Sermon -- 4th Sunday in Lent (March 19, 2023)

JOHN 9:1-7,13-17,34-39

WE CAN ONLY SEE SALVATION WITH JESUS.

In the name + of Jesus.

      Our Gospel begins by Jesus refuting a belief that never seems to go away.  When Jesus’ disciples encountered a blind man, they asked Jesus, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”  Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him” (John 9:2-3).  God does not work by karma, the idea that you prosper if you do good things and you will suffer harm if you do bad things.  Hindus teach this.  Jesus does not.  If fact, if you believe karma, you would never dare have compassion on people who suffer.  You would conclude that their struggles and problems are karma for their misdeeds.  If you step in to help them, then you will be interfering with karma and the bad things will happen to you.  This is unloving and unbiblical.  Sometimes someone suffers because of his own sins or foolishness.  Sometimes not.  We don’t always know why one person suffers and another person prospers.  What we do know is that the universe is not reigning over all things; Jesus is.  That should bring us comfort no matter what we experience.

     So, why was this man born blind?  Why are some people born with birth defects?  Why do some people develop multiple sclerosis or dementia?  We don’t know.  We can say that the world is broken, and as a result bad things happen.  But why this person and not that person?  We don’t know.  What we do know is that Jesus is reigning over all things.  That should bring us comfort no matter what we experience.

     In the case of this blind man, Jesus did give a reason why he was born blind.  It was so “that the works of God might be displayed in him” (John 9:3).  In this case, the works of God meant reversing the effects of a sin.  God designed eyes to see, but the corruption of sin means that the gift of sight is withheld from some.  Jesus came not only to remove the curse of sin, but also to restore what sin had corrupted.  So, Jesus “spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva.  Then he anointed the man’s eyes with the mud and said to him, ‘Go, wash in the pool of Siloam’  So he went and washed and came back seeing” (John 9:6-7). 

     What should have been a cause for rejoicing ended up being a cause of contention.  The day on which Jesus healed this man was the Sabbath.  According to the Pharisees, making mud was an act of creation, and such work was forbidden on the Sabbath.  Therefore, some of the Pharisees said that Jesus was worthy of condemnation, not praise.  They not only could not see Jesus as the Messiah, they would not see it. 

     Most of the Pharisees refused to see what God had revealed.  Through the prophet Isaiah, God revealed what we should expect to see when the Messiah comes.  He foretold the signs: “Say to those who have an anxious heart, ‘Be strong; fear not!  Behold, your God will come … and save you.’  Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy” (Isaiah 35:4-6).  To be sure, there were miracles done by God’s Old Testament prophets.  However, there is no record of a blind man receiving his sight.  No blind people were ever healed until Jesus of Nazareth did it.  Jesus did not deal with a man who was had slowly gone from 20/20 vision to blurred vision to being legally blind.  He was blind from birth.  Jesus restored his sight, fulfilling God’s promise through Isaiah.  It was plain to see, but the Pharisees refused to see it. 

     Ironically, the blind man did.  The Pharisees “said to the blind man, ‘What do you say about him, since he has opened your eyes?’  He said, ‘He is a prophet.’  They answered him, ‘You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?’  And they cast him out” (John 9:17,34).  The man who had been born blind saw what God had revealed: We can only see salvation with Jesus.

     We all have blind spots where we do not see what God has revealed.  There are some things in God’s word that we just don’t understand.  Now, that is not a reason to give up pondering these things.  We continue to hear God’s word and meditate upon it.  As time goes by, God makes things clear to us.  What a joy it is to have those “Aha!” moments!  What a blessing it is when God enlightens us to see his word all the more clearly.  If you are eager to have more of those moments, join us for Bible Class where questions and discussions foster more of those moments.

     But we also suffer from some blind spots the same way as the Pharisees did.  We don’t want to see what God is revealing.  Our reason is the same as theirs: We don’t like it.  God’s word is sometimes hard to accept.  Our sinful nature does not what to give up our self-centered opinions and goals.  We want our sins to be defensible.  We want our grudges and our jealousies to be justifiable. 

     Perhaps the blind spot that affects people most is our accountability to God.  All people agree that sins which hurt other people are bad.  Stealing is bad because you harmed someone’s ability to pay bills.  Lying hurts someone else’s reputation.  War is bad because it takes lives, limbs, minds, and property.  Bullying is bad because it belittles people and causes them to live in fear. 

