Isaiah 9:2 “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.”
Jesus came into our world to pierce the darkness with the light of his glory. The same God whose radiance was so overwhelming that Moses could only see him pass from behind and live, became incarnate in order to lift us from the pit of darkness that our sins had dug.
Two weeks ago in John 9:5 we read Jesus’ own words to his disciples: “We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night coming, when no one can work. As long as I am in the word, I am the light of the world.” Jesus came to be the light of the world. But there was coming a day (sooner than the disciples could have known) when he would no longer be with them in the flesh. Jesus was preparing for his final act—the reason he came—when he would lay down his life on the cross and take it up three days later. In these two climactic acts that would become the turning point of all human history, Jesus would unilaterally abolish the powers of darkness—sin, satan, and death.
And yet, Jesus did not abolish the darkness the way we might have expected. When you enter a dark room in your house, what’s the first thing you do? You fumble around for the light switch. And with the flip of a switch, in an instant, faster than you can even comprehend, darkness is replaced with light. But this is not what happened with the cross and the empty tomb. Don’t misunderstand: at the cross, Jesus made full payment for the sins of every person who would place their faith in him, and in his resurrection, Jesus secured eternal life so that every believer “would never taste death.” But the light of the gospel is less like an LED bulb, and more like one of those old fluorescent bulbs in a high-school gym. You flip the switch, and at first, you’re not even sure it worked except for the faint electrical whirring sound. And yet, very slowly (sometimes agonizingly so), the dim bulb burns brighter and brighter until, eventually, the whole gymnasium is flooded with light.
How does Jesus accomplish this? How does he slowly but surely expand the light of his glory into our dark world? Through individual Christians preaching Christ to individual unbelievers. Adam and Eve were given the creation commission to fill the earth with image bearers who would reflect God’s glory around the world. And now, through the Great Commission, Jesus calls us to join his work in bringing about a new kind of image bearer among those lost in darkness. We are to be, as Jesus says elsewhere, a city set on a hill whose light cannot be hidden. But consider something with me: what is necessary in order for that city on a hill to shine so prominently and draw our gaze? Darkness.
It’s a cliché to say that “Our world is darker than it’s ever been!” I think those who have lived through world wars, famines, apartheid, and ethnic “cleansings” might say otherwise. I don’t know if it’s true that our world is darker than it’s ever been, but it feels true, doesn’t it? I was preparing to list some examples of some of the visible darkness (which sounds a bit like an oxymoron) present in our world today, but I don’t think that’s necessary. All of us are constantly inundated with news stories that seem more shocking and sickening than the last. It’s enough to make me want to throw up my hands, say “Come Lord Jesus!” and go hide in a bunker somewhere.
And yet in the Bible we see Jesus calling us to enter into the darkness with him—filled with his Spirit, united with his people, bringing the light of the gospel to those still lost in darkness. When we see Jesus as he truly is, we are changed, and we are called.
This morning we are picking back up in John chapter 9 with the healing of the man blind from birth. Two weeks ago, Marc preached through the first seven verses where Jesus corrected his disciples’ bad theology.
They asked, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered them in verse 3, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.”
We saw, from those first seven verses, that God, in his mysterious and loving providence, permits brokenness and suffering in order that the light of his glory might be displayed in the midst of the darkness. Essentially, what Jesus was telling his disciples was that God had permitted this man to be physically blind for his entire life, for this exact moment, right here. Jesus, the same God who formed man from the dust of the earth and the breath of his lungs at the beginning of creation, bent down once more to restore life with the dust of the earth and spit from his mouth. This man was born blind so that the works of God might be displayed in his healing.
But, as we’ll see in the rest of chapter 9, there were more “works of God” that were about to be displayed in this man even after he had received his sight. This man was born not only to receive this miracle, but to testify to the one who performed the miracle, even at great cost to himself. And from his example, we too will be instructed.
In our text, I want us to consider Three Outcomes of Seeing Jesus. Three outcomes that this man experienced, and three outcomes that each one of us will experience :
- Seeing Jesus Brings Division (13-23)
- Seeing Jesus Brings Courage (24-34)
- Seeing Jesus Brings Life (35-41)
1. Seeing Jesus Brings Division (8-17)
We see here at the beginning of the story that right away, after this man is healed—a man, who, by the way, did not ask to be healed, but was sought out by Jesus—was plunged into controversy. There were neighbors and friends who knew this man and had seen this man on the street corner every day, begging. But now, who was this that was walking towards them with bright eyes and confident steps? Surely this could not be the same man who just hours earlier was being led by the hand to the pool at Siloam? And yet here he was, seeing. The change in this man was so pronounced that some of the people literally could not believe their eyes and they said, “This isn’t the man, but ‘he is like him.’” They were so unable to believe that this man could see, that they denied what they could clearly see—this was the same man. But he kept saying, “I am the man!”
