John 9:1-12 Spiritual Blindness - Part 1

05.07.09 John 9:1-12 (NASB)

Audio Sermon File: John 9:1-12

Going Deeper: Study Guide

Spiritual Blindness - Part 1

Today we are going to look at the topic of vision…we meet a man who was born totally blind he never had any opportunity to see…. until Jesus came along. This is the sixth, of seven signs, that the Apostle John present’s in his gospel to demonstrate who Jesus is. Jesus stated that He is the light of the world in chapter 8 and now too. Jesus demonstrates this by giving sight to a man who was born blind. Jesus has the power to create, and He will do that in this man. Here is our text:

9:1 As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. 2 And His disciples asked Him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?" 3 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. 4 "We must work the works of Him who sent Me as long as it is day; night is coming when no one can work. 5 "While I am in the world, I am the Light of the world." 6 When He had said this, He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and applied the clay to his eyes, 7 and said to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which is translated, Sent). So he went away and washed, and came [back] seeing. 8 Therefore the neighbors, and those who previously saw him as a beggar, were saying, "Is not this the one who used to sit and beg?" 9 Others were saying, "This is he," [still] others were saying, "No, but he is like him." He kept saying, "I am the one." 10 So they were saying to him, "How then were your eyes opened?" 11 He answered, "The man who is called Jesus made clay, and anointed my eyes, and said to me, `Go to Siloam and wash'; so I went away and washed, and I received sight." 12 They said to him, "Where is He?" He said, "I do not know."

In our lives we are all impaired to differing degrees of blindness… I am not talking about having to wear eye glasses or contacts, or the need for laser eye surgery… Jesus is teaching us today, some things about spiritual blindness, and demonstrating His true nature. As we begin this passage may we seek God to ‘open our eyes’ so that we can come to Him and ….

1. Ask God To Open My Eyes To The Effects Of Sin

v.1 - As the account begins we are told that Jesus was traveling somewhere and on His way He saw a man. This was no ordinary man for this guy was blind. Not only was he blind but we are told that he was blind from birth. This is important because we then know, that in all the years of this man, no one could heal him. There was no cure available.

He was born with this permanent physical impairment. He never was able to see his parents, he never could see the town that he grew up in, he never was able to witness the magnificent landscape of the promised land, he never witnessed the beauty of God’s temple where he visited. There was a whole dimension to his life that he missed because he was blind. And then comes Jesus. Out of the hundreds, and thousands of people that were present Jesus takes note of this lone man. Isn’t it comforting to know that Jesus cares for those of us who think we are shut out, all alone, untouchable. Jesus knows each one of us, He understands our needs, He knows where we are, and He offers us hope.

v.2 - Alongside Jesus was His disciples. Jesus’ disciples see this guy and ask of Him - Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind? It was a common belief in Jesus’ day that physical suffering was directly related to sin. The disciples make a bold assumption that this man’s blindness was due to sin originating from this man or his parents. I guess with their beliefs and the totality of the man’s blindness, they figured that someone must be to blame for this problem.

As Christians we easily fall into this trap also, by pronouncing that a fellow Christian’s physical problems must be a punishment from God. This may or may not be the actual case, since not all physical or even mental illness is a result of sin. We can look at Job of the OT as a classic example and there, it was a test of his righteous character, so that God could demonstrate that He is sovereign over suffering and that we need to trust Him even in this area of life. Yet on the other hand sometimes our medical problems do come about due to sin. Back in chapter 5 of our Gospel, after Jesus healed the invalid at the Pool of Bethesda, Jesus said to the man - Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you (5:14). Jesus was aware that this man was continuing in the pattern of sin that originally caused his condition, so He commands the man to stop sinning.

Jesus’ command was a warning that if he continued in his sin then something more severe was going to happen. So it is also true that some of our sicknesses are directly related to sin, and are a result of sin.

David of the OT suffered, acknowledged and wrote about the effects of sin on the body - Psalm 38: 3 - There is no soundness in my flesh because of Thine indignation; There is no health in my bones because of my sin. 1 Cor. 11:30 - Paul states the power and judgement of sin on the body - For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep. We cannot eliminate the reality that there are physical consequences to sin.

