John 9:1-41
Once again, use your imagination to explore another perspective. You are sitting on the hard ground, wrapped in a tattered cloak that feels drafty in the cool nights, but you’ve got nothing better. You’re a blind man and so, nobody thinks you’re worth anything. You can’t get a job. Nobody believes you can do anything. Even your parents are embarrassed by your existence. And it’s funny how people don’t mind talking about you as if you’re not there. Just because you’re blind they think you can’t hear either. You can hear pretty good though. That’s why you know what everybody thinks.
You hear a crowd coming along the road you’re sitting beside. The men are talking. They seem to have a lot of questions for a man they are calling Jesus. They keep talking to him and asking him questions as if he is the center of all the attention. Then suddenly one of them mentions you. Not by name of course, they don’t know your name. To them you are just the subject matter for a theological question.
“Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Oh, that again. You had heard this question before. You’d even wondered about it yourself. But if you were born blind, how could you have had any time to sin and deserve this punishment. And if your parents had sinned why did you have to suffer blindness and how did that punish them?
Everybody who ever discussed it was puzzled by this same conundrum. They could never figure it out. But they were at least sure that your blindness was because of somebody’s sin, and everybody figured it had to be yours or your parents’. The whole culture around you upheld the idea that all suffering was the result of some sin. God does punish sin, doesn’t he?
But then, what about Job? You remember hearing that story. It was often discussed by the Pharisees and rabbis in the synagogue. In that story the idea was that Job really was innocent but his suffering was some sort of test. So, because of the story of Job, these people should have known better than to think that every person’s suffering is always caused by that person’s own sin. But they did think that. The cultural mindset was still hanging around in spite of the story of Job. So, if a man is blind the normal conclusion was that he must have done something terrible to deserve such a punishment, or else his parents did.
But today you hear something completely different! The man called Jesus said it! “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
Did you hear that right? You are not suffering for sin? You are just waiting for God to come and reveal his glory? But how? But what? And before you have time to think that through someone has taken your hand and lifted you to your feet. Then he smeared something wet and gooey on your eyes that you had closed reflexively as soon as his fingers touched you. And where did he get any water? Had you heard him spit into his hands? What was that for? What insult is this? But then the same voice that had talked about God’s glory being revealed says to you from very close by. “Go, wash in the Pool of Siloam.”
He was so close. Right in front of you. He must be the one who smeared something on your eyes and now he was telling you to go wash it off. He actually seemed to believe that you could do something for yourself in spite of your blindness! Well, if he believed in you, you were just going to have to show him that you could do it. So, you set out to obey the strange command.
It wasn’t very far, and you had drawn water there before, so you knew where it was by memory because you always sat here and then went there before heading home. By the time you get to the pool, the substance on your eyes has begun to dry. So, you very much want to wash it off and it will be easy for you to feel it all rinse off.
But then, what is this? As the cool water splashes in your face, what is happening to your eyes? Where is the darkness going? This is a big change! As you feel your eyelids blink, there is also some kind of flash. Is that light? You squeeze your eyes shut. The familiar darkness comes back. You let your eyelids open and the darkness flees! But there’s more! What? Colors? You raise your hands to touch your eyes and you see something coming at you! What was that! You quickly remove your hands and whatever was in front of your eyes goes with your hands. Wait was that your hands? You lift them up again and there they are, you wiggle your fingers and the stalks on top of those things in front of you wiggle just the same! It IS your hands! You can see!!! Glory to God you can see!
So, this is light. And the man, Jesus, said he is the light of the world. So, that is why he could put the light in your eyes! Wonder of wonders, God is being glorified today through this man called Jesus! That’s what happened! It is not that your blindness happened to bring glory to God. A miracle of sight for the blind happened in order to bring glory to God! You want to find him again and thank him. But you don’t even know what he looks like.
You look around because you hear familiar voices coming at you, neighbors and family members. Their voices are coming from these things that are moving towards you. So that’s people? Wow. And once again they are not talking to you but about you.
“Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?” Some claimed that he was. Others said, “No, he only looks like him.”
But now that you see what is going on, you speak for yourself, “I am the man.” They asked, “How then were your eyes opened?” Of course they want to know what could have produced this miracle! There should have been much excitement and rejoicing for your good fortune.
Jesus was there to restore sight to the blind and end your suffering. And that’s how it happened right? But wait. This healing leads to another kind of suffering! When the Pharisees hear that Jesus has healed on the Sabbath, they argue among themselves, and in their anger and frustration about Jesus they come looking for you!
