Conversations with Jesus: Conversing With a Blind Man

Conversing With a Blind Man

SERIES:Conversations with Jesus

PREACHER:LENIN KUMAR

DATE:July 9, 2017

SCRIPTURE REFERENCE:John 9:1-41

Scripture Reference

So if you haven’t already done so, open your Bibles-and leave them open-to John chapter 9 and rise to your feet to hear this conversation with a blind man is recorded.

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?”

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.

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.”

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.

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.

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.

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.

19 – “Is this your son?” they asked. “Is this the one you say was born blind? How is it that he can see?”

20 – “We know he is our son,” the parents answered, “and we know he was born blind.

21 – But how can he 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.”

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.

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 Who is speaking to you.”

38 – Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped Him.

39 – Jesus said, “For judgement 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.”

This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. May the sweet Holy Spirit add His manifold blessings to our text in our hearing this morning.... Amen! You may be seated in God's Presence.

Introduction

There are many different ways to study the life of Jesus Christ. You can review it from the perspective of the many miracles He performed. Or you could examine Jesus’ life from the viewpoint provided by the parables that He told. You may remember that last Easter we looked at Jesus’ life by focusing on the roads He walked.

Well, for the next three weeks I want us to study the life and ministry of our Risen Lord by looking at some of the conversations that He had with people. For…many of the great statements of Jesus were made in conversation with individuals. Today we’ll begin this study by looking at some words He exchanged with a blind man. Next week we’ll see what we can learn from the time Jesus spent talking to the enemy-Satan, during His temptation in the desert. 

The following Sunday I want us to focus on the lessons we can glean from the discussion He had with the woman at that Samaritan well. And then on the final Sunday, we’ll tune in to the words that Jesus exchanged with His disciples around that first Lord’s supper table.

I want us to reflect on all these words that Jesus spoke to people because I believe that as we study, He will speak to us as well.

So if you haven’t already done so, open your Bibles-and leave them open-to John chapter 9 where this conversation with a blind man is recorded.

One of the things that Sue and I enjoy is dropping in on art stores. You know…the ones filled with art work that no one can afford to buy? Well, of all the artists whose work is popular enough to hang in these stores…. one of our favorites is BEV DOOLITTLE. Doolittle’s work is not all that unique but her prints are much sought after because she does something that other artists don’t. She always paints scenes in which there is something hidden. You have to look close to see the thing or things that she has concealed in an otherwise normal picture. My favorite Doolittle print is a picture of a man hunting a grizzly bear. It is painted from the perspective of the hunter who is stepping from behind a huge bush into a snow-covered meadow. You can see the bear’s tracks clearly in the snow in front of the hunter. They lead out in the distance a hundred yards or so where you see the bear….walking on all fours with his back to the hunter.

But if you stand back and take a closer look at the print, you see something that the hunter has obviously missed. For, what you think is the bear out in the meadow… is actually a rock formation and the bear has apparently back-tracked and concealed himself in the bush right in front of you ready to leap out on the hunter. Doolittle’s work is entertaining to me because there is always more to see than is obvious at first glance.

And in a way, the conversation in today’s text reminds me of a Doolittle print — for, if you look close, you can see many things. A careful inspection of this conversation with Jesus reveals much more than just one blind man who was healed.

So this morning I encourage you to open your eyes as wide as you can so you won’t miss a thing. For, if we look closely at this exchange between Jesus and an un-named blind man, we can see things that at first glance we might miss.

1. The first thing we see is that Jesus miraculously saw an “invisible” man….

I say this because day after day….month after month…year after year….this man had sat in this same place begging as people walked by-people who were too busy to even turn in his direction.

So you see, in a very real sense he was “invisible” to everyone who passed him by… much like the “invisible” panhandlers we encounter every day in Bengaluru And He was used to this invisibility. He expected people to overlook him for he had spent his entire life being ignored. He was blind — people found that depressing. He was a beggar — people would find that demanding. He was in their minds, a product of sin — which meant they would find him disgusting.

