Jesus Gives Us Sight

Scripture: John 9:1-7
Date: January 26, 2025
First Methodist Church Wetumpka

Scripture Reading

Our scripture lesson this morning comes from the gospel of John chapter 9. I'll be reading the first 7 verses of this chapter, but this event that we'll be looking at, this story, this parable covers the whole chapter. So let me just encourage you to go home today. You probably won't be doing any yard work this afternoon. So spend a little time in God's word. That'll bless you, I promise you.

John writes, as he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples ask him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents that he was born blind?" Jesus answered, "It was not that this man sinned or his parents. But that the works of God might be displayed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me. While it is day. Night is coming when no one can work. As long as I'm in the world, I am the light of the world."

Having said these things, he spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man's eyes with the mud and said to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam," which means sent. So he went and washed and came back seeing.

The word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God.

Sermon

It's interesting that there's another place that I was thinking about this week that Jesus says basically the same thing—when he's talking to Mary and Martha after their brother Lazarus had died. And before he raised Lazarus from the dead, He said that this happened so that the works of God could be revealed in his life. And so Jesus is reminding his disciples that this is happening because God's grace, God's power is about to be revealed in this man's healing.

And in our text this morning, we learn that a man who has been blind since birth encounters Jesus, and when he encounters Jesus, he receives physical and spiritual healing. The actual miracle is told in a few verses, but it takes the whole chapter to tell the story of how Jesus brings spiritual light to this man. It's the physical healing that gives Jesus the opportunity to bring a man of no faith to faith.

Jesus Shows Us a Different Way

And Jesus and his disciples as they pass by this man, it's the disciples that ask, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" The disciples ignored the man's infirmity and focused on the perplexing question. They showed no interest in helping the man, but in discussing the cause of his condition.

Jesus will show them and us a different way, a better way. He doesn't dwell on the theological puzzle, but on actually helping the man. In our own lives, we can spend too much time evaluating the situation instead of performing acts of kindness and mercy and love. We say to ourselves sometimes, "Is this person worthy of my time or my money? Is this person a person that I need to help? Or should I help them?" We spend too much time evaluating that.

There are times when we should be less inquisitive and more practical. In other words, bring forth the bread of life to those who are hungry for the word of God.

Jesus told his disciples, "It was not that this man sinned nor his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in his life." And in speaking about this man's situation, Jesus told them that this blindness was part of God's plan so that the works of God might be revealed in this man's healing.

Think of all the times this little boy asked his mother, "Mama, why am I blind? Why can't I see like my friend? Why can't I see like my brothers and sisters? Why am I blind?" And perhaps the mother never had a good answer for her son. And imagine the times that he struggled with this physical blindness, trying to fit into a society that did not accept him, or relying on someone else to bring him to the place where he sat and ask for alms. Ask for help. Every day.

Yet Jesus explains that God wants to work in and through even this situation. Jesus shifted the question away from the "why" to "what can God do in this moment?" So let me pose a question to you this morning: What can God do for you this morning? Think about that. What can God do for you today?

In this man's case, the work of God is quickly revealed. Jesus would heal this man, both of his physical and his spiritual blindness. But God may work differently in other people's lives—such as giving a person joy and endurance during a difficult situation. We've experienced that, right? We've had friends and family and loved ones that are going through a difficult situation and we go, "How in the world are they doing that? How are they making it?" Because Jesus is pouring out his grace and his mercy and his joy and his endurance into their life so they can do that and be a witness to Jesus. Or how he gave Paul the grace to endure the thorn that was in his flesh.

In God's providence, this man's suffering brought out the works of God in his life, and Jesus healed him. And it was a miracle.

Jesus also knew that his time with his disciples was limited, so he tells them, "We must work the works of him who sent me, while it is day. Night is coming, when no one can work. As long as I'm in the world, I am the light of the world." Guess what? Jesus wants to work with us too, as well. He wants to have us reflect his light in this world while we still have time.

Jesus then employs a very ancient and mysterious type of cure. Jesus mixes dust with his own spit into a muddy paste, and then he puts this paste on this man's eyes. He rubs it into his eyes, and it says that he anointed the man with the mud. I love that—that in the hands of Jesus, this anointed mud becomes the healing that this man is looking for.

And after the mud is applied, Jesus sends the blind man to the pool of Siloam. He doesn't say he sent someone with him—He sent him to the pool of Siloam. How do you get there? We don't know. But he goes to the pool of Siloam.

This took great faith because Jesus did not promise to restore this man's sight. However, the man acted in faith and obedience. As Jesus had told him, he obeyed Jesus as we should do. When Jesus gives us a word. When Jesus says, "This is what I want you to do." We need to start obeying Jesus when he tells us to do something.

