THE BLIND SHALL SEEPRIVATE

THE BLIND SHALL SEE

John 9:1-41

INTRODUCTION: The text for our meditation this morning, is taken from the Gospel according to St. John, the ninth chapter, especially the following verses: “Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, saying, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’ ‘Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.’ When He had said these things, He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with clay. And He said to him, ‘Go, wash in the pool of Siloam.’ (which is translated, Sent). So he went and washed, and came back seeing. Therefore the neighbors and those who previously had seen that he was blind said, ‘Is not this he who sat and begged?’ Some said, ‘This is he.’ Others said, ‘He is like him.’ He said, ‘I am he.’ Therefore they said to him, ‘How were your eyes opened?’ He answered and said, ‘A Man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to the pool of Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed, and I received sight.’ Then they said to him, ‘Where is He?’ He said, ‘I do not know.’”*

My hearing is not all that good, as some of you may have noticed. My eyesight isn’t all that good, either, although it can be corrected with the proper prescription and does not bother me all that much. My hearing, on the other hand, often causes me trouble, especially in a crowded room. The noise of a lot of people talking makes it nearly impossible for me to understand the conversation going on right next to me. It's not that I don't want to hear. I simply cannot. At times like this I find myself cut off from the world around me in a disturbing way. I know that it’s not the same thing as it is for the person born blind, but it does help me to understand, in at least a small way, what it must be like for a blind person to be cut off from the world around him, to be cut off from the world of sight, a world that we simply take for granted.

To put it bluntly, the blind cannot see. They cannot see the beauty of a rose, they cannot see the wonders of a glorious sunset, they cannot see the many-hued colors of a rainbow. Nor can they see the danger of an approaching train, the danger of a speeding car, or the danger that is present at the edge of a cliff. In these and many other ways the blind are cut off from the world around them. In the same way, a person who is spiritually blind is cut off from the spiritual world that is all around us, a world that we tend to take for granted every bit as much as we who can see take the world of sight for granted.

In the Gospel reading for today Jesus heals a blind man, a man who did not become blind, but who was blind from birth, a man who had never experienced the joy of seeing and so he could not even begin to understand what it was like to have sight. When Jesus gave him his sight, for the first time in his life he could see, and that experience must have been a most marvelous thing for that man who had been born blind. He no longer had to guess at what it was like to see. He could experience it for himself!

And the blind shall see! In the text Jesus heals a blind man, but the text is not dealing so much with that physical blindness that he healed as it is with that spiritual blindness that is the real blindness that He came to deal with. Physical blindness affects some of us, but in the resurrection of the dead we will all be able to see. Spiritual blindness, on the other hand, affects us all. For we were all born spiritually blind, a blindness that we inherited from our first parents, Adam and Eve. And because we were born spiritually blind we were born unable to see the things of the Spirit, as St. Paul writes in his first letter to the Corinthians, nor could we understand them unless the Spirit of God first opened our eyes to see. Then and only then could we see to believe and be saved!

And so we have an apparent paradox. The more we think we can see, trusting in ourselves and in our own abilities instead of trusting in God-for that is what we do when we think we can see: we trust in our own abilities instead of in God’s-the more we think we can see the more blind we become. On the other hand, when we begin to realize the truth, as we do through the reading and through the preaching of God’s Word, the truth of our spiritual blindness, the truth of our sin, then, relying upon God and upon Him only to take us by the hand and relying upon His Word, which is the same thing as relying upon God, by His grace our eyes are opened and we see! This is not our doing. It’s His!

And so this morning as we look at the text we see two things: first, that when we think we can see, then we are truly blind. But then, when we realize that we are truly blind, by the grace of God, we can truly see!

Yes, by the grace of God we can truly see, but as long as we think that we can see, we remain truly blind. We see two examples of this in the Gospel reading for today. The first example takes place as Jesus is walking through Jerusalem. Along the way He saw a man who was born blind. Now His disciples, thinking they could see were quick to pass judgment, saying to Jesus, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" It was obvious to them in their blindness that his blindness must be a punishment for sin. They never even stopped to consider the possibility that the man’s blindness was not a punishment at all. Therefore, they concluded that either this man was being punished for his sin, or that his parents were being punished for theirs and that he was being punished along with them. After all, isn’t blindness a punishment?