So, mothers would walk by with their children and say things like: “Don’t look at him; don’t listen to him; don’t pay any attention to him. He is sinful. He wants something, and he doesn't deserve it.”

So it really was miraculous… or at least out of the ordinary… for Jesus to come to this poor man whom everyone else ignored, and STOP and LOOK. And you know when He did look, Jesus SAW more than a blind beggar. He also SAW the hurt and disappointment of a lonely man who lived in dependence and anonymity. Jesus SAW the hopelessness of a life lived in endless night that would never know dawn.

No one else SAW this… but Jesus did… in fact throughout His ministry, He always noticed things and people that others missed.

Once He looked up in a sycamore tree and SAW a short tax collector who needed to be set free from his bondage to greed. Another time as He walked through a bustling crowd, He FELT IT when a single woman, desperate for healing, touched the hem of His robe. He SAW a widow, whom no one else would have given a second glance, and observed that she gave everything she had to God. He SAW unimportant little children one day that adults in the crowd were trying to make disappear. He SAW the disciple’s doubt and fear on a stormy boat ride. He NOTICED when His friends argued about who was to be the greatest disciple. You know, I bet that sometimes His disciples wished He didn't SEE so much.

But as He was walking along on this particular day, Jesus SAW this blind man….The King of Kings noticed him and gave him His attention. He stooped down in front of the man, spat on the ground, made a “poultice” of sorts and placed it on the man’s eyes and told him to go and wash in the Pool of Siloam. The man did as instructed and could see! Now Jesus could have healed him with only a word… but He took the time to really give this man something he had never had… undivided attention.

And you know ATTENTION is one of the most powerful forces in the world. We all crave it and will do almost anything to get it. It is an essential vitamin in our daily relational diets. Along with food and water, every baby is born needing the attentive gaze of another human face. I remember when my children were babies my favorite part of the day was when I would lean over their crib in the morning and their eyes would meet mine and they would break out into that smile of recognition. They looked forward to my face each morning. And all of us are born this way… we need the attention of others. We all have this need to know that others turn their faces our way and see what we are going through. Wives need their husbands to really SEE them…to give them their undivided attention. I think most husbands and wives have had times that they sat in front of the TV and one spouse (usually the husband) was immersed in the news, while the wife wanted to talk about something that was important to her. Frustrated, she finally complains, “You’re not listening to me.” “I can repeat every word you said,” is the standard response. He proceeds to demonstrate.

Now, would this satisfy you wives out there this morning? No, of course not! You don’t want your husband to be able to replay your words… a tape recorder could do that. You want him to be fully present.You want him to turn off the TV and look you in the eye and PAY ATTENTION to you… with the same zeal he did when you were dating.

And attention is a precious thing not just to children and wives but to all of us… husbands included. John Ortberg says, “No wonder we say that we don’t just “give” our attention. We “pay” it….as if it were currency of some sort.” It is valuable to us to know that someone notices… really SEES… what we are going though in life. It hurts too much to be “invisible” like this blind man.

And I think this conversation in John 9 reminds us that one of the greatest miracles of life is that God pays attention to us. Nothing we go through is hidden from His omniscient gaze. When the Psalmist exclaimed, “O Lord, You have searched me and KNOWN me” he was rejoicing in the knowledge even the smallest detail of our lives is of immense interest to God. This realization is why the writers of scripture speak so often of God’s face. Numbers 6 records that familiar priestly blessing that God Himself taught the Hebrew people. Remember how it goes? “The Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord make His Face to Shine upon you… the Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace….” Now, to “turn your face” toward someone is to give that person your whole-hearted, undivided attention. It is not the casual listening of a preoccupied mind. Rather it is the same thing as saying: “I have nothing else to do, nowhere I’d rather be. I am fully devoted to being with you.” And this is the kind of attention God lavishes upon us. And… notice in the blessing that God not only turns His face toward us… when He does, His face “SHINES”. This word, “SHINES” is defined as an image of delight. It is the face of a proud parent beaming while his child learns a flip in gymnastics… or runs in a track meet… or plays in her first basketball game. This is how our loving Heavenly Father looks at us! So can you imagine how wonderful that “invisible” blind man felt that day as the SON of God stopped, noticed him, and PAID HIM ATTENTION….

