Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro

Opening Story/Question/Illustration: It was a warm summer evening in Israel as Sarah, 38 weeks pregnant waddles in to the room where her husband is sitting and says the words every husband with a pregnant wife longs to hear and dreads to hear at the same time - “I think it’s time.”

The Baby is on its way.

Preparations are made quickly and the midwife who will help her deliver the baby is fetched.

After hours of unbearable pain - There are no pain killers or epidurals - she finally gives birth to a healthy baby boy.

They name him Benjamin, in honor of her grandfather.

The new parents are happy, excited, and scared, all at the same time.

As time goes on there seems to be a problem.

Little Benjamin seems to cry a lot and nothing seems to help him.

He also seems to never quite look them right in the face.

Thinking that something is wrong they take him to the village doctor who confirms their worst fear - Little Benjamin is blind.

With this diagnose things will be quite different.

He won’t be able to take up his father’s trade.

He will instead probably have to sit with the beggars in order to at least bring home some money.

There is no braille, no handicap accessible buildings, no modern medicine or hospitals.

For this baby, who is now diagnosed as blind, the world will be a cold, cruel, and difficult place.

For these parents, who were looking forward to raising this child, their lives have now become exponentially more difficult.

The question, I think they were asking - “Why?” God we’ve been faithful to you and your promises, “Why did this happen?”

Transition to the Text: It’s interesting that this isn’t just a question that this young boy probably asked throughout his life and it isn’t just a question that his parents probably asked - It is a question that the Disciples of Jesus asked.

As we come to our text this morning we get to ease drop on their conversation.

They see this blind man and they ask Jesus the same question - Why?

Text:

Transition to Points: It’s interesting that the disciples would ask this question and even more interesting how they saw this man.

This story is full of people who see this man in several different ways.

I want to look at this text this morning and look at how this man is seen by different people in our story and I want us to examine our own hearts this morning and ask ourselves the question - What do I see?

How do I view the people around me?

Points

The blind Man is seen in many different ways

The Disciples see a Sinner ()

The disciples see this man and their first response is to ask “who did it?”

The first thing they asked when they see him is, “Who sinned?”

They believe that this man’s condition is a direct result of someone’s sin.

This isn’t something new they came up with on their own.

This was one of the prevailing views of the day - that calamity in ones life meant there had been sin somewhere.

They would have typically blamed it on him, but this man has been blind from birth, so that brings up a problem - Could he have sinned in his mother’s womb?

They don’t know, so it could have been his parents sin.

Some rabbis actually used the text in Genesis where Esau and Jacob struggled in the womb, to say that Easu sinned in the womb.

They would have typically blamed it on him, but this man has been blind from birth, so that brings up a problem - Could he have sinned in his mother’s womb?

They don’t know, so it could have been his parents sin.

Sometimes they would encourage parents to make sure and confess their sins so that their kids children weren’t punished.

The disciples see this man an make an instant judgement on him - there’s a reason you are in your condition and it’s probably because someone did something wrong.

You deserve to be where you are, its probably your fault.

The disciples see this man an make an instant judgement on him - there’s a reason you are in your condition and it’s probably because someone did something wrong.

You deserve to be where you are, its probably your fault.

They had this worldview that said you get what’s coming to you.

The Neighbors see a Beggar ()

This man probably sat at the same spot day in an day out to beg.

This man probably sat at the same spot day in an day out to beg.

He’d probably been coming here for years.

He goes home and notice the response of the neighbors and those who had seen him before -They were arguing over whether or not it was really the same man.

This tells me that even though they had passed by him every single day, he was a nobody to them.

He’s just a poor beggar that no one pays attention to.

Some of them may have passed him for years - and they don’t even know what he looks like.

He’d probably been coming here for years.

After Jesus heals him notice the response of the neighbors and those who had seen him before -

They were arguing over whether or not it was really the same man.

This tells me that even though they had passed by him every single day, he was a nobody to them.

He’s just a poor beggar that no one pays attention to.

Some of them may have passed him for years - and they don’t even know what he looks like.

This man and his problem or need became so common to them that they no longer even saw him.

They knew that there was a guy who sat there and begged, but had anyone really taken time to look him in the face?

To really care for him?

Or had he simply become invisible to them?

Was he now just like background music?

It’s been playing for so long that no one even notices the music any longer?

The Pharisees see a problem for their agenda ()

The Pharisees really don’t like Jesus - because he claims to be God

The Pharisees really don’t like Jesus - because he claims to be GodThe Pharisees are jealous of Jesus and his popularityIn their eyes Jesus is hurting them and their way of life.

In their eyes he is hurting them politically.

It’s all about control - The pharisees don’t have any control over Jesus.

He’s a loose canon to them - and that’s bad for their cause and their agenda.

They try to discredit the man and the miracle- They don’t believe he as born blindThe last thing they need is another healing to testify to Jesus’ powerThey can’t have people running around thinking Jesus is the Messiah - so they try and find ways to discredit Jesus (He healed on the Sabbath).

They can’t use this blind man to further their agenda - so he poses a problem for them.

This passage, set in it’s larger context - is really in the middle of Jesus’ fight with the pharisees and religious leaders.

Jesus isn’t hated because is Mr. Lovy dubby.

He’s not hated because he’s a good teacher.

He is hated because he claims to be God.

This act is one more act that shows that he is who he says he is.

Who else can open the eyes of the blind but God?

A Man who’s been blind from birth.

The Pharisees are jealous of Jesus and his popularity

In their eyes Jesus is hurting them and their way of life.

In their eyes he is hurting them politically.

It’s all about control - The pharisees don’t have any control over Jesus.

He’s a loose canon to them - and that’s bad for their cause and their agenda.

They try to discredit the man and the miracle- They don’t believe he was born blind

The last thing they need is another healing to testify to Jesus’ power

They can’t have people running around thinking Jesus is the Messiah - so they try and find ways to discredit Jesus (He healed on the Sabbath).

They can’t use this blind man to further their agenda - so he poses a problem for them.

The Parents see a problem for their reputation ()

It’s a sad day when you can’t even get some support from your own mother.

The Pharisees bring in the man’s parents to find out his history The parents are afraid of the phariseesThey push all responsibility back on their sonThey don’t want to be kicked out of the synagogueThe parent’s want nothing to do with this ordeal because it would be bad for their reputation and bad for them legally.

They lie about what they know They are asked how he sees?

and they say, “We don’t know.”They

also say, “We don’t know who did it.”

Both were lies - they were clearly simply afraid of the Pharisees If they were to tell the truth, they would be acknowledging Jesus and His power.

They didn’t want to do this in front of the pharisees because they didn’t want to face the consequences of being kicked out of the synagogue.

To be kicked out of the synagogue would mean that they would be virtually cut off from religious and social life in Israel.

- They would be a community outcast.

The Pharisees bring in the man’s parents to find out his history