Sermon Archives

March 24, 2010
Pastor Judy Bangsund

"Vital Signs Leading to Life:
Jesus Heals a Blind Man"
John 9:1-41

Perhaps for you it happened in a math class, or chemistry or geography. For me, it happened in a church history class. After years of education and learning, something was said that unlocked the door. All the various pieces of the puzzle came together - and the picture emerged. It made sense. All I needed was that one key idea, and it all came together.

John's Gospel is like that. He sets out various miracles of Jesus, signs which point beyond the event itself to something greater. He tells us bits and pieces of Jesus' life, what he said and did, and then at the very end, gives us the key that unlocks their meanings. At the end of his Gospel, John writes these words: "Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name."

That's what these signs are all about. They point to Jesus, as the One in whom you place your trust. They have a function - not only to heal or to demonstrate divine power, but more importantly, to create faith in Him.

Tonight we will read one more sign in John's Gospel: the healing of the man born blind. It's a powerful story in which, once more, the sign points beyond itself to Jesus, Son of God. It's a sign that not only offers a miraculous cure, but also generates faith - in the blind man, and in readers and hearers of the story ever since, including you and me tonight. But signs work both ways - either to generate faith, and thereby give life; or to reveal resistance, which leads to death.

It's a great story, one that breaks down into 4 recognizable scenes. These scenes quickly become a courtroom drama, as one by one, various characters step up to the witness stand to offer their testimony. But it's not always clear who is who: the accuser, the accused and the witness sometimes switch roles. As we read this drama tonight, I will add some comments along the way, comments I hope will be helpful to you as we go along. So let's begin - as Jesus sets the context of light. Light shining into all this chaos. On whom does the light shine? Who sees it? Who is blinded by it? We begin with the reading of the first 12 verses....

Jn 9:1-12 As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" "Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world." Having said this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man's eyes. "Go," he told him, "wash in the Pool of Siloam" (this word means Sent). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing. His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, "Isn't this the same man who used to sit and beg?" Some claimed that he was. Others said, "No, he only looks like him." But he himself insisted, "I am the man." "How then were your eyes opened?" they demanded. He replied, "The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see." "Where is this man?" they asked him. "I don't know," he said.

The stage is being set. The light source is Jesus. He made this declaration during a festival in which light was a major focus. Jesus gathered all that imagery to himself when he declared, "I am the light of the world." Just before his encounter with the blind man, Jewish leaders had tried to stone Jesus for making an even more audacious claim, using the very name of God in reference to himself, saying: "Before Abraham was, I AM." Hearing Jesus make this claim, the leaders tried to stone him, but he slipped away.

It is on his way out of the Temple that Jesus finds this man, blind from birth. Immediately a connection is made between sin and blindness as his disciples ask, "Who sinned, that this man was born blind?" Who is the sinner? This is a central question. Who sinned? Who is blind?

Jesus begins to make mud to spread it, like healing salve, on this man's eyes. The man is told to go and wash; he does so and returns home, seeing - for the first time in his life.

At this point, we begin to feel as if we are in the courtroom. The question that drives this drama is, "Who is Jesus?" Other questions revolve around it: "Who is blind? Who is a sinner?" To the witness stand various people are called forward to give testimony. And the blind man - now sighted - is the first. It is established, according to good legal process, that he is, indeed, the man who was born blind. It is obvious that he now sees. So he is asked, "Who healed you?" And his answer is, "A man named Jesus." Who is Jesus? Just a man.

That's all he knows. He knows three things: he was blind and now he sees, and the man, Jesus, healed him. His encounter with Jesus had been very brief. Only two things had happened: mud was smeared on his eyes, and he was told to go wash. He obeyed; now he sees.

A comment: Blindness is no small thing. I bet everyone here knows someone with impaired vision. My aunt is blind. It's so frustrating. It means she can no longer read or quilt or drive. In a sighted world, it means she has to put out extra effort, just to keep up. But my aunt is a woman of faith. She has never asked whether this impediment was sent by God; in her mind, her blindness is not in 1-1 correspondence with her sin; rather, it's just the way things are. One thing she is sure of: that God can use her blindness in ways that glorify Him, and for that she is glad.

Many of you here have experienced illness, accidents or other problems that are not always of your own making. Because of them you and your family have suffered; your life has become difficult. But - in the context of faith - you have also experienced God's power in unexpected ways. Your pretenses have been stripped away; the notion that you are all-sufficient, that you need no one else, evaporates into thin air. And you begin to trust God. Perhaps, along the way, members of your family have become reconciled. And the truth of Scripture is proven: if God is my strength, of whom shall I be afraid? And you find that you are not afraid! God is the stronghold of your life, regardless of what happens. In the case of this blind man, Jesus said, the work of God can now be displayed - and this happens in the most unlikely of places.. // We move to the next scene, verses 13-17.

Jn 9:13-17 They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man's eyes was a Sabbath. Therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. "He put mud on my eyes," the man replied, "and I washed, and now I see." Some of the Pharisees said, "This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath." But others asked, "How can a sinner do such miraculous signs?" So they were divided. Finally they turned again to the blind man, "What have you to say about him? It was your eyes he opened." The man replied, "He is a prophet."

The courtroom expands. Now the Jewish rulers get involved as they bring forward a new charge. The person standing accused is Jesus, and the charge is breaking the Sabbath. (Remember the Sabbath? We've been here before. In an earlier sign Jesus demonstrated that he is greater than the Sabbath. This claim places him in one of two categories: either he is a sinner, or he is God. When he healed the paralytic, Jesus restored this good gift of God, taking it out of the House of Rules and placing the Sabbath back where it belongs, into the House of Mercy.)

