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April 3, 2011 Ephesians 5:8-14 John 9:14-25 So Who Is Blind?Dr. Ted H. Sandberg

The Bible is filled with great miracles, but todays story from John is one of the best told. Here was a man

whod never seen the glorious beauty of the sun inching its way over the horizon, the radiant joy of a childsface as she squeals with delight when she sees that youre home, the wonder of a Michelangelo statue or a Da

Vince painting or simply the beauty of falls colors, or springs greens overcoming the browns and greys of

winter. Here was a man whod lived his entire life in darkness but now had been given the gift of sight. Thiswas an experience worthy of amazement and wonder! This was an event to share with the world! A man bornblind now could see! A man born blind had just been healed!

Yet thats not what happened at all. There wasnt a celebration. There wasnt a great big party. There wasnteven a prayer of thanksgiving offered for the healing that had taken place. Instead, there were disbelieving

neighbors, threatened parents, and angry authorities. With the gift of the mans sight there was anything butthe joy and celebrating wed expect to find with such an astonishing, life-changing miracle.

The 41 verses of the 9th chapter of Johns Gospel tell us this fascinating story, a story thats filled with asmuch meaning for us today as it was for the early Christians who first heard it proclaimed. The story can be

broken down into 6 scenes. Were not going to read the whole chapter this morning, though I urge you to do

that when you get home. This morning, Ill take us through the story.The first scene is the introduction. Jesus and his disciples see a man blind from birth. The disciples want todiscuss the mans blindness from a theological stand point who sinned, the man or his parents. Jesus wont

have any of that kind of talk. Hes not interested in whos at fault. He wants to do something about theproblem a lesson that many could learn today. Jesus sees this as an occasion in which the works of God can

be revealed. He says essentially, The mans not being punished by God for any sin that anyone committed,and you shouldnt worry about the cause anyway. You should try and help him, and in so doing, God will be

glorified and Gods works will be revealed. At least in this case, it wasnt the cause that was important, butthe fact that Jesus could help the man, and in so doing, show the wonder of Gods power and love. So with a

procedure used by many of the healers of his own day, Jesus spat on the ground and made some mud with thespittle; he rubbed the mud on the mans eyes and restored the mans sight. Interestingly, with the healing,

Jesus disappears until the end of the story.

In scene two (8-12), we find the healed man back in his old neighborhood, but under pressure. His neighbors

and the people whod seen him begging asked, Isnt this the man who used to sit and beg? Some think it isthe beggar, others think he just looks like the beggar. This is a pretty strong indictment of how people see

those on societys fringes, isnt it? Is that the bag lady, or not? Is that the homeless guy, or not? Theyrearound us, but we dont see them well enough to recognize them, do we? The question arises: whos blind in

this story?

Finally, the healed beggar himself must say, I am the man. The people are astounded and want to know what

happened. The man called Jesus made some mud, rubbed it on my eyes, and told me to go to Siloam andwash my face. So I went, and as soon as I washed, I could see. Where is he? they asked. I dont know, he

answered.

Its surprising to me that the friends and neighbors of this man are disturbed that hes no longer blind. They

bombard him with questions: Who did it? How? Wheres the healer now? Arguments break out among thosewho believe the man is healed and those who dont. Theres no joy, no praise, no thanking God, no

encouragement, only quarreling. A miracle has taken place, but that fact is overlooked.

Do we ever do the same thing today? How often do we focus not on the miracles that take place but rather on

how theyve occurred, tending with our skeptical minds to question whether anything special has taken place at

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all? Could it be that we react today much as this mans friends did? As it will throughout this passage, thequestion arises again, Whos blind?

In the third scene, (13-17) the poor fellow is hauled before the religious authorities. Here were told that Jesushealed the man on the Sabbath. We know that the Pharisees are going to be upset that Jesus healed on the

Sabbath. The healing was illegal. Mixing the spittle with the dirt to make mud was work, and thus illegal. Forall I know, spitting on the ground was illegal. So the Pharisees were upset. They dont spend any time

celebrating the miracle. Theyre concerned to find out if Jesus really did heal this man, because if Jesus didheal him, he did it on the Sabbath and that was work. If Jesus worked on the Sabbath and thus broke the law,

then he couldnt be from God, because anyone from God would obey Gods law. The Pharisees, you see, heldthe belief that their interpretation of the law was Gods interpretation of the law, too. Does that sound familiar

to us today? Im afraid so. Just like the Pharisees, our egos blind us to different understandings orinterpretations of the Bible. So whos blind? we hear again.