Now the man, still unable to see, makes his way somehow to the pool of Siloam. And he steps down into the water where he washes in faith and obedience because Jesus told him to—because there was mud in his eyes. You ever got a grain of sand in your eye? Man, he had it caked on there. So he's down in the pool. He's washing. The Bible says he came back seeing.

Now imagine this man. When he's in the pool, he's probably waist deep in water, and he's cupping his hands and he's washing his face, and as he's doing that, his eyes start to heal. And these muddy trickles of water coming down each cheek—and at first he sees some kind of light, and then he sees some colors, and they begin to emerge, and then shapes are unclear at first. These images started to take form as rocks and water and people. Now he's aware of this fantastic tapestry of color. He stands face to face with Jesus.

What a great image for us today. And one day, we're going to stand face to face with the one who has healed us, the one who has delivered us, the one who has given us eternal life. What a day, what a glorious day that will be.

Jesus Gives Light to See Who You Are

And Jesus gives light for us to see who we truly are. My mother used to tell us boys when we do something stupid or wrong, "Your sins were gonna be shouted from the rooftops." My mother had a network before that was even a word. She'd be on the phone talking to Sally down the road or Sarah over here. And I'd walk in the house, she'd tell me about it. "Tell you about what?" "You know what I'm talking about. Tell me about it." I had to sit down, start telling her what I did wrong.

You see, Jesus can light up your whole life. He can illuminate the things that are holding you back from a deeper relationship with him—like pride and greed and hatred and alcohol and drugs and unforgiveness. You fill in the blank. What's keeping you from a deeper relationship with Jesus this morning? You may be blind and not even know it.

The Pharisees were blinded. They didn't know it. They didn't know of Jesus' healing power and grace and mercy. They denied it. They were blind because Jesus healed on the Sabbath. They said of Jesus, "If this man was truly from God, he would not have broken God's law and healed on the Sabbath. So we don't want to listen to anything he says. We don't care about anything this man says."

Listen, before you can come into the light, you have to be aware that you need the light. You have to be aware that there is darkness in your life. This man never knew light until he met the light of the world.

In that moment of healing, he was able to overlook a lifelong infirmity. But this was not just a physical infirmity that he suffered from. He endured emotional and mental difficulties along the way. Throughout his life, people had asked the question, "Whose fault is it that he was born blind? What did his parents do wrong? What did he do wrong that he was born blind?"

Now imagine how you would have reacted if you had seen this miracle performed by Jesus. I think some of us would have been raising our hands and praising God for the miracle that we had just witnessed, but I think some of us would also be scratching our heads and wondering, "How did this happen? What's going on?" We'd be asking questions just like the Pharisees did.

On the one hand, we'd be amazed by this miracle. And yet, on the other hand, we can sympathize with the Pharisees and their need to ask questions, their need to observe and define and explain the event. Because this had never happened before.

But when we do that, we sometimes explain the miracle of God away. And we don't celebrate what God has done in our lives or what God has done in someone else's lives.

Even this man's neighbors are confused. They ask, "Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?" Now, some of them are saying, "Yes, it's him." Others are saying, "Nah, I don't think it's him. Somebody looks like him. But it ain't him. Looks like him, but that's not him." And all the while this man is going, "It was me!" They're not even asking him to enter into the discussion. He's on the sideline going, "Wait a minute, it was me. It really was. I am the man."

And then the Pharisees get involved. And that muddies the water even worse. First, they go to the man and ask him, "How did you receive your sight?" And the man simply says, "You know, Jesus put mud on my eyes. I washed it off, and now I see." Then the Pharisees asked, "Well, what do you say about this Jesus now?" He said, "Well, he's a prophet."

And still not satisfied, the Pharisees go to his parents. "Is this your son who you say was blind when he was born? How then does he now see?" But the Pharisees didn't get too far with the parents, because the parents had heard that anyone who says that Jesus is the Messiah can be kicked out of church, can be kicked out of the synagogue. So the parents tell the Pharisees, "If you really want to know, check the story out with our son. He's an adult. Ask him, he's of age. Leave us out of it."

And so the Pharisees go back to the man and ask him, "What did Jesus do for you? How did he open your eyes?" And this doesn't get them the answers that they're looking for either, because the man turns the tables on them. He starts asking them questions. "Why do you want to hear the story again? Do you want to become his disciples too?" You can imagine how upset the Pharisees are. "You know, I don't want to be his disciple. I want to know how you were healed." "I told you once."

See, this man does not possess any special knowledge, but he has had a life-changing experience with Jesus, and he sees the world around him differently. There's so much controversy going on. There's not enough rejoicing, yet this man's experiencing the freedom and the joy of one who sees the world, not from a human perspective, but from a godly perspective.