     But God’s definition of sin is not limited to what hurts other people.  Sin is whatever is opposed to his word.  If I argue that getting drunk in my basement is not a sin because no one saw it and no one got hurt by it, it is still in violation of God’s word.  God sees it.  The sins that we do with the doors closed and the shades drawn are still sins.  God holds us accountable for them all.  They are still wicked.  Even if the whole world cheers and supports you in your sins, God does not and cannot.  It is imperative to see this: God’s word is to be taken seriously because God is to be taken seriously.  If we followed God’s word in all things, we would not offend God or harm our fellowman.  Repent.

     We can only see salvation with Jesus.  When the Pharisees came face to face with the evidence that Jesus Christ is the Messiah, they carefully investigated the miracle—but only to prove that Jesus’ miracle was a fraud.  They refused to see it any other way.  They doubted that the man they saw was really the same guy who had been blind.  They questioned the man’s parents because they didn’t believe the man was really born blind.  They called the miracle evil because it was done on the Sabbath.  They asked repeatedly how the healing came about, refusing to believe it was real.  They insisted that Jesus was not a godly person.  No matter how often they were shown Jesus’ words and works, they refused to see that he is the Christ, the Son of God, and the Savior of the world.  They were worthy of Jesus’ sentence: “Jesus said to them, ‘If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, “We see,” your guilt remains’” (John 9:41).  Their problem was not ignorance; it was stubborn unbelief.  And “Whoever does not believe will be condemned” (Mark 16:16). 

     We can only see salvation with Jesus.  He fulfills the prophesy of Isaiah, not only giving sight to the blind and healing diseases, but this part of the prophesy, too: “Behold, your God will come….  He will come and save you” (Isaiah 35:4).  Jesus comes to save you from all sin and from all that sin brings with it.  Now, Jesus will not stop the anger or the bitterness that some people have toward you.  The man who had been born blind was reviled and expelled by the Pharisees.  Perhaps he was permanently banished from their synagogues.  So, Jesus may not deliver you from the wickedness of other people.  Some will do evil to you just because you are a convenient target.  You may have to endure their cruelty, but they cannot condemn you.

     We see our salvation with Jesus.  He saves us from the wrath of God, which we rightly deserve.  God’s word shows us our guilt.  Only stubborn unbelief would shut its eyes and deny that guilt.  But see what Jesus does!  He takes away your guilt and saves you from God’s wrath.  When Jesus went to the cross, many must have wondered why such a gracious man would suffer this way.  If you asked the Sanhedrin, it was because Jesus was deceiving the people by claiming to be God.  If you asked the Romans, it was because Jesus was a threat to the government by claiming to be the King of the Jews.  If you were a by-stander, you would see Jesus as a beaten, bloody mess.  You might conclude that he deserved all the mockery he got. 

     But God reveals something different.  The prophet Isaiah foretold: “Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.  But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities…  It was the will of the Lord to crush him” (Isaiah 53:4-5,10).  This is how we see Jesus.  It was the will of God to deliver us from his wrath.  So, Jesus was damned for us.  Jesus made himself accountable for us and suffered what you and I deserve so that we would not suffer under God’s anger at all. 

     The Pharisees had both the prophecies of the Bible and the ministry of Jesus to see that he is the Christ.  They even got to see Jesus’ sufferings and death.  But they refused to see that Jesus is their Savior.  They were blind to the love of God revealed in Jesus, and they had no benefit from it.  But thanks be to God, you see it differently.  We can only see salvation with Jesus.  When we see Jesus’ sacrificial death, we see the way God loves us.  God is not willing to lose you to sin, so he sent Jesus who willingly endured the cross for you.  Through Jesus, you are forgiven of every offense against God.  God is not willing to lose you to the grave, so Jesus conquered it by his resurrection.  Because of Jesus, God see you as one who is guiltless.  Therefore, you will rise from the grave to see the glories of heaven.  Jesus has secured that for you. 

     We see our salvation in Jesus.  Jesus now lives and reigns over all things for the good of his Church.  We don’t always see how that is working out.  Bad things still happen, and many times we don’t know why.  Why does this person suffer while that person prospers?  Why does evil go on?  Why is life so hard?  It won’t always make sense to us.  But rather than fret over what we see in this world, we put our trust in what we see in God’s word.  And we trust that God knows what he is doing.  That should console no matter what we see or experience.  Because no matter what we see or experience, we see God’s love and salvation in Jesus.  That remains constant.  That alone comforts.

In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.