Audio Sermon File: John 9:13-34
Going Deeper: Study Guide
Spiritual Blindness - Part 2
The issue at hand in our passage today, once again, is spiritual blindness. This is the theme through out the whole of chapter 9. Chapter 9 helps to reveal to us the nature of spiritual blindness and the nature of spiritual sight. The bottom line of spiritual blindness is that a person does not recognize sin and does not see God, therefore he or she is willfully resistant to Him.
Allow me to briefly lay down the context for our passage today. Jesus confronts the Jews in chapter 8 and as a result of Jesus’ truth claims - the Jews reached for stones to stone Him for claiming to be - I AM, that is God. Since it was not according to God’s will that Jesus should die such a death - He was able to slip away unharmed.
In the course of travel, Jesus spots a blind beggar. And Jesus through His sovereign divine will decides to heal the guy. Being healed was the greatest thing that ever happened to this guy so he told his neighbours and others also heard about this. The reaction was mixed and it will result in this man being taken to the Pharisees for an investigation. Our Bible text reveals:
13 They brought to the Pharisees the man who was formerly blind. 14 Now it was a Sabbath on the day when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. 15 Then the Pharisees also were asking him again how he received his sight. And he said to them, "He applied clay to my eyes, and I washed, and I see." 16 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 division among them. 17 So they said to the blind man again, "What do you say about Him, since He opened your eyes?" And he said, "He is a prophet." 18 The Jews then did not believe [it] of him, that he had been blind and had received sight, until they called the parents of the very one who had received his sight, 19 and questioned them, saying, "Is this your son, who you say was born blind? Then how does he now see?" 20 His parents answered them and said, "We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; 21 but how he now sees, we do not know; or who opened his eyes, we do not know. Ask him; he is of age, he will speak for himself." 22 His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone confessed Him to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue. 23 For this reason his parents said, "He is of age; ask him." 24 So a second time they called the man who had been blind, and said to him, "Give glory to God; we know that this man is a sinner." 25 He then answered, "Whether He is a sinner, I do not know; one thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see." 26 So they said to him, "What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?" 27 He answered them, "I told you already and you did not listen; why do you want to hear [it] again? You do not want to become His disciples too, do you?" 28 They reviled him and said, "You are His disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. 29 "We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where He is from." 30 The man answered and said to them, "Well, here is an amazing thing, that you do not know where He is from, and [yet] He opened my eyes. 31 "We know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is God-fearing and does His will, He hears him. 32 "Since the beginning of time it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. 33 "If this man were not from God, He could do nothing." 34 They answered him, "You were born entirely in sins, and are you teaching us?" So they put him out.Spiritual blindness causes all who are in its bondage to be stubborn and resistant to the Gospel. We will see this stubbornness in the unbelieving Jews. I guess the main question for us today is how stubborn are you towards Christ? There are at least 4 responses we can all make at the end of our study, that will open our eyes to Christ. You can see them in the bulletin.
1. Ask God To Open Your Eyes To God’s Standards (v.13-17)
v.13 - As we progress in chapter 9, things move from a personal healing, to public awareness, and now things get official - as the man who was formerly blind is taken to the Pharisees. The Pharisees were, if you remember, the ‘spiritual watchdogs’ of the religious scene who made themselves to be the arch enemies of Christ. Their hatred for Jesus had been made apparent on a number of occasions already.
v.14 - The Apostle John makes it known that the miracle took place on a Sabbath. Of course the Pharisees are jumping up and down about the case because the healing took place on the Sabbath, which was a no, no. And there were other piddley laws of theirs that had been broken. Scripture records that Jesus healed on this day seven different times. If you remember back to chapter five Jesus healed the invalid by the Pool of Bethesda on the Sabbath. The reason the Apostle John focuses our attention on this is to draw out the heart attitude of the Pharisees.
The first thing that the Pharisees identify and start to pick on is the day the healing took place. I think for us we would look at the wonder of the miracle instead. Jesus deliberately chose the Sabbath to perform the miracle because it would serve to further His purposes in bringing glory to God. Jesus knew that this would infuriate the religious establishment, but Jesus does it anyway.
