SERMON SSSimon&Jude Woodbridge Sun Apr.3 2011 J.K.Cannell: John 9: Seeing and Believing
Refs: Saint John by John Marsh, Pelican/Penguin1968; Laymans Bible Commentary, John, Floyd Filson,Vol19,John Knox Pr, 1963; New Bible Commentary D Guthrie et al,IVP 1970
The purpose of the Gospel of S.John, according to the beloved apostle himself, was written to produce faith in Jesus as the long-awaited Messiah, or Christ, and as Son of God. John’s exalted Christology never detracts from his account of the humanity of Jesus. This one story, in it’s several sections and characters, occupies a whole chapter in the Gospel’s 21 chapters, and is one of the gospel’s clinching examples of John’s teaching about who Jesus is. The previous chapter introduced Jesus as the Light of the World and here is an example of what that means. The healing miracles in this gospel tend to involve people who are in a chronic state, so Jesus’ acts of healing or restoration are seen to be very powerful. What really marks this story is the detailed record of the discussions that the miracle provoked and the miracle that the discussion provoked. I ‘d really like to set up this marvellous narration & story in a play. I divide the story into 7 parts, as John Marsh does in his book Saint John.
Part 1. Jesus is in Jerusalem. He leaves the Temple and he sees a man, who probably has to beg, who has been blind since birth. What else can a blind man do at that time? At once the first discussion gets going. His disciples ask whether the blind man had somehow sinned before birth or whether his parents had sinned in some way sufficient to bring this sad affliction on their son. There was much topical discussion about the connection between suffering and sin. It was a common idea in that society, well exercised if you remember by Job’s companions in the Book of Job. It still is in some in fundamentalist religious quarters. I also happened to get involved with that topic of suffering because of sin last Sunday when I preached on natural disasters and the often asked question Why did God let the Japanese earthquake and tsunami etc happen (that has caused and is causing so much suffering). In Luke 13:1-5 Jesus dismissed straight away the suggestion that the tower of Siloam that fell and killed 18 people was deserved by those people and their sins. Here again Jesus dismisses at once any suggestion that this blind man’s sin (which would have to have been in the womb) or his parents’ sin had caused this tragedy from birth. Instead He says the man had been born blind so that God’s power might be displayed in curing him. That seems hard, but it was! Indeed that pretty unexpected statement was the curtain-raiser on all that follows. The man had never seen light. It appears he was mature but still young, articulate, possibly in his late teens, certainly older than 13 which was the age of becoming “of age.” He was well known locally (v.8).
Part 2. From v 6 Jesus takes the lead for a little while. The darkness in which blindness had kept the man led Jesus to describe the time of his own ministry as a “day” in which he must get on with what his Father had sent him to do, before darkness fell. He emphasizes again, just as he had done earlier, that in his earthly ministry he was “the light of the world”. Then he heals the man and brings him light. And as we read on we see this real physical healing symbolizes the light-bringing effect of his ministry. He mixes probably colloidal clay into a paste using his own saliva and spreads the paste as ointment on the man’s eyes. (There are some medicines now that have a colloidal base). “Go to the the pool of Siloam and wash it off and bathe your eyes.” The man does so, and comes back, able to see. Mark’s gospel twice reports Jesus using his own saliva, once in the healing of a deaf mute and once like this of a blind man. Commentators say that Jesus’ healings mean the re-creation of the whole person spiritually as well as physically. Signs are all about: Genesis 2 speaks of God making Adam out of the dust of the ground which had been softened by rain and mist. Jesus speaks of people being baptised in living water, when people become incorporate in him. Paul says if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation.
