Born Blind, Reborn Seeing
-- or –
Reading a Bible Story Twice

March 22, 2020 Lent 4

John Chapter Nine

GOSPEL LESSON: John 9:1–41 [Jesus heals the blind man on the Sabbath.]
As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked 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 am in the world, I am the light of the world.” Having said these things, he spat 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 neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar were saying, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” Some said, “It is he.” Others said, “No, but he is like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.” So they said to him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed and received my sight.” They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.” They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. So the Pharisees again asked him how he had received his sight. And he said to them, “He put mud on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.” Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.” But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” And there was a division among them. So they said again to the blind man, “What do you say about him, since he has opened your eyes?” He said, “He is a prophet.”
The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight, until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” His parents answered, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. But how he now sees we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.” (His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess Jesus to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue.) Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”
So for the second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, “Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.” He answered, “Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” He answered them, “I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?” And they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.” The man answered, “Why, this is an amazing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” They answered him, “You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?” And they cast him out.
Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.” He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him. Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.” Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.

I think the stories in the Gospel of Johan are interesting and fun to read.

Today we have the story of Jesus healing the man born blind. Like most Bible narratives, we should read it twice. The first time we read it, we look at the details and the background and the characters and so try to understand it. The second time we read it, we put ourselves into the story in order to understand what it means for us.

On the first reading, John Chapter Nine is easy to understand if you have studied the Bible even a little bit. Jesus enjoys healing people, but the Pharisees want to protect their religious practices and authority. It is okay for Jesus to heal, but healing is work and so should not be done on the Sabbath Day. And so they think that if Jesus bends the Law a little bit, he will destroy the whole Law. A small hole in a tank of water will drain the whole tank. Therefore he must be stopped and anyone who follows Jesus should also be stopped. Jesus healed the blind man so he could see; but Jesus says the Pharisees are spiritually blind because they do not see the love of God and the real purpose of the Law, which is a vehicle to bring the love of God to people living together. And so the miracle in today’s Gospel reading is a sign which shows who Jesus is: he is the Messiah, the Son of Man, the Son of God.

The second time we read this story, we put ourselves into the story in order to understand what it means for us. We become part of the story, perhaps one of the crowd, the blind man, his parents, or one of the Pharisees.

First, perhaps we are like the blind man in the story. We have handicaps or problems that we want Jesus to heal. As the disciples asked, we know that sometimes our problems are caused by other people, or by our own sin. But often, like the man born blind, our problem has no cause except the sinful condition of this fallen world. However, we believe that the “works of God can be made manifest” in us. But then, what does Jesus do? He spits and puts mud in our eyes! He makes things worse for us. We might call this “a cross.” But we want Jesus to make our lives better, not make them worse. Jesus sent the man saying, “Go, wash in the pool of Shiloam – which means ‘Sent’.” Why didn’t Jesus just heal the man on the spot? Why does he not just heal us without putting on extra tasks? Being sent in the Bible often means becoming a disciple. What a bother! Just heal me, Jesus! How many people would just walk away and never go to the pool to wash? When being a Christian demands following the commands of Jesus, how many people would rather be blind than change their life style? How many people refuse to wash their eyes, that is, to be baptized? In our Gospel story, Jesus sends the man on a journey of healing. The man washes and now can see. He can see with both his eyes and his heart. His parents and neighbors also see the miracle of God. But the Pharisees refuse to see Jesus as anything but a troublemaker. But the man who can now see with his eyes, can see with his heart, too. He sees that Jesus is a prophet, and then confesses that Jesus is the Messiah. This is the journey that Jesus sends us on. The mud in our eyes, the crosses in our lives, the opening of our eyes and hearts -- are to lead us to know who Jesus is. And like the mud that is washed away, Jesus is the one who washes away our sin, and then we can see his glory.

Oh, but, how many of us are so often like the Pharisees? We are stubborn and cannot see the love of God working in other people’s lives. We chose little things, like healing on the Sabbath Day, and use them to hurt other people. Rather than rejoicing when God works in their lives, we find something to condemn them. It is easy to be a Pharisee. You know, we were raised to be one. We were trained to keep the rules, to keep the law, to keep trying to make ourselves better than others, and to keep our noses in the air because we are better than others. It is easy to be Pharisee. We just have to keep our eyes closed.

The message of the Bible is that God is not blind. He does not close his eyes. He sees us even when we are blind and cannot see him. He sees us when we sin. He sees us when we come to faith. He sees us when we have problems. Look at these three Bible passages as examples.

  • Psalm 121:4, “Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.”

  • Exodus 3:7-8, “The LORD said, ‘I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey.’”

  • Matthew 28:20, “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

    Before healing the man born blind, Jesus said, John 9:5. “I am the light of the world.” And yet, when crucified, there was darkness. Matthew 27:45, “From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land.” (From noon to 3 pm.) This was the result of sin and unbelief. The darkness continued until 3 pm, because that is when Jesus died as the sacrifice to forgive and overcome sin and darkness. At that moment, the darkness was overcome by forgiveness. On the third day, he arose with healing and hope and the joy of eternal life in heaven. He really is the Light of the World.

    Through faith, our eyes of faith are open. We see Jesus our Savior. By forgiving our sin the glory of God has been made manifest. On our way back to the Pool of Shiloam of Baptism, again and again, we invite others to go with us. Some of them are blind, others have other handicaps, some are sinners, some are burdened with the pains and troubles of life. But our eyes now see the love of God in other people rather than condemning them. And finally with the man who had been blind we confess, “Lord, I believe.”

    Amen.

    “Amazing Grace”
    1
    Amazing grace! —how sweet the sound
    that saved a wretch like me!
    I once was lost, but now am found;
    was blind, but now I see.
    2
    ’Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
    and grace my fears relieved;
    how precious did that grace appear
    the hour I first believed!
    3
    Through many dangers, toils, and snares
    I have already come;
    ’tis grace has brought me safe thus far,
    and grace will lead me home.
    4
    When we’ve been there ten thousand years,
    bright shining as the sun,
    we’ve no less days to sing God’s praise
    than when we’d first begun.

    Michael Nearhood, Pastor
    Okinawa Lutheran Church


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