The Sabbath by the time that this healing took place, had been distorted and corrupted. God’s design for the Sabbath rule was to give people a time for rest. People were to get recharged physically and spiritually, and to specifically set a time apart to worship and enjoy fellowship with God. Instead, the Jewish authorities turned the simplicity of the Sabbath into a series of rules and regulations which put a damper on acts of kindness and compassion. The Rabbis turned the Sabbath into a heavy burden. In our passage the healing was not a crime, but ridiculous as it seems, the process that the healing took place was the offense. The Jews considered ‘kneading’ as work. So they considered Jesus’ act of making the clay for the man’s eyes was a violation of the Sabbath.
v.15 - When the man was brought to the Pharisees, they began asking him how he regained his sight - the inquest upon the man had now started and persisted. So the man once again gives a concise account of what Jesus did and commanded. This was staggering evidence from the man…facts too hard to ignore, but we shall see what happens next.
v.16 - In response, division arises among the Pharisees. There are two opinions expressed. The one group held that anyone who breaks the Sabbath is not from God - and Jesus did not keep the Sabbath - so their conclusion was that Jesus was not from God because He breaks their rules. Now the other group held that anyone who heals a blind man through such signs could not be a sinner - like the other group insinuated. But instead Jesus must be from God because of the miracle.
v.17 - With no consensus they spoke to the blind man - so this is another time that they are interrogating him. The Pharisees must have started to come to their senses and wanted to get the man’s perspective on who Jesus is. Without any sound evidence the man offered his own opinion, and stated that he believed Jesus to be a prophet.
He was not saying that Jesus was ‘The Prophet’ - the one spoken of by Moses (Deut. 18:15). Now the man was using the word prophet in the most general sense - that is one who is sent by God to deliver His message. The harder these Pharisees try to beat down the truth, the more that God’s truth shines. They turn to the man probably hoping that he would say what they wanted to hear - something that would give them ammunition to kill Jesus. Instead, even thought this man did not fully understand who Jesus was pronounces Jesus as a prophet.
Now let us just assume that if Jesus were merely a prophet, and not THE Prophet (the long awaited Messiah) - it would still mean that Jesus was sent by God to deliver His message. This then is an indictment against the unbelieving Jews, for they who claimed to have God as their only Father (8:41), in fact are denying His Fatherhood by denying and rejecting Jesus, the Son….God always triumphs even in the face of unsound reasons and illogical assaults.
In the end they held to no single standard. Their assumptions were just that….unfounded assumptions. Despite having the Law of God - they neglect the Scripture which was God’s standard that they should maintain. They should have known that the Messiah would come and give sight to the blind. In the end they decide that Jesus was a sinner… but what did they base it on? This was an arbitrary decision, not based on truth but self deception… and after all they figured that they knew everything anyway.
The Jews could of cared less about the wonderful and miraculous event that just took place in this man’s life. Being spiritually blind, all they cared about was carrying out ‘the letter of the law’ and not the original intent of the God’s standard. So they totally missed out on God’s purpose for the Sabbath and the beauty and purpose of this sign.
We learn from this man, that sometimes if we want to bring glory to God we will have to forget about what the spiritually blind think. Following Christ may call us to go against ‘the popular vote’ and do what is right and called for by God’s standard. If God has drawn us to Christ, we cannot make a compromise between the world and following Christ.
Today we have the standard of truth about Christ in the Bible, it never changes, and it will remain consistent and unchanging into eternity.
2. Ask God To Open Your Eyes So You Don’t Need Evidence (v.18-23)
v.18 - The Pharisees in their spiritual stubbornness convince themselves that the man had not been blind, and that there was no healing. On the other hand some of them thought the opposite. It seems that no matter what was said the Jews still did not believe, because they could not settle the conflict of opposing thoughts in their minds. They couldn’t think straight because their minds were poisoned by hate towards Christ. Paul writing to the Corinthians states a similar case - 2 Cor. 4:4 - The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
Isn’t it true that sometimes we make choices which put a barrier between Christ and ourselves? We do things which intentionally block out the light of Christ, whether it be coming to faith in Christ or in matters of spiritual maturity or just the day to day precepts of living.
So what is the Jews next step? They called the parents of the very one who had received his sight …. surely they could shed some light on this issue. They already had the hard evidence - the man who Jesus healed. But strangely, that wasn’t enough…they in their spider web of self deception - spun the nest thread….we need more evidence! So off they go dragging the parents into this.
v.19 - The Pharisees fire off a barrage of questions at the parents in one shot. Some believe that they did this because they wanted to confuse the issue, since they were not really interested at getting at the truth which they consistently reject. (As a side note, the NIV incorrectly divides the questions into 3 separate ones - where the original text has only 2).
v.20 - Anyway the parents are not too keen on being questioned - knowing that their son’s new condition was not well received by the Jews. With wisdom they provide an answer to what they knew for certain - that is We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind.
v.21 - The parents establish the reality that their son was blind from birth. They do not answer the issue of how their son now sees or who opened his eyes. Instead they want the Pharisees to ask their son.
