1-26-03 Communion Dedication - Baldwin Christian Church

John 9:24~34 (Chapter 9 of John is the story of a man who was born blind for a reason.)

This chapter begins on a Sabbath day a few months before Jesus was crucified. He's high-tailing it out of the temple to avoid being pelted with rocks when He sees a blind man, and stops. When the disciples ask Jesus why this man was born blind, their question presumes the cause was sin, but Jesus responds by saying neither the man nor his parents sinned. He tells them the man was born blind so that the works of God would be revealed in him. Then Jesus spat on the ground, rolled up some clay in the spit, wiped it onto the blind man's eyes, and told him "Go wash in the pool of Siloam." Everybody who knows what it feels like to have mud stuck in your eye can sympathize with this poor chap's eagerness to follow the Lord's instruction. He washed his eyes, and for the first time in his life, he could see. Suddenly everybody wanted to hear his testimony, and he was delivered up before the religious council. The Pharisees were particularly interested in hearing the whole story, not because it was miraculous, but because it was against the law to make clay on the Sabbath day, and they were quite eager to hear any charge against Jesus, the man who was challenging their authority. The blind man's story wasn't believed until later, when his parents testified to his having truly been born blind, so the man was recalled before the council, and we pick up his amazing testimony in verse 24.

John 9:24 Then again called they the man that was blind, and said unto him, Give God the praise: we know that this man (Jesus) is a sinner.

When he originally testified, he was asked questions, but this time they're trying to put words in his mouth. Jesus could not be responsible for this healing miracle because He sinned during the performance.

John 9:25 He answered and said, Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see. Then said they to him again, What did he to thee? how opened he thine eyes? He answered them, I have told you already, and ye did not hear: wherefore would ye hear it again? will ye also be his disciples?

I told you the first time, He put clay in my eyes, and I washed, and do see. Why do you want me to repeat it? Do you want to be converted too? That was too much for the council to take, and no doubt they hooted and hissed at him, being full of themselves.

John 9:28 Then they reviled him, and said, Thou art his disciple; but we are Moses' disciples. We know that God spake unto Moses: as for this fellow (Jesus), we know not from whence he is. The man answered and said unto them, Why herein is a marvellous thing, that ye know not from whence he is, and yet he hath opened mine eyes. Now we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth. Since the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind. If this man were not of God, he could do nothing. They answered and said unto him, Thou wast altogether born in sins, and dost thou teach us? And they cast him out.

Confounded by the undeniable truth in the testimony of this simple man, the superior intelligence of the religious council resorts to standard argument-loser protocol, begins name-calling, questions the argument-winner's right to argue, and quickly ends the debate.

The blind man surely lived a difficult life, but he received tremendous blessings in the gift of sight, of wisdom, and most importantly, salvation. He was blind, and knew no other way of life, when a passerby put mud in his eyes. His life was misery, but then a momentary discomfort opened up a great opportunity for ministry. Jesus applied the discomfort to the sufferer, who then blindly followed the Lord's instructions. The healing followed, and the man became a walking, talking testimony for the works of God. When he was delivered up before the authorities, it seemed like the very Spirit of God spoke through him, but it wasn't until after the council had cast him out that he finally laid eyes upon the Man who laid hands upon him.

If I sow the seeds of sin, it should come to me as no surprise when I reap the fruit of affliction, but when I see suffering in the lives of other people, it's always best to lean not on my own understanding, trying to reason the cause. We all have a tendency to conclude that the afflictions in the lives of others might be the fruit of hidden sins, or perhaps even inherited ones, but in John chapter 9, Jesus teaches us that things are not always as they seem. If we perceive afflictions as opportunities for the works of God to be made manifest, and we whole-heartedly trust and obey Him, they can lead to healing and blessings we cannot comprehend. Satan loves it when we fall for the deception of languishing in our sufferings, but he has no answer to the blind faith that brings about healing and truthful testimony from the woes of affliction.