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The Muddied Waters of Theodicy (John 9:1-41) - Pastor Kenneth Collins Maple · Fairview Presbyterian Church (PCA) Sermons

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And if you would now take your Bibles and open
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up to John chapter 9. John chapter 9 and we're
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going to look at all of the verses within that
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chapter today as we continue in our sermon series
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through some of the miracles of Jesus. And so
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I ask you now, as you have those Bibles open
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to John 9, that you would pay close attention,
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because this is God's Word. As he passed by,
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he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples
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asked him, Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his
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parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered,
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it was not that this man sinned or his parents,
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but that the works of God might be displayed
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in him. We must work the works of him who sent
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me while it is day. Night is coming when no one
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can work. As long as I am in the world, I am
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the light of the world. Having said these things,
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he spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva.
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Then he anointed the man's eyes with the mud
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and said to him, go wash in the pool of Siloam,
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which means scent. So he went, and he washed,
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and he came back seeing. The neighbors and those
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who had seen him before as a beggar were saying,
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is this not the man who used to sit and beg?
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Some said, it is he. Others said, no, but he
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is like him. He kept saying, I am the man. So
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they said to him, then how were your eyes opened?
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And he answered, the man called Jesus made mud
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and anointed my eyes and said to me, go to Siloam
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and wash. So I went and washed and received my
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sight. They said to him, where is he? And he
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said, I do not know. They brought to the Pharisees
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the man who had formerly been blind. Now it was
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a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened
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the eyes, his eyes. So the Pharisees again asked
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him how he had received his sight. And he said
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to them, he put mud on my eyes and I watched
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and I see. Some of the Pharisees said, this man
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is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.
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But others said, how can a man who is a sinner
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do such signs? And there was a division among
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them. So they said again to the blind man, What
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do you say about him? Since he has opened your
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eyes, and he said he is a prophet The Jews did
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not believe that he had been blind and had received
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his sight Until they called the parents of the
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man who had received his sight and asked them
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is this your son? Who you say was born blind
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how then does he now see and his parents answered
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we know that this is our son and That he was
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born blind but how he now sees we do not know
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nor do we know who opened his eyes ask him he
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is of age he will speak for himself his parents
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said these things because they feared the Jews
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for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone
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should confess Jesus to be Christ he was to be
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put out of the synagogue therefore his parents
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said he is of age ask him So for the second time
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they called the man who had been blind and said
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to him give glory to God We know that this man
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is a sinner. He answered whether he is a sinner
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I do not know one thing I do know that though
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I was blind Now I see they said to him. What
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did he do to you? How did he open your eyes and
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he answered them? I have told you already and
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you would not listen. Why do you want to hear
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it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?
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And they reviled him saying, You are his disciple,
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but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God
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has spoken to Moses. But as for this man, we
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do not know where he comes from. The man answered,
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Why, this is an amazing thing. You do not know
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where he comes from. And yet he opened my eyes.
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We know that God does not listen to sinners.
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But if anyone is a worshiper of God and does
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his will, God listens to him. Never since the
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world began has it been heard that anyone opened
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the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were
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not from God he could do nothing. They answered
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him, you were born in utter sin and would you
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teach us? And they cast him out. Jesus heard
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that they had cast him out and having found him
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he said, do you believe in the Son of Man? He
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answered, and who is he sir? that I may believe
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in him. Jesus said to him, you have seen him
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and it is he who is speaking to you. He said,
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Lord, I believe. And he worshiped him. Jesus
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said, for judgment I came into this world that
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those who do not see may see and those who see
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may become blind. Some of the Pharisees near
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him heard these things and said to him, are we
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also blind? Jesus said to them, if you are blind,
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You would have no guilt, but now that you say
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we see your guilt remains This is God's holy
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word. Let's pray Father we praise you and we
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thank you for this word And I ask that you would
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open up our ears Open up our eyes and open up
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our hearts to see Jesus this we pray in his name
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Amen Some 2 ,000 years or so, give or take a
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few years, before this man, before this man was
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born blind, there was another man who suffered
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terribly and also was accused of bringing affliction
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on himself. The man I'm thinking of lost his
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family. He lost his servants. He lost his wealth.