They think you’re guilty too because you are carrying your mat. To them that means you are working on the Sabbath and that proves you are a sinful lawbreaker who doesn’t deserve to be healed of blindness. Now you can see what is going on and you don’t like it! As you explain again what happened and the Pharisees challenge you and doubt, you might very well have said, “Can’t you see that such a miracle cannot be produced by any ordinary man? This Jesus must be sent by God!” Can’t you see?”
By the end of this story, you’re suffering again. This time not suffering from your own blindness but from the blindness of the Pharisees! They persecute you and throw you out of the synagogue! But then a new person shows up. He is kind and compassionate and his voice sounds familiar. But you’ve never seen him before. Of course, that’s actually because up until a few minutes ago you never saw any body before!
And he asks you an interesting question, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” All you can say is, “Who is he, sir? Tell me so that I may believe in him.” And then wonder of wonders the man says, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.” Of course! That’s where you heard his voice before! He is the one who healed you and gave you sight! Now you can see that this is Jesus. “Lord, I believe,” and you bow down and worship him. Now you don’t need to belong to the synagogue. You have Jesus!
Such is the life of a good disciple. All of us are born blind you know. I mean spiritually blind especially. Before you meet Jesus Christ you do suffer the consequences of your own sins, not really totally innocent, for we are all sinners, lost and lonely, in danger of hell. But we don’t know it until we hear and believe the gospel. If you do not suffer physically, perhaps you suffer loneliness or fear of the unknown future after death.
Perhaps you think you are not suffering. Perhaps you are quite happy being a pretty good person and believe that God will understand about your little faults and flaws because after all, nobody is perfect. Ah, but then you are suffering from a blindness that keeps you from seeing the true nature of your predicament. Such a person is like the Pharisee who thought he was in the right place with God but suffered a great blindness when he rejected the ministry of Jesus Christ.
Only Jesus’ ministry truly puts an end to suffering. God always heals. He never inflicts suffering. It is true that sometimes in the Old Testament it sounds like God is inflicting punishment when the children of Israel refuse to obey him. But even there a case can be made that suffering is just the natural consequence of the fact that we still live in a broken world, groaning until its redemption.
All suffering IS the result of some sin, Adam and Eve started it and humans have been sinning ever since. When Adam and Eve sinned, they broke something in God’s creation so that Earth became a dangerous place to live. Animals turned wild and carnivorous. Weather turned wild and catastrophic at times. Earth quakes and volcanoes arose. Our bodies grow old and weak with age and disease. The whole creation groans as it awaits its redemption.
The world was broken when the first Adam sinned, so ultimately all suffering is caused by sin. So if the question is, “Why do we suffer?” The answer is sin. Sometimes my own sin causes me to suffer, as when I make bad choices and suffer the consequences. Easy examples come to mind in drug addicts who get very sick, law breakers who go to jail, mean people who end up lonely, and really just about everybody who lives in their sins without being set free by the Truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
But sometimes the innocent people suffer unjustly too. We know that full well. Sometimes we are aware of the sins that cause the suffering, such as neglect or abuse, bullying, robbery and even murder are examples where innocents suffer at the hands of sinners who cause suffering. But then again, there is illness and calamity that cause suffering. Innocent people suffer just because the world in which we live, broken as it is by the destructive sin of the first man, contains natural disasters and diseases such as blindness, as we see in the present case.
God does punish sin. Some of that takes the form of natural consequences of our foolishness. But the greatest part of the punishment for our sins was poured out on Jesus! Christ on the cross is the great answer to the problem of suffering. In this present world suffering gives God an opportunity to get our attention. Suffering can cause us to hunger and thirst for righteousness, justice and mercy. We find those hungers fully satisfied in Christ on the cross.
Sometimes people challenge our faith by asking, if God is love and God is all powerful, why does he let suffering and evil continue? Then they conclude for us, either he’s not all powerful and he can’t make it stop, or he’s not really so loving because he doesn’t want to make it stop. Or else he doesn’t exist at all.
What shall we say to this? Look to the cross! That’s the love and the power of God on display for all the world to know that God has done. There and only there is the final answer the perfect display of what God has done to put an end to suffering and evil and even death! We cannot fault him for his choice of means and timing. But we know that one day there will be no more suffering for those who put their faith and hope in Jesus. So let us be people who enjoy this healing and also enjoy sharing this good news with others who are yet suffering. Amen.
