“Lord, I Believe.” John 9:1-7, 13-17, 34-39
When I was in grade school, in third grade, the teachers couldn’t figure out what my problem was. They would be up at the blackboard, writing things, and I would quickly lose interest. “Why doesn’t he have any attention span,” they would say. I would always get bad grades at speed reading – they would flash words up on the screen, and no matter how slow the words went, I always got an F. Whenever they would show a movie, I wouldn’t watch it. And yet, my homework was always done well. It was a mystery. What is his problem, they wondered. I wondered that too.
Finally, one day, they figured it out. I couldn’t see – I needed glasses. I remember my first time I went to visit the eye doctor, and I took the eye test – can you see anything up on the screen? No, I said. I can never see anything up on the screen – I just thought – well, that’s how it is. But then he had me look through those lenses, and a whole new world opened up to me. I picked out the coolest frames I could find, I put on my glasses, and then, I could see! Everything was clear! When the teacher was up in the front, I could actually see what she was doing, and so I paid attention! I could finally read those words in the speed reading class. I could actually see those movies that were being showed. It was great, to finally be able to see.
It’s not uncommon for people to have problems with their sight. Many people lose their sight because of one reason or another. Imagine what it’s like for those people who are born without sight, born blind. If a person is going blind, at least, for awhile in life, they were able to see. But what about those people who have never been able to see? They’ve never seen colors, they’ve never seen the snow, they’ve never seen anything! A whole world has remained shut to them.
Today, we’re going to talk about blindness. In the Bible, there are two kinds of blindness – one kind is the physical kind, the kind that we think of when we hear the word “blind.” But there is another kind of blindness in the Bible, spiritual blindness. What is spiritual blindness? You’ll understand it better as we study our Gospel lesson for today. But for now, I’ll give you a short definition of spiritual blindness. Spiritual blindness is when a person is not able to see who Jesus Christ really is. Spiritual blindness is not believing that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the Savior of the world. Spiritual blindness is when you are unable to see all the good things about God that God wants you to see – that’s spiritual blindness.
Today we are going to see how Jesus Christ can heal a person, not just of physical blindness, but of spiritual blindness.
Jesus is with his disciples, and as he is walking with them, they reveal that they have a blind spot in their faith. Do you know about blind spots. When you’re driving, that spot right over your left or right shoulder, that you can’t see in your mirrors. Do you know about spiritual blind spots? A spiritual blind spot is when a Christian doesn’t really understand something. Take a look at the disciples. In verses 1-2 it says: “As he went 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?” This was a common teaching at that time – every time someone is suffering, it’s always because he’s being punished for a sin – that was the common teaching of the day. The disciples saw that blind man, begging on the street, and they wondered to themselves – “what did he do, or what did his parents do, that he was born blind?”
The disciples had a spiritual blind spot in their understanding of how the world works. The disciples didn’t understand why bad things sometimes happen to good people. But here Jesus takes away their blind spot. He says, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned. But this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.” This man who was born blind from birth wasn’t being punished for a particular sin. God allowed this blindness to happen to him for a good purpose – so that the work of God might be displayed in his life, so that God might reveal his love and power in this man’s life.
Do you have any spiritual blind spots? When you see someone suffering, do you say to yourself, “Wow, what did he do to deserve that?” Or what about when you are suffering – do you say to yourself, “God must be punishing me for my sin!” Today Jesus reminds us why bad things sometimes happen to good people – so that the work of God might be displayed in a person’s life. Sometimes God allows bad things to happen to someone, so that he can reveal his glory through that person’s situation.
A Christian woman goes into a hospital with a terminal illness, and while she is there, she is calm, she prays, she talks about her faith to others, she keeps her spirits up. Maybe she even surprises the doctors and gets better – God is glorified in her illness. Or maybe she dies – even there, God is glorified, as the doctors and nurses watch her deal with death in a graceful way, sharing her faith and trusting in Christ. God uses bad situations in people’s lives to reveal his mercy and love.
Jesus goes on to tell the disciples: “As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” Jesus is the light of the world. He sheds light on the purpose of bad things in people’s lives. But more importantly, he sheds light on who God is, and how a person can find peace with God. Let’s see how Jesus brings light to this blind man’s life…
“Having said this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. “Go, he told him, wash in the Pool of Siloam, this word means Sent. So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.” Just imagine what it was like for that man. Never in his whole life had he ever been able to see before. And now, a whole new world was opened before him. Now he could see colors and people and trees and the sky and everything.