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He lost his status. And he lost his health. The
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man I'm thinking of, you may be thinking of,
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is Job. The book of Job is called a theodicy.
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And that's a big fancy term. But what it means
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is the times when we try to make sense out of
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pain and suffering and evil in this world that
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is governed by God, we try to make sense of why
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do these tragedies happen? Why is there evil
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in the world? Another shooting happens, and we
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say, why, Lord? Persecution happens to Christians
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in Nigeria, and we say, how long, oh Lord? A
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child dies, and we say, Lord, we don't get it.
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Why do these things have to be this way? In those
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ways, we're just like the psalmist in Psalm 13,
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verse 1, who says, how long, oh Lord, will you
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forget me? How long will you hide your face from
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me? No doubt you've asked these questions, too.
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You've tried to figure out why do these things
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happen. Job's case is especially tragic, just
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like this man in John 9. It's tragic because
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he undergoes so much suffering, and what do his
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friends say about him? They say, you did this
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to yourself. Listen to this. From Job chapter
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4 verse 8 one of Job's so -called friends Eliphaz
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says this as I have seen Those who plow iniquity
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and sow trouble reap the same In other words
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you reap what you sow You did this to yourself
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this kind of theodicy This kind of understanding
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pain and suffering and evil by attributing it
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all to a person's sin. This is very troubling.
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This is what Job's friends did to him. And Jesus'
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disciples, while they might not say it to the
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man, these are the things that they say. Look
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there in John 9 verse 2. His disciples asked
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Jesus, Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents,
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that he was born blind. The only good thing I
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want to say about this is at least the disciples
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know where to go with the question. They go to
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the rabbi, they go to the teacher, the master,
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they go to Jesus. But their question is wrong.
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It's incredibly wrong to say that if you suffer,
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it must be, the emphasis on must, that it must
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be because of your sin. It should also be noted
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that the man was born blind. So in saying, did
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he do this to himself? That seems rather impossible.
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And so what the disciples are doing here is either
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talking foolishly, accusing the man's parents,
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or perpetuating bad theodicy. This sort of theodicy
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is instructed. It is destructive. It amounts
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to those who suffer the worst must be those who
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sin the worst. And this is actually contrary
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to what we might observe in this life. It's contrary
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to what Solomon observed in this life. I want
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to read this to you from Ecclesiastes chapter
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seven, verse 15. This is what Solomon saw when
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he looked around at suffering. He said, in my
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vain life, I have seen everything. There is a
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righteous man who perishes in his righteousness
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and there is a wicked man who prolongs his life
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in evil Doing and that may be our observation
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as well that sometimes those who suffer the most
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Are those who are the most faithful to God? We
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also need to be careful we get ourselves into
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trouble when we start answering questions And
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we don't have the answers in Scripture. We don't
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have the answers from Christ, right? Because
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sometimes we just don't always know why a person
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suffers the way that they do or the extent to
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which they suffer. You might not know the reason
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for your suffering. And this is where people
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tend to muddy the waters of theodicy. We come
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to hasty conclusions. We speak when we don't
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know what we're talking about and we don't know
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what God is doing. But here's the good news friends
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in John chapter 9 We do know what God is doing
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Because Jesus tells us we see three things at
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least three things from Jesus in this passage
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Firstly Jesus is going to give this man his sight
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Secondly Jesus is going to teach everybody a
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lesson and thirdly Jesus is going to point out
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true blindness Ultimately, Jesus will display
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the works of God and teach us that spiritual
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blindness is worse than physical blindness. Let's
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look at this here at the beginning of chapter
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9. You can see that once again Jesus's compassion
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is on display. Everybody is blaming this poor
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blind man. for his own blindness. But Jesus destroys
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that bad theology and he gives sight to the blind.
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Look in verse 6. After he says these things,
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he spits on the ground and he makes mud with
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the saliva and he applies it. He anoints the
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man's eyes with it. There is no objection from
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this man, is there? We might say, ooh, what are
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you doing? No objection from this man because
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Blindness is all he has ever known. He probably
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would have done just about anything to be able
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to see. This man has never experienced a sunset.
