Who sinned?
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Billy Graham had a quote that I think placed the positions of all spoken of to be in their rightful place.
“It is the Holy Spirit’s job to convict, God’s job to judge, and my job to love.”
Today, in our story, we see Jesus taking His rightful place as He clears issues up for the disciples and shows the truth of God.
in this story, we also see an amazing miracle that Jesus performed and the Pharisees just could not accept it.
In this event, we see Jesus meeting up with a man that was born blind, an issue that had a dominant affect on his entire life. About the only thing he could do was sit and beg for food or money. not much of a life in those days. Jesus is getting ready to change everything for this man, and teach the disciples a valuable lesson. let’s dig in.....
John 9:
As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth.
We find Jesus ministry happening as He went by....on the way to places He did ministry. it wasn’t just in the synagogue but out in the world, along the way to places.
sometimes we can compartmentalize our Christianity to church or church events. but really our faith goes with us everywhere because Jesus is where we are. amen?
it is interesting for us to know that this man did not get into an accident to make him blind but it was from birth. why is it good to know? we will find out in a minute....
And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
when we hear a question of either or, it is leading down a road of one is right and the other is wrong, but we will notice that Jesus does not go down the road of the leading question.... He shows them the truth in this situation.
Actually, the disciples question is quite revealing about themselves and how they view the world. they were apparently thinking that the blindness of the man had to come from his sin or his parents. this was a popular view held for some time throughout scripture, even back to Job’s day. think of Job’s friends and how they prodded him with the sin that must have been for his condition to be what it was.
not to say that sin does not lead to suffering, because it certainly can, but it is not universal.
But Really stop and think about what the disciples are asking though about the blind man. if the blind man sinned and became blind because of it,
When would he have sinned to cause his blindness?
he would of sinned in the womb before he was born! what a thought!
In the next verse Jesus answers them so well and we can learn from His answer.....that sometimes we are being trapped by a question and the answer may start with rephrasing the question.
Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.
Jesus takes a different road than what the disciples were thinking. And Jesus points right to the heart of it. He came to show people who God was, and through the power of the Spirit Jesus displayed God’s mighty power. Healing someone born blind, unheard of.
But God’s power can go beyond what we have heard of.....
John 9:
We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work.
As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
Jesus is declaring in these two verses that God sent Him to be the Light in the world. So, Jesus intends to shed the Light everywhere. this Light is the power of God shown through how He touches lives. and the next verse we see Jesus use an unusual way to heal this blind man.
Having said these things, he spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. 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.
Jesus makes mud by using spit and dirt. curious. Why would Jesus not just use a word to heal him? I am pretty sure there are reasons that I probably haven’t figured out yet, but one thing is for sure, it was the sabbath day and the Jewish people did not do any form of work which making mud you would have to knead the ingredients like making dough so it would be considered work, therefore breaking the sabbath in their eyes. So the drama begins....
The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar were saying, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?”
John 9:9
Some said, “It is he.” Others said, “No, but he is like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.”
when something miraculous happens, it is hard to believe. people struggle to wrap their minds around it, so we see here the trouble with people trying to figure out if this is the same man that was blind. He is now up walking around seeing! a definite change has taken place in this mans life and others notice it as well.
So they said to him, “Then how were your eyes opened?”
He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed and received my sight.”
this man is simply testifying of what happened to him. I love this. simple, easy, just speaking what Jesus did to him
They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.”
They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind.
Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes.
John
So the Pharisees again asked him how he had received his sight. And he said to them, “He put mud on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.”
the Pharisees are trying to understand but they are also gathering evidence to use against Jesus. look at how quickly they are to dismiss Jesus in the next verse.
Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.” But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” And there was a division among them.
Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.” But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” And there was a division among them.
So they said again to the blind man, “What do you say about him, since he has opened your eyes?” He said, “He is a prophet.”
the religious leaders in that day had quite a but of control over the people. they knew what this would mean for them as Jesus continued to show who God was. it would disrupt their positions in the synagogue, so they needed to work hard against Jesus to keep things the way they were.
they look for further leverage by calling the parents of the blind man in.
The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight, until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight
and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?”
His parents answered, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind.
But how he now sees we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.”
we can see in verse 21 the fear the people had through these two parents.... they don’t want any trouble with the leaders of the synagogue so they point back to the son which is explained in verse 22.
(His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess Jesus to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue.)
Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”
nothing like throwing your child under the bus!
being kicked out of the synagogue was horrifying to the people of that day. it was such a part of life that they didn’t want it taken away. it would of affected their community life.
So for the second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, “Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.”
He answered, “Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.”
They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”
John
He answered them, “I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?”
we see how the Pharisees will just not believe what Jesus had done but we also see how much of an impact it had on this former blind man.
the child like faith of this man leads him to ask a question about their motives..... do they want to become disciples of Jesus!
And they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses.
We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.”
or in other words, they didn’t know what power Jesus was using to do these things.
The man answered, “Why, this is an amazing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes.
We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him.
Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind.
If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”
They answered him, “You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?” And they cast him out.
this former blind man is really starting to preach and teach! what a boldness. what conviction! and we see the Pharisees look on him with contempt and push him out. isn’t it sad when a group of people just can’t see the truth right in front of them.
Now Jesus stands before the man.
Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”
He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?”
He answered them, “I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?”
Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.”
And they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses.
He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.
imagine, Jesus opening the mans eyes and now the man gets to see Jesus, get’s to know just who performed this miracle for him!
Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.”
look at the two fold reason that Jesus came. yes, for judgement, but look how it works. Jesus will take the judgement for those that knew they were blind but those who think they are all set without Him, the life and death of Jesus is what testifies against them. similar to last weeks message in regards to the sick and the healthy.
and to drive the point home, we see the Pharisees ask Jesus a question....
We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.”
Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?”
John
Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.
Jesus puts the Pharisees in their place.... they think they are ok with God without Christ! But all the scriptures are pointing to Jesus!
people coming to Christ must see the situation that they are in. it is hopeless, they are sick and blind, they need another, they need Jesus..
quote by A.W. Tozer
“Unless a person comes to Christ seeking to be a different person, he is not coming to Christ at all”
in a way, we were that blind man......every Christian has been.
if you think you came to Christ but didn’t need to change, hmm..... that just doesn’t make any sense.
Coming to Christ is like the blind man, we ask and He does the work! we respond and we see how He works.
it causes us to share our testimony of what He has done.
that can have an impact on others that we tell.
God has made such a way for us in this life.... it is His amazing grace that has changed us forever!