Are You Blind?

ARE YOU BLIND? JOHN 9
READ 9:1-7; 35-41

1And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. 2 And his
disciples asked him, saying, Master, who sinned, this man, or his parents, that
he was born blind? 3 Jesus answered, Neither has this man sinned, nor his
parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest (displayed) in him. 4
I must work the works of him who sent me, while it is day: the night is coming,
when no man can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the
world. 6After he had spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the
spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, 7 And said
unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He
went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing.

35 Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when he had found him, he
said unto him, Do you believe on the Son of God? 36 He answered and said,
Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him? 37 And Jesus said unto him,
you have both seen him, and it is he that talks with you. 38 And he said,
Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him. 39 And Jesus said, For
judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that
they which see might be made blind. 40 And some of the Pharisees which were
with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also? 41 Jesus
said unto them, If you were blind, you should have no sin: but now you say, We
see; therefore your sin remains.

Do you ever see a handicapped person and think, “there but for the grace of God go I”? Does your heart skip a beat when you here about a small child who is taken from this world by some avoidable accident? Why do bad things happen? And more importantly, why have I been spared the worse things that could happen, while others who seem to deserve it the least suffer in ways I cannot imagine? I hope this text will shed some light on those questions.
This healing of the blind man is the most miraculous miracle in the ministry of Jesus; even the Pharisees attest to that saying “Since the world began it has been unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of one who was born blind” (v. 32).

But before we dive into this healing, let me point out a few things about how the Holy Spirit has inspired John to join this event to the event that preceded it in chapter 8 just to underline the fact that the Gospel is not just a biography of a great man, but it is a living and inspired testimony of the Acts of God incarnate and every Word of scripture and every event that is recorded is there by design to teach us and reveal the hidden things of God.

Because there’s an artificial chapter break between 8:59 and 9:1, we might miss the important fact that in the moments before encountering the blind man, the Jews were about to stone him for claiming to be God. Let’s read it like this: “…but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple [and] as he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth.” How outrageous that in the one instant, Jesus is concealing himself, hiding his divine glory from the sighted and in the next he is revealing it to one born blind. That’s the whole point of this chapter. Actually this chapter illustrates what John wrote in the introduction to this gospel: (remember) “the light shineth in the darkness and the darkness comprehended it not…” (that is, spiritual darkness):

9 That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the
world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the
world did not know Him. 11He came to His own, and His own did not receive
Him. 12 But (and her is the good news…) as many as received Him, to them He
gave the right to become sons of God, to those who believe in His name: 13
who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of
man (not because their parents were Christians, not because they were born into
the covenant, not because they desired God,), but (they were born of the will)
of God. 14And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His
glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and
truth. (Jn 1:9-14).

There are also some wonderful similarities and contrasts between chapter 8 and 9 that help us to uncover the full meaning of this miracle.[1]
· In Jn. 8 Jesus is light exposing darkness and in ch. 9 he gives sight to one born blind.
· In ch. 8 light is despised and rejected by the sighted but in ch. 9 he is received and worshipped by a blind man.
· In ch. 8 the Jews (claiming to be seekers of truth) stoop to pick up stones to stone him but in ch. 9 Christ stoops to make clay to heal a man who sought him not.
· In ch. 8 God in the form of Christ is in His temple and called a demoniac but in ch. 9 he is outside the temple and worshipped as Lord.
· The central truth of Jn 8 is light testing failed human responsibility; but the central truth of Jn. 9 is God acting in sovereign grace after human responsibility has failed.

After this bitter rejection of Jesus in ch. 8, he might well have been justified in foregoing the cross and ascending to the riches of heaven leaving men to their own justly deserved demise. But instead, he submitted to the will of the Father and endured the shame of the cross so that while we were yet sinners, Christ died. And now, resurrected and ascended and glorified, he draws all men to himself and through the preaching of the gospel, he goes out into the highways and byways and lifts up the downcast and gives sight to the blind. “Not many wise, not many noble, God chooses the foolish things, (the blind beggars) of this world to confound the wise (the self righteous professors of grace rejecting religion).”

Notice that when Jesus passes by this man, not only does the man not see him, but he was not even seeking him. Matthew Henry rightly says that “Christ is often found by those who seek him not, nor see him.” He is parallel to the invalid in chapter 5 who lay by the pool but had no one to carry him into the water and be healed. That day, Jesus picked that man to heal out of a multitude of sick and diseased.

Both these men (the blind man and the invalid) illustrate sins effects upon the human soul. Because of sin, we are spiritually crippled, unable to pick ourselves up and go to the healing water. Likewise, because of sin, we are spiritually blind unable to see the light much less even to know that such light exists; “dead in trespasses and sins” describes the condition of our souls before Christ.

4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 5 Even when we were dead in sins (when we were unloveable and had no desire to love or be loved by God), [He] hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: 7 That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. (Eph 2:4-7)

Last week I saw on the news a story about a young woman who had gone to invermere to visit her parents and while visiting, she went for a bike ride through some trails. Her remains were found the next day inside the belly of a black bear. Did you wonder, like me, what sin this girl had committed that made God say, “enough is enough, I’m going to demand her soul of her this day.” After all, I read in my devotions last week in Leviticus 26:22 that God promises Israel that if they disobey the covenant He will, among other things, “also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children….”