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This man has never even looked on the faces of
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his parents. And so Jesus applies this to him,
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but the miracle's not done until he washes. And
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so he sends him to Siloam. And so your Bible
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probably says that Siloam, the name means what?
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The word scent. I believe there's a connection
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with the name of Siloam in verse four. Go back
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to verse four. Jesus says, we must work the works
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of him who sent me. We are to be reminded that
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Jesus is sent by the Father for the purposes
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of doing this very thing and of saving people
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from their sins. We are reminded that Jesus comes
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to do the Father's will. But also, what he goes
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to do is symbolic, this washing. Because we're
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ultimately going to see that as he's told to
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wash, we should be reminded that there is a greater
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miracle that's going on. There's something greater
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than being able to see physically. It's being
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able to see who Jesus is in our hearts. The cleansing
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of our hearts is what we all need. And so the
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man is sent. He goes to the pool of Siloam. He
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washes. And then he can see. And the people are
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amazed. They cannot believe that this is the
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same man. The neighbors, the people, they can't
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believe it. So what do they do? They take this
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man to the Pharisees. And when he gets there,
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you see some of the Pharisees are less concerned
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with the miracle and more concerned with when
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the miracle is done. They are, according to verse
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16, divided on this. There's, we might say, Pharisee
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group A that says, no way is this man from God.
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And Pharisee group B is saying, well, he did
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do this incredible thing. They're just not sure
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what to make of it. But some of these ones, group
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A, they're accusing Jesus. They're saying, you
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can't be from God. Why? Because you did this
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on the Sabbath. Don't they know the Sabbath?
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was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. And
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certainly, if it's acceptable according to Jewish
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law to save the ox from the ditch, then it is
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a good thing to give sight to the blind. It's
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not really about the miracle anymore, though,
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for the Pharisees. Look in verse 17. In verse
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17. They said again to the blind man, what do
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you say about him, since he's opened your eyes?
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And he said, he is a prophet. Friends, we're
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itching for the man to say more than that, aren't
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we? We're itching to say, yes, this is the Christ.
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But saying that he is a prophet is no small thing.
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It's remarkable. There's only so many prophets.
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The Pharisees could probably only dream of being
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called prophets here. And so it's true that what
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Jesus does is he's displaying the works of God
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in this man who along the way is starting to
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realize, I think, more and more who this Jesus
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is. But the Jews don't believe this man. And
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so what's the next step? Well, let's go to the
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man's parents. They'll know. Maybe they're even
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thinking, we'll go to the parents and the parents
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will say, no, our son was never blind. And so
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they interrogate the parents. Is this your son?
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Was he born blind? And how is it possible that
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he can see? And they say, yes, this is our son.
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Yes, he was blind. How he can see right now?
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No clue. We don't know. Why won't they admit
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it? Why won't they admit that Jesus has done
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this? Well, the text is very clear, though. They
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fear excommunication. They fear getting kicked
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out of the synagogue, right? And so what do they
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say? He is of age. Go ask him there in verse
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23. Now, we might be thinking, well, with a synagogue
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like that, who wouldn't want to be kicked out,
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right? With friends like these who needs enemies.
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Additionally, this is their son we're talking
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about. How many days, nights had they prayed?
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or just long for their son to be able to see.
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Remember what their son is doing with his time.
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He is a beggar. He's sitting by the city gate
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just hoping that somebody would give him some
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money. Surely his good parents, they want something
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better for their son. But they won't say it because
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they're afraid of man, not afraid of God. We
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must have a healthy fear of God. a respect, an
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admiration. We must be in awe of God. But no,
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they are in awe of the Pharisees. And so they
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say, just go ask our son. Friends, anybody should
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have been able to see this. This sort of thing
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of giving sight to a person born blind, that
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just doesn't happen. But the Jewish leaders are
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too blind to see it. And so they utter this awful
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statement. in verse 24. So for the second time
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they called the man who had been blind and said
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to him, give glory to God. We know that this
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man is a sinner. Is there a more blasphemous
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false statement than that? Here's a hint, there's
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not. Calling Jesus a sinner is about the worst
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thing you could possibly do. No doubt they're
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remembering this healing that happened on the
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Sabbath, right? But Jesus is the Lord of the
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Sabbath. They have so much to learn. We have
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so much to learn, too, don't we? We really do.
