Blind Eyes, Blind Heart

Sometimes (for some reason), I’ve thought about this question:

If I had to lose any of my senses, which one would it be?

Or maybe more specifically, which of my 5 senses would I NOT want to lose?

Would it be touch? smell? taste? sight? hearing?

During my recent illness, I did lose my ability to taste and to smell for a while. It was kind of annoying, but I survived.

I’ve often had to conclude that if there was any sense that I would NOT want to lose, it would be my ability to hear.

Being blind would be aweful, but when it comes to the ability to hear, I love the beauty of sound

When I’m outside, I listen to the sounds that I hear. The chirping of different types of birds, the buzzing of insects, the whir of hummingbird wings as they come to our feeder, the roar of distant cars, the drone of an airplane.

When I’m inside, I often just sit and listen to the sound of my house: voices, the running of feet, the clang of pots and pans.

When I listen to music (which I do a lot), I listen for the complexities of harmonies, the layering, the chords, the purity of voices blending together,

The color of different instrument blending together

I love sound and I would hate to lose my hearing.

But while I do try to take care of my ears and I do try to take care of my eyes, I know the reality is that these things can be taken away from us through accidents or illness.

And this is something that maybe we have no control of. It would be sad to lose these senses, but that does happen sometimes.

But you know, I think what might be even more sad is if I would to lose my sense of hearing and yet pretend like I could hear just fine.

Folks would come up to me and say, “Hi, how are you?”

And I would smile and shake their hands and say “I bought it at Walmart”

And they would say, “Beautiful day, isn’t it?”

And I would say, “About last Monday, thanks.”

I think folks would soon stop talking to me, because I refuse to admit that maybe I’ve got a problem and I don’t get any help.

Or what if I was blind and refused to get a cane or a dog. And instead walked around trying to pretend that everything was just fine.

Walking into poles, people, benches.

I would reach into my pocket, pull out my car keys and head for the car. You all would scatter.

That would be ridiculous, wouldn’t it? Really it would be sad. I would end up hurting or killing someone.

But you know, as ridiculous as these scenarios are, and very sad if someone would actually do this,

What is even sadder is when it happens in a spiritual sense.

And I’m afraid that this happens far too often.

There are a lot of people walking around out there who claim they can hear with the spiritual ears, or see with their spiritual eyes when really they are as blind as a bat, or as deaf as a post.

They say, “yeah I’m fine!” But they never hear from God. In fact, they don’t really know what His voice sounds like

They say, “yeah, I’m fine!” But they are really blind. They never see Him at work. They don’t notice what He does. They say, “follow me!” as they drive headlong the wrong way down a one-way street”

I’m afraid this is far more common than what we might think. It might even describe me or you at various times in our lives.

In our story today, we are going to see two examples of spiritual blindness

There is a group of characters that shows up in this story, but I wan’t to focus specifically on two of them: The man who was born blind and the religious leaders.

John 9 (ESV)

Jesus Heals a Man Born Blind

9 As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3 Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. 4 We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 6 Having said these things, he spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man’s eyes with the mud 7 and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing.

8 The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar were saying, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” 9 Some said, “It is he.” Others said, “No, but he is like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.” 10 So they said to him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” 11 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.” 12 They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.”

13 They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. 14 Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. 15 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.” 16 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. 17 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.”

18 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 19 and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” 20 His parents answered, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. 21 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.” 22 (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.) 23 Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”

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.” 25 He answered, “Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” 26 They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” 27 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?” 28 And they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. 29 We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.” 30 The man answered, “Why, this is an amazing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. 31 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. 32 Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” 34 They answered him, “You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?” And they cast him out.

35 Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” 36 He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” 37 Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.” 38 He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him. 39 Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.” 40 Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?” 41 Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.

Their physical condition (they are different)

The man: Blind since birth

The pharisees: Can see

The Spiritual condition (at the very beginning, they are the same)

The man: blind

The religious leaders: blind

What they think about their condition (different again)

The man: knows he blind, both physically and spiritually

The Pharisees: Completely unaware of their spiritual blindness

The Pharisees—show their stubborn blindness

They show us the the deception of spiritual blindness.

We see in the Pharisees how much blindness can have a hold on us, yet we are unaware of it. We think we see just fine

Those who are physically blind always know that they are physically blind. They know that their eyes are not registering the light and images that are hitting their retinas.

