John 09

Introduction

The whole of chapters 7 and 8 take place at the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem. And at the feast, the Lord Jesus began to teach the people and he said a number of things about himself. He announced that he’s the one who can give us the Holy Spirit to fill us with life and love and zeal for God’s glory. And he announced that he’s the Light of the World and he can lead us out of the darkness of our sin and unbelief and give us everlasting life. And he announced that he can set us free from our slavery to sin. And he announced that there are really only two families in the world: those who belong to him and those who belong to the devil. And in last week’s passage, he made clear that the reason people do not believe him is precisely because he tells us the truth about ourselves. He tells us the truth about ourselves: that we’re sinners and that, until we believe in him, we belong to the devil. But people can’t face the truth. And so, instead of believing what he says and trusting in him for salvation, we reject the Lord Jesus and his words, even though he’s telling us the truth. But then he also announced the benefit of believing and the benefit of believing is that those who believe in him will never see death. Instead we will live for ever in the presence of God. For the believer, the grave is not the end, but it’s the doorway into a better life than this one.

And near the end of last week’s passage, the Lord Jesus revealed to the people that he is the great I AM. That is to say, he is the Lord God Almighty who once spoke to Abraham and who then appeared to Moses at the burning bush and revealed himself by the name ‘I AM’. And now the Lord God Almighty has come to earth in the person of his Son to give up his life for our salvation and to give eternal life to all who believe in his name.

Today we come to John 9 and we’re going to take this chapter in one go, because the whole of the chapter is about the healing of this man who was born blind. And there are four things for us to think about this evening. Firstly, there’s what the Lord says about sin and suffering. Secondly, there’s the miracle itself. Thirdly, there’s the opposition to the Lord that we see in this chapter. And fourthly, there’s the spiritual significance of the healing.

Sin and suffering

So, the first thing for us to think about is what the Lord says about sin and suffering.

The chapter opens with the Lord walking through Jerusalem with his disciples. And as they walk along, they saw a man who had been blind from birth. And his disciples asked the Lord who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind.

Well, when we were studying the book of Job a few years ago, we saw how Job’s friends believed that Job must have done something wrong. What other reason could there be for Job’s suffering? And I explained that Job’s friends believed in vending machine theology. So, with a normal vending machine, you put in your money and out comes a snack. It happens every time and it happens immediately. And according to vending machine theology, if you sin against God, then the outcome will be suffering. It happens every time and it happens immediately. On the other hand, if you do something good, then the outcome will be a blessing from the Lord. Always and immediately. Sin always leads to suffering, good works always lead to a blessing. And so, when someone suffers, it must be because they’ve sinned against God. It’s vending machine theology.

And the Lord’s disciples apparently believed the same thing. And lots of us think that way, because it makes sense. Since God is in control of all things, and since God is just and fair, then God must always punish wickedness and he must always reward good works. And if that’s the case, who is to blame for this man’s blindness? Is he himself to blame? Or are his parents to blame?

It’s hard to see how the man is to blame, because he’s been blind from birth. Could he have sinned in his mother’s womb? And so, perhaps his parents have done something wrong and God is punishing them by giving them a son who is blind.

Lots of people think that way. You may even think that way. When people are struggling or suffering or when something bad happens to them, people wonder: Why? Why has this happened to me? And very often we think that God must be punishing me. God is getting me back for something I’ve done wrong.

But what does the Lord Jesus say? Take a look at verse 3: ‘Neither this man nor his parents sinned.’ So, the Lord rejects their vending machine theology. Neither the man himself nor his parents are to blame for his blindness. Sin and suffering are not so linked together that one follows the other always and immediately. That’s not to say they are never linked. It’s to say that they are not always linked together.

Sometimes sin and suffering are linked together. For instance, God may be punishing an unbeliever for something he or she has done. We’re studying the book of Romans on Sunday mornings and Paul wrote in chapter 1 that the wrath of God is being revealed from heaven right now against the wickedness of men and women who don’t believe. So, sometimes sin and suffering are linked. Until a person comes to Christ for forgiveness, they are under the wrath of God and God may well send trouble into their lives as a punishment for what they have done.