2. A second thing we see when we look closely at this conversation is that vital ministry for God is often done in the normal traffic patterns of life.

When does verse 1 say Jesus noticed this “invisible” man? It says that He saw him “as He walked along.”

So Jesus was simply traveling when this happened. He was not on the clock. He was not in a synagogue; not giving the Sermon on the Mount, not feeding 5,000. He was not in a formal ministry situation at all. And this insight shows us that ministering in God’s name is not always a planned thing. Many times we are called to do the work of God “as we go along” in the normal routine of our days. John Ortberg, whose commentary on this passage was very eye-opening for me as I prepared this message, writes: 

“What is the work of God? It is simply to see what Jesus would see if He were looking through my eyes, and respond as He would respond.” 

And the main place we do this SEEING and RESPONDING is not here at church or even on some planned outreach event. It is done AS WE GO ALONG, in the routine, unspectacular, UNSEEN, corners of our lives. For… all around us… as we shop at Giant or drive around the beltway or work on the job…all around us there are people who are hurting and blind to the healing that can come through Jesus. Friday, after the funeral for Kiran’s uncle a man came to me and told me that Kiran’s brother Philip was the most genuine Christian he had ever seen. This man told me that he had worked with Philip for years and that long ago Philip had led him to the Lord and that since then he had discipled him and helped him to grow in his faith. Philip saw this man as he was going along on the job and led him to Jesus. And this is doing the work of God… seeing people all around us and ministering as Jesus would…which... leads into the third thing we see as we look closely at this conversation…

3. We see that it is possible to have eyes that work and still be “blind.”

For, there are several sighted people in this story who were oblivious to what was going on. The first were Jesus’ own disciples. In this text John records that when Jesus noticed this man, it forced His disciples to see him as well. And when they did, they asked Jesus a question: “Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Now this is a strange question…. I mean some sicknesses are caused by willful sin and even today babies are born deformed due their parent’s sin of drug or alcohol abuse. But how could this man have caused his own blindness if he were born that way? The disciples made this odd inquiry because in those days there was a belief that it was possible to be born guilty of a specific sin. For example if the mother-to-be worshiped in a heathen temple, the unborn child was judged to be guilty of idolatry as well.

So there was this school of thought in these days that held that it was possible for a fetus to sin. You see, people believed in a cause-and-effect relationship between suffering and sin… that wherever there was suffering, there was also sin. Somehow it made people feel better if they could think that a suffering person deserved his suffering.

And we tend to be like this even today. People do suffer due to sin but when we judge people of being guilty of their sin and deserving of their fate, we feel less of an obligation to suffer with them and have compassion for them. We cease to PAY ATTENTION to them. It’s easier for us to close our eyes to their needs if we think they did some evil thing that caused their problem in the first place.

So, understand… these disciples saw this man… but they did not see what Jesus SAW. They saw only an object of an interesting theological discussion.

And lets stop for a moment to make sure we understand Jesus’ answer to their question. Look at verse 3. Jesus said, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life." Reading this makes it sound like God arbitrarily caused this man to endure years of blindness so that one day Jesus would heal him and bring glory to His Father. But in his commentary on this passage Herschel Hobbs points out that this interpretation comes from the way we have punctuated this verse. In the original Greek there was no punctuation as we know it. So this verse should read, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned. [Period] [New sentence] But that the work of God should be displayed in His life I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day.”

So Jesus was not saying that God caused this man’s blindness. He was simply saying that healing him would display the power of God for all to see.

So the disciples could see. Their eyes functioned at peak efficiency… but their attempt to justify the way they ignored this man blinded them to what Jesus saw. And they were not the only sighted-but blind people-that day.

The Pharisees were blind as well… blinded by their own sense of self-righteousness. Think about it… God did a miracle that day! A man who had been born blind was given his sight! But all these near-sighted religious leaders could see was that someone had broken their Sabbath laws.