But they were wrong! While it was true that both he and his parents were sinners-we all are- his blindness was not a punishment for sin. It was an opportunity for Jesus to teach him, to teach His disciples, and to teach us something about God, about the mercy of God and about the power of God. And so Jesus quickly corrected them: "Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” Jesus said, “but that the works of God should be revealed in him." In other words, 'The reason he was born blind has nothing to do with his sin or with the sin of his parents. But he was born blind for this reason and this reason only: that I should make known the works of God in him by healing him on this day.

Most of the time when God works-and He is working continuously in our lives-He works behind the scenes. This time He will work out in the open so that we might see and believe!

His disciples were wrong when they thought the blindness was a punishment for sin. Thinking they could see in this matter, they remained in their blindness until Jesus, correcting them, opened their eyes to see.

How often do we reach the same conclusions they did? When something bad happens to us or when something bad happens to someone else, how often do we think that they are being punished for their sin or that we are being punished for ours? On the other hand, when something good happens to us, how often do we think that God is pleased with us-if we think of Him at all and don’t simply take the credit to ourselves-and that He is rewarding us for something we’ve done? And when something good happens to someone else, how often do we think that God must be pleased with them and that God must be rewarding them for something good that they have done?

This is a natural way of thinking. It makes sense to us in our blindness. But it's also a wrong way of thinking. Some of the most wicked people in the world have had wonderful things happen to them. This happens so often that the complaint has even found its way into the Bible: Why is it that the good seem to die young while the wicked seem to flourish? God is certainly not pleased with them in their wickedness. This truth He clearly reveals to us in His Word where He says, among other things, “The wicked shall be turned into hell, And all the nations that forget God.” [Psalm 9:17] On the other hand, some of the most devout believers in Jesus Christ have had terrible things happen to them.

Now it's true that God disciplines those whom He loves. He also tests them, passing them through the fire, as it were, purifying them and strengthening them to the ultimate glory of God. But this is not a punishment for sin. Jesus already took the punishment for our sin. He took it when He was nailed to the cross, when He poured out His life's blood for us, when He suffered and when He died to make atonement for our sin. Yes, Jesus took the punishment for our sin and He took it in full. There is no longer a punishment for us to endure because of our sin, unless we insist on it. The sacrifice He made was sufficient. The sacrifice He made was complete. In Him our sin has been forgiven and so, having risen from the dead He does not punish us for our sin, He simply forgives it.

And so, if you want to know if God is pleased with you, do not look at the good things that happen to you or at the bad things, but look to the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. There you will see the love of God that He truly has for you. There you will see the good thing that happened to you for the sake of the bad thing that happened to Jesus. There you will see the truth that God is no longer angry with you because He poured out His anger upon Jesus and having poured out His anger on Jesus, He raised Him up from the dead to show us that He has no anger left for you or for me. There on the cross you will see the forgiveness of your sins which He earned for you by His innocent sufferings and death. For the sake of Jesus Christ, your sins are forgiven and for the sake of Jesus Christ, though you were dead, now you live!

You can choose to remain in your blindness. Many have! And this brings us to the second example in the Gospel reading for today, and it’s a sad one. It takes place soon after Jesus gave sight to that blind man. Word quickly spread about the miracle which had taken place. People were talking about it all over town. Before long the man who had been born blind was called before the Pharisees, the religious leaders of their day, to tell them what had happened. But instead of rejoicing that a miracle had taken place, instead of rejoicing that the man who had been blind from birth was no longer blind but could clearly see, they became more and more angry with him until they cast him out of the synagogue, in other words, they excommunicated him! Why? It’s not because they were jealous of his healing, but because he was healed by Jesus, and they did not want to believe in Jesus! Most especially they did not want to believe in Him as their Savior from sin! And so, when the man born blind argued in favor of Jesus, they cast him out!

Jesus, however, did not cast him out! When Jesus heard what had happened He came and found him. And Jesus said to him, "Do you believe in the Son of God?" He answered and said, "Who is he, Lord, that I may believe in Him?" And now Jesus opens his eyes once again, not his physical eyes this time but his spiritual eyes: "You have both seen Him and it is He who is talking with you." Then he said, “Lord, I believe!”

Do not be unbelieving, but believing! Amen.