Sign 6 - Light Of The World Series

Light of the World

Today I am going to continue the study on the seven signs found in the book of John prior to Jesus’ death and resurrection. Over the last five Bible studies I have covered the first five signs covered in the book of John. We discussed how John could have included hundreds of other miracles that He witnessed Jesus perform. However he just includes seven that reveal who Jesus is.

In the first sign, the turning of the water into wine, Jesus revealed how He is able to take useless ritual, and turn it into an everlasting covenant. In the second sign, the healing of the officials son, Jesus demonstrates how He is the word of God. In the third sign, the healing of the man at the pool, we discovered that Jesus is the one who is able to forgive sins. In the forth sign, the feeding of the five thousand, Jesus reveals that He is the bread of life. In the fifth sign, the walking upon water Jesus revealed that the old system was ending and a new one was beginning.

The sixth sign is the third one that is a healing miracle. In this miracle Jesus heals a man who was born blind.

Before I read through the text for today it is worth reminding ourselves that sight is one of the precious gifts that many of us take for granted.

Listen to what Max Lucado writes about one particular man who was blind:

For 51 years Bob Edens was blind. He couldn’t see a thing. His world was a black hall of sounds and smells. He felt his way through five decades of darkness. And then, he could see. A skilled surgeon performed a complicated operation and, for the first time, Bob Edens had sight. He found it overwhelming. “I never would have dreamed that yellow is so… yellow,” he exclaimed. “I don’t have the words. I am amazed by yellow. But red is my favourite colour. I just can’t believe red. I can see the shape of the moon— and I like nothing better than seeing a jet plane flying across the sky leaving a vapour trail. And of course, sunrises and sunsets. And at night I look at the stars in the sky and the flashing light. You could never know how wonderful everything is.”

How many of us in here this morning have ever had to place a blindfold on and have a friend lead us somewhere? It can be a very unnerving experience.

And that is exactly what it is like for thousands of people who are blind. That is the very scenario in which a man finds himself in when Jesus passes by. I want to look at this miracle in the same way that I have looked at most of the rest. Firstly there is a test show the level of peoples faith before the miracle. Then Jesus performs the sign as a revelation of who He is. The finally John also records the teaching of Jesus in relation to this sign. He shows how the combination of these three things affects the people.

John 9:1-41

1:As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth.

2:His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"

3:"Neither this man nor his parents sinned, " said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.

4:As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no-one can work.

5:While I am in the world, I am the light of the world."

6:Having said this, he spat on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes.

7:"Go," he told him, "wash in the Pool of Siloam" (this word means Sent). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.

8:His neighbours and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, "Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?"

9:Some claimed that he was. Others said, "No, he only looks like him." But he himself insisted, "I am the man."

10:"How then were your eyes opened?" they demanded.

11:He replied, "The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see."

12:"Where is this man?" they asked him. "I don’t know," he said.

13:They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind.

14:Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man’s eyes was a Sabbath.

15:Therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. "He put mud on my eyes," the man replied, "and I washed, and now I see."