Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

The Lord is NOT Oblivious to our Plight

Symbolically we are all blind at birth.

Granted the symbolism of the chapter, it is likely that this detail, in addition to heightening the effect of the miracle, signals that human beings are spiritually blind from birth Cf. notes on 12:37ff.

Many of the people of the day would have asked the same thing.

In there is no death without sin and we learn later on in the OT that there is no Suffering without sin:

But once theologians move from generalizing statements about the origin of the human race’s maladies to tight connections between the sins and the sufferings of an individual, they go beyond the biblical evidence (whether from the Old Testament or the New).

That a specific illness or experience of suffering can be the direct consequence of a specific sin, few would deny (e.g.

Miriam’s revolt, Nu. 12; notes on Jn. 5:14; cf. 1 Cor.

11:30).

That it is invariably so, numerous biblical texts flatly deny (e.g.

Job; Gal.

4:13; 2 Cor.

12:7).

There is Purpose in our Pain

Although Jesus does not disavow the generalizing connection between sin and suffering, he completely disavows a universalizing of particular connections.

Formally, the concluding clause could be taken as a result clause (‘with the result that’) or a purpose clause (‘in order that’); either way, John certainly does not think that the occurrence of blindness from birth was outside the sweep of God’s control, and therefore of his purpose.

The urgency in Christ’s physical presence.

There is special urgency in performing the works of God (NIV again offers the sing.

form) as long as it is day, i.e. while Jesus is still with them.

He is himself the light of the world (v.

5)—a repetition of 8:12, without the dramatic egō eimi.

This does not mean that Jesus stops being the light of the world once he has ascended.

It means, rather, that the light shines brightly while he lives out his human life up to the moment of his glorification.

The focus here, however, is not what prevails after Jesus is glorified and has poured out his Spirit (7:37–39), but the darkness of the period when Jesus is first taken from his disciples

There is Power in His Plan.

John 9:

Healing Power and Seeing Power

John 9:6

Certainly here there is a relationship with the fact that believing Jesus produces sight.

The Seeing Man is a testament to Christ’s work

John 9:8-

Some found it easier to believe that the blind man had somehow disappeared, and the fellow before them was someone else, someone who bore a remarkable resemblance to their blind neighbour.

Some found it easier to believe that the blind man had somehow disappeared, and the fellow before them was someone else, someone who bore a remarkable resemblance to their blind neighbour.

As elsewhere, John summarizes the buzzing intercourse of astonished but ignorant opinion (cf.

7:12, 25–27, 31).

It is all cut short by the insistent witness of the one who had been blind: I am the man.

Unlike the healed paralytic in ch. 5, this man appears sharp, quick-witted, and eventually quite sardonic toward religious leaders who would not face facts.

The colour in the two personalities testifies not only to the Evangelist’s stylistic versatility, but to the differences in people to whom Jesus ministered.

Conclusion

Christ is not oblivious to our plight, but seeks to serve us in it while He uses those things to bring glory to Himself and reveal the liberating truth of Christ to all who will see.

Are a blind man, or perhaps you are one of the religious people who are refusing to see.