They know that if they don’t have some kind of help,

someone to lead them,

a dog

a cane,

They will most likely have a difficult time

But the horrible thing about spiritual blindness is that we don’t realize that we are spiritually blind, unless someone points it out to us. And even then in many cases, we will deny it.

Just like the Pharisees

We walk around thinking that we are seeing just fine. That there is absolutely nothing wrong with our eyesight.

That’s why spiritual blindness affects 100% of us in different ways

There are probably a lot of ways that demonstrate spiritual blindness, but here are just a few ways that we see in the Pharisees

Their concern for tradition over mercy and the Glory of God—it was the Sabbath

This is how they always responded. They showed clearly that their concern was not for mercy and love, but for tradition and legalism.

It was for acting in the proper way. It was for making sure that the boat didn’t get rocked. This boat that they had spent hundreds or thousands of years building.

This boat’s original blueprints were found in the Law of Moses, but they had added their own design to it and called it The Original Boat.

It was this boat that they were concerned about protecting.

They didn’t want the paint to get chipped

They didn’t want the deck to get dirty.

They didn’t want the parts to wear out.

And in order to keep their boat looking great, they tried to keep people from using it. They tried to keep it free of needy people.

Tradition over mercy

Could this be true of us? Do we find ourselves putting tradition and order above mercy? This boat that we have spent hundreds of years building and taking care of?

Is our way of life something that we have elevated above

Do our Sundays become times that need to look a certain way, and fit in a certain time frame.

I know that I have spiritual blindness. You want to know how?

It’s when sharing time goes “a bit long”, and I find myself glancing at the clock on the wall, worried that I might not have time to deliver “my” message that I spent so long preparing

It’s when I speak sharply to my wife or children when my plans are being messed with

That’s me putting me over mercy and love. It’s putting tradition and agendas over mercy.

We know we are dealing with spiritual blindness when showing love and mercy takes a back seat to traditions and agendas

Jesus shows us over and over again where HIs priorities are, but seeking out and healing people on the Sabbath

You would think that at some point the Pharisees would start to get it, but they just never seem to.

You would think that at some point we , that I, would start to get it.

But I still struggle with blindness in this area

Their denial of the power of God—They doubted that this man was born blind and that God really did heal him

They started to doubt their own senses and think that maybe they were crazy.

I think they knew good and well who this man was and that he indeed was blind at birth and spent all his life so far begging

But look what happens in verse 18. It says that they did not believe that he had been born blind and had received his sight

So they had to call in his parents and ask them if this was really their son and if he really was born blind

Spiritual blindness makes us try to explain away the things that God is doing right in front of our eyes.

Spiritual blindness makes us unable to see what God is doing because when God works, He doesn’t follow our traditions and schedules.

In fact, it’s worse than just being unable to see. We might be able to see, but we willingly deny what God is doing

I admit to you that I have spiritual blindness. You want to know how?

Take this COVID crisis. I know that I have spiritual blindness because I have found myself believing that God can’t possibly be working through something like this.

I find myself denying the power of God because it’s not how I would have done it.

Another example: When I see God working in the life of a person but I refuse to believe it because, “do you remember how this person used to be? He/she can’t possibly be different now”

That’s spiritual blindness and I need to repent

Their desire to protect their reputation—they could not admit that they might be wrong about who Jesus was

No, instead, they insist that Jesus is a sinner.

And they insist that others say the same thing. Verse 24 “Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner”

And they pause waiting for the man to agree with them in order to protect his own standing with them

But the man refuses to budge. Refuses to come to their way of thinking

And so what do they do? They throw him out of the synagogue so that their reputation doesn’t take a hit.

Man, the desire to protect my reputation can be such a huge blind spot.

The Man—shows his spiritual eyes being opened

His immediate obedience

Only a man who is at the end of himself would do what this man does

Only a man who knows he has no other hope will smear mud on his eyes and splash water on his face hoping that he will gain something that he has never had before

This is a sign of spiritual eyes being opened. It’s when Jesus says “Go”, and we go. It’s when He says “Do this”, and we do it.

His unashamed testimony

No I am the man!

I was blind but now I see

His wanting more

Who is He, that I might believe in Him?