Yet it is very important that we balance what is being taught here with other parts of Scripture - like what is being taught in our passage today.
It is easy to criticize someone and link their physical ailments to sin, but when it comes to our self….what do we do? We usually would overlook our sins, but instead, we should look at our self and all our own evil’s with a greater deal of scrutiny before diagnosing others.

Sometimes we tend to blame our self and think that because something negative happens - we may think that we are sinning. We sometimes are grasping for answers; asking why?….and we feel that we need to know the unknowable details which belong to God.

Sometimes we tend to want to find someone else to blame for our own sin, and this is what is sinful. We call this blameshifting.

The earliest example of blameshifting took place in the garden of Eden right after the fall. God goes to the man for an explanation of what happened and what does Adam do? He points his finger at God…the woman YOU gave me….and then proceeds to point the finger at his wife Eve…..she gave me of the tree and I ate. God then addressed the woman and what does she do? She points the finger at the serpent. Never do Adam or Eve look to their own responsibility for sin, and this pattern has continued to this very day. Blameshifting is passing on the responsibility for sin onto somebody or something else.

For a parent, blameshifting could take place when we say - if my son didn’t act that way then I wouldn’t have had to blow up at him all the time. For a husband - I know that if I had a better wife then I would have a happier life. For a student - I wouldn’t be in trouble, if so and so didn’t rat on me about my assignment. You get the picture….yes there may be an element of truth in each of these scenarios, but what we need to do is take responsibility for our own actions and the consequences.

There are consequences for blameshifting. For example you may lose friends because they get sick of you for blaming them for everything that goes wrong due to your own foolishness. On a personal level a blameshifter will not mature spiritually and become weak, because he/she never confronts them self. You increasingly reject circumstances that shape you into what God wants you to be, and you also become increasingly irresponsible. The greatest consequence is that you will reap God’s discipline, because you do not obey His precepts for living.

We need to be able to sort out the responsibility of each person involved. Once we have been able to do that it is not a matter of breaking a habit, but rather it is a matter of repentance. Repentance is a change of mind about sin and it involves replacing life patterns which are wrong, sinful patterns, wrong responses with right patterns that come from God’s Word.

One pastor calls it ‘radical amputations’ (J. Adams). What does he mean by that, well when Jesus talks about tearing out your right eye, cutting off your right hand so that it doesn’t cause you to stumble (Matt. 5:29-30) - He is talking about radical amputations. These are not literal physical amputations, but radical changes in the areas that tempt and cause us to sin. You are to make radical shifts in future things, and patterns… which if restructured will make it difficult for you to sin in that area again.

What does this look like? Well back to the student - I wouldn’t be in trouble if so and so didn’t rat on me about my assignment. Well the issue is that this student is too lazy to take class notes when the teacher requires it. Instead she goes into her older brothers room and takes his notes, re-copies them, and hands them in. Now that she got busted….she first must recognize that she is sinning… she is stealing, she is cheating, and lying - and these heart issues do not please a Holy God. She then confesses this to the Lord and to her brother, teacher, and friend and deals with the problem and seeks forgiveness on a Biblical level.

She even accepts any penalties that are levied against her. Now that everything has been done to please the Lord, there still exists the future temptation to fall again in this area. So she does some ‘radical amputations’ - she radically changes some things in her life. She goes to her brother and asks him to lock his desk. She may even ask him to hide the key. She gets to class and arranges with the teacher that she sits at the front, so that the teacher can see her writing her own notes. So you see that she is making all these radical shifts, which make it hard for her to sin in this way again, until a righteous pattern is solidly established in this area of her life.

The bottom line in regard to the link between sin and physical ailments is that we cannot always know what God is up to in these kinds of circumstances - but we need to be open and discerning of the work of the Spirit. We can’t always know all the reasons why, but we can know that He can demonstrate His glory through us. Therefore whatever the case, we can be instruments in the hands of God, if we willingly let Him work upon our life, and in so doing we can bring glory to Him.

v.3 - Jesus gives us the answer to the cause and purpose of this man’s blindness. In this case the man’s blindness was not in judgment for some sin that the guy did. It also was not related to any sin of his parents. Now you may be thinking this, can the judgement of sin be transmitted trans-generationally? That is can the sin of our parents be passed on to us? The simple answer is no. The Jews had misinterpreted the law where it states in the ten commandments: Exod. 20:4-6 - 4 "You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand [ generations] of those who love me and keep my commandments.

