John's Gospel Talk 2 - Ch 9

Jesus; the Lord of the eyes

Introduction
have you ever had a ‘deer in the headlights moment’?
A moment of light shining like a spotlight on you, that uncovered you, and made you feel exposed, and it made you anxious to the point that you felt nauseous and thought you could throw up?
A moment where you have no chance but to make a choice at that instant and everything to follow hinged upon this decision?

My moment like that was in July 1994, wherein a moment of amazing startness, I was conscious that God was saying, "last chance Champ! are you getting in, or are you getting of out the boat, is Jesus going to be your Lord or not?".
And from that day everything changed for me!

Now you mightn't have had a moment as dramatic as that in a Christian sense, but having a ‘deer in the headlights moment’ in a general sense, is something of a common experience to all humanity isn't it?

At some point in our lives we will find ourselves on the horns of a dilemma. Choose the path to the left and all these consequences will follow, choose the path to the right and all these other consequences will be yours, and you have to make a decision in an instant what are you going to do!

As a kid I remember having those moments all the time, when your parents ask "did you do this?", and your immediate thoughts were to deny it, or even just run, but were those consequences worth it?
Particularly on the occasions when you had just been caught red-handed in the act (So realistically I guess it was something of rhetorical question, but that never stopped you from thinking that talking your way out of it was a real option, and by talking your way out of it, I of course mean lying).
And even as adults we still know the experience, and at one level we must love it, at least in others, how else do you explain a show like border security?
Are these drugs yours? -- no
they were taped to your body -- no!
Wrong answer!
Telling the truth in those situations may not be easy, but it's the right option isn’t it?

Well today in John's Gospel we are going to meet three main characters, who are having their "deer in the headlights moment". For two in particular it is a totally unexpected occasion, and the stakes of their moment in the spotlight are high. In fact you could say in these scenes of John's Gospel today, we are seeing three groups of people (or characters) on trial, they are in the Judges dock -- what will be their plea -- what will their testimony be -- will it be the truth, or will they try and evade the consequences with something less than the truth?

Three characters on trial today;
1.the blind man
2.the Blind man's parents
3.the Pharisees

They all have their day in court today, and this passage today divides into three main Scene's;
Scene 1.versus 1-7 -- Jesus gives the blind man sight
Scene 2.versus 8-34 -- the tale of two testimonies -- the blind man and his parents
Scene 3.versus 35-41 -- Jesus gives the seeing man perfect sight

Scene 1.versus 1-7 -- Jesus gives the blind man sight

In this section of John's gospel, we see John continuing the theme that started back in chapter 2, of Jesus making things new, new wine, new birth, new legs (lame guy), new living water, new bread -- you get the picture -- and today it is new sight.

But this scene starts in V1 with the seemingly random choice by the disciples of a blind beggar to be the subject of a deep theological question, and this question would result in the unravelling of a remarkable chain of events as the story unfolds.
NIV John 9:1
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?"

Now the truth be told, The disciples ask a question that at first glance is quite distasteful isn't it? It certainly is not politically correct.
If people are broken, sick, dysfunctional or blind -- it must be their fault mustn't it?
And you can see the logic at work you can't you?
If God is the all-powerful creator and he is good, he must have a reason to make people like this, so it has to be a just punishment from God for their sin. And this idea is found today as well, because you often hear the remark after people who died through particular diseases, or even in natural disasters, that they are being punished for their sins, (and unfortunately it is often by people who call themselves Christian). The logic of this direct and unalterable cause and effect in the world is an idea called Karma.
And I'll give you the tip, that idea does not belong to biblical Christianity!

So why would the disciples ask such a dumb question as this if this isn't Christian thinking?
Well like most subtle untruths it is partly right!
Sometimes people's illness is direct link linked to their sin, and we saw this with Jesus back in Ch5 v14 where he heals the lame man and then warns him directly, (a direct warning from God himself), "see you are well again, stop sinning or something worse may happen to you"
(now, that word "may" becomes pretty critical at this point doesn't it?)