Now in Exodus, God had commanded that man should not work on the Sabbath and Jesus never broke this 4th commandment… or any other commandment! But over the years the religious leaders had expanded on God’s command by devising 39 separate “works” that they forbade and most of these had additional sub-categories. For example: On the Sabbath, children were forbidden to drag a stick on the ground for this would be “plowing.” A woman was forbidden to look in a mirror on this day lest she see a gray hair and pluck it out and therefore be guilty of “shearing!”

And Jesus broke their Sabbath laws in two ways: First of all, He made clay… it was forbidden by the Pharisees to do any mixing or kneading on the Sabbath. And then secondly He healed on the Sabbath. You see, as a general practice, healing was not allowed on this day. The rule was, you could receive medical attention on the Sabbath only if your life was in actual danger. And even then it could only be for the purpose of keeping you from dying-not for improving your condition.

The underlying philosophy of all these man-made rules was that it was possible for a person to obey them. By paying close attention to the law and providing all the right sacrifices it was possible to be a sinless person. So, their religion actually encouraged self-righteousness.

Now God did give the law but He gave it to show us our sin… our need of Him. But the Pharisees had devised a complex religious system where it was possible to be above God’s law… and really not need Him anymore. The Sabbath was supposed to bless mankind… it was supposed to bring man closer to God but with their burdensome rules it actually pushed them away from Him.

In his new book, Hustling God, M. Craig Barnes tells the story of a wedding that started as a disaster, but took a nice turn about halfway through. 

The day the blessed event was to occur dawned stormy, with wind and rain pounding against the church windows. The rain was so bad that some of the main streets had to be closed due to flooding which meant that some of the out-of-town guests were hopelessly lost on side streets and never made it to the ceremony. Also, for some strange reason, about half the candles on the candelabras would not light. The flowers did not arrive so the church’s wedding hostess put together something from the previous week’s sanctuary flowers… which had a lovely brown tint around the edges. Then the real flowers showed up 15 minutes into the ceremony but undaunted the florist marched down the center aisle and arranged them right in front of the bride, groom, and soggy guests. The couple had worked so hard to get this ceremony just right but in spite of all their efforts their unforgettable day had become… well unforgettable. You know there are usually a few tears at weddings but at this particular wedding they weren't tears of happiness. Barnes writes, “I made a few adjustments to my homily and talked about how fitting it was to have an imperfect wedding for what was always going to be an imperfect marriage, just like every marriage. I pointed out that all of the resolve to get unimportant things just right was about to mess up the important thing, namely, weaving two lives into one flesh. I gave it my best shot, but still I couldn't talk the couple into seeing what was really important. I could still see the anger and hurt in their eyes. But the moment they turned and faced each other, to say their vows, everything changed for them. The groom’s eyes watered up with tears of joy as, for the first time on that day of mishap after mishap, he really SAW his beautiful bride. All of his frustration melted away, as he finally beheld the joy of his life. That got her crying, which made me cry as well.”

This couple almost missed the blessing of their marriage because they were so concerned with getting the ceremony right. And these Pharisees had missed the blessing of a weekly Sabbath-union with God because they were so pre-occupied with getting the letter of the law right. They had forgotten that the Sabbath was made to bless man… not the other way around.

So these Pharisees looked at this formerly blind man, but they did not see a reason to rejoice.

They saw only a threat to a religious system that propped up their own sense of spiritual superiority. They were too busy attending to their own status to pay attention to God Himself, Who was at work in their midst. They could see… but they were blind.

And so, by the way, were this poor man’s parents! They were summoned to testify that this was their son and that he had indeed been born blind. But they were so afraid of losing their position in the religious establishment that they too seemed blind to the blessing that their boy had received.