What is being taught here is that a consequence of the sins of the previous generation would set a pattern of hate towards God. In other words patterns of sin can be taught or picked up / imitated by our children. Therefore if there is no turning away from sinful practices NOW… there inevitably will be punishment upon the following generations.

Moses makes it clear in Deuteronomy that judgement for sin is limited to the individual who commits them - Deut. 24:16 - Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor children put to death for their fathers; each is to die for his own sin. We are all individually responsible for our own sin.

Jesus does provide us with the purpose of the man’s blindness. In God’s sovereign plan for this man’s life, it gave way to an opportunity that the works of God might be displayed. God’s goodness and glorious power could be displayed through this man’s life. This opened the door for Jesus to perform a miracle, so that Christ, the Son of God, could be authenticated as the Messiah, through His ability to heal. As we see Jesus doing the work of the Father, we are to…..

2. Ask God To Make Me Zealous In His Work

v.4 - Jesus was the One who was sent by the Father to demonstrate to the world that God is gracious, and He does so by giving sight to the blind man. Jesus was on earth for a short period of time, and in our passage Jesus refers to it as day. He states - We must work the works of Him who sent Me. This work is not just for Jesus, for if you look down in your Bibles to verse 4, there are the words - we must - therefore Jesus includes His disciples in this great work for God. It was not meant to be a one man show, it is a reminder for all Christians that we all must get busy in doing God’s work.

It is just like in our life, we all have the day to complete the demands of our work. We go into work at a fixed time and the boss expects us to complete a certain amount of work, and then we go home for the evening. There is a general application that we can derive, and that is that our life here on earth is our day. The hours of each day are limited and so is our life, they are brief, so this should stir us up to good works which God has given to each one of us, so that we do not become dormant, unproductive, fruitless Christians. Instead we can live zealously for Christ making a great impact upon our world.

What I am going to read to you is about an everyday kid….perhaps not so normal because he was a handful, but none the less he serves for us as an example of what a ‘day’ - living for Christ can turn into.

This kid was born in a rural town of Massachusetts, February, 1837 to a trade a mason; he lived on a farm. His father died when he was 4 years old, leaving his wife 8 months pregnant with twins. (This next part I hope will encourage you mother’s her today to be faithful to the responsibility that the Lord has blessed you with) - His mother bore with a brave heart the weight of a household that would have crushed most women, and nurtured her flock of nine as best she could. She refused all offers to part with any of her children. She daily instilled into their minds a little teaching from the Scriptures, and took them regularly to church services and Sunday school.

Reared in poverty, labor and self-denial, the boy grew up sturdy, self-reliant, and strong in will. His pastor, paid him to work at the parsonage, but found him so full of mischief that he was glad to dismiss him to his home. The teacher of the district school did not find him a hopeful pupil. Fun pleased the boy better than study.
So, though he attended the sessions until almost seventeen years old, he progressed, but poorly in reading, writing, and spelling. (http://www.wholesomewords.org/biography/biomoody.html)

At age 17, being unemployed, his uncle, knowing his character, reluctantly took him on as a shoe clerk. This young man’s ambition was to make $100,000. Instead… the Lord saved him at the age of 18. In the hands of the Lord and with a willing heart, he uncovered hidden gold….gold that was in the hearts of millions for the next half-century in the gospel.

This boy, the young man is Dwight. L. Moody. He may be the greatest evangelist of all time. In a 40-year period he won a million souls, founded three Christian schools, launched a great Christian publishing business, established a world-renowned Christian conference center, and inspired literally thousands of preachers to win souls and conduct revivals.

He preached to 20,000 a day in Brooklyn and admitted only non-church members by ticket! He traveled across the American continent and through Great Britain in some of the greatest and most successful evangelistic meetings communities have ever known. His tour of the world with his musical counterpart Ira D. Sankey was considered the greatest evangelistic enterprise of the 19th century.

