Series: John
John 9
David Stockton - September 20, 2020

Are We Blind, Too?

(Starting at. 6:07)

John chapter 9. Let’s jump in. This is a wonderful story. John, sometimes they’re long chapters and sometimes he kind of speaks in a way that is a little bit hard to process and understand. But this is just so good right here.

1 As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

So Jesus noticed this man who was blind, and as he noticed him, his disciples’ attention went to that person, as well, and they asked this question.

3 “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. 4 As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. 5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

Jesus noticed this guy. And, obviously, there’s something different about him. He’s blind. That has a whole bunch of connotation both in today’s world as well as that world. In this moment, the disciples actually say, “Oh, Jesus is looking at the blind person. Jesus is thinking about the blind person.” So they wanted to add to that and kind of show him how much they know. They say, “Was it this person or his parents’ sin that caused this blindness.” Because that the was the thought. The debate was not whether this was a result of one of their sins, this is like judgment of God. It was, was it the parents’ or his that caused this because he was born this way?”

And Jesus, as he always does, answers in a way that is from a completely different perspective altogether. And he says, “No. You’re totally wrong. All of the answers you think are right are wrong.” Which is a funny thing to hear. It’s kind of how I felt in some of my math classes at times.

It’s like Jesus is saying, “You’re totally focused on the wrong thing.” He actually says this: “This was done so you would know the works of God.”

Now again, for those of us who know Jesus and have read this story, we’re like, “Okay, cool, yeah, Jesus is going to heal the guy.” That ’s the works of God. But that’s not what Jesus was saying. He hasn’t healed the man yet. He’s wanting his disciples to understand, and wanting this blind man to understand, that God is up to something. God has purpose. We don’t need to just focus on cause and origins. We need to focus on purpose. And God has purpose in this. And then he goes on and talks about how we need to work the works of God while we can because it’s going to get more difficult.

6 After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. 7 “Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means “Sent”). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.

There’s no way that people who can see could ever know how dramatic a moment this would be. All his life he has never seen anything. And in one moment he comes out of this water and he’s flooded with light, color, contrast, depth, I don’t know, art people say the other words that I’m trying to say. I mean, all of it! He could see it all in this moment. So he’s pretty pumped.

8 His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, “Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?” 9 Some claimed that he was.
Others said, “No, he only looks like him.”
But he himself insisted, “I am the man.”
10 “How then were your eyes opened?” they asked.
11 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.”

First of all, the disciples are with Jesus and Jesus’ attention goes to this person. And they say, “Oh, is it this guy who’s horrible or his parents who are horrible?” Political correctness wasn’t really working in the system at this point. And he goes on and this guy is actually able to see now. He’s walking around and he’s going, “I see you. I see you. I see you…” He’s seeing all these people that he’s never seen before. And they’re like, “Is this the guy that used to sit and beg all the time?”

“No, that’s not the guy.”

He’s like, “I’m the guy.”

And they’re all divided about it. They didn’t get it because they always saw him as a beggar. They always saw him as a blind man. He has no voice. And he’s there and he’s like, “I am him! I used to be blind. I can see. Do you understand what’s going on?” And they don’t. They don’t at all. And this is what they do:

12 “Where is this man?” they asked him.
“I don’t know,” he said.
13 They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. 14 Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man’s eyes was a Sabbath. 15 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.”

It’s getting more and more concise. You can. understand the frustration. He’s like, “People, do you understand what’s happening in my life right now?”

And they’re like, “Mmmm, I don’t really think you were blind. Let’s take him to the Pharisees because they’ll know what to do about this.

16 Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.”

You can only imagine what’s going on in this guy’s mind right now. “Are you serious? You’re mad at this guy?”

But others asked, “How can a sinner perform such signs?” So they were divided.

John’s making that very clear. Right? Jesus was very popular. They wanted to make him a king just a few chapters ago. In a few more chapters they’re going to want to crucify him because they hate him so much. There is a lot of division about Jesus still today. There are a lot of opinions about Jesus still today.