But you know we need to be careful in our haste to criticize all these blind people… for we too often miss the presence of God. We can become so blinded by our self-righteousness that we don’t SEE our own sin and need for God’s presence. In our haste to point out the sins of others, we forget our need to regularly confess our own sins. We become blind to the fact that even though people sin and suffer because of it, they still need our compassion… this is what it means to be grace-driven. And sadly enough, sometimes church activity encourages and fosters this self-righteousness. For we get so involved in religion that we neglect our personal relationship with God and when that happens, we begin to forget how to listen for His still, small voice. Just because you are a follower of God doesn't mean you can’t suffer from spiritual blindness. Listen to Isaiah 42:18-20 : “Hear, you deaf; look, you blind and see! Who is blind — but My servant — and deaf like the messenger I sent? Who is blind like the one committed to Me?” You see due to our sinful nature, we have to work at seeing the way God sees. We have to discipline ourselves to hear His voice. William Barry once wrote, “….God communicates with us continuously whether we know it or not….But we cannot hear Him because we do not know how to listen.”

We need to learn to pay attention to God for… all of us are susceptible to what Ortberg refers to as “Spiritual Attention Deficit Disorder.”

So we need to heed God’s instruction through the Psalmist and, “be still” and know that God is God. The other day Sue and I were on a bike hike with some dear friends and we came upon a “pond” of sorts that had been the result of some beaver damming a small stream. Perhaps they were related to the beavers who are currently attacking the cherry trees down at the tidal basin.

Well, we wanted to see these beavers so in an attempt to get them up and about we all threw stones into this perfectly still “pond”. And if you have ever done that then you know that when you throw a stone into a pond, the stone will create ripples that reach all the way around, but this will only happen if the pond is still. When the pond is quiet and still, the arrival of the stone can be read over the entire surface. But when the pond is not still, when the surface of the water is already ruffled and tossed, the arrival of the stone will go undetected. Where a storm is going on there is so much commotion that no one will notice a few waves more or lest. And you and I are like a pond in that we can’t hear God until we learn to be still. We are too busy… get too little sleep, too much stimulation, do too much talking. All of these things interfere with the stillness and keep us from being able to discern the pebble, the “still small voice,” that is the signal that God wants to speak. James wrote, “Let everyone be quick to listen and slow to speak.” And we should heed this teaching for as this conversation shows us... if you don’t, you run the risk of spiritual blindness.

4. And then this conversation shows us a fourth thing… spiritual sight is more precious than physical sight.

You see this man not only had his physical eyes opened… by the time this conversation ended his spiritual eyes were opened as well. He saw the most important thing in life… He saw Who Jesus was. And if you look closely at this conversation you can actually see this happen. Look in your Bibles: Verse 11 says that at first all the blind man knew was that his healer was THE MAN called Jesus. Later in verse 17, he confessed to the Pharisees that this Jesus was a PROPHET. Can you see those eyes opening? By verse 33 he had become a defender of Jesus and said that what Jesus has done showed that He was from God. And then, in his final encounter with Jesus after Jesus had heard of all the fuss his healing had caused and had gone to the trouble to find the man…after this-this formerly sightless man see’s Jesus as the SON OF MAN and he bows down and says, “Lord, I believe.”

So, a man who had been blind from birth can miraculously see and he realizes that the sight he will prize his whole life… the most beautiful thing he will ever lay his eyes on… is the One who healed Him. And this is the greatest healing of the two. For the light that pours into the man’s new eyes is nothing compared to the light that dawned in his soul. You see, the more he looked at Jesus… the more obvious it became to him that Jesus was more than a man. 

Invitation And The Final Challenge

You know, Napoleon was once discussing Jesus with several men who were skeptics of His divinity. They were saying that Jesus was a clever man and no more. But Napoleon interrupted and said, “Gentlemen, I know men, and Jesus Christ was more than a man.” The tremendous thing about Jesus is that the more you look at Him, the greater He becomes. This is not the way it is with normal human beings… often the better we know a person, the more clearly we see their weaknesses, their faults, their failings. But the more we look at Jesus the more we know that He is not just a man or even a prophet. He is Lord.

Now, Isn't it amazing what you can see when you really look? You know we come now to the time when we allow God to use all that has happened in this hour of worship as a light to help us to really look at ourselves. This is the time when we say, “God show me how my relationship with You needs to change. Open my eyes to the light of Your truth so that I can clearly see where I am and where I need to be.” This morning as you look, what do you see?