Their son was of age - meaning that he was over thirteen years old - for you need to be this minimum age to act as a witness in a court - so we know that this guy was certainly older than this and as his parents replied - he will speak for himself.
Of course the Pharisees were not pleased with what they learned because once again, God’s glory is indirectly being exalted - since now it has been confirmed again that the man was blind from birth. The implication of this affirmation meant that the Jews were backed into a corner - since it would now be hard to discount this as a genuine miracle. Once again you cannot deny what God clearly wishes to demonstrate… yes you can reject it, and make up irrational theories and charges, but you can’t alter the truth.
v.22 - The Apostle John as he records this incident, gives us some insight as to why the parents were reluctant to give more details than necessary when answering the questions. The reason is that the man’s parents were afraid of the Jews and what might happen to themselves as a result of getting caught in the crossfire. At this point the parents knew that the Jews had already made the decision to excommunicate, that is to kick out anyone from participating in the synagogue if they confessed Him to be Christ. The Jews had three degrees of excommunication. These ranged from a temporal mild reproof, to a greater length of separation, to a full ban which could be of an indefinite time.
v.23 - Because of the serious prospect of being kicked out of the synagogue community, the parents referred the matter back to their son who was of age… getting the Pharisees to ask him.
The nature of spiritual blindness is that it calls for more evidence. We may already have the best evidence but it is just isn’t good enough. We all have the evidence of who Jesus is through the Word of God, but because we are spiritually blind we can’t recognize the source, we can’t see anything… despite having objective truth (written evidence). People today are still asking God for evidence … if you show me this and that then I will believe. Or, if you change these circumstances I will follow Jesus. Yes God may very well do that but we perhaps should be asking instead for faith… say to the Lord… I have enough evidence in the Bible, just give me faith.
Hebrews 1:1-2 tells us this - Now faith is the assurance of [things] hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2 For by it the men of old gained approval. And in verse 6 - And without faith it is impossible to please [Him], for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and [that] He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.
3. Ask God To Open Your Eyes To The Facts (v.24-34)
v.24 - Since the Pharisees felt that they were not getting what they wanted to hear… So a second time they called the man who had been blind. It was clear that all the evidence pointed to Jesus being the one who performed this miracle, but the Jews didn’t want to believe it. So they put some pressure on the man (we are talking about duress) and they say to the man - Give glory to God. The phrase Give glory to God as used by the Jews could be paraphrased in this way - come on, you can tell us the truth, we already believe that Jesus is a sinner, so there is no need to pretend that Jesus healed you… there is no need to hide the truth from us, we really know what happened - come on…help us out here.
v.25 - The man sticks to his guns and speaks about what is certain. He holds fast to the facts. He doesn’t get into an argument and speculate about whether Jesus is sinless or not. And by God’s grace he doesn’t get swept up into the trap that the Jews are trying to lay on him. Instead he is going to leave that debate to these unbelieving Jewish theologians and ‘technocrats,’ - but he is confident of one thing - which is what happened to him - that he received his sight - I was blind, now I see! Something great happened to this guy. The power of his personal testimony could not be denied.
v.26 - The Jews continue in their relentless prodding of the man. They weren’t satisfied with the truth because they were spiritually blind….and they are so bent on obscuring the miracle that they apply pressure to this poor guy …. What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes? Maybe they were trying to trip the man up by getting him to say something that he didn’t mean.
v.27 - Yet in all of this exchange, we are given a glimpse of the man’s developing faith. We also begin to see perhaps the man’s impatience with the inquisition upon him. What the man is saying to the Jews is - how many times do I have to tell you? Are you guys deaf? Don’t you get it? The facts are the facts. And then the man comes up with a good rebuttal, since they asked so many questions, he sarcastically quips - You do not want to become His disciples too, do you? His rhetorical question really stung.
v.28 - This really got the Pharisees upset and they retaliated they - reviled him through a flurry of insults directed against the man. Do you remember when you where a kid and when somebody said something negative about you? Do you remember the classic response and I used to use this line - ‘I know you are, but what am I?’ Do you remember that? And like little children the Jewish leaders engage in a similar exchange… and accuse the man - You are His disciple.
As for themselves they aligned themselves with Moses. [This was an emphatic contrast (original Greek - 28 b, is one statement not broken up by an exclamation mark after the word disciple)]. What they meant by this remark was that they accused the man of being a disciple of Jesus, which at this point this was not the case, the man did not come to a saving faith in Christ. In contrast these Jews prided themselves to be disciples of Moses and more importantly of the Law that they received through him.
v.29 - We see the pride of the Jews continuing to gloat as to how knowledgeable they are, that God has spoke to Moses, and that God’s Word’s are still on record, and that they follow them. In contrast they wanted to emphasize that this Jesus man…He is a nobody…. they do not recognize where He comes from …that is that they reject any thoughts that God sent Him. Now this was a plain outright denial of the facts. Jesus Himself told them about His heavenly origin in chapter 5 and 8.