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Because when we sin, we forget that Jesus has
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come and He has lived perfectly for us to deliver
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us from our slavery to sin. I already referenced
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Ecclesiastes chapter 7. I'm going to go back
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there again because Ecclesiastes 7 20 says something
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important about Jesus. This is Solomon's observation.
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He says, surely there is not a righteous man
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on earth who does good and never sins. Yes, there
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is. There is now. There is with Jesus, right?
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Jesus is perfectly righteous. And when we believe
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in Jesus, we have his righteousness. It is given
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to us. It is credited to our account. The reason
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that we can have salvation is because Jesus lived
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for us perfectly. He kept the law, where Israel
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did not. When Israel failed, Jesus was successful.
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When we are not obedient, Jesus is. Jesus performs
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miracles like this, but apart from Jesus, anything
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that we do is nothing better than just a filthy
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rag, according to Scripture. But here is where
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the lesson comes in. Here is where we see that
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Jesus is teaching all along, even when Jesus
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isn't present yet in the story. We take some
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time off from Jesus here, and yet what he has
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been teaching is coming to fruition. Look at
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verse 27. I love this verse. This is the man
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speaking to the Pharisees. He answered them,
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I've told you already. And you would not listen.
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Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also
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want to become his disciples? Nothing about this
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makes it sound like they want to be Jesus's disciples.
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They have just called Jesus a sinner. And so
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I think there's some humor in there. This man
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is being bold in what he has to say, right? And
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yet he doesn't know everything about Jesus. They're
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saying that he's a sinner and the man's saying,
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I don't know if he is. But I can tell you, I
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can tell you what Jesus has done for me. And
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so what do they do with the man? They don't want
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to hear it. And so they excommunicate him. The
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very thing that his parents feared is what they
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do to this man. And yet here comes Jesus again
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with great compassion to continue teaching the
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lesson. Look in verse 35, Jesus heard that they
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had cast him out. And having found him, he said,
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do you believe in the Son of Man? The man born
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blind, as I said, so far he's starting to understand
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who Jesus is, but he doesn't fully get it. And
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so he says, yes, but where is he? Where is the
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Son of Man? And Jesus says, in effect, you're
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looking at him. You are looking at him. Friends,
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as we study the miracles of Jesus, I want us
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to do more than look at the responses of people.
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I want us to respond. And so when Jesus asked
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the question, do you believe in the Son of Man,
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I want you to ask that question of yourselves.
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Do you believe in Christ Jesus? And the answer
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must be yes. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ
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and you shall be saved. He is the way and the
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truth and the life and the only way to the Father.
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You see, ultimately, what's on the line in this
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miracle is not just sight to see things, it's
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eternal life. The man doesn't fully know it yet,
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but he has been the object, a lesson for the
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works of God. Verse three, the works are displayed
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in this man. And so this man, while he doesn't
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know everything about Jesus, when they question
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him, he doesn't launch into a sermon. He doesn't...
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He doesn't teach a systematic theology class.
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What does this man do? He simply tells what Jesus
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has done for him. That's what I want you to do.
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Every single person in here who says that I believe
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in Jesus, you need to have your story at the
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ready. You need to have your testimony at the
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ready. You need to be able to share what Jesus
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has done for you. And then from that, launch
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into the gospel. that Jesus saves sinners who
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can't save themselves. This is the lesson for
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us, that we would all be ready to share our story.
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But I also know in a lot of ways we're weighed
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down, aren't we? We are weighed down by all kinds
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of pain and trouble and suffering. And so I want
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to give you two pieces of encouragement here.
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One, suffering is a result of sin. just not necessarily
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your sin. Suffering is a result of sin, just
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not necessarily your sin. All the trouble that
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we experience comes from living in a fallen world.