It’s important for me to say at this point that God does not punish believers. He doesn’t punish believers, because Christ was punished in our place and no further punishment is required from those who believe. However, when a believer continues in sin, without confessing it or turning from it, God may well cause that wayward believer to suffer as a form of discipline in the hope that the believer will give up his sin and return to the Lord for forgiveness. On those occasions, the Lord does it because he loves the believer. As it says in Hebrews, no discipline seems pleasant at the time. What child likes it when her parents discipline her? But human parents discipline their children for their good. And our loving heavenly Father disciplines us for our good when necessary. The Lord disciplines his wayward people so that we will turn from our sin and turn back to him for the forgiveness we need and which he’s willing to give us.

So, sin and suffering can be linked in those ways. And they can be linked in another way, because God might cause his people to suffer to prevent them from sinning against him in the future. In 2 Corinthians 12, Paul talks about a thorn in his side. We don’t know exactly what it was, but it was something that caused him pain. And he explained it in this way. He said: ‘To keep me from becoming conceited [because of the visions of God he had received], there was given me a thorn in my flesh….’ So, God caused Paul to suffer this thorn in his flesh to keep him from sinning against the Lord in the future. Suffering drives us to God for the help we need. And that’s where we always need to be: we always need to be close to God.

And so, sin and suffer can be linked. However sin and suffering are not always linked. Sometimes God causes his people to suffer to test and strengthen our faith and perseverance. Just as men and women endure the hardship of a gym to strengthen their muscles, so God strengthens our faith by making us endure suffering. And sometimes believers suffer because they’re believers. Job suffered, not because he had done anything wrong, but because he was a believer who loved the Lord and the devil wanted to destroy his faith. And all around the world, believers are suffering persecution today because of their faith.

Those are some of the reasons for suffering. And sometimes God sends affliction and trouble to reveal his glory. And that’s what’s happening on this occasion. Look at verse 3 again. The Lord said: ‘Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.’ This man was born blind so that one day the Lord God Almighty could come to him in the person of his Son and heal the man of his blindness. And in doing so, the Lord God displayed the glory of his power and compassion. He revealed the glory of his power by healing the man easily. And he revealed the glory of his compassion, by his willingness to remove his suffering.

John Calvin, the French reformer, described the world as the theatre of God’s glory. God created the world to display his glory at all times. And God displayed his glory on this occasion by healing this man of his blindness and by releasing him from his misery. And when God delivers us from our suffering, when he brings it to an end, we should give thanks to him and we should glorify him for what he has done for us.

The miracle

Let’s now think about the miracle. According to verse 6, the Lord spat on the ground and made some mud with his saliva. And he then put the mud on the man’s eyes and told him to go and wash in the Pool of Siloam, which was in Jerusalem.

Some theologians point out that God made Adam in the beginning from the dust of the earth. And now the Lord Jesus Christ, who is God the Son, recreated this man’s sight from the dust of the earth. And others suggest that the name of the pool is significant. John tells us that Siloam means sent. And not only did the Lord Jesus send the man to the pool to be healed, but the Lord Jesus is the one who was sent by God the Father. God the Father sent him from heaven to heal with man of his blindness and to save us all from our sins.

We read at the end of verse 7 that the man went and washed. And he came home seeing. And according to verse 8, his neighbours and those who used to see him begging asked: ‘Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?’ That gives us an insight into the man’s misery, because until the Lord healed him, he wasn’t able to earn a living and all he could do was to sit and beg, relying on the kindness of strangers to give him the money he needed to buy food. And he’d been like this all his life.

But now he’s able to see and the people who knew him from before can’t quite believe it. They wonder: Is it the same man? It looks like the same man, but how can it be the same man? Who has ever heard of a man born blind being able to see? And according to verse 9 some claimed it was the same man, whereas others thought that he only looked like the blind man.

But it was the same man. The Lord has performed a wonderful miracle. And this is a foretaste of what the Lord will do for all his people when he comes again in glory and with power to raise the dead. When he comes to raise the dead, he’ll gather all of his people — everyone who believed in him — and he’ll bring us into the presence of God in the new heavens and earth and he’ll make us new. He will recreate us. And he will free us from all our misery. As it says in the book of Revelation, there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain because the old order of things will have passed away. In other words, all the sorrow and suffering of this life will pass away. There will be no more weakness or illness or disability or disease. He will make us new.

