Latest / Finding Jesus Again / Episode 16; I was blind, but now I see.
Transcript
- Episode 16: Welcome everybody to Finding Jesus Again, Episode 16. We're going to read in John chapter 9 today. I appreciate you joining me on this journey. Let's just begin. As Jesus passed by, he saw a man who had been born blind from birth, and his disciples asked him, Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind? Jesus answered, It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents, but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him. Let's kind of stop there for a minute because I think there's a couple of things that we really need to bring out in this passage. Number one, not every hardship is is someone's fault. The disciples asked the question, this guy's obviously going through this because either he sinned or his parents sinned. It's obviously somebody's fault that you're going through this. I'm sure that maybe you've even kind of question that yourself in your own life. I'm going through this because of something I did, or I I must have made God mad or I messed up somewhere or I wouldn't be going through this. Sometimes life just happens. You know, all of all of hardship, all all the trials and pain and suffering does come from sin. But it doesn't necessarily come from your sin. It comes from the original sin. It comes from the fact that we are born in a sinful world. Life is just sometimes hard. And so someone's not always to blame. The disciples were, is it his fault or is his parents' fault? And Jesus responds, It's nobody's fault, but he was born this way so that God can be glorified. So I don't necessarily know if God made this man blind for this moment that Jesus would heal him, or if he's telling us that all that all pain and all suffering can be used for his glory if we allow it. I believe everything that we're going through, everything that you're going through, all the trials and tribulations, that if you allow it, it can glorify God because God can perform a miracle through whatever you're going through. Also, the disciples here, they see a theological question where Jesus sees a man. That's another interesting point. You know, the disciples, instead of just looking and having compassion on this man who was blind, the disciples find a way to kind of make it a theological religious question. We got to be careful that our theology about people doesn't actually keep us from seeing people. I think that's one of the things that can be very dangerous for the church and for church people is that we get so focused on theology and doctrine and religion that we forget to see the people. So let's read on. Verse four says, We must carry out the works of him who sent me as long as it is day. Night is coming when no one can work. While I'm in the world, I am the light of the world. When he had said this, he spit on the ground and made mud from the saliva, and he applied the mud to his eyes, and said to him, Go wash in the pool of Salome, which is translated sent. So he left and he washed, and he came back seeing. So the neighbors and those who previously saw him as a beggar were saying, Is this not the one who used to sit and beg? Others were saying, This is he. So others were saying, No, but he's just like him. The man himself kept saying, I'm the one. So they were saying to him, How then were your eyes opened? He answered, The man who was called Jesus made mud and spread it on my eyes and said to me, Go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and I received sight. And they said to him, Where is he? He said, I do not know. You know, this this whole this whole method of Jesus healing this person, mud, spit, washing in a pool, is certainly not the healing method that any would anyone of us would have designed. Yet the man obeyed and he came back seeing. Following Jesus sometimes means trusting God even when the method doesn't make sense. If God's telling you to do something or you feel prompted to do something, Go ahead and do it. Don't be afraid to step out on faith and trust in God and move forward and do it. Because God doesn't always do everything the same way. Let's look at the next verses. Verse thirteen. They brought the man who was previously blind to the Pharisees. Now it was a Sabbath on that day that Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. And again Jesus is healing on the Sabbath. He's obviously challenging the Pharisees. And the Pharisees are asking him again how he received his sight. And he said to them, He applied mud to my eyes and why washed and I see. Therefore, some of the Pharisees were saying this man's not from God because he does not keep the Sabbath. Again, you know, they're they're just so focused on the law and so focused on their religion that they refuse to accept Christ for even being a prophet. They say this man's not of God because if he was of God, he wouldn't do something like this on a Sabbath. He wouldn't heal a man on a Sabbath, he wouldn't stop a man suffering on a Sabbath, he wouldn't bless a man on the Sabbath. Just it just it just doesn't make sense. Of course he would. Of all days, why wouldn't he do it on the Sabbath? But they were so bound by their own blindness and bound by their own law that they refused to see Christ for who he was. Well let's go ahead and read on. Therefore some of the Pharisees were saying, This man is not from God because he does not keep the Sabbath, but others were saying, How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs? And there was a dissension among them. So they said again to the man who was blind, What do you say about him since he opened your eyes? And he said he is a prophet. The Jews then did not believe it about him that he had been blind and had received sight until they called the parents of the very one who had received his sight. And they questioned him, saying, Is this your son who you say was born blind? Then how does he now see? His parents didn't answer and said, We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. Then how he now sees we don't know, or who opened his eyes we don't know. Ask him, he's of age, he'll speak for himself. His parents said this because they are afraid of the Jews, for the Jews had already reached the decision that if anyone confessed him to be Christ, he was to be excommunicated from the synagogue. It was for this reason that his parents said he's of age, ask him. So for the second time they summoned the man who had been blind, and said to him, Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner. So they're saying, Give God the