Two Things
In today’s
scripture we see how great is the love of
Christ – how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. Perhaps you
have heard a story about John Newton who was a slave trader. During the voyage
home, the ship was caught in a horrendous storm. He took this as a warning sign
from God. He repented and had a radical conversion. But he did not radically
change his ways at once. His total reformation was more gradual. He did begin
to read the Bible and to see his slaves with a more sympathetic view. But he
continued to make the voyages as the captain of slave vessels for a while. In
fact, it took 34 years for him to publicly renounce his former slaving
profession. In his old age, he made a public statement to end the slave trade
practice. Then he shared his story by writing hymns. One of them was this: “Amazing
grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but now I’m found, was blind but now I
see.”[1]
At age 82, the year he died, John Newton once wrote in this way: “My memory is
nearly gone, but I remember two things: that I am a great sinner, and that Christ is a great Savior.”
Seeing the Truth
This is an eternal truth: “I am a
great sinner. And Christ is a great Savior.” In this chapter we see how people
respond to this truth differently. This chapter began with Jesus healing a man
born blind. A physical miracle happened. Jesus did it on the Sabbath, and he
did it by making mud which fell under one of the forbidden works on the Sabbath
according to the Jewish tradition. So this healing on the Sabbath caused
conflict. It’s fascinating to see, as the conflict progresses, how the blind
beggar is seeing reality (the truth, the light) more and more clearly, and the
Pharisees seeing reality less and less clearly. The beggar moves from seeing
Jesus as a man (“The man called Jesus”,
v. 11), to seeing him as a prophet
(v. 17) to calling him, “Lord” and worshiping him (v. 38). But the Pharisees
move the opposite direction. Verse 16: “This man [Jesus] is not from God.”
Verse 22: “If anyone should confess Jesus to be Christ, he was to be put out of
the synagogue.” Verse 24: “This man [Jesus] is a sinner.” Verse 34, to the
beggar: “You were born entirely in sin, and are you trying to teach us?” Sadly,
they are drifting further and further away from the light of truth. The more
light that they resist, the harder and deeper becomes their blindness.
“I Am Blind”
Jesus came to give us sight. But in
order to receive our sight, first we must admit that we are blind. In other words, the way of seeing is the way of the
blind. Charles Spurgeon once said:
“It is not our
littleness that hinders Christ; but our bigness.
It is not our weakness that hinders Christ; it is our strength. It is not our darkness that hinders Christ; it is our supposed light that holds back his hand.”[2]
The way of seeing is essentially a
willingness to admit we are blind and
naked and hungry. The blind beggar of John 9 is our example. For him, it was
not difficult to admit that he could not see. That was obvious. When Jesus’
disciples asked an ill-informed and insensitive question (“Rabbi, who sinned,
this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” v. 2), he endured that
awkward moment. When Jesus made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on his
eyes, sending him to the pool, he obeyed. In this story we see this man is poor
in spirit, having a humble, tender, responsive heart. But as for the proud
Pharisees, it was too difficult to admit that they were blind. Instead, they
thought that they were the only ones in Israel with spiritual sight. At the end
of the story they asked this sarcastic question to Jesus, “Surely we are not
blind, are we?” (v. 40) But Jesus replied, “If you were blind, you would not
have sin. But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains” (v. 41). So the
first step to receiving our sight is to acknowledge our spiritual blindness and
need. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matt
5:3).
“Signs” of God’s Glory
The blind man in this chapter
received his sight. He was able to see with his eyes for the first time! This
physical miracle itself is a wonderful thing to happen. But this miracle, this healing is not an end, but a “sign” that would point him and us to Christ, so that all of us who believe in
him may see with our hearts as well
as with our eyes.
In today’s passage people were
looking for its cause, looking for someone to blame: “Rabbi, who sinned: this man or his parents, causing him to be born blind?” (v. 2 MSG)
That was a common perspective in ancient Israel. But Jesus replied, “You’re
asking the wrong question. You’re looking for someone to blame. There is no
such cause-effect here (MSG). This happened so
that the work of God might be displayed in his life” (v. 3). Here Jesus was
saying that this blindness was not found by looking for its cause but by
looking for its purpose. God intended
to display his glory through this
blindness.
Still today in our lives God
intends to display his glory through our
suffering, our weakness, our blindness. In this case, it happens to be
healing. But it doesn’t have to be healing. For example, for Paul physical healing
didn’t come. He cried out three times for his thorn in the flesh to be healed.
But Jesus said, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect
in weakness” (2 Cor 12:9). Jesus displayed his glory, not by healing him, but by sustaining him – the glory of God’s
power to sustain. Both in healing and non-healing (“sustaining grace”) God
displays his glory. So when we go through suffering, the right question is about
its purpose, “for the glory of God,” rather than about its cause, “Why?” As God
heals us, or as God sustains us, we are drawn to him and his salvation. And by
this, God gets glory.
Knowing the Shepherd
By his physical healing, the blind
man drew near to Jesus. And Jesus said to him, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” The man said, “Lord, I believe.” But
what does it mean to believe in Jesus? It means to trust Jesus to do what he promised to do. [The man trusted Jesus
enough to go and wash in the pool] To believe in Jesus means to admit that we’re blind, we’re a sinner,
and to trust that his death on the
cross will atone for all of our sins. To believe in Jesus means to know him, love him, treasure him,
and follow him wherever he goes.
Billy Graham told the story of an
English actor who was honored with a banquet. In the course of the evening, he
was asked to give a reading, and he chose Psalm 23. He read it in a moving
way that brought out the beauty of the Psalm. His friends applauded. Later in
the evening, an aged pastor was asked to speak. He too quoted Psalm 23.
His voice rang with assurance and was vibrant with love. When he concluded,
there was no applause, but there were not many dry eyes in the room. The actor
stepped over to the pastor, grasped his hand, and said, “Sir, I know the Psalm—but you know the Shepherd!”
My prayer is that the Lord Jesus
Christ may open our eyes to the truth of who he is, that we may know the
Shepherd and join the blind man in saying, “One thing I do know that I was
blind, but now I see. Lord, I believe. Lord, I believe.” Amen.
[1] “John
Newton: Reformed Slave Trader,’ Christianity Today, http://www.christianitytoday.com/history/people/pastorsandpreachers/john-newton.html
[2] Charles
H. Spurgeon, Metropolitan Tabernacle
Pulpit, Vol. 30 (Pasadena, TX: Pilgrim, 1974), 489. Quoted in Hughes, R.
Kent. John: That You May Believe
(Preaching the Word) . Crossway. 262.
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