One day at a busy airport, the passengers on a commercial airliner are seated, waiting for the cockpit crew to show up so they can get under way. The pilot and co-pilot finally appear in the rear of the plane, and begin walking up to the cockpit through the center aisle.
Both appear to be blind. The pilot is using a white cane, bumping into passengers right and left as he stumbles down the aisle, and the co-pilot is using a guide dog. Both have their eyes covered with huge sunglasses. At first the passengers do not react; thinking that it must be some sort of practical joke. However, after a few minutes the engines start spooling up and the airplane, starts moving down the runway.
The passengers look at each other with some uneasiness, whispering among themselves and looking desperately to the flight attendants for reassurance. Then the airplane starts accelerating rapidly and people begin panicking. Some passengers are praying, and as the plane gets closer and closer to the end of the runway, the voices are becoming more and more hysterical. Finally, when the airplane has less than 20 feet of runway left, there is a sudden change in the pitch of the shouts as everyone screams at once, and at the very last moment the airplane lifts off and is airborne.
Up in the cockpit, the co-pilot breathes a sigh of relief and turns to the Captain: "You know, one of these days the passengers aren’t going to scream, and we are gonna get killed!"
I don’t know if any of you have seen the movie daredevil but its about a superhero who is blinded by toxic chemicals when he was a young boy and as in all superhero stories, toxic chemicals don’t make sick or kill you they give you superpower and his powers of hearing and touch are enhanced so he can see with a kind of sonar. Anyway he is in a coffee shop and his friend tells him a beautiful girl has come in so he tries to chat her up by asking her where the mustard is. She is sitting in her chair reading her magazine and says its over there and points. He replies you going to have to do better than that can you pass it. She replies “What are you blind or something.” To which of course he replies yes, she looks up sees the white cane and is very apologetic. But her comment is at the very heart of story this morning, “What are you blind or something?”
John chapter 9 is very much linked to John chapter 8. The issues raised in chapter 8 in the midst of a big argument with the pharisees are exemplified in an incident in the life of Jesus. So for those of you who weren’t there on Wednesday for the Bible Study, here is a summary of John chapter 8.
J: The Father testifies about me
P: Where is you father?
J: You don’t know the father because you don’t know me. I am going where you cannot go but you will die in your sins
P: Are you going to commit suicide?
J: No you are going to kill me and when you do that will be the final proof of who I am. My father is God.
P: We’re not illegitimate like you, our father is Abraham
J: Abraham pointed to me, if he was really you father you would follow me but you are trying to kill me. You’re father is the Devil.
P: You have a devil.
J: If you believe in me you can escape death
P: Are you greater than Abraham
J: Before Abraham, “I am”
P: Lets kill him now
For those who don’t know when Jesus says ‘I am’ he is referring to time when God appeared to Moses and when he tells Moses his name is ‘I am’. It is important to know that Jews avoided using the words ‘I am’ like this and would use other ways of speaking to avoid this kind of reference, so that when Jesus says this it is a very clear way of making a claim to be God. This is why the Jews immediately attempt to stone him for blasphemy. And this is at the very heart of this chapter. The whole thing that the argument and discussion is pointing to is one of the focuses of the next chapter. It is a matter of identity, authority and power. Who is Jesus, why does he have the power to do what he does? Does he have the power to say what he says and claims? If so why? How does he fit with the system? In the confrontation between Jesus and the Jewish leaders and pharisees, who is from God, who is from the devil, who is a sinner and who is not?
And thus the stage is set, the player have been given their lines and we open the curtain on chapter 9.
We begin by returning to the question of sin. Jesus and his disciples come across a blind man and the disciples ask Jesus who sinned to make the blind man blind. Was it the blind man himself or his parents. Jesus replyes neither, the man was born blind so that God’s work could be seen in the man. Essentially the man was the stage for the drama that would be played out to show who indeed Jesus was and who he was working for. But it was also for the benefit of the man who got not only his physical sight but also comes to believe in Jesus and so gains spiritual sight, but that is to come.
Jesus spits and makes mud and then puts it on the mans eyes and tells him to go and wash at a specific place. The man does and receives his sight. When he goes back to those who know him they don’t believe it is him first of all. They think someone has pulled a switch on them, substituted someone who looks like the blind man. But he insists that he is the man. It almost reminds me of the Saddam Hussein footage from the war on Iraq. Every time Arab TV showed footage of Saddam Hussein to show he was still alive and in control there was always the question of whether it was really him or a stunt double and if it was well then when was it filmed. A similar thing seemed to be going on here.