And John tells us that the reason there are all those opinions is because people who see don’t really want to see. They prefer the darkness to the light. And that’s true in our world today. People want to suppress the truth because they don’t want to have to make changes. They don’t want people to see the truth about them. As long as they are in that space they can never be healed.

There is a lot of division about Jesus once again.

17 Then 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.”

“He’s from God. That’s all I know. He’s got to be because I couldn’t see stuff and now I see everything.

18 They still did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they sent for the man’s parents.

Are you getting how frustrating this must be for this guy? He’s like, “Yeah, I was blind.” And his friends are like, “Nah. We don’t think it was him. Let’s take him to the Pharisees.”

And the Pharisees were like, “Were you blind?”

He’s like, “I was blind.”

They’re like, “Nah. Let’s get his parents.”

So now his parents come.

19 “Is this your son?” they asked. “Is this the one you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see?”
20 “We know he is our son,” the parents answered, “and we know he was born blind. 21 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.” 22 His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders, who already had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. 23 That was why his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”
24 A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. “Give glory to God by telling the truth,” they said. “We know this man is a sinner.”
25 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!”

“I was blind and now I can see. I don’t know how to not see now. I just can’t help seeing. Every time I open my eyes—bam—everything is there. I used to be so good at not seeing. I used to the be the best at not seeing. I used to be awesome at it. And now, no matter how hard I try, I just keep seeing. Even when I close my eyes, I see the back of my eyelids when the light is coming through. I just see it all the time. I was blind but now I can see. I cannot deny. I cannot go back. Jesus has changed everything.”

26 Then they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?
27 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?”

He spent his entire life blind. Rejected. Judged—that either he is evil or his parents were evil and that’s why. He’s been ridiculed, shamed and left out. He’s had to beg just to survive. Even his parents have created some separation from him. He’s not afraid of some insults or some ridicule. It’s all he’s ever known in this life. Not to mention, he can see now. So he’s not afraid of what these people are going to do. He’s like, “I can see. If you try to punch me, I can see it coming now!”

He can see. He’s so pumped. He’s so excited. And these guys were trying to rain on his parade.

I lived in a school of ministry one time. There were a bunch of guys and we all lived in this house. And it was so funny. Sometimes guys would come home and they had just been with a girl they liked. They had been on a date or they were hanging out and sometimes we could even see them. It was at a church, and we were like, “Ha. He likes her.” And they would come home, and we would joke that they would come home with this girl glow. And no matter what you said to them, they would be like, “That’s funny.”

Literally, sometimes we would go, “Watch. I’m going to go punch him and he’s going to be happy about it.” And sure enough, we could go punch him. And he would be so excited because he got to hang out with that girl. And he’s so excited, and you punch him, and he’s like, “Ha. That’s cool. Don’t worry about it.” And you’re like, “This is so weird.”

But this guy is glowing. He can see now and these guys are trying to rain on his parade. It’s not going to work. So he’s messing with them.

28 Then they hurled insults at him and said, “You are this fellow’s disciple! We are disciples of Moses! 29 We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don’t even know where he comes from.”

This is a consistent theme in the book of John. But John makes it clear in chapter 1. “In the beginning was the Word (Jesus) and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” He was with God in the beginning. John is trying to make it very clear. These guys don’t know where he came from, but John made it very clear where he came from. He’s God. He’s the Alpha and Omega. So that’s what they say, “We don’t even know where he comes from.”

30 The man answered, “Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes.

Here’s someone doing the work of God and you don’t even know anything about him.

31 We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will. 32 Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”
34 To this they replied, “You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!” And they threw him out.

That’s a junior high response, right there.

35 Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”

Do you believe in the Messiah? Do you believe in the one? That’s what he’s saying. Do you believe that God is sending someone into the world to take away the sins of the world? That’s what John said about Jesus. He was declaring that Jesus was the Messiah. John the Baptist said, “Behold the One who takes away the sin of the world. Behold the One who is coming to undo all the damage that sin has done.

