...Was Blind, But Now

“Who Sinned?”

(John 9:1-41, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, May 24, 2009)

John 9:1-41 See page 895 in your pew Bibles.

That the works of God might be displayed in him (1-12)

Much trouble has come into the world because of sin. Nonetheless, sin is not the first and highest cause of anything, even trouble. There is something bigger in the eternal purposes of God going on, something above sin, and above trouble, something that is so important that, in some sense, it necessitated sin entering into the world through Adam, and necessitated trouble coming into the world with sin. This greater intention of the Almighty is that the works of God would be displayed before the eyes of men, and that the healing power of the resurrection would take place somehow within men. Above all of this is the overwhelming greatness of God, a greatness that needs to be seen.

In John 9, one man born blind was healed. In order for a blind man to be healed by the Son of God, displaying some resurrection kingdom truths, it was necessary for there to be a blind man. In order for any kind of trouble to come into the world, including blindness, it was in some sense necessary for there to be a fall, and consequences of that fall. A son’s blindness is not first about his sin, or his parent’s sin, or even Adam’s sin. It is first about the work of God being displayed, the work of a God who intends to provide the perfect conclusion to the book of life. That book has had many chapters about brokenness and misery, but the story is not over yet. There are many things about that book that we do not understand, but we know that it has a lot to do with displaying the works of God. On that day so long ago when Jesus healed a man who was blind from birth, He displayed the work of God in that man, giving further proof for all who could see, that the Messiah was the Light of a new world that was now here in Him.

There were thousands of miracles that Jesus performed as a part of His public ministry. John picked seven of these and called them signs. These signs displayed something about Jesus, that He gives sight to the blind, and something about the kingdom, that it is a place where we finally see. We are very impressed with our own ability to create and to fix, but we cannot give sight to the blind by an act of our will. Jesus can do this, and He displayed this as a sign of His resurrection power. Even though the Lord performed these miracles with humility, the things that He did were increasingly dramatic. This was a big one. After this we have only the resurrection of His friend from the dead, and then His own resurrection from the dead. Do not be blind to the implications of these signs. They are a testimony to you. I am sure that there are great ophthalmologists who can do wonderful things to give people increased sight. There may even be those who can perform surgical procedures where a person who was born blind can actually see for the first time in his life. But no physician can make a man see by spitting on the ground, making some mud, putting it on the man’s eyes, and telling him to go and wash at a given place. To do that is an exercise of divine will. That’s what Jesus did, and there were many witnesses to the fact of this sign as we can tell from the trouble that fills this chapter. Do not allow yourself to yawn at this sign. Jesus gave sight to the blind, and that means something. What does it mean to see? Why is it such an appropriate display of the kingdom of God?

The Pharisees (13-34)

This healing was not the end of this man’s personal story. It seemed to be the beginning of controversy, and also the beginning of a progressively clearer yielding of this one man’s life to a Messiah who gives sight to the blind. When he was asked about the healing, he first said that it was the work of “the man called Jesus.” When he was later questioned by the Pharisees concerning the agent of this Sabbath healing, he said, “He is a prophet.” Finally, when he saw Jesus again at the end of the chapter, he acknowledged Him as the Messianic Son of Man, he called Him Lord, telling Him that he believed. There was a progression from spiritual blindness to spiritual sight.

The progression of the Pharisees was different. First there was the shock and disappointment that a man who did not keep their understanding of Sabbath traditions was able to do such amazing signs. Some of them seemed to entertain the possibility that Jesus might be from God, while others reacted vehemently against even the slightest consideration of such a position. Then they questioned the man’s parents, apparently hoping that this would all prove to be a false miracle, and that the man had not actually been blind before. By this point they had already agreed that anyone who confessed that Jesus was the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. Finally they questioned him, and in something of a rage, they cast the healed man out and pronounced their own judgment upon him, that he was born in sin. Their progression was from a position of supposed spiritual sight to one of obvious spiritual blindness. They claimed to be the guides of the spiritually blind. They claimed that they had more than enough light to judge both the healed man and Jesus. They thought that they saw the right interpretation of the Law of God, and that they could settle any controversy. But they did not really see the Messiah or His kingdom at all.