Jesus reveals his power here. He fulfills the Old Testament prophecies that say that the Messiah would give blind people sight. Every time Jesus performs a miracle in the Bible, that was his way of showing people – I am the Messiah. I am who I say I am. I am the Light of the world.” Do you see why this man was born blind? It was so that Jesus could perform this amazing healing, and reveal to people that he was the Messiah.
But there were many people who refused to believe that Jesus was who he said he was – the Pharisees. The Pharisees were the religious leaders of the day, and they didn’t believe that Jesus was the Messiah. They were spiritually blind. Jesus was just a teacher, they thought. Bad things happen to people always as a punishment for sin, they thought. They were spiritually blind. They questioned the man who had been healed, and they were confused. “How could Jesus be from God, they thought? He healed on the Sabbath!” They thought it was wrong to help people on the Sabbath – can you see how blind the Pharisees were? They cross-examined the man who was healed, asked him who he thought Jesus was. “He is a prophet,” the man said. “He is from God.” The Pharisees were so upset when they heard this, that they excommunicated the man from the religious life of Israel. “You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!” And they threw him out.
Do you know anyone who is spiritually blind, like the Pharisees? Much of our world is spiritually blind. Much of the world refuses to believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the Savior of the world, even though Jesus did amazing miracles that no one could discount, like this miracle here. Do you realize that there is not one miracle that Jesus did, that has ever been proven to be a trick? Even the Pharisees admit that the miracles were legit. And then there was that biggest miracle of all, when Jesus rose from the dead. The resurrection has never been disproven. The eye witness accounts, the unexplainable change in the personalities of the disciples from wimpy doubters to confident Christians – all these things tell us that the resurrection really did take place. And yet, people still continue to reject the idea that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and he Savior of the world. Why?
It’s because of a birth defect. You and I and every single person in the world has a major birth defect. It’s spiritual blindness. The inability to see spiritual things. The inability to see that Jesus Christ is God and Savior. The inability to see the true way to heaven. This is spiritual blindness, and every person in the world is born with this spiritual birth defect.
That’s why the Pharisees were being so stubborn. And that’s why people are so stubborn today. Have you ever wondered, why doesn’t that person believe? Can’t that person see what Jesus Christ has done? The answer – no. That person can’t see, because he or she is spiritually blind.
Jesus Christ comes into our world to help people, to heal people of their spiritual blindness. Many people refuse that help, like those Pharisees, and many people today. But there are those who are looking for help. Jesus heals those people - that’s what he did for that man born blind. If you think about it, he healed that man twice - first, his physical blindness, and then, of his spiritual blindness. In our Gospel lesson, after Jesus heard that the Pharisees had thrown the man out, he went and found him and said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man? “Who is he sir?” the man said. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.” “You have now seen him. In fact, he is the one speaking with you.”
Jesus cures this man of his spiritual blindness. He reveals to the man that he is the Messiah, the one who has come to save his soul. The man looked at Jesus and said, “Lord, I believe,” he said. And then he worshiped Jesus. In his heart, that man became a Christian, a follower of Christ, and that was the biggest miracle of all. Now, he not only had eyes that could see, but he had eyes of faith, that could see Jesus as the Savior of the world.
That’s what Jesus has done for you. He has taken away your spiritual blindness. Why is it, that you are a believer? Have you ever wondered that? Why aren’t you an unbeliever? Why aren’t you spiritually blind, like most people in our world? We don’t deserve anything from God, because of our sin – if anything, we deserve to be punished for all the mistakes we have made in our lives. But Jesus comes into our lives, and changes us. He heals you of your spiritual blindness. He shows mercy and grace to you, giving you eyes of faith that see and believe in him.
Just like that man in the story, Jesus has opened up a whole new world to you. With eyes of faith, you now can see that all of your sins have been taken away by the Lamb of God. With eyes of faith, you now can see that you have been completely and totally forgiven by God, for all the mistakes you have made in life. With eyes of faith, you now can see that you are guaranteed eternal life. Jesus has taken away your blindness, and has given you eyes of faith. Now you can see that you have a God who works out all things for your good. Now you can see that even the bad things that happen in life, aren’t punishments for sin – Jesus has already been punished for your sins. No, those bad things in life are opportunities for God to display his glory, just as he did for this man in this story. Jesus has cured you of your spiritual blindness. Jesus has given to you a soul with 20/20 vision – a whole new world of faith has been opened up to you.
Treasure the spiritual sight that God has given to you. Reach out to those that are blind. Who knows, perhaps through you, Christ will heal another blind soul. Amen.