So the Pharisees question the now healed beggar, giving him the 3rd, 4th and 5th degrees. You say he curedyou of your blindness well, what do you say about him? He is a prophet, the man answered. Note here

that Jesus has moved up a notch from being just a man to being a prophet. While everyone else in the passageis blind, this man not only gains his physical sight, but slowly gains his spiritual sight, too.

Not satisfied with their interrogation of the beggar, the authorities question the mans parents. Intimidated and

afraid of banishment from the Temple, the parents dont want to get involved. We know that he is our son,and we know that he was born blind. But we do not know how it is that he is now able to see, nor do we knowwho cured him of his blindness. Ask him; he is old enough, and he can answer for himself! Do the parents

desert their son here? Maybe. But the Jewish leaders are very powerful, very intimidating. Besides, their soncan now see. What are the authorities going to do to him if they keep quiet?

In frustration, scene five brings the authorities back to the healed man. They say to him, Promise before Godthat you will tell the truth! We know that this man who cured you is a sinner. So they question the man

again. The poor guys beginning to get a little tired of this so when they ask him for the hundredth time howhe was healed he says, I have already told you and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again?

Maybe you, too, would like to be his disciples?

As you can imagine, this didnt go over very well with the authorities. They curse him and revile him. Themore they push him, however, the more this blind man understands who Jesus is. Now, when the authoritiesbegin to really threaten him he says, What a strange thing that is! You do not know where he comes from, but

he cured me of my blindness! We know that God does not listen to sinners; he does listen to people whorespect him and do what he wants them to do. Since the beginning of the world nobody has ever heard of

anyone giving sight to a person born blind. Unless this man came from God, he would not be able to do athing.

Pressure builds and tempers flare! The man answers with personal testimony I was blind, now I see andwith reason; Jesus must be of God to have the power to heal, for God only listens to those who believe in Him.

The authorities find themselves in a bind; they must accept the man as healed and therefore accept the healer asa person of God, or they must hold to their view of the law concerning the Sabbath and reject both the healed

and the healer. As is often the case, even today, the law is placed before the person, and the healed man isexcommunicated kicked out of the Temple. Rather than admit that Jesus was doing good even when he

worked on the Sabbath, the Law was placed first and the Jews, the enemies of Jesus, struck out at the manwhod just been healed, isolating him from almost everyone.

But the almost is the most important aspect of the passage, because the man wasnt alone at all. In the finalscene (35-41), Jesus returns. Jesus returns and asks, Do you believe in the Son of Man? The man answered,

Tell me who he is, sir, so that I can believe in him! Jesus said to him, You have already seen him, and he is

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the one who is talking with you now. I believe, Lord! the man said, and knelt down before Jesus. Thebeggar, blind all his life, now physically sees Jesus, the one who restored his eyesight, and now also sees Jesus

with his heart, knowing that Jesus is the Son of Man, another name for Messiah, Gods own son.

Over and over again in this passage, John asks us, Who sees? Who has insight into who Jesus is? Who sees

not only with their eyes, but with their heart and mind and their very soul? Over and over again the answer is,the one who looks to Jesus is the one who sees. Take our eyes, take our heart, off Jesus Christ and were as

blind as someone with no physical sight. Take our minds off the love of God, and pretty soon well be lookingnot at God but at our selves, at our own needs, our own wants, our own desires. Take our minds off the cross,

and pretty soon well be so blind that well begin to think we deserve eternal life. Take our hearts off themessage of Jesus Christ, and soon well forget that we are charged to tell the world that Jesus Christ is Lord.

The season of Lent asks each of us, Who is blind? As we gather at Christs table, may our eyes be opened toGods love for us that we may love all those around us. Amen.