They take the man before the pharisees when he claims to have been healed by Jesus. I don’t think there was anything hostile in their intentions, something miraculous appeared to have happened and they took it to their community and spiritual leaders for guidance. The pharisees rather like British and US forces when watching Saddam Hussein, again have this problem of is this really the same man and if so was he really blind from birth. So they bring in the man’s parents and ask them is this your son and was he born blind. To which they reply, “yes he is”. But when they are asked how he can see they kind of dump their son in it and say ask him. They are afraid of being put out of the synagogue and so they do not want to stand with their son on the issue. We have to recognise that this is not like being put out of a church so you either give up church or go to the next one down the road. This was like being expelled from community life, when community life was important. To function in any meaningful sense in a community they would have to leave and move to a different town. This is what they were afraid of and so they let their son take it all himself.
Now follows the crux of the passage where we try to establish who is responsible for the miracle, who is following God, who is a sinner and who can see and who is truly blind. The pharisees call the newly sighted man before them again. It really does sound like an episode of the X-Files with all these descriptive terms but no names, which in fact it almost is due to my Cross Files sketch episode 1, but I didn’t think we had time to do it in a morning service with everything else that we do. So sorry if you had wanted to see it but I do have a copy if you want to read it. Anyway back to the story. The pharisees ask the newly sighted man to give God the glory and not this Jesus, whom them regard as a sinner. Which is kind of ironic since the man does precede to give God the glory by telling them that it was Jesus who did it. He starts by trying to remain diplomatic and says “Look I don’t really want to get into this is he a sinner or not issue all I know is that once I was blind but now I can see.” But the pharisees want to press the issue and ask him how Jesus did it again. Why, because as John points out Jesus did it on the Sabbath and want to get him to admit that Jesus did work on the sabbath and was therefore a sinner.
Its interesting to note that this issue is addressed in the Jewish oral tradition, the Rabbi’s interpretation of the Jewish law. It was permitted to work if a man was in danger of loosing his life, then it could be saved. But the blind man was not in this predicament. On the issue of anointing an eye on the Sabbath there is contrary evidence. Rabbi Jehuda said it was permitted while Rabi Samuel said it was not. There then follows an interesting story where Rabbi Samuel had problems with his eyes and asked Rabbi Jehuda if it was lawful to treat his eyes on a sabbath to which the reply was given it was for others but not for him. In another instance it was expressly stated spittle was not to be put on the eyes on a Sabbath. It was also forbidden to knead on the Sabbath. So Jesus was breaking their oral tradition about anointing the eyes and kneading (when he made the mud) on the sabbath. So according to their tradition Jesus therefore stood condemned as a sinner.
But the man is having none of this, he gets all sarcastic on them and asks them if they want to here the story again so that they can become Jesus disciples. The pharisees then says that while the newly sighted man may be one of Jesus disciples, they were disciples of Moses. They knew that God spoke through Moses but they don’t know where this man comes from. And here we have the prefect response not only to the Pharisees immediate accusation but also to the idea that Jesus is a sinner and a response to the whole argument that takes place in chapter 8. He essentially says only God can cure a man born blind, you don’t dispute that, but God doesn’t listen to sinners. God obviously listened to this man, I was born blind but know I can see. This man is obviously from God, my sight is the evidence, the sign.
At which point the pharisees’ essentially essentially realise they’ve lost the argument and decide to do what all lawyers and politicians do when they can’t win the argument, they attack the character of the person making the argument. They point to the fact that he admits to being born blind and jump to the conclusion it must be because of his sin. Therefore what is he a sinner doing by trying to teach them the pharisees. And they do to the newly sighted man what his parents were afraid of, they throw him out.
And so we come to the end of the story, where Jesus seeks out the newly sighted man and introduces himself to him. The man comes to realise that Jesus is more than just a prophet, the worship shows this. He probably hasn’t come to realise Jesus is God yet, the word used for worship could be used of a King or a representative of God as well as God, but John intends us to get the message, especially in light of what has gone on in the chapter before. Jesus has said his father is his witness to who he is, how is God the witness to Jesus, through the signs or miracles that Jesus has been performing. And so we come to the climax of the passage where the issue of who is really blind is addressed. The man who was formerly blind can see clearly who Jesus is, or at least that he is from God, but the pharisees who know the law are blind because they do not see who Jesus is. It is not Jesus who is the real sinner here or even the blind man, rather it is the pharisees who go around accusing everyone else of being the sinners that are revealed to be the real sinners, because they do not believe in Jesus.
