Let the Holy Spirit In – NOW
John 9?
Rev. Dr. Michael H. Koplitz
John 9:1 As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. 2 And His disciples ?asked Him, "aRabbi, who sinned, bthis man or his cparents, that he would be born ?blind?" 3 Jesus answered, "It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but ?it was so athat the works of God might be displayed in him. 4 "We must work the ?works of Him who sent Me aas long as it is day; night is coming when no one can ?work. 5 "While I am in the world, I am athe Light of the world." 6 When He had ?said this, He aspat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and applied the ?clay to his eyes, 7 and said to him, "Go, wash in athe pool of Siloam" (which is ?translated, Sent). So he went away and bwashed, and ccame 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 asit and beg?" 9 Others were saying, "This ?is he," still others were saying, "No, but he is like him." 1He 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 aSiloam 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."?
John 9:13 They *brought to the Pharisees the man who was formerly blind. 14 ?aNow it was a Sabbath on the day when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. ??15 aThen 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 adoes not keep the Sabbath." But others were saying, "How can a ?man who is a sinner perform such 1bsigns?" And cthere was a division among ?them. 17 So they *said to the blind man aagain, "What do you say about Him, ?since He opened your eyes?" And he said, "He is a bprophet."?
John 9:18 aThe 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 ?ahis 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 awere ?afraid of the Jews; for the Jews bhad already agreed that if anyone confessed Him ?to be 1Christ, che was to be put out of the synagogue. 23 For this reason his ?parents said, "aHe is of age; ask him."?
John 9:24 So a second time they called the man who had been blind, and said ?to him, "aGive glory to God; we know that bthis 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, "aI told you already and ?you did not blisten; 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 awe are disciples of Moses. 29 "We know that God has spoken to ?Moses, but as for this man, awe 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 aGod ?does not hear sinners; but if anyone is God-fearing and does His will, He hears ?him. 32 "1Since the beginning of time it has never been heard that anyone opened ?the eyes of a person born blind. 33 "aIf this man were not from God, He could ?do nothing." 34 They answered him, "aYou were born entirely in sins, and are ?you teaching us?" So they bput him out.?
John 9:35 Jesus heard that they had aput him out, and finding him, He said, ??"Do you believe in the bSon of Man?" 36 He answered, "aWho is He, 1Lord, that ?I may believe in Him?" 37 Jesus said to him, "You have both seen Him, and aHe ?is the one who is talking with you." 38 And he said, "Lord, I believe." And he ?aworshiped Him. 39 And Jesus said, "aFor judgment I came into this world, so ?that bthose who do not see may see, and that cthose who see may become blind." ??40 Those of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these things and said to ?Him, "aWe are not blind too, are we?" 41 Jesus said to them, "aIf you were blind, ?you would have no sin; but 1since you say, 'bWe see,' your sin remains.?
It is so sad when religious leaders take the Scriptures and distort them to fit their ?power-hungry needs. The Pharisees and Sadducees were doing just that in Jesus's ?day. The Scripture needed interpretation, and these two groups accomplished that. ?In addition to them, there were the Sages. However, the Sages did not view the ?Scriptures similarly to the religious leadership. Even though the Sages were the ?closest to the heart of the LORD, they were often discounted by Jews. Interestingly ?enough, not by the Roman occupiers of Judah and Galilee. As this narrative ?demonstrates, the people held on to the ancient belief that the parents' sins were ?transferred onto the children. Jesus did not believe this concept. The parents' sins ?are the parents' sins, not the children's. ?
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The blind man was blind from birth, probably because of a congenital disability. It is ?a random chance that Jesus encountered him in the marketplace. However, since ?Jesus did encounter the blind man, he used the meeting to convince others that He ?was the Messiah. The question for the religious leaders became, who is this man who ?can forgive sin? When that question cannot be answered, they reach into the Torah ?and pull out a Law about work on the Shabbat. They decided that healing a man on ?the Shabbat was against the Laws of the Torah. Healing is a spiritual matter in that ?the Holy Spirit accomplishes it. Of course, Jesus being divine, had the Holy Spirit ?within him and did cure the man. When the population heard of this miracle, they ?came to meet the young Rabbi. These signs that Jesus did in John's Gospel are to ?emphasize further that Jesus is God incarnate. ?
The city's people did not know who the blind man was. How can this be? He was a ?beggar and needed help to get from place to place. No doubt people helped him in ?these needs. Then to say, "I do not know him," seems odd for a group of people ?who value community. Today, most of our neighborhoods are like that. We do not ?know who the person down the street from us is. Why have we closed off the ?community sense of living? Post-modernists have been taught to value community. ?That is why Facebook and other social media outlets have blossomed over the past ??20 years. Now if we could get that social media community to transfer to the ?physical community, we would all be better off. I live in a townhouse development, ?and on my street are 11 houses. I know a couple of people. My immediate neighbors, ?I only know by name. It is a sad commentary. Jesus said, "love your neighbor," and I ?cannot tell you their names. This is the American society we live in today. Sad and ?unfortunately true.?
Folks, the church has the answer for the young people who crave community! That ?is why so many consultants say that the church is in a position to explode if it wants. ?The relational conditions between people today are close enough to the conditions ?in Jesus' day. This week, I have been reading about an evangelical event at Asbury ?Seminary in Kentucky that keeps growing. The Holy Spirit is working quadruple ?over time, bringing hundreds of people to Christ. The revival is creating a massive ?community of lovers of the Gospel. It has more than exceeded the organizer's ?expectations. Our local churches need to learn the lesson of this revival. Who knows ?what might happen if the church opens the doors to evangelistic revivals??
The church must let the Holy Spirit drive a revival. We need to open our hearts and ?allow the Holy Spirit to enter us and drive us toward service and worship to Jesus ?Christ, our Lord and Savior. ?