Once again, use your imagination to explore another perspective. You are sitting on the hard ground, wrapped in a tattered cloak that feels drafty in the cool nights, but you’ve got nothing better. You’re a blind man and so, nobody thinks you’re worth anything. You can’t get a job. Nobody believes you can do anything. Even your parents are embarrassed by your existence. And it’s funny how people don’t mind talking about you as if you’re not there. Just because you’re blind they think you can’t hear either. You can hear pretty good though. That’s why you know what everybody thinks.
You hear a crowd coming along the road you’re sitting beside. The men are talking. They seem to have a lot of questions for a man they are calling Jesus. They keep talking to him and asking him questions as if he is the center of all the attention. Then suddenly one of them mentions you. Not by name of course, they don’t know your name. To them you are just the subject matter for a theological question.
“Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Oh, that again. You had heard this question before. You’d even wondered about it yourself. But if you were born blind, how could you have had any time to sin and deserve this punishment. And if your parents had sinned why did you have to suffer blindness and how did that punish them?
Everybody who ever discussed it was puzzled by this same conundrum. They could never figure it out. But they were at least sure that your blindness was because of somebody’s sin, and everybody figured it had to be yours or your parents’. The whole culture around you upheld the idea that all suffering was the result of some sin. God does punish sin, doesn’t he?
But then, what about Job? You remember hearing that story. It was often discussed by the Pharisees and rabbis in the synagogue. In that story the idea was that Job really was innocent but his suffering was some sort of test. So, because of the story of Job, these people should have known better than to think that every person’s suffering is always caused by that person’s own sin. But they did think that. The cultural mindset was still hanging around in spite of the story of Job. So, if a man is blind the normal conclusion was that he must have done something terrible to deserve such a punishment, or else his parents did.
But today you hear something completely different! The man called Jesus said it! “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
Did you hear that right? You are not suffering for sin? You are just waiting for God to come and reveal his glory? But how? But what? And before you have time to think that through someone has taken your hand and lifted you to your feet. Then he smeared something wet and gooey on your eyes that you had closed reflexively as soon as his fingers touched you. And where did he get any water? Had you heard him spit into his hands? What was that for? What insult is this? But then the same voice that had talked about God’s glory being revealed says to you from very close by. “Go, wash in the Pool of Siloam.”
He was so close. Right in front of you. He must be the one who smeared something on your eyes and now he was telling you to go wash it off. He actually seemed to believe that you could do something for yourself in spite of your blindness! Well, if he believed in you, you were just going to have to show him that you could do it. So, you set out to obey the strange command.
It wasn’t very far, and you had drawn water there before, so you knew where it was by memory because you always sat here and then went there before heading home. By the time you get to the pool, the substance on your eyes has begun to dry. So, you very much want to wash it off and it will be easy for you to feel it all rinse off.
But then, what is this? As the cool water splashes in your face, what is happening to your eyes? Where is the darkness going? This is a big change! As you feel your eyelids blink, there is also some kind of flash. Is that light? You squeeze your eyes shut. The familiar darkness comes back. You let your eyelids open and the darkness flees! But there’s more! What? Colors? You raise your hands to touch your eyes and you see something coming at you! What was that! You quickly remove your hands and whatever was in front of your eyes goes with your hands. Wait was that your hands? You lift them up again and there they are, you wiggle your fingers and the stalks on top of those things in front of you wiggle just the same! It IS your hands! You can see!!! Glory to God you can see!
So, this is light. And the man, Jesus, said he is the light of the world. So, that is why he could put the light in your eyes! Wonder of wonders, God is being glorified today through this man called Jesus! That’s what happened! It is not that your blindness happened to bring glory to God. A miracle of sight for the blind happened in order to bring glory to God! You want to find him again and thank him. But you don’t even know what he looks like.
You look around because you hear familiar voices coming at you, neighbors and family members. Their voices are coming from these things that are moving towards you. So that’s people? Wow. And once again they are not talking to you but about you.
“Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?” Some claimed that he was. Others said, “No, he only looks like him.”
But now that you see what is going on, you speak for yourself, “I am the man.” They asked, “How then were your eyes opened?” Of course they want to know what could have produced this miracle! There should have been much excitement and rejoicing for your good fortune.
Jesus was there to restore sight to the blind and end your suffering. And that’s how it happened right? But wait. This healing leads to another kind of suffering! When the Pharisees hear that Jesus has healed on the Sabbath, they argue among themselves, and in their anger and frustration about Jesus they come looking for you!