Spiritual blindness covers up the facts by distorting them. The facts seem to be blurred when we don’t have the right prescription glasses on. The facts seem to dissipate when we place pride in the way. The person who is humble before God has the opportunity to see, and to come to the Bible (God’s standard) to discover the truth of who Jesus is - the facts of who Jesus is… and how he should respond to Him.
Let me read to you a story, I printed out, which is really a life testimony…it is quite rich in describing spiritual blindness and spiritual sight granted by God…
" The Greyhound had been thrashing about in the north Atlantic storm for over a week. Its canvas sails were ripped, and the wood on one side of the ship had been torn away and splintered. The sailors had little hope of survival, but they mechanically worked the pumps, trying to keep the vessel afloat. On the eleventh day of the storm, one particular sailor was too exhausted to pump, so he was tied to the helm and tried to hold the ship to its course. From one o'clock until midnight he was at the helm.
With the storm raging fiercely, he had time to think. His life seemed as ruined and wrecked as the battered ship he was trying to steer through the storm. Since the age of eleven he had lived a life at sea. Sailors were not noted for the refinement of their manners, but this particular sailor had a reputation for profanity, coarseness, and debauchery which even shocked many a sailor.He was known as "The Great Blasphemer." He sank so low at one point that he was even a servant to slaves in Africa for a brief period. His mother had prayed he would become a minister and had early taught him the Scriptures and Isaac Watts' Divine Songs for Children. Some of those early childhood teachings came to mind now. He remembered Proverbs 1:24-31, and in the midst of that storm, those verses seemed to confirm him in his despair:
"Because I called, and you refused; I stretched out my hand, and no one paid attention; 25 And you neglected all my counsel, And did not want my reproof; 26 I will even laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your dread comes, 27 When your dread comes like a storm, And your calamity comes on like a whirlwind, When distress [and] anguish come on you. 28 "Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; They will seek me diligently, but they shall not find me, 29 Because they hated knowledge, And did not choose the fear of the Lord. 30 "They would not accept my counsel, They spurned all my reproof. 31 "So they shall eat of the fruit of their own way, And be satiated with their own devices (NASB)
He had rejected his mother's teachings and had led other sailors into unbelief. Certainly he was beyond hope and beyond saving, even if the Scriptures were true. Yet, his thoughts began to turn to Christ. He found a New Testament and began to read. Luke 11:13 seemed to assure him that God might still hear him: "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him."
That day at the helm, March 21, 1748, was a day he remembered ever after, for "On that day the Lord sent from on high and delivered me out of deep waters." Many years later, as an old man, he wrote in his diary of March 21, 1805: "Not well able to write; but I endeavor to observe the return of this day with humiliation, prayer, and praise." Only God's amazing grace could and would take a rude, profane, slave-trading sailor and transform him into a child of God.
The man that God saved was no other than John Newton. Newton never ceased to stand in awe of God's work in his life. (www. gospel.net)
4. Ask God To Open Your Eyes To Be God-Centered (v.30-34)
v.30 - The man was rather taken aback - it was amazing - that these self declared ‘religious know it alls’ couldn’t figure out where Jesus is from. It seemed strange to the man that Jesus opened this guys eyes, yet these Pharisees could not see that a miracle had taken place and the magnitude of this sign.
v.31 - Once again we see the man’s understanding of God and Jesus growing. He begins to present to the Pharisees the logical conclusion to his healing. He begins by going to the OT (God’s standard), which is clear in establishing the principle that God has no obligation to listen to sinners. However - if anyone is God-fearing and does His will, He hears him. Proverbs 15:29 for example states - The LORD is far from the wicked but he hears the prayer of the righteous (NIV). Those who have a life which is lived in accordance with the precepts of God will indeed be blessed.
v.32 - The healing of a person born blind was unheard of until Jesus came. In this case it is evident that there was not any fraud, or illusion, or mistake, that could be made about this man’s original condition. In addition in the OT the healing of a blind man from birth was also unheard of…so there must be something special about Jesus.
v.33 - Let me summarize his argument in the previous verses. The man logically presents these implications - 1. God is the One who can heal, and Jesus was able to heal my eyes 2. God listens to Jesus because He does God’s will, so Jesus is not a sinner 3. The opening of my eyes was a miracle, that only God could do….