Part 3. This next section is especially vivid. When the man returns in v.8 the neighbours are puzzled to say the least. They ask him incredulously how it happened. I imagine some were trembling at whatever amazing thing or miracle had happened. The man was well known, perhaps a local fixture, a tragic case but one they were used to. Some were so surprised they doubted whether it was the same man. Some of the local crowd say it’s not him at all but someone who just looks like him. Some said “It is he”. And he says “I am the man”. It was in the preceding chapter that John had used the great ego eimi I AM Name of Christ, and here in a different style and context it is again. Perhaps there is a sense in which the man can now join his Lord and say I AM, I really am. John’s account contains quiet irony as the locals discuss this ‘new creation’ of a man remade by Christ. Anyway the friends and neighbours keep asking him, “How was it that your eyes were opened” and the man tells them about the clay paste anointing his eyes, about stumbling off to wash at Siloam and then finding he could see. “Where is that fellow now” they ask. “I don’t know” he says. At this stage Jesus is just another man to him. It is still sinking in, despite the new miracle of light that overwhelms him, how amazing it is to be born blind and yet receive sight. S.John’s story up to now is holy, reverent, low key.
Have you ever had a miracle or experienced one? I suspect the full meaning of it, the blessing of it only dawns on us slowly. I remember in our previous parish perhaps 18 years ago the grandson of the great theologian A.W.Tozer came to preach and celebrate. After the service a vision-impaired lady friend of ours could see clearly again and she wouldn’t stop squeaking, bless her. Most people didn’t give thanks. They didn’t want to believe that something extraordinary had happened to upset the even tenor of the day and the order and decency of the worship. What soured the service for some was that the visiting priest had also whacked the Masonic Lodge, some of whom came to that church. When the rector came back next day he was angry. “If anyone attacks the Lodge”, he said, “it should be me, not some upstart from Melbourne”.
On another note I remember back in Adelaide some of us christian teenagers praying ernestly for a mate who had just had a serious motor-scooter accident. He looked quite dead lying on the road, blood seeping from an ear. After a while Trevor became well again. We were very uncomfortable then and thought we all must have exaggerated, and I confess the one thing we didn’t do together was to stop everything and kneel down and thank and praise God. Talking of miracles, I remember back in 1960 (BM=Before Margaret) driving down the M1 motorway from Rugby to London in my 1935 Morris 8 Tourer (Sue) of which I had just finished replacing all the worn-out big-end and crankshaft bearings. There was no speed limit in those days but I knew if I stuck to 50mph the engine would be happy and the oil pressure would stay above 45psi. But after driving for an hour I found the speedo said 62mph and the oil pressure had sunk to 15psi instead of 45. I had to drive up a hill at the exit from the motorway and then the little engine sounded rattly and very sick. There was a good chance I wouldn’t get to the very important meeting in London at which I had to speak (which was to change my life), let alone get to Surrey afterwards to see my then girlfriend. I stopped and prayed “Please Lord if I’ve busted or melted my bearing shells again, please hold that damage and let me make it there in time. Please get the oil pressure up. Please God of all creation, you’re the greatest engineer. Please help me get there.” When things had cooled I started up again and the engine seemed better and I got to the meeting on time. Afterwards I got to Christine’s parents’ house OK. On Sunday night I drove safely and slowly the 125 miles back to Rugby, driving carefully to spare the little engine. As I turned into my lodgings there was a strange crunch and the engine stopped and wouldn’t restart. Next weekend I pulled the engine out and took it apart and there was hardly any metal left on any bearing anywhere. Sure it was a miracle, as far as I was concerned. Eventually I gave thanks. In fact I still do. Only a little miracle but real enough! Of course there’s others too, and I’d really like us all to share our experiences of miracles this morning. I suspect for most of us for most of the time, daily miracles pass almost unnoticed and unappreciated. How do you put up with us Lord? Anyway the blind man came back with his sight.
Part 4. In the next act in this drama v14 the people take the bloke before the priests and Pharisees, who were the leaders and rulers of the Jews. It wasn’t unreasonable to interrogate him and he tells his brief story. Always keen to discredit Jesus or anyone else who was out of their theological circle, they press him on how he gained his sight. He tells them exactly what has happened. Within a little while they have formed into two sides, one side claiming that “the man who did this cannot come from God, he did what is unlawful on the Sabbath, digging clay and kneading it.” The other side argues “But how could such amazing signs come from a sinful man?” They divide. They ask the man himself “What do you have to say about him?” The man has been listening to the debate. Also he is settling down [who would behave calmly who can suddenly see after maybe 20 years of darkness] and he is beginning to form his own conclusions. In that high company he is prepared now to affirm more about Jesus: “He is a prophet” he replies. In one sense this is no big deal! This confession is that Jesus must be a prophet used by God, like any prophet. The woman at Sychar said that. More insights will come but let’s not underestimate what’s happening now. For the man has increased considerably his answer from the first time when he said: ‘I don’t know who he is’. Now he is declaring that Jesus is a prophet, and a prophet is far senior to a rabbi and indeed to an ordinary Pharisee. The man didn’t say “He is the prophet.” Not yet anyway.