So what can we learn from this story. There are many lessons we could learn. We could start by looking at the sabbath. A lot of Christians get tied up in what you can and cannot do on a Sunday, which by the way is not the sabbath, but thats a whole other issue. Is Jesus saying don’t get too tied up in human traditions about what is ok and what is not. Its worth noting that nowhere in the New Testament is keeping the Sabbath mentioned as something which Christians are to do and Paul says keeping holy days is not a requirement of being a Christian. But that is not the primary issue here and a look at this issue would require us to look at many different passages in the Bible.
There are a number of points that I believe the passage is about. The first is the authority and origin of Jesus. He can perform miracles because he is from God. In John the miracles of Jesus are not about performing, they do show the concern of Christ but above everything else they are to show that he is approved of God. That he is the new prophet, the one like Moses who was to come. They show that he is not a sinner but rather the anointed of God. This sign in particular shows that he is like no-one before him. He is doing things that no-one has done before.
But what about us? What about us that do not live in Biblical times? Those of us to whom these stories are not first hand, we cannot go and interview the man or his parents to see whether he was really born blind and healed. We cannot even interview people who knew them. All we have is a book, which we believe but many would claim the stories are just made up. Is there any evidence that we can point to to say Jesus is from God. Well there are some preachers who go about performing miracles, Benny Hinn and the like. Do we look at them and see that they are performing miracles, therefore their theology must be correct and we should follow them. Do we look for evidence of the supernatural and see it as giving God’s approval while in our own church its not happened therefore this dodgy young Scottish pastor must have got it all wrong, when he says he doesn’t like some of these healing preachers. Is that the lesson we are to take away. Well kind of obviously I don’t think so. Jesus warns in Matthew 24:24 “For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect–if that were possible. ”
So how do we tell who is genuine and who is not. How do we know that Jesus really is God. Well there is a clue in this story. You see it is not in the showy miracles that we are to seek evidence of God but in the miracles and signs of changed lives. When the man was healed by Jesus the people could not believe it was the same man. That is the effect that Jesus should and can have on our lives and the evidence of God. Changed lives. When people encounter Jesus he changes them so radically that we sometimes we want to ask, is this really the same person. And the answer comes back yes, sort of. Because Jesus has made them new.
There are many examples of changed lives, to use as evidence that Jesus is God, alive and well. For those of us brought up in the church who have never strayed it is harder but the fact of what we have been kept from shows not that we are a goody two shoes, who never dares to put a foot wrong,but rather demonstrates the keeping power of God. That exposed to the same temptations and desires God has the power to keep us from falling. But there are also many examples of lives totally transformed that show that God is still in the business of changing lives.
People, like one girl, who was one of the roughest girls to come to youth club. Who week after week was the one who was the root cause of many of the problems, who not only got up to no good here self but actively encourage and caused others to cause havoc as well. Who week after week would be the one who was tossed out and banned for a week. Who encountered Jesus who made such a difference that she is now a pastors wife.
Or some of the young kids at Longsight, who come from a background where crime is the norm, where all the kids leave youth club early one week and you find out later, its because one of them has stolen a car and they all want a shot in it. Where their parents have grown up as drug users and on the wrong side of the law. Where they are expected to follow. Where they live in the only area in the UK where the police on regular patrol carry guns. Where everyone’s a drug user. Yet they encounter Jesus and there language changes, they give up drugs and they come to church.
Or from history. Where one of the most immoral and sexually promiscuous young people of his time encounters Jesus and becomes the greatest theologian theologian in the Western church, Augustine.
Some of you might now more stories, some of you might even have some amazing stories. God is in the business of changing lives.
The other lesson we can learn from the story is the answer to the question who is really blind. You see it is not the blind man who is really the blind one in the story. It is the pharisees. In the face of so much evidence about who Jesus is and why he has come, they will just not accept it. They prefer to cling to their system, to there authority, than believe in the one who has the power to heal and forgive. To the one who is from God. Who is the blind man, the one who sees everything and believes or the one who sees and rejects. The pharisees are not blind because they cannot see. They are blind because they can see but they will not see. In other places Jesus said he has ears let him here. Perhaps the appropriate response here is he who has eyes let him see. The question before you this morning is the one we started with are you blind?
The evidence is presented. We looked last week at the evidence for Jesus resurrection. This week we are presented with the miracle working one. The one who can change lives. The question is are you willing to see. To believe in Jesus. Or are you just another blind person not because you cannot see but because you are ignoring the evidence that you have seen. You are refusing to see, because to see requires change. Don’t be the blind man this morning. Be the one to whom Jesus brings sight. Believe in him. He can forgive you your sins and save you.