These neighbors and friends could not reconcile what they previously knew about this man with who they saw in front of them now. In one sense, they were incorrect—this was indeed the same man who had been blind and begging one day, and seeing and celebrating the next. And yet, in a more profound sense, they were correct—this was not the same man from before. This was a man who saw Jesus, the Lord of life and light of the world who washed away not only his physical blindness, but was beginning, as we’ll see, to wash away his spiritual blindness.
But many in the crowd remained skeptical. It seemed more likely to them that either the blind man was swapped out for someone else, or that he and his parents had lied about his condition from the time of his birth. John Calvin, pondering this inner resistance of the crowd says,
“But, as impiety [or ungodliness] is ingenious in obscuring the works of God, many thought that it was not the same man, because a new power of God openly appeared in him. ****Thus we find that the more brightly the majesty of God is displayed in his works, the less credit do they obtain among men.”
Why is that? Why is it that a genuine work of God, and specifically an act of unqualified benevolence like the healing of this man, could be met with such skepticism and unbelief? Why do we see such skepticism and unbelief all throughout history and even in our day when Christ’s power and goodness is visibly displayed? The Bible gives us our answer in Romans 1. Paul explains,
“[God’s] invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they [who reject him] are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.”
In other words, this crowd’s condition is the human condition. We are all without excuse. You and I are created, moral beings who have breath in our lungs and God’s law written on our hearts. We were made to see God, to know him, and to worship him, and yet in our unrighteousness we suppress this truth that is so plain and our foolish hearts are darkened. We are the sheep who have gone astray—every one to his own way. What we need is not a shepherd who will wait around to see who might stumble back toward him, but one who will come to us to dispel the darkness inside of us. This is what Jesus came to do.
The crowd asked him next, (v10) “How were your eyes opened?” The man retells the story of how this “man called Jesus” anointed his eyes with mud and and told him to go to the Pool of Siloam to wash where he received his sight. He also doesn’t seem to know where Jesus went, because he was still blind went Jesus sent him away. Eventually, they bring the man before the Pharisees, the religious leaders who run the local synagogue.
If the crowd was divided about Jesus, this was nothing compared to the Pharisees. We see one reason why in verse 14 where John clues us in to a significant point: “Now it was the Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes.” Where else have we heard this before in the Gospel of John? Way back in John 5 where Jesus healed the lame man during the Feast of the Jews in Jerusalem, also on the Sabbath. In fact, there are a lot of similarities between the healing of the man born blind in John 9, and the invalid who had been lame for 38 years:
- Both men were healed on the Sabbath
- Both men didn’t seek Jesus out, but Jesus sought them out.
- Both men were questioned by the Jews
- Both healings led to greater division among the Jews and danger for Jesus.
All of this should make us want to ask, “Why did Jesus insist on healing on the Sabbath when it led to so much controversy and misunderstanding?” I believe the answer is that he healed on the Sabbath to create a stumbling block for the Jews who had blinded themselves through pride and unbelief. Instead of understanding the Messianic promises in the prophetic writings and sifting what Jesus said and what Jesus did through the scripture, they clung to their man-made traditions and positions.
We see this play out in our story. Right away, when the man is brought before religious leaders and explains what happens—not even with embellishment or dramatic flair, just the bare facts—some of the Pharisees say (v16), “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.” Notice how they fly right by the fact that a literal miracle has just taken place! A man who was blind from birth can now see for the first time in his life. But they don’t care. There is no compassion in their eyes as they skeptically look this man up and down, attempting to disprove his story.
Why was Sabbath healing so controversial? We dug into this a bit back in chapter 7 during the Feast of Booths where Jesus defended his healing of the lame man from chapter 5. Here, he called out their hypocrisy:
7:22-24 “Moses gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. If on the Sabbath a man receives circumcision, so that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because on the Sabbath I made a man’s whole body well? Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.”