And now he’s saying this one, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”

36 “Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.”
37 Jesus said, “You have now seen him;

He’s like, “You’re looking at him. You know those eyes that used to not see anything? Right now they’re seeing the Son of Man.”

That makes so much sense, that Jesus had marked this day on the calendar before the foundation of the world. This was not a surprise. This was not a moment. This was not something that just kind of happened. But this was God setting up a moment in a man’s life who had known nothing but frustration and pain, now being able to see the salvation of God.

And this is way bigger than his eyes. And that’s what Jesus is trying to say here. He goes on:

37 Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.”
38 Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.
39 Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”
40 Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we blind too?
41 Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.

So Jesus is trying to do something here. John is trying to help us understand what Jesus was trying to do. This was not just about healing. Does God heal? Yes. Has God healed? He’s continuing to heal. But all of those healings are not to show us God heals every disease in the moment, immediately. But each one of the healings we receive in the natural is basically something that is supposed to help us understand the work of God and what he’s going to do in all of the world. Does that make sense?

Track with me here. Let’s go back to the beginning. Jesus said this was not about the sin of the parents. This was so the work of God could be revealed. Because what is the work of God? The work of God is to undo the damage that sin has done. That’s the work of God in the world. That’s the work of Jesus sent by God. That is the whole thing.

So whenever we someone healed, that’s awesome and wonderful. And we should pray for people to be healed. All of those things are good. But we need to understand that’s a sign, that’s an indicator, that’s an appetizer (so to speak) to help us know the work that God has promised to do for all of creation forevermore.

When we go back and start processing this, it’s so cool. Jesus saw this blind man. He saw him. And God can see every infirmity. He can see the result of sin. And it is true. He says that, “It wasn’t this man’s sin or his parents’ sin.” But it is sin that brought this about. It was just Adam and Eve’s sin.

There was no disease or disorder in the world in the garden. “Behold, all things were good,” the Bible says. But when mankind decided, “You know what? I think I know better than God. I think I’m going to go against what God said,”—when mankind was deceived and they took and ate of that fruit—sin entered the world. And what happened was, sin and death came in. Disease and disorder came. And now, we as humanity, we’ve been living under the shadow of death ever since. Sin and death reign in our mortal bodies. True or false? True! Ever wake up in the morning and, “Ooooh. What was that?” That’s sin and death going, “Ha ha! We got you.” The fact that 100 percent of the people die is proof that sin and death reign in our mortal bodies. The fact that there are blind people, the fact that there are people with other diseases is proof that sin reigns in this life.

And Jesus sees every single one of the diseases and disorders that we have. Diseases our children have. Diseases that we might have. Diseases that our loved ones have. Jesus sees that. He sees all the disorders that we have. Maybe it’s a disordered desire where we long for something that is evil or wrong. And yet, it is so in us that it’s such a painful thing to try to resist. He sees that. He knows that.

When the question comes from our own hearts about something we’re facing, or the question comes to somebody else’s heart that’s looking at someone. “What’s the problem? What’s the sin? What’s the cause of this?” What Jesus is trying to do is to help his disciples, to help us get our minds off the cause. Sin is the cause. But what’s the purpose? What’s the purpose? Why would God allow for sin to reign and death to rule? Why would God allow there to be pain in the world?” And, depending on your theological background, “Why would God cause all these things?”

And that’s what Jesus is saying, “So that you can understand what the works of God are. So that you can know the glory of God.” This is very deep stuff. This is some deep, deep stuff right here.

The first thing we’ve got to understand is that Jesus is calling us to see people, to engage with people. What our motto here at the church is, “We want to put God’s glory on display, we want to build courageous people, we want to engage in society’s pain.” And that’s led us to do a lot of stuff with foster care in year’s past. This summer it’s led us to really figure out how we can get involved with the black community and what’s going on there, because they’re crying out with pain and frustration. So we’re trying to learn what we can do, and we’re trying to link arms. And I’ve sat at the feet of some awesome black men that have really been able to teach me a lot of neat things. I’m going to steer the USS Living Streams into some of those things.

