Seeing is Believing!

This morning, it is my pleasure for us to return to John’s gospel after six weeks in Nehemiah.  If you have your Bibles, please turn to John 9:1.  I want to share a message with you entitled, “Seeing is Believing!”

 

The last time we were in John 8, the Feast of the Tabernacles was finished.  The giant menorahs were extinguished, and Jesus said in John 8:12, “I am the Light of the world.” 

 

This was Jesus’ second I Am statement following, “I am the bread of life,” and today, you will see the sixth of seven miraculous signs in John’s gospel that Jesus performed proving that He was the promised Messiah. 

 

Chapter nine is lengthy with 41 verses, and we will look at all of them today.  As we do, keep in your mind these three characters or groups of characters: a Seeing Sinner, a Gracious God, and Fallible Pharisees.

 

 

Exposition 9:1-12

1 Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. 2 And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”  3 Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. 4 I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”  6 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 the clay. 7 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.  8 Therefore the neighbors and those who previously had seen that he was blind said, “Is not this he who sat and begged?”  9 Some said, “This is he.” Others said, “He is like him.”  He said, “I am he.”  10 Therefore they said to him, “How were your eyes opened?”  11 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.”  12 Then they said to him, “Where is He?”  He said, “I do not know.”

 

In walking through Jerusalem, Jesus came across this man who was probably a beggar.  He was a probably a beggar because he was blind from birth, and he most likely didn’t have any other source of income.

 

Jesus disciples saw this man, and somehow, they seemed to be familiar with him and his situation.  They knew that he had been blind since birth, and their curiosity led them to ask why. 

 

It was a very common Jewish belief that either somehow this man sinned in the womb as a baby or his parents had sinned.  These were the two options for him having been born blind.  This mindset came from passages of Scripture like Exodus 34:6-7.

 

6 And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, 7 keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.”

 

However, Jesus denied both of these options.  Instead, He said that this situation was an opportunity for God to work in this man’s life.  Does that mean that God made Him blind?  It means that God allowed to be such.  However, it was not to punish him or his parents. 

 

Jesus went on to say how He and His disciples had much work to do for God.  They would not have forever but only a temporary period of time as Jesus is the Light of the world in order to light the world.

 

Brothers and sisters, that is true for us as well.  Because we aren’t guaranteed tomorrow, we need to demonstrate some urgency in doing what God wants for us to do today!

 

In 9:6, He then spat on the ground or into the dust and made clay and put it on the blind man’s eyes.  Next, He told the man to go and wash the clay off in the pool of Siloam, and he went and did it, and could see.  It was a miracle.  He was blind, but now he could see.  This man was now a Seeing Sinner.

 

 

Once this man had been healed, the masses of people who knew him couldn’t believe it.  They thought their eyes were deceiving them so they asked him how it all happened, and he told them.

 

 

Exposition 9:13-34

13 They brought him who formerly was blind to the Pharisees. 14 Now it was a Sabbath when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. 15 Then the Pharisees also asked him again how he had received his sight. He said to them, “He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.”  16 Therefore some of the Pharisees said, “This Man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath.”  Others said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” And there was a division among them.  17 They said to the blind man again, “What do you say about Him because He opened your eyes?”  He said, “He is a prophet.”  18 But the Jews did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind and received his sight, until they called the parents of him who had received his sight. 19 And they asked them, saying, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?”  20 His parents answered them and said, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; 21 but by what means he now sees we do not know, or who opened his eyes we do not know. He is of age; ask him. He will speak for himself.” 22 His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had agreed already that if anyone confessed that He was Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue. 23 Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”  24 So they again called the man who was blind, and said to him, “Give God the glory! We know that this Man is a sinner.”  25 He answered and said, “Whether He is a sinner or not I do not know. One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see.”  26 Then they said to him again, “What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?”  27 He answered them, “I told you already, and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become His disciples?”  28 Then they reviled him and said, “You are His disciple, but we are Moses’ disciples. 29 We know that God spoke to Moses; as for this fellow, we do not know where He is from.”  30 The man answered and said to them, “Why, this is a marvelous thing, that you do not know where He is from; yet He has opened my eyes! 31 Now we know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He hears him. 32 Since the world began it has been unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of one who was born blind. 33 If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing.”  34 They answered and said to him, “You were completely born in sins, and are you teaching us?” And they cast him out.

 

When the Pharisees heard about all that went on, they were upset with Jesus but reprimanded the man who was healed.  Jesus had broken their understanding of the Sabbath and what was allowed by kneading the clay and applying it to man’s eyes.  Therefore, they denied the claims that He was from God and God.

 

However, the people said otherwise.  They knew not just anyone could perform miracles, and that is exactly what took place.

 

The Pharisees went so far as to verify what happened with the man’s parents.  They affirmed the truth, but otherwise, didn’t want to get involved. 

 

When this man was questioned for the second time in 9:24, he simply told again what Jesus had done for him.  He shared his testimony.

 

Brothers and sisters, can we not do the same?  When God gives us those opportunities, and He does every day, can we simply tell what God has done for us?  We can. 

 

Before the Pharisees kicked this man out of the synagogue, he did his best to convince them that Jesus was from God.  No one had ever been healed from congenital blindness until Jesus.  He must be God, and I would say that He was a Gracious God for doing for this man what he couldn’t do for himself.

 

 

Exposition 9:35-41

35 Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when He had found him, He said to him, “Do you believe in the Son of God?”  36 He answered and said, “Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?”  37 And Jesus said to him, “You have both seen Him and it is He who is talking with you.”  38 Then he said, “Lord, I believe!” And he worshiped Him.  39 And Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind.”  40 Then some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these words, and said to Him, “Are we blind also?”  41 Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, ‘We see.’ Therefore, your sin remains.

 

Afterwards, Jesus went to find him.  Once He found him, He began probing his spiritual condition.  Jesus asked him about the Son of God to which he replied that he didn’t know him.  Jesus then confessed to being Him, and the man instantly believed and began to worship Jesus on the spot.

 

Jesus then had some commentary for the Pharisees that were there as well.  Keep in mind that Jesus’ words in 9:39 should not be understood to mean that Jesus’ purpose was judgment, but it was a result.  He came to bring light to the blind, and consequently, those who could see were choosing blindness by their rejection of Him. 

 

In verse 40, the Pharisees then asked if they were blind too.  Remember we are talking about spiritual blindness. 

 

Jesus told them if they were blind, they would have no sin.  In other words, if they had no knowledge of the truth, they couldn’t be held accountable.  However, since they claimed to have knowledge of all truth and were spiritual enlightened, their sin remained.

 

Contrary to their own opinions, they were fallible Pharisees.  That means they were capable of error and were in error.

 

 

Conclusions

Make no mistake about it.  This story has one point, anyone that is spiritually blind can see when Jesus touches your life. 

 

This man was healed after Jesus touched him and he believed and acted.  In other words, he trusted and obeyed. 

 

The text says in verse 7 that he came back seeing after he went and washed.  Today, you can be saved if you will trust and obey.  Seeing is believing, but first, you have to admit that you can’t see and need Jesus to heal you.