Blind From Birth
John 9:1-7
1 Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth.
So leaving the temple… our story continues. In John ch. 8 Jesus forgives an adulterous woman and sets her FREE from her sin!
John 8:11 Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more!
Q. Who is this… that has this authority?
John 8:12 I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.
In John 8 Jesus reveals that the religious leaders were SPIRITUALLY BLIND to who He was…wanting to stone Him!
But now just a stones throw away… Jesus passes a man who is PHYSICALLY BLIND from his birth. (begging)
2 And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
The Jewish rabbi’s taught…that it was actually possible for a baby to sin in the womb.
Exodus 20:5 You shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,
So who’s fault is this ? His or his parents?
Fallen man …thinks of God the Father as a God who is wanting to punish us for our sin! Mad at us!
The TRUTH is that God is a God who loves us …Madly in love with us! ( Jeremiah 31:3) ( Zephaniah 3:17)
The disciples theology is a lot like Jobs Counselors …
Job must have done something horrible and as a result God was punishing him!
But the TRUTH was … God was allowing Job to suffer. (Tremendous insight / NOT God but Satan.. God allowed)
God had a plan! (He was not letting Job suffer needlessly!)
God NEVER lets us suffer needlessly!
James 5:11 Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord – that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.
3 Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.
Children born with handicaps are NOT God punishing them or their parents! (Prone to think that… NOT true!)
Q. So is this verse teaching that this man was born blind, created blind by God for this purpose that Jesus the Messiah might heal him?
A. That is one possibility. (we don’t know from our text)
Exodus 4:11 So the Lord said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing or the blind? Have not I, the Lord?
Psalm 115:3 But our God is in heaven; He does whatever He pleases.
Q. So then… are ALL handicapped children sovereignly created handicapped by God…for His purposes? No …
Another explanation is… the FACT that we live in a FALLEN WORLD.
As a result… THE FALL OF MANKIND & SIN … people are born with all kinds of physical & genetic challenges. In a fallen world.. ALL OF US are subject to sickness, disease, breakdown, bodily failure & ultimately death.
These physical failures are NOT always a result of God’s sovereign will for us… but generally are a result of living in a FALLEN WORLD.
A mentor of mine…STRUGGLE… handicapped daughter.
3 Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him
4 I (We) must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work.
True for us too.
We want to learn from Jesus and be busy… walking in in the good works the Father has for us! URGENCY here!
We need or live with an URGENCY too.
Ephesians 2:8-10 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
Life is short!
The Puritan pastor Richard Baxter captured that sense of urgency when he wrote, “I preached as never sure to preach again, and as a dying man to dying men”
5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
Us too! (Explain)
6 When He had said these things, He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay.
Psalm 146:8 The Lord opens the eyes of the blind.
Q. Who is Jesus? God!
Genesis 2:7 And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.
Using clay… Jesus was making this man a new creation!
Opening the eyes of the blind was a SIGN of the Messiah.
Isaiah 35:5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, And the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. 6 Then the lame shall leap like a deer & the tongue of the dumb sing.
7 And He said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated, Sent). So he went and washed, and came back seeing.
So Jesus initiated a work of healing / salvation in this blind man that required this blind mans obedience to Jesus words! ( It’s only when he obeyed the words of Jesus..)
Johns account of Jesus healing this blind man… BEAUTIFULLY illustrates our salvation.
- We too are ALL spiritually blind from birth. Unable to find the Messiah.
- Jesus is the one who finds us & heals us from our blindness.
- Jesus’ healing work takes place in us when we obediently respond to His Words.
- Jesus commands us too to be washed in water. The water of baptism.
- Jesus does a work of creation in us too, making us a new creation!
- We too become healed, a mystery to our former friends, not even seeming to be the same person to them.
- We too display loyalty to Jesus when we are persecuted, boldly testifying of Jesus’ transforming work in our lives.
- We never know the name of this man born blind… because his name is insignificant… the only name in this story that we need to know … is the name of Jesus! It’s in Jesus name that the blind see!