Part 5. From v 18 the situation hots up. Now the Jews sat they don’t believe the man had been blind, so they call his parents who say “We surely know he is our son. We brought him up. We surely know he was born blind. We have no idea how he can now see, or who healed his certain blindness. Ask him. He is of age. Let him tell you.” We can assume the parents were simple people but they were not fools. Also they were in a dilemma. They were scared of the learned assembly of Pharisees, who had already let it be known that anyone who confessed Jesus to be the Messiah would be ejected from the synagogue. And although it rarely happened, that was pretty serious, only surpassed by being sent to jail.
Part 6. Not surprisingly, the Jews then decide to re-examine the man himself, and this interrogation from v24 starts on a different note. Apparently their own arguments have resulted in an agreement that Jesus must have broken the Sabbath law in which case he must be a sinner. On the other hand we can guess the man has always been forthright and avoided trouble previously because he was blind and therefore not taken too seriously. For he gives a very spirited argument and defence which takes them aback. “I don’t know whether the man who healed me is a sinner. But I do know that I was blind and now I can see”. So the authorities make one last attempt to have the details settled clearly enough that the matter can be settled beyond doubt. “What did he do?” they ask again, “How did he heal you?” But the man is becoming impatient “I told you already but you wouldn’t listen. Why do you want to hear it again. Perhaps you want to become his disciples?” At this the Jews become indignant and abusive. This affair is not turning out well at all for them, and their bullying isn’t getting the right results. “We are disciples of Moses. As for this fellow you speak of, we don’t know where he comes from” which wasn’t true because they had already tangled with Jesus at the Feast of Tabernacles and the authorities certainly knew of Jesus’ birthplace. But you and I know that they didn’t really know where The Lord Jesus came from. And the man answered “This is extraordinary. You don’t know anything about the man who opened my eyes, I who was born blind!” And he said quite a lot more and addeed “God doesn’t listen to sinners but to anyone who is devout and does his will.” (Spot on). “If this man was not from God he could do nothing.”
So the man whom Jesus healed ridicules them, the official theologians of Israel. “Who are you, obviously born and bred in sin, to lecture US” they shout. Whereupon in their pride and anger they excommunicate him who an hour ago had been standing blind by the roadside, but who now could see them.
Part 7. If we made a play about this story, or a film, or even an opera, we’d switch now to a scene of peace, perhaps with Beethoven’s 6th symphony in the background. Jesus enters. There are no parents, neighbours, Pharisees in this scene. The Son of Man, Son of God hears the story. He comes up to the man who has been excommunicated and asks “Do you now believe in the Son of Man?” The man replies, just like the woman by the well, just like some of my students in Nepal, just like some people on Bruny Island “Tell me who He is so I can put my faith in Him.” Jesus says “Indeed it is He who is speaking to you”. He might have said, perhaps did say, “I AM”. We may imagine how the once-blind man reacts. He looks again. With the power of sight given him by The Lord he now sees the reality. The man falls to his knees and says “I believe” and worships Him. There’s the miracle of the miracle! Friends, I could go on to a Part 8 to examine in detail what Jesus then says about having come to give sight to the sightless and to make the blind see, but you know that; you love that scripture and you can read it again. Finally Jesus unmistakably condemns the Pharisees and authorities because they claim to see but see nothing. Is The Church still sometimes like that. Are we?
But we can pray, “Lord, heal our blindness. Let us see you and let us worship you with all our hearts, bodies and minds. Teach us to know you, and to believe you are the great I AM, Light of the World. Amen
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