They think you’re guilty too because you are carrying your mat. To them that means you are working on the Sabbath and that proves you are a sinful lawbreaker who doesn’t deserve to be healed of blindness. Now you can see what is going on and you don’t like it! As you explain again what happened and the Pharisees challenge you and doubt, you might very well have said, “Can’t you see that such a miracle cannot be produced by any ordinary man? This Jesus must be sent by God!” Can’t you see?”
By the end of this story, you’re suffering again. This time not suffering from your own blindness but from the blindness of the Pharisees! They persecute you and throw you out of the synagogue! But then a new person shows up. He is kind and compassionate and his voice sounds familiar. But you’ve never seen him before. Of course, that’s actually because up until a few minutes ago you never saw any body before!
And he asks you an interesting question, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” All you can say is, “Who is he, sir? Tell me so that I may believe in him.” And then wonder of wonders the man says, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.” Of course! That’s where you heard his voice before! He is the one who healed you and gave you sight! Now you can see that this is Jesus. “Lord, I believe,” and you bow down and worship him. Now you don’t need to belong to the synagogue. You have Jesus!
Such is the life of a good disciple. All of us are born blind you know. I mean spiritually blind especially. Before you meet Jesus Christ you do suffer the consequences of your own sins, not really totally innocent, for we are all sinners, lost and lonely, in danger of hell. But we don’t know it until we hear and believe the gospel. If you do not suffer physically, perhaps you suffer loneliness or fear of the unknown future after death.
Perhaps you think you are not suffering. Perhaps you are quite happy being a pretty good person and believe that God will understand about your little faults and flaws because after all, nobody is perfect. Ah, but then you are suffering from a blindness that keeps you from seeing the true nature of your predicament. Such a person is like the Pharisee who thought he was in the right place with God but suffered a great blindness when he rejected the ministry of Jesus Christ.
Only Jesus’ ministry truly puts an end to suffering. God always heals. He never inflicts suffering. It is true that sometimes in the Old Testament it sounds like God is inflicting punishment when the children of Israel refuse to obey him. But even there a case can be made that suffering is just the natural consequence of the fact that we still live in a broken world, groaning until its redemption.
All suffering IS the result of some sin, Adam and Eve started it and humans have been sinning ever since. When Adam and Eve sinned, they broke something in God’s creation so that Earth became a dangerous place to live. Animals turned wild and carnivorous. Weather turned wild and catastrophic at times. Earth quakes and volcanoes arose. Our bodies grow old and weak with age and disease. The whole creation groans as it awaits its redemption.
The world was broken when the first Adam sinned, so ultimately all suffering is caused by sin. So if the question is, “Why do we suffer?” The answer is sin. Sometimes my own sin causes me to suffer, as when I make bad choices and suffer the consequences. Easy examples come to mind in drug addicts who get very sick, law breakers who go to jail, mean people who end up lonely, and really just about everybody who lives in their sins without being set free by the Truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
But sometimes the innocent people suffer unjustly too. We know that full well. Sometimes we are aware of the sins that cause the suffering, such as neglect or abuse, bullying, robbery and even murder are examples where innocents suffer at the hands of sinners who cause suffering. But then again, there is illness and calamity that cause suffering. Innocent people suffer just because the world in which we live, broken as it is by the destructive sin of the first man, contains natural disasters and diseases such as blindness, as we see in the present case.
God does punish sin. Some of that takes the form of natural consequences of our foolishness. But the greatest part of the punishment for our sins was poured out on Jesus! Christ on the cross is the great answer to the problem of suffering. In this present world suffering gives God an opportunity to get our attention. Suffering can cause us to hunger and thirst for righteousness, justice and mercy. We find those hungers fully satisfied in Christ on the cross.
Sometimes people challenge our faith by asking, if God is love and God is all powerful, why does he let suffering and evil continue? Then they conclude for us, either he’s not all powerful and he can’t make it stop, or he’s not really so loving because he doesn’t want to make it stop. Or else he doesn’t exist at all.
What shall we say to this? Look to the cross! That’s the love and the power of God on display for all the world to know that God has done. There and only there is the final answer the perfect display of what God has done to put an end to suffering and evil and even death! We cannot fault him for his choice of means and timing. But we know that one day there will be no more suffering for those who put their faith and hope in Jesus. So let us be people who enjoy this healing and also enjoy sharing this good news with others who are yet suffering. Amen.
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