And it’s hard for us to imagine, isn’t it? It’s hard for us to imagine, because weakness and illness and disability and disease and sorrow and sadness and weeping are so familiar to us in this life. But when Christ comes again, we’ll be made perfectly holy and happy in body and soul for ever.

And as a foretaste of that, as a sign of that, the Lord Jesus healed this man. He restored his sight as a token of what he will do for all his people in the life to come.

And the truly amazing thing is that we don’t deserve it. We’re sinners who sin against the Lord continually. We deserve to be condemned and sent out of God’s presence for ever to be punished for ever for all that we have done wrong. But because of God’s overflowing goodness and love, he sent his Son to pay for our sins with his life and to make peace for us with God. And so, we can look forward to Christ’s return when we will be made perfect in body and soul and we’ll be with the Lord for ever.

Opposition

We’ve thought about sin and suffering. And we’re thought about the Lord’s miracle. Now let’s think about the opposition we see in this chapter to the Lord.

Between verses 10 to 34, we have a series of interrogations. In verses 10 to 12, the man’s neighbours and those who knew him as a beggar demanded to know how his eyes were opened. And those people then took him to the Pharisees.

And from verse 13 to verse 17 the Pharisees interrogate him. They want to know how he received his sight. And when the man told them what happened, some of them said that the Lord Jesus can’t be from God, because he’d healed the man on the Sabbath and therefore he was a Sabbath-breaker. They accept that the Lord is powerful, since he was able to heal the blind man. But his power can’t be from God. It must be from satan. In other words, he’s evil and not good.

That’s what some of them are thinking. But others weren’t so sure. According to them a sinner wouldn’t be able to perform such miraculous signs. And that means he must be from God. And so, the Pharisees were divided.

From verse 18 to 23 they interrogate his parents. According to verse 18, some of the Jews — and John is probably referring to the Jewish leaders — some of the Jews didn’t believe that the man had ever been blind. They think this is a scam. It’s fake news. And so, they brought in his parents to verify the story. ‘Is this your son?’ they ask them. ‘Is he the one you say was born blind?’ ‘How is it that he can now see?’ And they replied that the man is definitely their son and he was definitely born blind. But how he can now see, they have no idea. Ask him yourself, why don’t you?

And John adds for us in verse 22 that his parents were afraid. They were afraid of the Jewish authorities who had said that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus is the Christ would be put out of the synagogue. That is to say, they would be ex-communicated. And with that threat in the air, they didn’t want to say anything that might be interpreted as words of support for the Lord.

And so, the Jewish leaders interrogated the man again. We’re looking at verse 24 to 34. ‘Give glory to God’, they said. In other words: Tell the truth! This is like when witnesses today are asked to swear an oath to tell the truth. So, tell the truth! We know this man is a sinner. And what they mean is: ‘We know this man is a sinner. Now, tell the truth! He is, isn’t he?’

And because the man didn’t agree with them, they threw him out. That’s in verse 34. In other words, they ex-communicated him from the synagogue. They were no longer willing to treat him as a member of God’s people. They were now going to treat him as a stranger.

And we’ve seen this kind of opposition before in John’s gospel. John has told us about lots of people who didn’t believe in the Lord. And he’s also told us about lots of people who opposed the Lord. They regarded him as a sinner: a Sabbath-breaker and a blasphemer. In last week’s passage they said he was demon-possessed and they called him a Samaritan which was a kind of racial slur. And back at the beginning of chapter 7 the Lord said to his half-brothers that the world hates him. An unbelieving world hates him and eventually an unbelieving world will take him and kill him.

So, we’ve heard about this opposition before. But what’s new in this chapter is how the Lord’s people can expect opposition too. Just as an unbelieving world hates the Lord Jesus, so an unbelieving world will hate his people too. And so, the Jewish authorities turned on this man. They interrogated him. And they insulted him. And they ex-communicated him.