The hypocrisy was that these Jews were willing to perform a “work” on the Sabbath” in order to avoid breaking the commandment to circumcise a Jewish boy eight days after his birth. They failed to see the heart of God, in the commandments of God. “The Sabbath,” Jesus said elsewhere, “was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” The command to refrain from working on the Sabbath was given as a gift of rest for the Jews. It was a gift of love and provision from the God who “never slumbers nor sleeps.” How cruel, then, and un-God-like to withhold mercy from one who is suffering?
But the Jews in John 7 and the Jews in John 9 failed to see this, because they failed to see God. They didn’t know him, and because they didn’t know him, they didn’t know Jesus.
But John tells us there were others among the Pharisees who weren’t as dubious. Some, after hearing this man, said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” The Pharisees are blind—they cannot agree on the Law and they cannot agree on Jesus, so, ironically, they ask for help from the formerly blind man. Notice his first answer—”he is a prophet.” He’s not wrong, but he’s not yet totally correct. John is going to spend the rest of chapter 9 showing us a progression not only of the Pharisees’ spiritual blindness, but of the man’s spiritual sight.
Seeing Jesus brings division. But seeing Jesus also brings courage. Let’s turn now to consider this second point.
2. Seeing Jesus Brings Courage (18-34)
Perhaps the saddest part of this whole story comes in verses 18-23. The Pharisees, still unconvinced by the miracle in front of them, brought in the man’s parents to corroborate the man’s story. They ask, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” Mom and dad explain that this is in fact their son, and that he was indeed blind from birth. But tragically, cowardice overcomes courage, and they conceal the most important fact in this whole episode. They say, “But how now sees, we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes.” How do we know that they knew it was Jesus who performed this miracle? Look at verse 22:
“(His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess Jesus to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue.) Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”
Apparently, the parents knew even more than their son. They knew what the Jews were saying about this Jesus figure, that he was claiming not just to be a prophet, but the promised Messiah. And they knew that this same Jesus healed their very son. But tragically, we see that it was the fear of man that held more purchase in their hearts than Jesus. In fact, they were so ruled by the fear of man that they were willing to place and even bigger target on their son’s back to save themselves—”He is of age,” they said, “talk to him.”
Still unsatisfied, the Pharisees make one final attempt to refute the man’s story. As he walks back into the room, the leaders put him in an impossible position:
24: “Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.”
This phrase—”give glory to God” is an allusion back to Joshua 7:19 and the story of Achan holding back treasure from the Canaan conquest that was devoted to destruction. Essentially they are saying, “Before God, don’t lie—tell the truth.” They thought, surely this man must be holding something back about his healing or his interaction with Jesus that would affirm their premeditated condemnation.
He answers truthfully, based on what he knows (which at this point isn’t much): (v25) “Whether he is a sinner, I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” Though he once lived in physical darkness, he now lives in physical light. But his statement was even more profound than he knew at the time—it was not just the physical blindness that Jesus was lifting, but his spiritual blindness.
How beautiful, how courageous, and how simple is his response! He doesn’t claim to know everything about Jesus. He doesn’t claim to be an expert in Judaism. He is a simple, uneducated, unimpressive man with no power and no prestige. But he is a man who has encountered Jesus, and this is what makes all the difference.
You can just imagine the Pharisees’ growing agitation. With nothing left to refute the man’s testimony, they begin to pepper him with the same questions as before, hoping for a different response. ”What did he do?” they ask. “How did he open your eyes?” The man begins to catch on. These Pharisees aren’t interrogating him because they genuinely want to know what happened. They are attempting to intimidate the man into silence.
But the intimidation tactic that worked on the man’s parents will not work on him. In fact, with swelling courage and biting sarcasm, the man says, “Why do you keep asking me the same questions? Do you want to be his disciples too?” And of course, the Pharisees were just so grateful for that warm invitation. No, they cover their ears and double down and their blindness. V28 “You may be his disciple,” the Jews hiss, “but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.”
And then, in a moment of divine clarity mingled with common sense, this poor, simple man realizes something profound—it is no longer he that is blind:
30-33 “The man answered, “Why, this is an amazing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”
Think about this—how was it that Moses’s teaching and authority was validated? By the signs and wonders that God performed through Him: the plagues in Egypt, the parting of the red seas, the miraculous provision in the wilderness, the voice of God thundering from Mount Sinai. Now think about this—how was Jesus’ teaching and authority validated? By the signs and wonders performed through him: the walking on water, the water into wine, the feeding of the five thousand, the healing of the lame, the restoring of sight to the blind, and the Holy Spirit visibly descending on him at his baptism and the thundering voice of the Father saying, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17).