But we’ve got to see people. And I was reading this passage, and studying it, and I was like, “Wait a second. Every day I drive past the Center for Blind Children on Northern, right there.” Super cool building. But I drive right past it. And I’m like, “I don’t really know what’s going on there.” But that’s a part of our community.

One of the things I learned this summer is that at your church, or your table, should reflect your community and who the Lord’s calling you to serve. And I thought about it, and we have a guy, Frank, who’s been in our church a long time and he’s blind. So I called him up and I said, “Hey, Frank, can we talk? I’ve got to ask you some questions about what I can learn, or what you would want us to know in regards to how we can link arms with you. Get our shoulder under the burden you’re carrying. You could teach us some things.”

And he said, “Let’s not do it over the phone. Let’s do it in person.” So we’re going to meet up.

I texted one of the guys who is in the service right now. I said, “Hey, your job is to help blind people find jobs. Can you tell me some things?” And he told me some things.

We’ve got to see people. We’ve got to see what’s going on. We’ve got to engage in society’s pain. I have a daughter who was born with spina bifida. She was born without being able to feel from her hips down. So she can’t walk. When we found out, it was heavy news. But it’s been so interesting because she turned eleven yesterday, which his awesome.

We have one family that we go to their house sometimes. And they’ve bought a bunch of ramps. So they have ramps all over their house. Whenever we come, they put out the ramps. We come in and Bella is going around all over. It’s awesome. I’m not saying everyone here should get ramps. “Don’t invite me over if you don’t have ramps.” I’m just saying that it’s a way they’ve decided, “Let’s get involved. Let’s just join in.”

Another family that our daughter is friends with, they actually bought their daughter a wheelchair so that when they go out, they can go to the mall and they can wheel together. It’s pretty cool.

That is just engaging. We’ve got to be careful we’re not judging, obviously, and pity is not a good thing either. It’s saying, “How can we actually join our lives together?” That’s what I love. It’s not just in the temple. It’s got to be at the table. It’s got to be real. It’s so easy for us to pretend in this place. But it’s got to be real.

I love this. So Jesus saw them, and he’s helping his disciples to see those people. But then he’s trying to get them to move from judgment and pity to really understanding the beautify and the glory of what God’s doing. He’s trying to get them to move in their understanding toward these things. So he starts to talk about, you know, it’s not cause, it’s purpose. He starts to talk about that this is all so that ultimately the glory of God, the work of God can be displayed.

And it brings to mind with this understanding that Tim Keller brought forth in one of his books. What he says is that the gospel has the audacity to claim that what God is up to, the work of God in the world is he is trying to make everything sad come untrue. I love the way that is phrased. It’s really intense. God’s plan is to make everything sad come untrue.

So here he is giving these guys a taste of something sad coming untrue. But this isn’t the way he does it every time. He’s doing this over all creation. This is a taste of what he plans to do over all of creation in time, as he returns to restore everything. So this gives us hope. This is the appetizer. That we’re all headed toward this time where everything sad will come untrue.

But then, Tim Keller adds this, “But somehow it will all be better for having once been broken.” Whoa. It is true. The gospel declares in the face of all opposition that God is going to make everything sad come untrue in time. But the wonder of it all is that somehow it will be better for having once been broken. And that is a heavy thing. It’s a different way to view pain. It’s a biblical way to view pain, not an American way to view pain.

Americans, we think pain is bad. We avoid it all cost. We try to insulate ourselves from all pain. And then, when we’re nervous that we might actually have to use some of the reserves we’ve saved up, because of some of the trouble… we look to the government. The government gives us the PPP.. So then we don’t even have to use the reserves we’ve stored up. The insulation that we desire is so intense. And I’m not making any political claims about PPP’s. But I’m saying this is the mindset of Americans. How do we insulate ourselves so that we never have to deal with pain? That is not a theology of pain that comes from the Bible.