Jesus Wants to Give You His Light

And good friends, Jesus wants to give you his light. Jesus wants to give you his light so that you can see the world around you differently. He wants to give you his light so you can experience his love. The greatest gift I know is God's unconditional love and the joy that it brings into your life. Jesus is the light of the world, and he wants to bring light and love and joy and truth into your life today.

And then the frustrated Pharisees make this blanket statement about Jesus without ever trying to get to know Jesus, without ever sitting down with Jesus and discovering who he truly is. They just make this blanket statement and say, "He's a sinner." And that was based on the fact that he healed on the Sabbath.

But the man does not back down from the Pharisees. He says, "Whether he's a sinner or not, I don't know. But one thing I do know: I was blind and now I see."

Our testimony is one of the most powerful witnessing tools that we have. Listen, I don't have all the answers to all of life's questions, but I know God and I know he healed me. That's my testimony. I can't share your testimony. I wasn't there the whole time. But I was there the whole time in my testimony. I know my testimony. I'm an authority on my testimony. I know how far down I was. I know what a dark place I came out of. And I know he healed me.

All Jesus wants us to do is tell people what we know—to share our testimony, to share our faith, to say, "Jesus made a difference in my life. Jesus changed my life. The love of God transformed my life. I am a new creation. The old man is gone. The new has come."

This man had no special knowledge. He simply says, "The one thing I do know." And just as this man witnessed to his faith in Jesus on that day, down through the ages, multitudes of sons and daughters of God have witnessed to their faith in Jesus, each telling their own story. And you and I, each in our own way, have a story to tell to the nations.

We have all received a healing touch from Jesus. Our lives have been changed. And at different times in our life, we have been able to say, "There's one thing I do know."

One might say, "When I was at my lowest dealing with depression, when no one seemed to care, when I didn't think I could continue one more day, there's one thing I do know—that God was with me."

Another might say, "When I was consumed by my addiction and my health and my family life were a wreck, when I didn't think I could overcome my addiction, there's one thing I do know—I would have never made it without the Spirit's presence in my life."

Another might say, "When I was in the middle of my divorce and I was angry and consumed with hate, the one thing I do know—it was Christ's love that saw me through and healed my heart."

When you believe that God can break through into your life and bring you the healing that you need, that's when God is going to pour out his mercy and his love and his joy and his healing into your life. God will take away the veil that blinds your eyes right now and give you a real vision of Jesus as your Lord and Savior.

And lastly, Jesus gives you enough light to share that light with others. He wants you to let your light shine. A Christian is a person who lets the light of Christ shine through them. Jesus wants you to walk as children of light. Are you walking as children of light? The way Jesus wants you to walk each and every day of your life.

In our Bible study class last Wednesday, we talked about how the moon reflects the light of the sun. That's what Jesus wants you to do. He wants you to reflect the light of his Son.

When Jesus learned that the Pharisees had driven this man out of the church, out of the synagogue, he went and found him. Isn't that good news for us? He left the 99 behind. He went and found the one sheep. He's leaving some other folks behind. He's going out to find the one that's lost. He's going out and looking for this man. And Jesus goes out, and he finds the man.

And when he finds him, he says, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" And he responds to Jesus. He says, "Who is he, sir, that I might believe in him?" And Jesus says, "You have seen him"—isn't that great?—"You have seen him with your own working eyes. And I am him." And the man said, "Lord, I believe." And he worshiped Jesus.

That's where the rubber hits the road. When God illuminates your mind and your heart, and you say, "I believe," and you start worshiping Jesus—that's when your life is going to be changed. That's when your life's going to be transformed. That's when you're going to start seeing God at work in your life.

Others may not believe that God has saved you. Others may not believe that God has healed you. Others may criticize you in your faith. Others may ostracize you and not want you to be part of their group anymore. Others may leave you high and dry, but Jesus never will. Jesus will come to you. And you will have an opportunity to believe in him. And worship him.

And as you place your faith in Jesus, His light will begin to shine through your life and others will see that Jesus truly is the light of the world.

Amen.

Closing Prayer

Lord Jesus, we thank you for your light that shines so brightly in this world. Lord, help it to shine brightly in our lives. Each and every day help us to walk as children of light. Help us to reflect your light, Lord Jesus.

Lord, help us to not evaluate and criticize others, but help us to help them when they need help, not when we think is convenient for us. Lord, you put people in our lives for a reason. Lord, help us to never miss an opportunity to share our hope that we have in our hearts.

And Lord, as we place our faith and our trust in you today, shine brightly in our life so that others will know that you are truly the light of the world, and that you can change their lives, just like you've changed ours.

And we pray all this in Jesus' holy name. Amen.

First Methodist Church Wetumpka
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