The Blind See - Tim King

The Blind See

Beginning in John 9:1, “As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’”

Note the mindset of the disciples versus Jesus. The disciples see a problem with this man he is blind and they launch into a theological discussion. In other words, they take a once-removed, sanitized approach to a problem, content to pass by with no more than discussion about it. Jesus, on the other hand, is one who sees and acts. For Jesus, the blindness is neither the fault of this man, nor his parents, it is part of a larger life issue that, under the right circumstances, can bring glory to God.

In the creation of the world, you had God, water, dirt—and it all led to the creation of man. Once again, here is the bodily form of God in the presence of Jesus; he spits in the dirt, puts it on the man’s eyes and tells him to go wash in the pool of Siloam.

The man is obedient and he receives his sight! Once again Jesus has introduced a new creation and brings a higher-order-reality to life. And this is where the story really starts to get good!

When the people realized what had happened, a discussion arose as to whether this was really the same blind man or not—was it someone who just looked like him? Seizing the man, they bring him to the Pharisees. Once again, Jesus had performed a work and it was on the Sabbath certainly something maddening to these Jewish religious leaders.

The Pharisees began to press him for an answer as to how he received his sight. The man explained to them what had taken place. The summation of the Pharisees? The man who healed you is not from God or he would have observed the Sabbath.

Imagine how this must have rung in the ears of the man who was blind but could now see. It was the greatest miracle he could have hoped for the greatest event of his life—and the religious leaders themselves were too blind to see!

They asked the man who was healed, “Who do you say that this man who healed you was?” The only answer he could reasonably produce was that no doubt his healer was a prophet. Not wanting to believe any of this, the leaders called in the parents of the healed man to confirm that he was in fact blind.

The pressure of fitting within the religious system of the day finally comes to surface in the response of the parents notice how diplomatic it is: “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; but we do not know how it is that now he sees, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.”

The next verse tells us that they were afraid of the Jews that these leaders might put them out of the synagogue. Frustrated, the Pharisees again call the man who had been healed to affirm that the one who healed him was a sinner.

He said, “Whether this man was a sinner or not, I do not know. But one thing I DO know, that though I was blind, now I see.”

The leaders press him further. The man responds, I’ve told you already, why do you want to know do you want to become his disciples also?! For him, it is time to celebrate the victory of Jesus over the failure of the religious elite.

Scoffing at these leaders the man boldly continues to speak “Here is an astonishing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind.” The leaders responded: “You were born entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us?!”

What a fascinating account! The disciples were content to pass by, keeping things merely on a philosophical level. The leaders were only concerned about what it meant for them—Jesus alone was interested in bringing new life to the one most in need.

Between apathy and a rigidly defined box that impeded the ability to touch others, Jesus stepped into the mix and brought substantive change. That’s our choice this week apathy or being bound by our traditions. Let’s be aware of these two extremes and see if we can get outside them and be part of the solution for a world filled with people needing to be touched.

This webcast is the thirteenth program in a series on "The Gospel of John." Listeners are encourage to read along in the Gospel as a way to delve deeper into this study.

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The Gospel of John, Pt 13, Apr 21, 2004