It was Moody’s good friend Henry Varley who said, "It remains to be seen what God will do with a man who gives himself up wholly to Him." And Moody endeavored to be, under God, that man; and the world did marvel to see how wonderfully God used him. (www. swordofthelord.com/biographies/moody. htm) History of Dwight L. Moody 1837-1899.

We are reminded by the life testimony of D.L. Moody, and back in our text today - in verse 4 - of Jesus’ drive to complete His earthly mission, that we too have a mission to serve God for our life - and with our life - which needs to be completed. The moment that our day begins is when we have come into a saving personal relationship with Christ. And the night comes when we have gone from this world to be in the presence of Christ. So there is a sense of urgency - life is short, in which we must do the works that Christ has given each of us to do. And you must diligently foster this passion, even pray for it, if you find it too hard a wall to scale.

v.5 - Jesus once again declares as He did back in chapter 8 that He is the Light of the world - Jesus incarnate - And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. (Jn. 1:14). While Jesus is in the world, His light will shine for only a brief moment in human history. He knows that His day is short and His crucifixion is near, then the world will not be able to have the full benefits of His physical earthly presence. Yet His redemption of people from their sins will have been completed and His full glory will have been revealed. Jesus is the Light to us, so we benefit from this knowledge today as Christians and those who are drawn by God and respond through saving faith.

v.6 - After Jesus has explained and given the reasons surrounding this blind man, Jesus goes and heals him. We should note that in all of Scripture there are no cases where the permanently blind were healed. This is then an act of power brought about by God. Even though the disciples could miraculously heal people, it is never recorded that they healed anyone who was blind. It goes to say that this miracle by Jesus is to demonstrate His unique character and person - that He is indeed God the Son, the Messiah.

So how does Jesus go about performing this miracle? Needless to say it was in quite an unexpected way. It starts as Jesus spat on the ground. Then He makes some clay with His saliva, and then proceeds to place the mud on this blind man’s eyes. In Jewish thinking there were some who believed that saliva had curative powers. It is safe to say that no doctor or eye doctor today would endorse spit as a prescription for any eye problems. So I think we would all agree this is most unusual, especially since we know that Jesus could have simply healed this guy with out all of this.

v.7 - But of course there is a divine reason and purpose. We may not fully comprehend it, but we will see that it serves Christ’s purposes in drawing out this man’s faith and obedience to Jesus. And secondly that this act will play a part in the Pharisee’s confrontation with Jesus later on. But for now Jesus gives the blind man a simple command - Go, wash in the Pool of Siloam. The Pool of Siloam was a large pool located to the south of the temple (same pool that was used to draw water from during the Feast of Tabernacles).

The Apostle John notes that the word Siloam is translated, Sent, because the pools waters were fed or sent through a channel from a spring (Gihon spring through Hezekiah’s tunnel). Contextually, this is an important note by John, because he reinforces the theme that Jesus is the One sent by the Father. And now spiritual blindness is removed by the sent One. This man miraculously received new eyes and vision, he didn’t experience any disorders, for Jesus does all things perfectly.

The blind man responds with obedience and faith, he simply follows Jesus’ instruction - So he went away and washed, and came [back] seeing. Imagine the explosion of senses that was radiating in this man’s eyes. The most awesome image he would have beheld was the Lord, the Son of God. Jesus gave him physical sight and not only this, He would also water the seed of faith planted and watch it blossom. The man responded to Jesus’ Word. What an example of simple yet powerful display of the drawing power of the Father.

The blind man could have simply refused this seemingly foolish process by saying… there is no way are you going to put your spit mix on my eyes. In our day and age of high tech and medical break throughs, we know that there is no health benefit from spit, mud, or swimming pool water. When we think about it, doesn’t it seem ridiculous that a suggestion like this would even work for blindness that was present from birth? But what we can learn from this blind man is that he acted without doubting in the power of Jesus. He demonstrates for us a confident readiness in the Word of God. Jesus commands - and he immediately follows in faith…praise worthy obedience.

