is not. Our only cure for selfishness and its evil brother pride is God himself. It is only in God that we can opporate from something greater than self and only by the grace of God that we can do so.
Week Two: We learned about decision making. That every decision begins with one decision that breaks down into three categories of oporation. The first decision is do you reverance, trust, seek and desire to be fully dependant and obedient to God in everything? This will determine whether you will operate from a Christlike view, a worldly view, or a view of the crowd.
This week what we are seeing is that we opporate from a how position when we should opporate from a who position.
We say “How will I surrvive”
How will I make it through, how will I afford, how will I persevere, how will I learn, how will I be good enough, how will I obtain this or that, how will I raise all of these children, how will I know what to do and when to do it....how how how
How do I protect myself, how do I look, how do I get, how do I accomplish....how how how
how is a trap door to selfishness, a mind manipulation into how to figure out your own form of godliness that is good for your own gain.
how is the push of the crowd and the world that always needs a justification other than the who. The how is the cry of self dependant, not the cry of the faithful child.
With one who answered, beleived, trusted in and hung onto all of our how’s are answered.
Listen…I’ll ask from how but answer with who to help us get it:
How was the blind man heald…Jesus
How is a man delivered from sin....Jesus
How are we made able to go before God....Jesus
How is it that we obtain eternal life....Jesus
How are we empowered to live Godly today....Jesus (throgh the word and Spirit which he sent)
How will we now that this time, this age has come to an end…Jesus
How will the dead be raised to life…Jesus
How will you pay this months bills....Jesus
wait a miniute…why is it that the last question sounds crazier and gets more “yeah…buttts” from us than any of the proior ones?
Lets try some more...
How will you establish your home…Jesus
How will you raise your children rightly....Jesus
How will you be good enough…Jesus
How will you be protected…Jesus
How do we protect our schools…Jesus
How will you make it through the difficulty....Jesus
How will you know what to do and when to do it…Jesus
When you begin to answer all of the how’s that the world will through at you with the one true who, then a weight is lifted and the mind and heart are renewed and your eyes are set in the proper place for seeking.
When we go by the how, then we begin to list out what we like, we list out the opportunities that we see, and we figure out how we would have it. That is futile, it is vanity. Even if we accomplish it we are as the phariseess developing our own traditions and ways and missing the savior. This is why Jesus said to Peter not how have I saved you, but “who do you say that I am.” Who is Jesus?
When we go by the who of Jesus then we are forced to seek more of who Jesus is and in knowing who Jesus is we know the Father and when we know the Father our eyes are opened to His works and the cares of this earth grow strangley dim in the light of His glory and grace.
When we remember the “who”, then we remember the “how” the how much he has loved us, the what he has done for us, the when of every moment that He has promised to be with us and not forsake us, and then we know and have strenght for the therefore living as He has called us to.
Remember the who and remember the cross, remember the empty tomb, remember the resurrection, remember pentecost and two thousand years of faithful believers. Remember the who and the how will almost appear silly.
It is my prayer for us church that we won’t be the ones that know all of the how to’s, but rather that we know the one true Who.
That we learn to ask who is leading me in this, rather than how do I make it. And when we are faced with the “how to” we answer with the “who”...
But please, I pray that the Spirit of God will drive this home…that I am not pushing Jesus as a catch phrase, I am being literal that Jesus is our how and we have to give out lives to that truth - that is our worship - and when we don’t do it then we are worshiping another. - Amen.