John 9:1-41 -- homily: spiritual blindness

John 9:1-41: “Spiritual Blindness”

By Loy Mershimer

Today’s text tells us a story. It is a story of a man born blind – a man born blind who meets Jesus, the One who heals the blind.

Jesus is in Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles. From backwater Galilee, He has come for this great Feast. Tabernacles, a feast of light -- a powerful religious festival: large candelabra were lighted in the temple courts, high above the city. From this high elevation, light shined down into the city, visible from every point. This symbolized the light and truth of the Jewish faith, going out to the world. And twice during this Feast, with this light shining down into the city, Jesus said, ‘I AM the Light of the world…!’

And this day He backs it up by giving a man new sight [vv. 1-7]:

As Jesus walked along, He saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked Him a theological question, ‘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.” “We must be about the work of God while it is day.” “…I am the light of the world.”

As soon as Jesus said, ‘I am the Light of the world,’ 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 for your healing.” So the man went and washed, and was healed.

It is a fascinating story. And, this first part is all positive: It reveals several key principles of God’s action, principles of healing and intervention.

First principle: For children of faith, adversity is linked to greater glory. Affliction is not always discipline. “Who sinned?” “No one,” Jesus said. “But this happened that the glory of God might be revealed…the works of God done.” In faith, adversity leads to greater glory.

Second principle: God acts on different time tables. Sometimes He heals quickly, sometimes over a period of time. In today’s text, Jesus heals in a several step process, a process involving divine action and human obedience. In faith, we sign on for the process.

Third principle: God often heals in ways that we wouldn’t. Here Jesus uses spit and mud!

Modern person: “Hey! Did you just spit? And make mud?” “You’re not putting that on my eyes!” “That’s the problem with those country preachers – always going around spitting and making mud…” “And, now He says go to the pool of Siloam!” “Yeah, right…!” :-)

Answers to prayer are with divine means, in divine timing. So we trust the means...even mud. We obey, and wait. As the Hebrew prophet said, “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength…” [Isaiah 40:31]. “The Lord has pleasure in those who fear Him, on those who await His gracious favor” [Psalm 147:11]. Again and again Scripture makes this point: To wait in hope for God is the highest sign of faith: Process, and obedience! Process, and obedience…! Hope lies in a 'passion of patience.'

So the story starts off positive: it shows us divine means, divine timing…and human obedience.

At first it is so beautiful!
But then something turns in verse 13. Some people aren’t happy…why not?
Verse 14: Jesus healed the man on the Sabbath!
Ah! Jesus broke the protocol of their religious politics…and the leaders aren’t happy!
They protest the healing! Verse 16: “This man is not from God!”

As I meditated on this text, my mind went to a friend who converted to Christ…in the midst of a personal seeking, he came to faith -- saved from drugs and new age expressions. But his conversion to Christ took him out of the old family church. When his parents found out, they disowned him. They would rather have him on drugs, broken…and still part of the old code, than healed…whole once again, but not attending their church!

These religious leaders would rather have the man still blind, than healed on the Sabbath.

This raises the question: How often would we rather have God not act, then to have Him act in ways that affect our comfort zones?

Here the story is uncomfortable. We want God in a box, where we can take off the lid, use Him at our need, then put Him back when everything is ok.
But text shows that as only religious atheism: It is the religious professionals who have real problems with Jesus because He doesn’t fit their old codes.

Here we must bow, and ask: God, how often have I denied your presence because you didn’t fit my ‘codes’ – my expectations and ‘normal’ thoughts?

The story gets worse. The religious leaders grow more hostile…They summon the family for interrogation, and twice summon the man for questioning. In verse 24 they give the ultimatum: “Give glory to God,” they said. “We know this man is a sinner.”

The man replied [v. 25]: “All I know, I once was blind, but now I see!”
He then passionately declares belief in v. 27, belief that judges them: “Why are you asking me these questions?” “Do you want to believe in Him, also?” :-)
And then, in vv. 32-33: “Since the beginning of the world, who has opened the eyes of a man born blind?” “If He were not from God, He could do nothing!”

They couldn’t answer him. All they could do was attack him: “You sinner!” “You were steeped in sin at your mother’s birth; how dare you lecture us!” And they threw him out [v. 33].
Excommunicated!
How can we make sense of this?
Why would they hate a man who had been healed? Why?
The answer is in verse 39: Jesus says, “For judgment I have come into the world, so that the blind will see and those who see will be made blind.”

For judgment I have come into the world, so that the blind will see and those who see will be made blind.

So the story is not so much about physical blindness, but about spiritual blindness.

The physical healing of the man exposed their own spiritual need, and so they hated the sign of his healing…and hated his belief. Claiming to know, to see…they were so blind.

This is a hard lesson: Those who follow the light, open to Christ…will find sight, but those who embrace their own religious power will remain in darkness.
How does this judge us, as people in American culture…a culture of people…in love with their own ‘spiritual’ power?

Here the text towers above us: Only those who follow the Light will find spiritual sight --- the great challenge, then, is to believe in spite of our own contradictions! The struggle is to accept vital belief…in spite of our own circumstances, our past, our comfortable, entrenched, normal thoughts…to enter the healing vision of Christ.

In a story I shared last October, Martin Buber, the Jewish philosopher, tells a story of his grandfather, who was paralyzed. One day they asked this paralyzed grandfather to tell a story about his teacher, the Holy Baal Shem Tov. So the grandfather told of how his loved teacher, Holy Baal Shem Tov, used to jump and dance while he was praying. ‘My grandfather stood up’ Buber says. ‘He stood up while he was telling the story’ and was so caught up and carried away in its power that ‘he had to jump and dance to show how the master prayed’ -- a paralyzed man, in the power of holy memory, jumping and dancing. ‘From that moment, my grandfather was healed…’

The snap of fingers and the holy dance, and he entered a healing he didn’t understand…

So this blind man gets caught up in something he doesn’t understand…but he believes! He goes to the pool of Siloam, washes, testifies to Christ, gets tossed out of the Temple for his words…and then stands before Christ, whom he sees for the first time.

Jesus asks him, point blank: “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”
“Who is He, sir -- that I may believe in Him?” “The one speaking to you is He!”
“Lord, I believe!” and he fell down and worshipped Jesus.

Then Jesus spoke a word that echoed for all hearing…and echoes down through time into our worship today: “For judgment I have come into the world, so that the blind will see and those who see will be made blind.”

Here then is the great contradiction of faith:

If we confess our blindness, we will find new sight.
But if we claim to see, we will become blind.

Our prayer of faith must be: Lord, give us eyes to see! Give us eyes to see your means, a heart to see your methods, and faith to wait your answers…

O Parkview! Christians! May we be among those who see the Light of the world for who He is…and so find what it means to see!

Amen!

Prayer: O God, let us wait for you with faith that dances into your healing…even when we have no strength to walk. Let us confess our blindness to You, and then in that very blindness, begin to see again! By your grace, through faith, may we worship like this…O Spirit of the Living God! This we ask in the strong Name of the Son of God, Jesus the Christ, amen!