And, as if that weren’t enough, Moses himself pointed to the coming of Christ in Deut 18:15:
“The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you… it is to him you shall listen.”
And yet, while all of that is true, this man’s argument is much more simple: No one but God has the power to heal a man blind from birth. If Jesus was not from God, if he was a sinner, he could not perform such a miracle.
And do you know what’s so wonderful about the theologically astute answer, and the man’s simple answer? They are both true! He didn’t have the Pharisee’s years of rigorous study, he didn’t have Old Testament memorized, but what could he do? He could see that God was at work. He could speak to what Jesus had done for him.
How about you? How often do we shrink back from speaking of Christ with our families, and friends, and coworkers out of the fear that we don’t “know enough?”
What if they ask about the reliability of the Bible? Or other religions? Or how I can prove that God exists? Or why he allows so much suffering in the world?
Is it good to have answers to these questions? Yes! Should Christians be thinking about these things deeply to be prepared to offer a defense of the gospel? Yes! Do you need to know the answers to all of these questions to be a faithful witness to Jesus? No!
Here’s a better question: Can you speak to what Christ has done for you? Can you say with our man in John 9, “I don’t know everything, but one thing I do know: I was blind but now I see.”
Where in your life right now do you need courage to speak of Christ? Are there family members, neighbors, coworkers, or friends who are heading to hell without Christ who you are intimidated to speak to? Even right now, I am confident that there are faces and names that are appearing in your mind. If you have been held back up to this point by a fear of what questions they may ask, or what little knowledge you feel you have, can I encourage you? You may not have all the answers. You may not know much. But what do you know? How has Jesus changed your life? Speak of that.
Take courage. Seeing Jesus brings division, and seeing Jesus brings courage. But seeing Jesus brings one more thing—the best thing—seeing Jesus brings life.
3. Seeing Jesus Brings Life (34-41)
The man born blind but now seeing it cast out by the ones who thought they saw but were themselves blind. What had it cost this man, to have seen Jesus? His neighbors and friends disbelieved him, his parents were ashamed of him, and the religious leaders at his local synagogue—those who should have been most eager to celebrate this work of God in his life reviled him and cast him out. He didn’t ask for Jesus to heal him, but he did, and it cost him everything. And where was Jesus now?
John Chrysostom: "The Jews cast him out of the temple, and the Lord of the temple found him.”
Friends, this last point was going to be much longer, but I want to end with this: Following Jesus—seeing Jesus will cost you. It may cost you your job, it may cost you the respect of your friends, neighbors, and the “cultural elite” of our day; it may even cost you the honor and esteem of your family. But take heart:
Ps 27:10 “For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the LORD will take me in.”
John 6:37-40 “For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
Seeing Jesus brings division; seeing Jesus brings courage; but ultimately, seeing Jesus brings life.
Jesus seeks out the one who has been cast out, and he asks, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” In other words, do you believe that I am the Son of God? The one who has come not only to restore your physical sight, but to open the eyes of your heart? To suffer and die to pay for your sins? To raise you up with me on the last day into eternal life? Do you believe in me?” And looking on Jesus, with new eyes, he sees Jesus, believes, and falls down in worship.
Jesus then turns to the crowd surrounding him, and says in verse 39:
“For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.” Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.”
For the sake of time, we can’t dig too deep into Jesus’ final words in John, but very simply, he is explaining the kind of people who he came to save. Not those who think that they see and have no need for him, but those who know that they are blind.
And so the question Jesus left the crowd with is the question I want to leave with you, if you are here this morning and are not a Christian. Maybe you consider yourself “religious” or “spiritual” or maybe you are exploring Christianity. The question is this: do you know that you are blind? Do you know that you are lost? Do you feel utterly helpless as you consider your own sin and the death and judgment that awaits you? Friend, if you are willing to admit that you are blind, you are exactly the kind of person that Jesus came to save.
Luke 19:10 “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
Right now, as you hear these words coming out of my mouth, Jesus is asking you the same question he asked this man: “Do you believe that I am the Son of Man? Do you believe that I came to save you?” Right now, turn from your sins, believe in him, see him.