Sometimes our sin does result in physical repercussions, but not all physical abnormalities are a direct result of that person's sin (X2).
So as always in the Gospels, the disciples think that they are getting Clever and learning lots from Jesus, but they are again two steps behind the play and Jesus tells them that in V3.

3 "Neither this man nor his parents sinned,"
said Jesus,
"but this happened
so that the work of God might be displayed
in his life.

Jesus corrects his disciples, by explaining that the link between Sin and brokenness is not as direct as they are making out.
The disciples desire to protect the goodness of God (while at the same time reassuring themselves that there is a reason it happened to others and not to them) is misplaced and simplistic.

Jesus explains that there is no direct link to sin as a cause here, but the goodness and power of God will be displayed in this weakness. That was the reason he was given the weakness -- to display the triumph, the power and the goodness of God. So Jesus tells us emphatically neither this man nor his parents are sinners, but this is a question that is going to be revisited in the next scene.
Jesus is saying some sin leads to brokenness, but not all brokenness is a direct result of that person’s sin.

Now There is a clear relationship between sin and brokenness, sin is what resulted from the curse of the fall back in Genesis 3 and it has entered the DNA of every created thing and caused brokenness. Sometimes it appears acutely like bushfires or cancer, sometimes more chronically like homelessness or the common cold.

Ultimately all brokenness stems from the collective sin of humanity at the fall, but that does not necessarily mean every instance of brokenness is a direct result of that particular person’s sin.

Sin leads to brokenness, but not all brokenness is a direct result of that person's sin.
There is an asymmetric relationship going on there.
You can get cancer from smoking.
Or you can just get cancer.

SO Unless you are Jesus, be very cautious about (you or anyone else for that matter!) Pronouncing the relationship between illness and sin in any particular case. Jesus is teaching us it is more complex than an exclusively direct relationship of cause and effect, and by implication sometimes the secret things of God, well they are the secret things of God this side of eternity.

But within John's gospel, from the opening chapter to the final scene’s at the cross we are aware that there is a cataclysmic battle of good and evil being played out, of Sin versus forgiveness, of sickness versus healing, of light versus dark and of life versus death. Verse 4-5 reminds us that Jesus is the light of the father, the light that shines in the darkness and the darkness will not overcome.

4 As long as it is day,
we must do the work 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."

The darkness will have a moment of victory, it will strike Jesus heal, but the darkness will be eclipsed by the light, the serpent’s head will be crushed by Jesus.

The point is, Jesus is not overcome the darkness, the opposition of sin and illness, but he overcomes the darkness and heals the man.

6 Having said 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.

This is a great little scene isn’t it? plain instructions and plain obedience -- a great example of the Christian life. Plain instructions and plain Obedience and Jesus heals the man who is blind. He recreates a new the eyes that were broken by a fallen world. Once again in his Gospel John is telling us Jesus makes things new.

Now the question I have is, why use dirt and saliva?
Mouths are filthy things, with heaps of bacteria in them, so why use saliva with dirt to fix an illness?
I defy anyone to come out here with a medical problem, preferably an open sore or something, and let me split into it and rub some dirt into it, with the genuine expectation that it will get better!
So Why did Jesus use mud?
Well We'll get back to that later.

But for now we move to our second scene, the tale of two testimonies, that goes from versus 8-34. And throughout this scene, just like the rest of John's gospel, people can't seem to see Jesus for who he is. And again John writes in this passage with this style that drips deliciously with irony for us as readers, we get the joke because John is telling us the inside story.

And the first testimony is that of the blind man

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 demanded.
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."
12 "Where is this man?"
they asked him.
"I don't know,"
he said.

a. confusion of a Monty Python type nature because of the healing and its extreme nature
everyone is confused except for the blind man (formerly blind man)
b. ego eimi, and tells the truth about the story.

The people think this miraculous thing needs a spiritual interpretation, so take the man to the Pharisees (the Jewish religious leaders of the day).

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.

So all of a sudden I think we can now answer the question as to why Jesus made the mud. I mean Jesus has already healed plenty of people in the Gospel to this point, and usually with only a word. In chapter 5 verse 50 Jesus heals a child who is Capernaum while he is in Cana some 30 km away!
He doesn't need to make the mud.
But he does.

