I was blind, but now I see

I was blind

When we first encounter this man, Jesus and his disciples are walking through town, and spot this man who “was blind from birth” (John 9:1). As disciples in those days commonly did, they saw this as a teachable moment and sought wisdom from their teacher: “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents that he was born blind?” (John 9:2). This was a common practice for Jewish students following a teacher; they saw something in the world that was not easily explainable, and they asked their teacher about it; the purpose of discipleship, after all, was to grow and learn more. Their question also reflects their own prejudice that this man’s blindness was a result of sin. They had a simple explanation already figured out for a much more complicated issue; it was clear to them that this man’s blindness was a punishment for either this man’s or his parents’ sin. But that’s just not how troubles, tribulations, and struggles work. Sometimes the trials that we’re going through in life aren’t a direct result or consequence of our sin; they set in place so that we can grow and show God’s glory. James 1:2-4 picks up on this theme: “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance, and perseverance must complete its work that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing.” This man’s blindness had a greater purpose.

I don’t know many people who would choose to be blind, or to have a degenerative disease, or to struggle with mental health issues. But God sees all things with the end in sight. Just like this man who was born blind, we all have a history and a past that God has set in place so that we can grow in Him to become mature and complete, perfectly reflecting His glory in our lives. We want the simple answers in life; cause and effect, black and white. But that’s simply not how God works. He works through the dirt, the mud, the pain, and the sickness. Your history, just like this man’s, may be filled with things that you would not have chosen for yourself, but it is exactly these undesirable experiences that have and will shape you into who God wants you to be. Your history may or may not be a result of your own or someone else’s sins, but it is definitely an opportunity for God’s grace and power to shine through. May we take on the mindset of Paul wrote as he wrote to the Corinthians, “For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:10, ESV) . Our weakness gives the opportunity for God’s power to shine through.

But...

This small word changes everything. Just three letters in the English language reflect the moment that this man’s life changed forever. Looking back into the passage, we see Jesus showing His disciples and this man the exact answer to the disciples’ question: he was born blind so that I could make him see. “[Jesus] spit on the ground and made mud with saliva.” Why did He have to make mud out of spit? Isn’t that gross and messy? Yes, but sometimes it’s through the mess and the grime, and the things we would rather avoid that is where Jesus does His best work. Maybe using dirt from the ground was a throwback to God’s original work at creation, when He created Adam out of the dust of the earth. As the Creator, now in flesh-form, took this freshly made mud, “Then He anointed the man’s eyes with the mud and said to him, ‘Go, wash in the pool of Siloam’ (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing.” (John 9:6-8). This man had no idea that day that his life would change forever. He never asked for Jesus’ intervention, although he was glad for it. Sometimes Jesus works in unexpected ways to remove longstanding obstacles, but sometimes He allows these obstacles to remain in our path so that His glory can be revealed in an even greater way later. This man’s life was changed by Jesus while he was just going about his everyday activities, encountering the remarkable in the unremarkable. Do you remember the first time Jesus seemed real to you? Maybe it seems like a thousand years ago at a VBS, or maybe it was just a few days ago. But what convinced you that Jesus is who He claims to be? Were there any specific people who played a part in bringing you to Jesus? Any songs, Bible verses, or other life events? These are a significant part of sharing your own story. These are part of your but. The second part of sharing your story with others is how you encountered Jesus. For this man, the moment was exceptionally clear, physical, and tangible. It happened all at once; in an instant, he could see clearly all of who Jesus is and His great power. Maybe your story is similar, or maybe it took days, weeks, or months for the proverbial scales to fall of your eyes. In another account of Jesus’ healing a blind man, his sight isn’t completely restored immediately; “He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village, and when he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, “Do you see anything?” And he looked up and said, “I see people, but they look like trees, walking.” Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly” (Mark 8:23-24). If Jesus’ becoming real to you is more of a progression than an immediate revelation, that’s okay. That’s sometimes how He works. In fact, we only have a handful of accounts throughout history where Jesus reveals Himself in such a dramatic fashion. The more normative way is a slow opening of our eyes to see what He is doing. The day is coming when all of our eyes will be fully opened and we will see Jesus face to face and worship Him boldly, enthusiastically, and with reckless abandon together. Until that day comes, we’ve got work to do and changes to make.

Now I see

After encountering Jesus, everything changed for this man. I can’t imagine the overwhelming joy that must have come with being able to see for the first time. Can you imagine the thoughts going through his mind as he began connecting the sounds that he had heard his entire life with the images now before him? Maybe his first sight was a reflection of himself as he washed in the pool of Siloam; staring back at him was the image of God, reflected in his mortal body. For the first time, he could see. Not only physically, but also spiritually. Now his life was going to change, from the smallest details to the largest. Yes, he could see, but that also meant that he would now have to live an entirely new life. He no longer had to be an outcast of society; this newfound freedom meant that he would be allowed to worship in the synagogue. It also meant that he would have to give up his life as a beggar and find a way to support himself. There were still a whole lot of unknowns for him, but what he knew at this point meant that none of that mattered. As people questioned how this miracle had occurred, who had done it, and what that man was like, his answer was simple: “I was blind, but now I see.” You don’t have to have all the answers just because you have come to a saving faith in Jesus Christ. All you need is to know that Jesus has taken you out of darkness, into His marvelous light. (1 Peter 2:9). Of course, the questions will come, and we should prepare ourselves to answer them, but sometimes the best answer is “I was blind, but now I see.” As you share your story of how Jesus has changed your life, you don’t need to know whether the earth was created in six literal days, you don’t need to know the definitions of fancy theological words, or be able to quote the entire Bible. All you need in order to share your story is who you were, how you met Jesus, and how He has changed your life since then. I hope that everyone in this room can answer those three questions. If not, I would challenge you to seriously spend some time in the Bible and ask God how He wants to change you. There may be areas in your life that don’t reflect the completed work of Jesus. How can you surrender those to Him?

When confronted by the pharisees who challenged the divine work that had just taken place, the man who had been born blind simply says, “Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” Your personal story of how you met Jesus and how He has changed your life is more powerful than the greatest apologetics course. Nobody can argue with life change. Many people have their own opinions of who Jesus is, and they may have their own hangups about why they won’t come to faith, but they will never be able to argue with a changed life. Therefore, our best apologetic - our best argument to convince others of the truth of God’s Word - is the way that we live our lives. We must constantly be searching our hearts, our motives, our thoughts, our words, and our actions, and surrendering them to God’s will. How foolish it would be to receive sight and yet continue to live like we are blind.

Don’t live in blindness

If we refuse to surrender areas of our lives to God’s changing power, we are no better than the pharisees in this passage. They should have known better than anyone else who this man standing before them was. They had devoted their lives to studying the Scriptures, living godly lives, and following all the rules. And yet they were the ones who continued to live in blindness after Jesus performed miracle after miracle in front of them. Instead of celebrating with the man who was born blind, they interrogate him relentlessly. They cannot see the beauty of what God had done. They were blinded by their own arrogance. Rather than embracing God’s work, they cast this man out of the temple