A Message of Hope

For the past couple of days, we’ve been looking at Jesus’ healing of a man born blind, found in John 9.  Because Jesus healed the man on a Sabbath, the Pharisees interrogated the man who been healed, and even his parents.  In verse 17, the man tells the Pharisees that he believes that Jesus is a prophet.  He’s already made progress in his faith.  In verse 11 he had just talked about “the man called Jesus.”  Now he’s calling him a prophet.  Then, after they talk to his parents, we get down to this courageous and rather humourous exchange, starting in verse 24.

A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. “Give glory to God, [that  means, “tell the truth,” or “’fess up,” we might say]  ” they said. “We know this man is a sinner.”

He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”

Then they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”

He answered, “I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples, too?”

Then they hurled insults at him and said, “You are this fellow’s disciple! We are disciples of Moses! 29We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don’t even know where he comes from.”

The man who had been born blind is messin’ with these Pharisees and they are spittin’ mad.  But you see, this man is showing us exactly what it means to be Jesus’ disciple – it means taking a stand for him, and sometimes it means being regarded as a rebel and a troublemaker.

 The man answered, “Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will. Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”

To this they replied, “You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!” And they threw him out.  [That expression probably means, “They disfellowshipped him.”]

This man declared himself to be Jesus’ disciple and he was called to pay the price of discipleship.  To be thrown out of the synagogue meant to be isolated from the life of the community; it meant to be an outsider.  Because of his handicap, this man had alredy lived his life as an outsider. Now he has a chance to blend in, to become just a regular guy, but his gratitude and his commitment to Jesus made that impossible.  The cost of discipleship means being different.

This man born blind had started out as viewing Jesus as “a man.”  Then he called him “a prophet.”  But now he is about to make another leap in his acknowledgment of Jesus.

Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”

“Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.”

Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.”

Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.

This man called Jesus “Lord” – remember (or read this post) that that’s what a Jew said instead of saying “Yahweh.”  Of course, the Greek word can else mean something milder, like “Sir.”  What did this man mean?   Look at what he did.  He worshiped him.  There is only one who is worthy of worship, and that is Yahweh.  There is only one who is worthy of worship – that is God.  The God who said, “Let there be light,” and there was light – brought light, not only to this man’s eyes, but to his heart.

Not everyone received that light.

Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”

Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we blind too?”

Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.

While John 3:17 is still true– that Jesus came to save, and not to condemn, John 3:18 remains true as well … “whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”

The question that this man sarcastically asked the Pharisees, becomes the question that each of us must answer today – “Do you want to become his disciple, too?” 

Being his disciple means living our lives in his light, and his light reveals to us the lies of Satan and the seduction of the world, so that, like this man, we are prepared to say, “Lord, I believe,” to fall on our knees in worship, and then rise to take our stand for him.