And he does it to pick a fight with the Pharisees about who really speaks for God. This is continuing a fight about the sabbath that has been a theme throughout the Gospel and in particular in chapter 7. So here by kneading mud to heal, Jesus intentionally breaks the Pharisees sabbath law.

Jesus will not allow himself to be dictated to by self glorifying religious elitists. God and his word will be glorified, not the religious traditions of men. So the battle lines are drawn, and these traditionalists doubt that anyone making mud on the sabbath can be doing God's work, but to test their theory they ask for an explanation of events anyway.

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."
16 Some of the Pharisees said,
"This man is not from God,
for he does not keep the Sabbath."
But others asked,
"How can a sinner do such miraculous signs?"
So they were divided.
17 Finally 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."
18 The Jews still did not believe that he had been blind
and had received his sight
until they sent for the man's parents.

A. plain statement of fact by blind man
B. the Pharisees theological assumption
C. again there is confusion
D. how can he do such a miraculous sign, nicotine is in chapter 3, "we know"
E. blind man says he is a profit, like the woman by the well in chapter 4
F. Pharisees hear the testimony and do not believe

So the Pharisees demand a second witness, recognizing that according to the law of Moses (the Bible) the testimony of two people formally establishes the truth of a claim and the second witness is called and we hear the testimony of the Blind man's parents.

Read versus 19-23

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 Jews,
for already the Jews had decided that anyone who acknowledged
that Jesus was the Christ would be put out of the synagogue.
23 That was why his parents said,
"He is of age;
ask him."

SO now the Parents have their "deer in the headlights moment", they find themselves unexpectedly drawn into the midst of the maelstrom, and upon the horns of a difficult dilemma, which option will they choose?
Standing on trial will they face up to the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, or they go for something more evasive, not exactly wrong, but not exactly right either?

Well the parents decide to state the truth's, " he is our son", "he was blind", and the logical implication is, as we know he is now not blind, so something must of happened to bring about the change. But as to the miraculous method of this transformation, and in classic cover up style.
"well nobody saw nothing!".

The parents fear the Jews, and they fear the consequences of saying any more than they have. They were unwilling to tell the truth because of the consequences, which is to say, they were unwilling to confess the truth about Jesus because of the consequences, in fact they were even willing to knowingly sell their own son up the river, because they prefer the praises of men, rather than the praises of God.

How you reckon their son felt at that moment?
It would have been quite a car trip home for the three of them I suspect!
So the Pharisees having clearly established that the man was blind from birth and now sees, call the man into the dock again, no doubt to see if he would like to change his story. But he does no such thing. In fact despite a timid start he seems to grow in stature and give them some stingingly sardonic answers!

24 A second time they summoned the man who had been blind.
"Give** glory to God,"
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!"
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?"
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."
30 The man answered,
"Now that is remarkable!
You don't know where he comes from,
yet he opened my eyes.
31 We know that God does not listen to sinners.
He listens to the godly man 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..

A. give Glory to God
Well at least the Pharisees now admit that he was blind and now sees, they give him that much with the stinging barb about his State at birth. But the blind men sees the truth about the situation, better than the religiously educated Pharisees. The Pharisees claim Moses as the leader, but back in chapter 5 verse 45, Jesus has already told them that Moses rather than being their leader, will in fact be their judge.

The blind man harangues the Phar-I-sees because they don't!
In verse 30 he explodes with "that is remarkable", the religious men can't see the work of God that is as plain as the nose on the face, but a blind man can!
The Pharisees are the Bible people they should have known that the Messiah would bring sight to the blind as Jesus tells us himself in Luke 4 as he quotes Isaiah.

ESV 16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. 17And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, 18“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, 19to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.” 20And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

In stead of recognising the Messiah the Pharisees, directly oppose him when They judge the man born blind and scary it is because of his sin, which Jesus has already said is wrong, the Pharisees are indeed blind guides and whitewashed tombs.

