Message: In John 9 Jesus parallels physical
blindness with spiritual blindness. When he encountered the blind man he told
his disciples that they needed to quickly fulfill the tasks that God sent them
to do because night (darkness) is coming and soon nobody would be able
to work. That statement seems so out of place if you don’t pick up on the
context he is trying to build between the physical condition and the spiritual
condition. Then he said that while he was there, he was the light of the
world. This is the only miracle I can
think of where nobody directly asked Jesus to heal. The disciples brought
attention to the blind man, but nobody (including the blind man) asked Jesus to
heal him. Jesus simply gave the man instructions, and when he followed them he
was healed. This stirred up all kinds of trouble and when the Pharisees accused
and questioned everyone (including the man that was healed) they were revealing
their own pride and spiritual blindness. Jesus was making some bold statements,
but he didn’t address the Pharisees directly. He said that he came to give sight
to the blind, and to show those who think they see, that they are blind.
Anybody else find it funny that the men Jesus called spiritually blind were
called Pharisees? Here’s the most important part of this message:
Jesus told the Pharisees “if you were blind you would not be guilty, but
you remain guilty because you claim you can see.”
Command: Humble ourselves and obey God.
Promise: Obedience comes from humility and it
opens our eyes.
Warning: Disobedience is born out of pride and
it causes blindness.
Application: I believe Jesus showed us here that
there is a difference in responsibility between being blind without fault, and being
blinded by pride. He took a physically blind man who was born that way, and he
gave him instructions. The man could have ignored the instructions, but he didn’t.
He obeyed them and his obedience physically opened his eyes. This really tripped
up the Pharisees and their spiritual blindness was exposed by their irrational reaction.
They believed they were the ones with spiritual sight, but they were so full of
themselves and motivated to protect their positions that they didn’t recognize Jesus,
even though he was fulfilling everything they had studied in the scriptures.
Their blindness was their own fault because they were living in disobedience to
God by using a place of spiritual authority for the benefit of themselves and
oppressing the people God gave them to lead. We all have different levels of
responsibility and authority. How we respond to God determines what we will do
with that authority and how we treat people. The physically blind man responded
in obedience, but the spiritually blind men chose themselves. After I read this
I asked God to open my eyes to any disobedience, pride or arrogance that would
blind me.