Knowing the Law with its promises of blessings for the righteous and curses for the wicked, the Disciples might have rightly wondered, “Who sinned”. Jesus must have also believed something similar, after all, back in chapter 5, after the lame man returned to Jesus, Jesus said to him, “See, you are well. Sin no more that nothing worse may happen to you.”

The Pharisees made the same assumption of the blind man as did the disciples, only they decided it was the man’s own sin which had caused his blindness. In verse 34 they say, “you were born under sin”. The Pharisees actually believed it was possible, and indeed had determined in the case of this man, that he must have sinned in the womb in order to have incurred upon himself this malady from God. And they added that since he had been born under sin, he could not teach them. Isn’t that was the same logic they used to reject the divine origin of Jesus’ healing? Since Jesus had healed on the Sabbath he was a sinner and therefore his healing was not from God. What hypocrites, wasn’t that that very same Sabbath day that many of them had earlier picked up stones to kill Jesus? We ‘religious people’ are sometimes the worst hypocrites don’t you think?

Both the Pharisees and the disciples however were blind to two things: 1) the first was that they themselves were sinners. They were filthy wretched, lame and dead in sin. Remember how Jesus described them in 8:44? “You are of your father the devil and your will is to do your father’s desires… there is not truth in him.” But they could not see the bondage of their wills to Satan. They fooled themselves into thinking that their pedigree, because they were Abraham’s heir, they could claim God as their father even they, when he was standing right in front of them, they knew him not, nor did they recognize him. When Paul was confronted by the light of the risen Christ on the road to Damascus, suddenly all his pedigree and status became as dung in his eyes.

That’s the blinding power of sin and we ‘religious folk’ must take head from those Pharisees’ example and strive to not be like them. They command the blind beggar in 9:24 to give glory to God and then in the next breath they judge Jesus to be a sinner and blaspheme him not only with their lips, but also their hearts. We’re all born in sin! Every sickness, every disease, every disorder has its origins with our parents in the Garden when they stole forbidden fruit from God and attempted also to steal his glory by becoming like him.

When Jesus stooped to form the mud from his spit, I think he was showing us how blind we are to our own filth and how much in need we are of the cleansing that comes from the one who was sent by the Father. The mud is our sin and the washing is the baptism which signifies the removing of our sin which results in our illumination. Before we wash we must acknowledge our need of it. Before we take the medicine we must feel that we are ill. Before we can repent, we must confess that we are sinners. Something those self-righteous Pharisees refused to do and even the disciples had need of it.

2) The second thing that the Pharisees and the disciples were blind to was that whether or not the man or his parents’ sin resulted in his blinded, the purpose of the man’s condition was for God glory. Doesn’t the Bible say God works all things together for God to them that love Him? I bet everyone in this room who is a believer- there was some tragedy, some sorrow, some affliction that preceded your coming to Christ. And that affliction, that tragedy, that sorrow resulted in God’s glory being revealed.

Paul illustrates this principle. In 2 Corinthians 12 he tells the Corinthians that he was inflicted with a messenger from Satan, which was a thorn in the flesh. He gave this testimony:
8 For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. 9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.

You see, the disciples question when they found the blind man was backward looking “what is the cause of this affliction”. But Jesus models to us that our question should be forward looking “what glory will this bring the Father.” For Paul his thorn in the flesh brought him the humility to claim such an amazing ministry. No wonder he boasted in his infirmities.

Conclusion:
Let me conclude with this application. I don’t know how God will gain glory from the mauling of the young woman in Invermere. I don’t know how He will get glory from the soldiers killed in Afghanistan. But I know that this week a Korean pastor was killed at the hands of wicked men in Afghanistan and twenty others for whom he was their shepherd are still in that lion’s den. Was it that pastor’s sin or the sin of his parents that he should die that way? Neither, but it was for the glory of God. He has paid the ultimate price in order to display the glory of God to the most evil of men. Maybe God has more concern that the Taliban hear the gospel then he does to preserve the bodies of 20 missionaries. But they will receive a glorious reward in heaven.

Calvin makes the application, he says:
If my brother meets with adversity, I instantly acknowledge the judgment of God; but if God chastises me with a heavier stroke, I wink at my sins. But in considering punishments, every man ought to begin with himself, and to spare himself as little as any other person. Wherefore, if we wish to be candid judges in this matter, let us learn to be quick in discerning our own evils rather than those of others.[2]

Let us be backward looking for the root of our own chastisements that it might produce godly sorrow in ourselves and let us be forward looking in the afflictions of others and ask, “how will this manifest the works and the grace and the glory and the mercy of God in that person?”

Notes
[1] See AW Pink Exposition on the Gospel of John pp 467ff.
[2]John Calvin. Commentary on John - Volume 1 (235). <<>>.