And all over the world, there are men and women and children who have experienced God’s love and kindness for themselves. They’ve been converted to faith in Christ and they’ve received forgiveness for their sins and the hope of everlasting life. But they’ve also experienced the hatred of the world. Believers have been rejected by their families. They’ve been rejected by their community. They’ve suffered discrimination and abuse and torture and imprisonment and even death. And even in this country, believers are often regarded as fools for believing in Christ.

But what we learn from a chapter like this one is that we shouldn’t be surprised if people hate us or insult us for believing in the Saviour. We shouldn’t be surprised, because an unbelieving world has always hated the Saviour and his people. It always has and it always will.

But instead of giving up the faith, we should seek the help of the Lord to endure all things for his sake and to persevere in the faith despite the opposition we encounter. We should seek his help to persevere, because in the end, the Lord Jesus will return in glory and with power to overthrow and punish those who opposed his church and he’ll bring us into his presence, where we’ll be happy for ever and for ever. As the Apostle Paul says in Romans 8, our present sufferings are not worth comparing to the glory that will be revealed in us in the life to come. Our present suffering will seem like light and momentary troubles compared to the eternal glory that God has prepared for his people in the life to come. And so, we should look to the Lord for his help and strength to persevere and to keep trusting in Christ the Saviour no matter how we suffer because of him.

And to help us to persevere, he’s given us the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper and he’s given us the preaching of his word to strengthen our faith and to help us to keep going. Just as God uses food to give us physical strength each day, so he uses the things we do on Sunday to give us the spiritual stamina we need to keep going. And that’s why we should make sure we’re here every Sunday to receive his help to keep going.

Spiritual significance

We’ve thought about sin and suffering. And we’re thought about the Lord’s miracle. And we’re thought about the opposition we see in this chapter. Finally, there’s the spiritual significance of the healing.

According to verse 35, the Lord heard what had happened to the man. And so, the Lord went looking for him and he found him. And remember: the man had never seen the Lord Jesus. He did not know what he looked like. And so, when the Lord asked him if he believed in the Son of Man, he asked ‘Who is he?’ and ‘Tell me so that I may believe in him.’ And the Lord replied that the man has seen the Son of Man. In fact, you’re speaking to him now. And when the man realised that the Lord Jesus was the one who healed him, he said: ‘Lord, I believe.’ And it says the man worshipped the Lord. God had given him the faith he needed to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as his Saviour. God had opened his spiritual eyes to see who the Lord Jesus really is.

And the Lord went on to say that he has come into the world for judgment. That is to say, he came to divide the world and to make clear the distinction that exists between two kinds of people: those who are blind and those who see. And he has come into the world so that those who are blind will see and those who see will become blind.

Now, we sometimes talk about people being spiritual blind. And it’s a bad thing to be spiritually blind, because the spiritually blind person can’t see their need of the Saviour. And the Pharisees are spiritually blind like that.

However, the Lord is using the image of blindness in a different way here. When he refers to the blind in verse 39, he means those who are humble and who recognise that there’s something wrong with them. They are spiritual beggars who must rely on God for mercy. And when he refers to those who see, he means those who are proud and who think they’re fine without God. He’s talking abot people who think that they don’t need anything from the Saviour. And he’s talking about people who claim they can see clearly that Christianity is false.

And look at verse 40: the Pharisees are insulted by the suggestion that they might be blind. In other words, they’re insulted by the idea that there’s something wrong with them and that they need salvation from the Lord. So, instead of being humble, they are proud. They think they’re fine. They don’t need the Saviour. And lots of people are like that. They think they’re fine as they are and they don’t need God in their life. They think they have everything they need and that Christianity is for people who need a crutch.

And the Lord answers them by saying if they were blind, they would not be guilty of sin. In other words, if they were humble and if they realised that they’re spiritual beggars who need salvation from the Lord, then they would not be guilty of the sin of unbelief. But since they claim they can see, since they claim to be fine, then their guilt remains. They will remain in their unbelief.

But those who are blind — so he’s talking about humble sinners who know they’re spiritual beggars who need salvation from God — they’re the ones who will call out to God for mercy and for help. They are the ones who know that, spiritually-speaking, they are beggars who need help from the Lord. And just as the Lord Jesus healed this man who was physically blind, so he saves every humble sinner who calls out to him for salvation.