Last Sunday I said it's important to note John 4 comes right after John
3 because quite often you and I read a Biblical event w/out considering the
background. John 8 and 9 is the same.
Jesus had left a group of self-righteous Pharisees, telling them
"before Abraham was, I AM" declaring Himself equal to God. In 9:1, Jesus is
leaving the Temple area with His disciples, and He passes by a beggar (the
Temple being a high traffic area; the best spot for begging). John comments
the man was blind from birth.
Christ's disciples ask Him, "Who sinned: this man or his parents?" Is
that a good question? A common teaching among the rabbis was "children
suffer for the sins of the parents", but God's prophets wrote we must bear
our own sin (Jeremiah 31:29-30).
People today have the same sort of questions. Why this heartache? Why
is there all this trouble in the world? Yes, why was this man born blind?
As when Nero fiddled while Rome burned, some Hindu and Muslim officials
blame Christians for the tsunami, claiming their god(s) are punishing them
for allowing Christians to live there. Unbelievers are clueless to answer
the question "why do bad things happen" because they assume all should be
good (as they define it) in the world.
It is true that sometimes we suffer the consequences of our actions.
But as Christians, we realize that, due to the Fall into sin by Adam, all
the world suffers the consequences of their severed relationship with our
Lord. Blindness, tsunamis, cancer, misunderstandings, disease, and so on do
NOT ALWAYS come as direct consequences of actions of some sin we have done.
Just because you have the flu, it doesn't mean God is punishing you for
running a stop sign. Just because you have a headache, it doesn't mean God
is punishing you for gossip or some other sin. Nor do Christians believe in
the concept of bad-and-good-in-balance (yin-yang; karma).
We confess with Psalm 130: If You, Lord, would count our sins, no one
could remain. Rather, there is forgiveness with You, so you are praised.
God does not punish people on earth for every wrong they do. Nor is every
wound or trouble a direct outcome of your sin. In fact, we confess God is
working in all things for our eternal good!
This man was not born blind because of his own sin or his parents' sin.
This is important to understand what happens later.
Jesus answers, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but (this
happened) so the works of God should be revealed in him. I must work the
works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one
can work. As long as I Am in the world, I Am the light of the world."
What is the work of God? Salvation. Jesus spits, makes some clay from
mud, & sends him to a special pool named Siloam. "Siloam" in Hebrew means
"the One Sent" and refers to a pool of water which originated from a spring
in the Temple. In figurative terms, living water was sent from God,
blessings flowing from this Temple (John 2:19) to the people were in the One
Sent (Siloam). Jesus, the Living Water, was the One Sent.
The man returns, seeing, and his neighbors are amazed. They aren't
even sure it is him. He answers, it's me! A Man named Jesus did this. But
I don't know where He is.
The self-righteous Pharisees hear about this miracle. They had
rejected Jesus as True God. He did not observe the Sabbath like a Pharisee,
so He could not be holy - they falsely reasoned. But how could Jesus do
such a miracle if He were NOT from God? They had no answer they could
accept.
Paul writes in First Corinthians 12:3 "no one can say Jesus is Lord
except thru the power of the Holy Spirit". Miracles by themselves, such as
making a blind man see, do NOT make believers out of skeptics.
How sad! The Pharisees knew God's Law, but not God. The man
experienced Christ's love, and he was coming to know God.
When someone comes up against evidence they can't ignore, the usual
tactic is "get rid of the evidence." There have been times that scientists
in drug companies, lawyers in courtrooms, & couples out of wedlock have done
that.
To rationalize their evil, they declare the man born blind MUST be full
of sin, and they throw him out of THEIR house of worship. "You were
saturated with sin from birth! How DARE you lecture us; for we are pure
from sin!"
Christians who have read the Gospel of John these last twenty centuries
have endured much the same in their communities, and even in their families
and their places of worship.
When authentic faith in Christ is spoken to non-believers, the result
is not always pleasant. There are times people will listen, and some will
even come to faith. But not always. As the End of the Age draws to a
close, opposition to the cross of Christ will increase. Not every person
you tell the Good News to will feel it's good.
When Jesus heard the man had been thrown out of the kangaroo court of
the Pharisees, Jesus looked for him. Our Good Shepherd always seeks the
lost and the hurting. Even you.
Jesus asks him, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" The man born blind
knew he could not trust in the Pharisees! The Holy Spirit had given him
faith to trust in God alone. But where should this man turn for what he
needed?
"Tell me who the Son of Man is, so that I may believe in Him."
Just as Jesus ended chapter 8, so He ends Chapter 9. "You are now
looking at Him, and He is speaking to you."
The man simply answers, "Lord, I believe." Then he worships Jesus as
God. Again, that is important. In chapter 8 when faced with Christ's
claims, the Pharisees wanted to stone Jesus. Here, a simple man hears the
claims and worships Jesus as God and Savior.
Jesus says, "For judgment I have come into the world, so the
(spiritually) blind will see, and those who feel they see will become
blind."
Are you blind to your own sin? Every person MUST confess yes. We do
NOT always fully realize the enormous darkness of our sin. It is easy for
you and me to slip into false holiness. Christ must keep coming to open
spiritually blind eyes with the power of His Word so we can both see our
sins AND realize our need for Him.
If a person continually fails to see the need for Jesus the Savior,
they will remain spiritually blind. As Paul wrote in Ephesians 5:8, not
'you were once IN darkness' but "you WERE once darkness. (So) live as
children of light."
As Christians, we need to keep our spiritual eyes on Jesus at all
times; not only in times of trouble and forgiveness, but in good times of
easiness and rest. He endured the cross for our sins, brought us back into
a relationship with our Father, and watches over us now.
Believing in the Son of Man, we will also want to worship and praise
Him here on Sundays, BUT all through the week as well.
Let's go back to the question the disciples asked at the start of
Chapter 9: why was this man born blind - was it consequences of sin?
This side of heaven we may never know why a person is blind. Or why a
person may have cancer, financial distress, or any other difficulty. God
seldom reveals why He does things in the world. But it MIGHT be for the
very reasons Jesus expressed. There are a lot of people with two good eyes
who can't see a need for Jesus as Savior; but many with vision impairments
DO believe. Anyone from Lutheran Blind Mission or Lutheran Braille Workers
can tell you that.
God's goal for YOU is not that you have a few million dollars in the
bank and live a life of ease for a few decades. God wants you to have
something that is more precious than money and lasts eternally. Maybe extra
money, good health, or even good eyesight would prevent you from keeping
faith in Jesus; so our Father keeps those from you. Or maybe someone has
difficulties in life to tear them away from depending on themselves or on
things of this world. Or maybe they have them now so when they are removed
their faith may focus on Christ alone.
But the kindnesses YOU show in the name of Jesus (either up close and
in person or thru an agency like LBM or LBW) may result in a person coming
to faith in Jesus or being strengthened in their faith. You could be the
person shining the Light of Christ into someone's darkness. And by God's
amazing grace, thru the power of the Word, they could be brought to faith.
Lent is a time when authentic Christians focus on why Jesus went to the
Cross: to die for the sins of the whole world. Over the last few weeks we
heard that Jesus came for all classes of people - Nicodemus the well-know
and well-trained Pharisee and the unknown Samaritan woman. This week, we
see that not all who encounter Jesus will see the Light and believe in Him
as Savior.
May the Holy Spirit work in the Word so you and I will not be blind to
our sin or to our Savior. Rather, may we live as children of the Light,
believing in the Son of Man and looking to Him at all times. Amen.
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