Two questions seemed to be most troubling for them: the question of where Jesus came from, and the question of whether or not He was a sinner. Both of these are very serious questions to consider. Where did Jesus come from? Was Jesus a Galilean of questionable heritage, perhaps even the illegitimate child of very poor parents, or was He the Son of God made Son of Man? The Pharisees assumed the former, and Jesus knew Himself to be the latter. How about the second question: Was Jesus a sinner? If He was to fulfill His destiny, He could not sin, since to bear the weight of our sin for us He could not have any of His own sin. The Pharisees assumed that Jesus was a sinner because He did not follow their Sabbath traditions, and Jesus knew Himself to be sinless. Was the making of mud and applying it to the eyes of this man a violation of the Lord’s commandment to do no work on the Sabbath, or was it the perfect fulfillment of Sabbath, pointing to the coming eternal fullness in heaven, when the blind shall certainly see? The Pharisees took the first position and Jesus the second. If Jesus was truly the Messiah sent from heaven, then His understanding of what it meant to keep the Law of God was correct, and the traditions of the fathers concerning Sabbath-keeping and many other matters were wrong.

This healing was a new battle in an on-going war that the Pharisees very much wanted to win. Those who were firmly against Jesus were hoping to pressure the healed man to be an ally in their war against Jesus. This proved to be difficult. The man had been blind, and now he was able to see, and the reason for the change was obvious. Jesus did it. It was amazingly arrogant that the Pharisees imagined that this man would be a good witness against Jesus. They seemed to be unusually blind to such a gracious and miraculous sign of the resurrection Kingdom, as if their own wrong interpretations of the Law of God should be considered more glorious than the sight granted to Him by Jesus. They were convinced that they had the most wonderful spiritual vision as the self-authorized disciples of Moses, but they were strikingly blind to the real truths and proofs of the kingdom of God.

Take another look at what happened to the man who had been healed. (35-38)

As that battle intensifies throughout the chapter, we see more clearly the contrast between those charged with the spiritual oversight of Israel at the time of Jesus, and the Son of Man who came to save us. “Who sinned?” The Pharisees ultimately concluded that this man was born blind because he was steeped in sin from birth, that he was born in utter sin. The evidence was obvious to them, presumably because the man was born blind, and because he was not on their side. The odd thing is that they did not seem to recognize that since sin entered the world through one man, our forefather and representative Adam, all of us were born in utter sin. The Pharisees were included in this same sin-dead group. More than this, they were convinced that Jesus sinned in healing this man on the Sabbath. Jesus, the Son of Man, was clear about the fact that He had not sinned. Who has sinned? The sin-free group has only one Man in it, the God-Man Jesus Christ. The rest of the world is in the sin-dead group.

What can be done about sin? Notice how the Pharisees and Jesus treat this troubled man. They cast him out. That was their solution to the problem of sin. Did you see what Jesus did after he heard about this? He went looking for him, and he found him. He said to Him, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” He identified Himself as the Messiah with these words, “You have seen Him, and it is He who is speaking to you.” He heard the man’s words of faith, “Lord, I believe,” and He received the man’s worship. For the Pharisees the highest good came from people agreeing with and following their religious positions, particularly with regard to the outward matters of the Law. For Jesus, the Son of Man, the highest good came from the display of the works of God. He made the blind see, and then later received the free expression of true faith and worship from a man that He sought out and found.

Take another look at what happened to Jesus. (39-41)

The Pharisees were blind to the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. These leaders of God’s people had a surprisingly powerful hatred of His Son. With each episode in John’s gospel we are getting closer to the cross. To see the cross in all its healing power does require some spiritual vision. We need some spiritual sight to rightly answer the question of this chapter: “Who sinned?” The right answer: “I did, but Jesus did not, and that has made all the difference.” We need to see Jesus according to His Word. He has come from the Father, He is going to the Father, He has been victorious in His Messianic work, and our sins are forgiven.

Those who are able to see their own need, and can see Jesus more and more, however blind they might seem to others, are actually seeing things rightly. But those who imagine that they have peace with God through their own Sabbath observance, however scrupulous they may be in all of their religious tradition-keeping, are actually blind to the truth of God, and to the wonder of His power. They reject the Lord’s Messiah, and their guilt remains. But for those who are granted eyes to see the Christ as their only hope, their sins are forgiven, for they have believed in the One who is the Light of the world, and they see. The works of God are being displayed in them.

Questions for meditation and discussion:

1. Why was the man that Jesus healed born blind?

2. In what ways do we see evidence of increased spiritual sight in the man born blind?

3. How do the Pharisees display their spiritual blindness?

4. Who sinned, who did not sin, and why is the question significant?