glory, don't give this man the glory. But he then answered, Whether he's a sinner, I don't know. One thing I do know is that I was blind, and now I see. And what a great verse. One thing I do know that I was blind and now I see. I can't explain it. I can't explain what happened. I can't explain what he did. I can't explain how it happened or why he did it. But I just know that I was blind and now I see. You might be the same way. You might be thinking, you know, I can't explain it. I can't explain what's taking place in my life. I can't explain what I'm feeling. I can't explain the change that is happening. I don't have the knowledge to explain to people about God. But we don't have to explain to people about God. All we have to do is be witnesses of our testimony, and that is that once we were blind, but now we see. And that's why gets people's attention. It's not that we can, you know, explain everything in such detail that they'll understand, because they still might not understand. But what people do understand is our own stories and our own testimonies. And that is that we once were blind, but now we see. And that's got that needs to be the focus of what we tell people. We don't you know, God has called us to to share the good news and share the gospel. And that doesn't mean going out and and and preaching sermons, but what that means is is just telling people what has happened in your own life and how God has changed you and how God has opened your eyes. The best testimony that this man could give to these people were not some amazing testimony or or detailed facts about who Jesus really was. But the biggest testimony they could give was what he had done, and that is that Jesus had opened up his eyes. Look at verse twenty six. So they said to him, What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes? He answered them, I told you already, and you don't listen. Why do you want to hear it again? You do not want to become his disciples too, do you? That's kind of a smart elic answer I'd say. They spoke abusively to him and said, 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's from. Verse thirty, Well, here is the amazing thing that you do not know where he's from, and yet he opened my eyes. Man, that is a powerful statement. Here is the amazing thing. You don't know where he's from, but I know where he's from, because I know what he did in my life, and he just opened up my eyes. And and that's also a great answer to people who are doubting God or doubting. your relationship with God or doubting what God has done in your life. They might say, well, I don't know that I believe in God. Well, whether you believe or not, I can't make that decision for you, but I'm just telling you, I know what he has done in my life, and I know the change that he has made in my life, and I can't deny the fact of who he is. Let's read verse thirty one. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if someone is God fearing and does his will, he listens to him. Since the beginning of time it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing. They answered him, You were born entirely in sins, and yet you are teaching us. And so they put him out. So basically he's telling him, Look, no one's ever done this before. No one has ever made a blind man whole or see again. And so this has got to be God. It's gotta be the Messiah. But they were so committed to being right that they missed what God was doing. They were investigating a miracle instead of celebrating it. One of the sharpest challenges of this chapter, can our rules about God actually keep us from recognizing God at work? Can our rules about him keep us from recognizing where he's working at? Sometimes the people with the least religious status can see Jesus most clearly. And this is what this man said. He said in verse seventeen, he's a prophet. He said in verse thirty one and thirty-three, he is a man from God. And in verse thirty-eight, he called Jesus Lord and he said, I believe. He doesn't understand Jesus all at once, but he just knows that something miraculous in his life, and he receives Jesus for who he is. Meanwhile, the Pharisees refused to believe him and refused to receive him. Because Jesus isn't doing it the way that they think that it should be done. Eventually they throw this young man out. They say, You're not welcome here no more. And following Jesus can cost you something. Following Jesus can cause friends to turn their backs on you. But we have to be willing to stand by what we believe even when the community of people around us doesn't approve. And the great thing is that when religion threw him out, Jesus came looking for him. Look at verse thirty five. Jesus heard that they had put him out, and upon finding him he said, Do you believe in the Son of Man? So religion threw him out, but Jesus went after him. Verse thirty-six he answered by saying, And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him? Jesus said to him, You have both seen him, and he is the one who is talking with you. And he said, I believe, Lord, and he worshipped him. And Jesus said, For judgment I came into this world. So that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind. Those who were with him from the Pharisees heard these things and said, We're not blind too, are we? Jesus said to them, If you were blind, you would have no sin, but now that you maintain, we see your sin remains. So it's very interesting that this miracle is about blindness. And it's done on the Sabbath. It seems like this miracle is a challenge to the Pharisees to see who really is the blind person here. This blind man, he was born blind, but now he receives sight, and these religious people are spiritually blind, but they refuse to receive sight. Who's really blind? Sometimes we can be so blinded by religion or so blinded by tradition or so blinded by what we think we know and we put Jesus in in in a little box and we don't think that he can work outside the confines of that box. But here we're learning that Jesus can do whatever he wants, whenever he wants, with whomever he wants. And we've got to let Jesus outside that box. We've got to be open to see what Jesus is doing and where Jesus Jesus is doing it. Don't be blind like the Pharisees. Don't be blind and think that Jesus can't do anything different or that Jesus can't do anything new. But behold, Jesus is doing a brand new thing, and he wants to do a brand new thing in me and a brand new thing in you. Thank you for watching this episode of Finding Jesus again. We will see you tomorrow as we continue our journey.