So this section of Scripture when applied, goes to challenge us to know that we have a mandate to do God’s work in this day. Are we ready and willing to come to the Scriptures and apply all that there is? Will you come to the Lord… and willingly without hesitation obey Him? And finally through our passage we ask, Are you willing to ….

3. Ask God To Open My Eyes To Spiritual Blindness

The people who knew this man, were also very blind. They could not see the reality that God could do such a miracle in a person.

v.8 - The healed and now fully sighted man, returned home and to his surprise he got a mixed reaction from his neighbours. This man was well known in his hometown because people previously saw him as a beggar. In those days if one were blind there would be no other means of support. All the people which were familiar with him could hardly believe that this was the same guy that they had often seen around town, so the news spread.

v.9 - Now that the man’s eyes were open and fully functional, some were saying rightly that this was the same man. Others denied it - and proposed - No, but he is like him - that is that this man only looks like him. Then amidst all the confusion the man himself - kept saying, "I am the one. After all, if anyone should know it was this man - it happened to him..

v.10 - Those around the man naturally and with great curiosity ask him - How then were your eyes opened?

v.11 - So he tells them what Jesus did and concisely recounts the whole simple story to them. Jesus spoke, I obeyed, and I was healed - it was an act of God - an undeserved gift. He refers to Jesus as - the man who is called Jesus made clay, and anointed my eyes, and said to me, `Go to Siloam and wash - which supports the fact that he didn’t know Jesus very well, nor did his neighbours. This man had signs of faith, like those people in chapter 8, yet faith had not blossomed as God was still drawing him to Christ.

We are reminded of our own call in Christ, as we learn of this man’s obedience and the blessing that came with his response to Jesus. It demonstrates to us that there is no obstacle too great if we do not doubt the power of the Lord, and most importantly we obey the Lord - wherever and in whatever way that He leads. Without doubt we can follow Christ’s commands and know that all will turn out according to His will.

v.12 - With all the interest surrounding this obvious miracle the people want to learn from the man where Jesus is - Where is He? Yet the man said - I do not know. These people begin to launch a public inquiry, just like we do today…. And so this ends our passage today.

Spiritual blindness is rampant in both Christian and non-Christians. For the unbeliever, like the man, you were born with spiritual blindness. For the Christian we have been saved from sin and are blind no more, but because we still live in this body of flesh - it is possible that we can fall into patterns of spiritual blindness when we entertain sin. Spiritual blindness causes people to reject God’s right to impose divine standards and the denial of His supremacy over mankind. By doing so, God’s right to be - is denied - and His Lordship diminished.

Spiritual blindness is the failure to live according to, and the failure to attain to, the divine standard, which may be pictured by an archer shooting an arrow - and because he is blind - he fails to hit the bull’s eye of God’s righteousness. The very Greek word for sin - hamartano is translated as ‘missing the mark.’ The reason this happens is that man has intentionally transgressed God’s bounds; therefore, deviating from His will, and producing a shortcoming that ultimately ends in eternal death for the unbeliever.

It should be noted that because man is born spiritually blind, that is people are born as sinners, they cannot achieve the divine standard. Man’s life is thus marked by his separation from God, rebellion against Him, and the chaos that ensues. Yet man lives in this state and even strives for it, and he does not acknowledge what sin really is…. until Jesus comes and gives us eyes that can see the glory of who He is…. and the depths of our own spiritual blindness.

Part of the impact of spiritual blindness is that we are blinded to our own sin. As we discussed one way that spiritual blindness can manifest itself is through blameshifting. Secondly spiritual blindness can cause you to become self centered and lose sight of all the blessing that comes with zealously doing the Lord’s work. So ask the Lord to open your heart to Him today…perhaps right now…right where your sitting….pour out your heart to the Lord.

If you are a Christian ask God to give you a clearer picture of what He wants to do through you by meditating upon His Word and applying it.

If you do not know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour - go to Christ and confess that you are a sinner and ask Him to open your eyes….your life… to His saving grace. Only Jesus can bring light into your life which is covered by spiritual darkness.

When we are spiritually blind we miss out on a whole dimension of life and blessing from God.