But that sign was lost on the religious leaders. Once more, the jury is divided: is Jesus a sinner because he healed on the Sabbath? Or, as Pastor Jim showed us earlier, does the fact that Jesus acts in divine ways tell us that he is God? Once again, the blind man - now sighted - is brought to the witness stand. "Who do you say that Jesus is?" And the sighted man gives a new answer: "He is a prophet."

See how faith grows! At first, Jesus was understood to be just a man. Now he is seen to be a prophet. Clearly Jesus has a connection with God. From the point of view of the sighted man, the central question is not the Sabbath, but his sight. Someone healed him, made him see. Is not this someone from God? Faith, like his sight, grows ever clearer.

A comment: We may not always get it exactly right. You and I, like the sighted man, are constantly growing in faith. In this life, faith will always be a process. Once faith is born in you - a work of God in itself - that faith starts growing. You may not immediately have the kind of faith that moves mountains - you may never achieve that. Paul says that as a child, he thought and acted like a child. As a man, he thinks and acts differently. That's the way it is with faith, too. God understands who you are and accepts the faith you have for the moment. He can use that; He can make something out of that. This newly sighted man displayed a very young faith - like a child - trusting but not knowing completely. And that's ok. We are all a work in progress. // Let's move on to the next scene, vss 18-34.

Jn 9:18-34 The Jews still did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they sent for the man's parents. "Is this your son?" they asked. "Is this the one you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see?" "We know he is our son," the parents answered, "and we know he was born blind. But how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don't know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself." His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews, for already the Jews had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Christ would be put out of the synagogue. That was why his parents said, "He is of age; ask him." A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. "Give glory to God, " they said. "We know this man is a sinner." He replied, "Whether he is a sinner or not, I don't know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!" Then they asked him, "What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?" He answered, "I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples, too?" Then they hurled insults at him and said, "You are this fellow's disciple! We are disciples of Moses! We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don't even know where he comes from." The man answered, "Now that is remarkable! You don't know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will. Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing." To this they replied, "You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!" And they threw him out.

Who is blind and who sees? The religious leaders, growing more blind by the minute, now question whether the sighted man was ever blind at all. So they summon his parents to the witness stand. Frightened, they nevertheless give a clear witness. They tell what they know: this is their son. He was born blind. Now he sees. More than that, they cannot say.

Their son is again summoned to the witness stand. Here the testimony gets complicated. Who is the accuser and who is the accused? The man born blind sees more and more clearly. He sees what is; his vision is not clouded by any other agenda. He invites the leaders to open their eyes so that they, too, may see and follow Jesus, in whom he has growing faith. They now stand accused. A healing has taken place in which God is the active agent. Can't they see? The sighted man gives a powerful testimony, turning the tables on his accusers. Who is now blind? And the religious leaders, in blind fury, throw him out. A comment: what defines the chosen people of God? Is it Moses and the law or any particular church membership? Who is inside and who is outside? Jesus has redefined the boundaries. No longer does exclusion from Temple or synagogue or church mean you are outside the walls of faith. From now on, belief in Jesus defines that community. The newly-sighted man may have been thrown out of the Temple, but that no longer matters. The center of his faith is Jesus. Notice the parting shot from the religious leaders to the sighted man: "You were steeped in sin at birth." True, but Jesus had said earlier that this was the wrong question. It is not a question of whether you act righteously, but whether you have been washed and have been made righteous. It is whether you were born blind, but whether Jesus has given you sight. My friends, there is not one of us here who is righteous by nature; we all are sinners from birth. The defining point is not who we were, but who have become since meeting Jesus, since believing in him. As the old sinner, now come to faith, once said: "I may not be what I could be; I may not be what I should be; but thank God I ain't what I was." // Let's check out the final courtroom scene: vss 35-41.

Jn 9:35-41 Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" "Who is he, sir?" the man asked. "Tell me so that I may believe in him." Jesus said, "You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you." Then the man said, "Lord, I believe," and he worshiped him. Jesus said, "For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind." Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, "What? Are we blind too?" Jesus said, "If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.

Who sees and who is blind? The verdict is now given. For the first time, the man born blind sees Jesus. You may remember that after Jesus smeared mud on his eyes, the man was sent to the pool to wash and there received his sight. Then he returned home. Now he sees Jesus for the first time, face to face, and publically affirms his faith, worshiping him. And Jesus takes his rightful place as judge, distinguishing between the faithful and the faithless - the sighted and blind. And the religious leaders are condemned by their own witness.

A final comment: the new faith of the sighted man is not allowed to remain stunted. As he grows in his relationship with his Lord, he also grows in faith. Jesus is not content to let his faith remain half-baked. He comes back to finish his work, the work of faith - that the man may see and know. The next time someone asks him, "Who healed you?" he will have a new testimony to give: "Jesus, my Lord and my God."

You and I are like that man: we too, have believed in One we have not seen face to face. And yet, because of Jesus, you and I have experienced healing in our lives. An encounter with Jesus changes you. You will not remain blind; you will not remain in your sin. Instead you will be forgiven. And some day, you too will see him face to face, and worship him.

Vital signs that lead to life. There are 7; they all point to Jesus; they all result either in growing faith or growing unbelief. The greatest sign of all is the one that we will see next week, on Calvary: the sign of the cross. Indeed, it is the most vital of the signs - and the one which most surely leads to life. Amen.