The man makes his conclusion in verse 33 - If this man were not from God, He could do nothing. So the conclusion is… 4. This Jesus guy is from God, otherwise He would be powerless.
It was the reality of the miracle and the opening of this man’s physical and spiritual blindness that pointed to Jesus’ divine origin.
v.34 - These Pharisees were stubborn, and deep into spiritual blindness they were blind, so they persisted in unbelief. They certainly in their pride were not going to take any lesson from a menial beggar, and a recently blind one at that. So as any person who is cornered by the truth, and refuses to see, they get verbally violent and lash out at the man…. You were born entirely in sins, and are you teaching us? What they sharply insinuated was that the reason he was blind in the first place was due to his sins….. this brings us back to the very begging verses of chapter 9. And so they declare - since you are a sinner - what nerve you have in lecturing us - we have no obligation to listen to you. So they put him out - they threw him out.
As believers we should really admire this guy… even if he puts us to shame. He isn’t even a disciple of Christ yet, but he is so Christ centered. In the face of being harassed by the Pharisees, he doesn’t shift from the truth. All he knows is that he has been healed by Jesus, and he comes to the conclusion that Jesus must have been sent from God. Being black listed by the Jewish religious authorities was a big deal. It could amount to losing everything…even the little that he did have.
He could wind up being shut out from the religious, economic, and social life of the country…that was how powerful these Jews were. Everything that he had and could gain was to be taken away in the concluding verses of chapter 9 - just because he was Christ centered. This guy stood by the reality of truth that he was granted by experience, he had courage, was loyal, he didn’t compromise in order to honour the One who granted him sight - and I remind you again that he didn’t even know the Son of God yet.
When we think about ourselves as Christians, we probably are put to shame by this man. As Christians we perhaps have been raised in the church, or you have been a believer for a long time, maybe you are in leadership, perhaps you are a newer Christian … we have access to the truth, all the knowledge of Christ, but we dishonour Christ by not being fully Christ centered… we are often not even close to the level of commitment that this guy had - we are full of compromise… you sell out Christ and are not sold out for Him….so as we close ask God to make you more Christ centered, fully willing to count the cost of following our Lord. This formerly blind man, in the face of losing everything, chose to make a commitment to Christ, and as we see next time…the Lord will richly bless him with something greater than his sight.
Allow me to finish the story of John Newton, as we also conclude our time in God’s Word. Newton set an excellent example of what being Christ centered means:
"Though Newton continued in his profession of sailing and slave-trading for a time, his life was transformed. He began a disciplined schedule of Bible study, prayer, and Christian reading and tried to be a Christian example to the sailors under his command. Christian readings provided much spiritual comfort, and a fellow-Christian captain he met off the coast of Africa guided Newton further in his Christian faith.
Newton left slave-trading and took the job of tide surveyor at Liverpool, but he began to think he had been called to the ministry. His mother's prayers for her son were answered, and in 1764, at the age of thirty-nine, John Newton began forty-three years of preaching the Gospel of Christ.
Newton and his wife moved to the town of Olney, there he often composed a hymn which developed the lessons and Scripture for the evening worship service. In 1779, two hundred and eighty of these were collected and combined with sixty-eight hymns by Newton's friend and parishioner, William Cowper, and published as the Olney Hymns. The most famous of all the Olney Hymns, "Faith's Review and Expectation," grew out of David's exclamation in I Chronicles 17:16-17. We know it today as "Amazing Grace."
In 1779 Newton left Olney to become rector of St. Mary Woolnoth in London. His ministry included not only the London poor and the merchant class but also the wealthy and influential. William Wilberforce, a member of Parliament and a prime mover in the abolition of slavery, was strongly influenced by John Newton's life and preaching. Newton's thoughts on the African Slave Trade, based on his own experiences as a slave trader, was very important in securing British abolition of slavery. Missionaries William Carey and Henry Martyn also gained strength from Newton's counsel.
Newton lived to be eighty-two years old and continued to preach and have an active ministry until beset by fading health in the last two or three years of his life. Even then, Newton never ceased to be amazed by God's grace and told his friends, "My memory is nearly gone; but I remember two things: That I am a great sinner, and that Christ is a great Savior." " (www. gospelcom.net)
Newton wrote the well known words to the hymn - Amazing Grace:
Amazing grace—how sweet the sound—that saved a wretch like me! I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see.’Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved; how precious did that grace appear the hour I first believed!
Thru many dangers, toils and snares I have already come; ’tis grace hath brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home.The Lord has promised good to me; His word my hope secures; He will my shield and portion be as long as life endures.When we’ve been there ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun, we’ve no less days to sing God’s praise than when we’d first begun.