Jesus actually said, “If you follow me hard enough and long enough, you’re going to end up at the cross. Not just as a bystander, but you’re going to be the one on the cross.” But that cross leads to resurrection. Sin and death have all of our lives, everything we’ve ever known, we get to the end of the day and they’re high-fiving each other. “Did you see all that pain we caused? Did you see all the dissension and division–all that hatred?” They’re just high-fiving each other all day long. “Look what we did!”

At one point there came this Jesus guy. Jesus was healing people and sin and death got a little nervous, because they’re like, “What’s this guy about?” And Jesus was actually saying he was taking on sin and death, that he was going to defeat sin and death. They were getting a little nervous. But when they saw Jesus on that cross, and that blood coming at them, and they watched him get weaker and weaker, until finally he gave up, then they started high-fiving each other again, saying, “We still reign over all of humanity.”

And then about, I don’t know how many hours later–I was going to try to do the math, but it’s not going to work–there was an earthquake that woke up sin and death and everything else. Then there were some angels that showed up. Then there was a big stone rolling around. Jesus rose from the dead. And sin and death’s power was broken.

What happened was, now Jesus is that first fruits of resurrection. He was the first sad thing to come untrue forevermore. He was the first thing to go from corruptible to incorruptible. He was the first one to experience resurrection life, a life that can never die. And then he looked to all of his followers and everyone who would hear him and said, “You want to follow me? Because though it is true that you will go to a cross, you will also step into resurrection life. You will become incorruptible. And everything sad will come untrue.”

This is the gospel. This is what Jesus was trying to get everyone to learn. This is what John wanted us to catch from this healing of the man. I’m not trying to take away from healings. Healings are wonderful. I’m praying they’re happening all the time. We’ve seen healings in this church. It’s wonderful. A guy got healed in the middle service, the 9:30 service. And that’s wonderful. But all of that is really just a finger pointing to the full restoration that God has planned for us, where we’ll all be healed. Everything sad will come untrue. But then we’re actually going to see with eyes. We’re going to see with resurrection eyes. And we will be like this blind man and we will be seeing for the very first time.

Listen to this:

The gospel declares that one day we will all have the scales of our fleshly world perspective fall off. And we will see for the very first time how good and right and beautiful and true God is. And everything that he has ever willed and done and allowed is also good and right and beautiful and true. Even all the crappy stuff.

The transformation, the radical moment where this guy went from never seeing anything to being flooded with all of that, pales in comparison to what it will be like for us who are so blind right now to the things of God, so blind to the full reality of who God is and what he’s doing in the world. When we actually either get Jesus to come back and get us, or we go to be with him, it will be like the first time we will be seeing. We will be flooded with the heavenly perspective, and it will be so much more intense than what this guy experienced. That is the gospel. That is the truth. That is the God that we’re dealing with. We cannot make God temporal. We cannot try and fit him into our worldly paradigms. He’s outside of this.

When we see from his perspective, we’re going to see that every single pain was not on accident, but actually, somehow makes things better for having once been broken. This is our great hope. This is why Jesus died.

First Corinthians 13:12 says:

12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face…

Like this guy who could never see. And now the first day that he’s seeing, he sees God incarnate, right? That’s pretty good.

…Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

We’re going to know God fully, even as we are fully known. It’s going to be awesome. It’s going to be awesome.

Lord Jesus, we do thank you for your plans, for they are good, and they’re way more than good. And I pray that you would help us to hold on, to trust you, to believe, to patiently endure until that day where we get to see it clearly, Lord. And I pray that you would help us to see who it is you’re looking at right now in our communities, and that we would be able to see them and not be judgmental, but be able to love them and link arms with them. Lord, I pray for those who are really, really at wits end with the disease and disorders in their life. I pray that today you would wash them over with love and peace, and if so be Lord, that you would even give them the healing they’ve been praying for. We trust you, Jesus. We look to you in this time of uncertainty. We look to you and pray that you would lead us and guide us to those green pastures and still waters.

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture is taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

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