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Sickness, pain, death, these are products of
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the fall. But while that's true, that doesn't
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mean that every problem that we experience is
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because of our sin. It could be that God does
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punish for sin, and certainly there are consequences
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for our actions. If you get behind the wheel
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of a vehicle and you drive recklessly, you might
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get in a crash and that might hurt. But that
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doesn't mean that everything that we do brings
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on punishment from God. D .A. Carson said this,
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pain and suffering are not always or even usually
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the immediate consequence of a particular sin.
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That is a hideous piece of heresy. capable of
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inflicting untold mental anguish. And so friends,
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I know many of us, we've got these illnesses.
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We've got these injuries. Or think about people
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who are suffering in other parts of the world
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for the sake of the gospel. They have not brought
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this upon themselves. God is doing something
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in our suffering. Consider Romans 828, how God
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is working all things out for the good of those
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who love him and are called according to his
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purpose. The sovereignty of God necessitates
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that whatever we go through, God is in charge
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of that. And so remember, in your suffering,
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remember the compassion of Jesus. Cry out to
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him. Rest in what he did. And remember that he
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is the righteous one who suffered in your place.
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That even when you go through the valley of the
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shadow of death, But he is with you. Perhaps
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you remember Romans chapter 8, verse 18. Let
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me read this for you. For I consider that the
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sufferings of this present time are not worth
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comparing with the glory that is to be revealed
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to us. But how can we have that? We must believe
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in Jesus. In order to have our eyes dried and
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the suffering gone, our hearts must be open to
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Jesus. We must believe. Look back at our text
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at verse 38. You've seen the question, what's
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the answer from the man? He said, Lord, I believe
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and he worshipped him. This needs to be our response
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to believing in Jesus, to the grace of God saving
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us from our sins, that we would worship Jesus.
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That's really what this is all about. This is
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really what the miracles are all about, bringing
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people out of their sin to trust in Christ and
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to worship Him. And this is very plain to see,
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isn't it? Because our eyes have been opened.
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But for the Pharisees, their eyes are not. They
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have seen the plain evidence before them of Jesus
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doing something that is completely astonishing,
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that perhaps has never, ever been done, giving
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sight to a man born blind. And yet they are the
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ones who are truly blind. Friends, the worst
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blindness you can have is refusing to see. The
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worst blindness you can have is refusing to see.
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Many of them, they see the works of Jesus and
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yet their response is to call Jesus a sinner
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and excommunicate his disciples. And so Jesus,
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this whole saga ends with them overhearing Jesus
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and they ask this question, are we also blind?
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Of course they are. They can't see what's right
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there before them. They are unwilling to examine
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their hearts. Additionally, these are Jewish
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leaders They should have been looking for the
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Messiah Isaiah 42 7 that says that there is one
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coming who opens the eyes of the blind and there
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he was right before them They said this man must
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be a sinner Friends the evidence is right before
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us because we have the scriptures the very word
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of God And so we must respond with faith. We
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must respond in worship because God alone is
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worthy of our praise. But as I begin to wrap
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up, the lesson's not quite done. We have not
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thought about the disciples for several minutes
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here and their question. The way in which they
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respond, when they see the man, they don't respond
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in a very good way, do they? And so we need to
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understand how we should respond to others who
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are in suffering. And so just one point of application
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here. Friends, we must listen to the suffering
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and we must avoid assumptions. Think of the harm
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done to this man throughout his lifetime by people
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who would not stop to listen to him. They continued
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to operate under the assumption that sin by the
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man had somehow led him blindness all the times
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that this poor beggar heard people whispering
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about him or avoiding him or telling him to his
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face you're a bad person and you did this to
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yourself like like Job's friends just wearing
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him down friends we must be people who listen
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to one another in our suffering look at verse
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34 they answered the man you were born in utter
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sin And would you teach us? Isn't it funny how
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much we care about what God teaches us, but how
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little we care about what God teaches other people.
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We must be willing to listen. Oh, that we would
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learn to listen to those who are in suffering,
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that we would learn how to persevere in suffering,
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that we would be reminded of the glory that awaits
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us as Christians to be good friends. We must
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take time to listen to one another, to love one
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another through our suffering, avoid assumptions,
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and in doing so give glory to God as we love
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our neighbor as ourselves, remembering that Jesus
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suffered in our place.