In this trial there are two indisputable facts;
1.that this man was born blind
2.that this man now sees

This is the testimony of the blind man, his parents, even the Pharisees in the end, it is a statement of fact. And John testifies this truth to us today!
The logical conclusion from this truthful witness, is that Jesus really did open his eyes, Jesus the creator has come to make things new. Defects from birth, even death itself (we will learn) cannot stand against Jesus the son of God who will recreate all things.

Jesus will fix the brokenness, he will fix death for all who believe in his name. Jesus will fix the brokenness, and he will fix Sin, and he will fix death for all who believe in his name, by undergoing death himself, by drinking the cup of God's wrath that should be ours, by dying on the Cross in our place.

Do you believe?
"One thing I do know, I was blind but now I see"
John has seen these things and he testifies that they are true
Do you believe?

We have met three characters in today's story, outlining the three responses you can have to Johns testimony, which is to say the three responses you can have to Jesus.

1. Are you going to be like the Pharisees?
Are you going to continue being a religious person Who has a predetermined view of what God is like, and is not interested in letting Jesus challenge that?
Which is to say Do you have a domesticated Jesus?
The kind of Jesus who only wants you to be healthy and wealthy, comfortable and fulfilled?
A domesticated Jesus, I'm an Anglican, we don't need zealous people!
A Domesticated Jesus, No no no, God doesn't judge anyone, God is a God of love, she doesn't judge anyone!
Which I guesses Is all well and fine, but then you and Jesus don't believe in the same God, and I know whom I am going to believe.
So in the end you and your domesticated Jesus are going to have words with the real Jesus, so why not listen to Jesus now?

2. Are you like the blind man's parents?
John testified to us today "the truth", that a blind man was healed and Jesus did it. Jesus did it because he is God and that is the truth.
Will you take your stand on that truth, will you defend that truth no matter what the consequences?
OR Deep down is social or family acceptability and comfort more important to you than Jesus?
Will you be a person who cut’s Jesus loose, like the blind man's parents cut loose their son when it became difficult for them?
Is this world too appealing to you to take the hard road of discipleship for Jesus, the Way of the Cross, to deny ourselves and our comforts and our own concerns and to live for his kingdom and glory alone?
Do you love this world too much?

Do you know the difference between a " fan " and a "fanatic"?
A fan wears his replica shirt to the game on the weekend, and then takes it off when they go to work during the week.
A fanatic as the team emblem tattooed on their body, where everyone can see it, everywhere they go.
Jesus doesn't want fan's, weekend Christians, he wants fanatics, people who serve him wherever they go, so everyone can see!

Will you tell people the truth about Jesus, or turn your back when it gets difficult?

3. Are you like the blind man?
Will you tell the truth about Jesus, the exclusive, the confronting, the difficult, the wonderful truth about him, no matter how difficult it becomes?

I know that it is difficult, and in our time is much more socially acceptable to believe in tolerance, relativism, and postmodernism. I know it is nice and comfortable to be part of that gang, but the problem is, it isn't true!
And because it isn't true it actually doesn't work with the world God has created.

Ask a postmodernist to stick a fork and a PowerPoint and suddenly they will be converted (like Paul on the Damascus Road) that there is such a thing as "true truth".

The true truth is Christ is the Lord and Saviour of the world.
Do you believe?
And if you believe, how can you not testify to that truth?

And finally and briefly we can look at our third and last scene in the passage today, where Jesus seeks out the Blind man, or should I say the ‘seeing man’, and gives him perfect sight!

Scene 3 - V35-41 Jesus gives the 'seeing' man perfect sight.

35 Jesus heard that they had thrown him out,
and when he found him,
he said,
"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;
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.

Jesus is the true light of the world that does one of two things:
brings sight or confirms blindness.
You have seen the sign of the healing from the pages of John's gospel that tell you truly who Jesus is.
Do you believe?
Is it true?
Because this, right now, is one of those ‘deer in the headlights moments’ for you. Jesus tells us he does bring division and there are only two paths you can go by in the long run. So to put it plainly
"Get in, or get out of the boat"

Brothers and Sisters, let me encourage you, Do not let sin, apathy, doubt or fear, obscure your vision of who Jesus really is. These things are like a cataract.
Make a choice now to follow Jesus no matter what the cost.
Because
"One thing I know, I was blind but now I see!"