Blindness as Sight
(John 9)
In the first chapter of John we see a theme that is carried throughout his entire testimony. “The next day, John saw Jesus coming toward him and he said, ‘Look, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.’” Look! Behold! He uses the term 15 times interwoven throughout his stories of the life of Jesus. It is as if he is addressing his listening audience to tell them to see the truth of the story. Look at this! Look at Jesus!
John 9 is miracle 6 and is near the end of Jesus’ life and ministry. It drips with irony, in both the physical and spiritual sense. Some of its elements make me laugh as I read the dialogue. Some of its elements are crushing as I see the truth that there are the blind who are willing to see, and those who could see who are willing to be blind.
In chapter 9, Jesus heals a man born blind and we literally see darkness illuminated by the Son of God who spoke the words in the beginning, “Let there be light.” Christ has come into a dark and broken and needy and blind world. It is Jesus who gives sight to the blind. He is the light of the world, and He is the life of the world.
Jesus uses ordinary clay and his own saliva as the necessary ingredients to heal literal eyes in order to create the opportunity for spiritual sight. After the man washes the healing balm off of his eyes in the pool of Siloam, Jesus is nowhere in sight. And, the religious leaders thinking that they have insight into the situation clearly miss seeing the point of the spiritual significance of what took place.
Jesus is the original ophthalmologist. He sees with piercing and perfect 20-20 vision and knows how to correct someone’s vision. Others passed by (vs.1) and pretended not to see, but John is clear that Jesus saw the one born with congenital blindness.
There is a blind man begging along the side of the road. The disciples (vs. 2) ask him who caused the blindness: ‘the beggar's sins or his parents'? They were merely stating the popular notion of the day that all suffering was caused by sin. Be careful to not judge someone as a great sinner because of great suffering. Jesus shattered the current paradigm by saying that this blindness was not a punishment but an opportunity to put God's work on display. Yes, Jesus did not deny the general connection between sin and suffering, but God’s Sovereignty and purposes supersede and govern all.
Jesus then spit on the ground, smeared the mud on the man's eyes. You have to see the allusion here to the creation account. God used clay to create the first man, and now Jesus the creator is using clay to recreate sight for the man born blind.
He then told him to go wash it off at the nearby Pool of Siloam (meaning ‘Sent’), the only permanent water source in the city at the time. It is interesting that Jesus told him to go to that particular pool. Christ is called the ‘one who is sent from God’. The pool had significance during the reign of King David. The blind man, of course, couldn't see Jesus. And it wasn't until he washed his eyes, did he return seeing.
In a sense this is a test of obedience for the blind man. Go and do what God says even when it does not make sense, even when it does not seem pragmatic, and even when others may mock you.
Then the confrontations began.
This is about blindness as sight. The truth that there are the blind who are willing to see, and those who could see who are willing to be blind.
-According to John MacArthur there are 5 key characteristics of willful unbelief
-set false standards
-always want more evidence but never have enough
-biased research on a purely subjective basis
-reject the facts
-self-centered
The neighbors were intrigued. "Isn't that the blind beggar?" they asked. Some thought it only resembled him. Others wanted to know what happened. Suspicion hovered over the audience. And they took the healed man to the religious authorities.
Imagine being the blind guy who received his sight. For the first time, he sees the faces of the people whose voices he knew so well. Did they look the way they sounded? Imagine the familiar footpath he would normally take to the Pool, only to return, not only feeling, but also seeing his way along. The vibrant colors of people's dress. The multiple textures of the sand, earth, and mortar. He finally saw the eyes of those who probably threw disgusting remarks toward him during his years of begging.
Along with all the wonder, he is brought before the religious folks, the Pharisees, on account of his newly found sight. The Pharisees begin to drill him with theological questions, apparently fearful that the now-seeing fellow might hold Jesus in higher authority. "What do you say about him?" they ask. Pulling from his own theological understanding, he says, "He is a prophet." The voices start to rise, the parents are called to testify, and threats are made. The parents practically disown their son because of the threats of the Pharisees. They back out of the scene and require their son to speak for himself. The story is told. The man was born blind. Now he sees. That's all that is said. That's all that happened.
But the Pharisees know something larger is at stake. In verse 24-30 this endless questioning continues, but it takes an interesting twist. The pretentiousness of the religious leaders and their spiritual blindness is transparently seen, and the openness of the blind man for truth and the increase of his spiritual sight is seen as well.
The seeing man makes a remark at the endless, repetition of questions. This remark (vss. 31-34) is a straightforward theological treatise about the origin and process of miracles: "We know that God does not listen to sinners. But if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, God listens to him. Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing." We see a right response of worship. We see that the person of God makes it their business to glorify his Creator by solemn adoration of His name and sincere obedience to His will.
Those who have received mercy from God should magnify the mercies they have received. Not to heap honor upon self as if you were an extraordinary favorite of heaven, but that God may get the glory and by that draw attention to Himself so people may have a hope to see and gaze upon.
The Pharisees, exasperated by the theological lesson, throw the man out. Those who could physically see were spiritually blind. Instead of bending in humility they broke off the dialogue in pride. Proud men refuse to be obedient—no one will tell me what to do. Proud men refuse to be taught—who are you to think you can teach me? We should never think of self as too old, too wise, or too good to learn. How much wealth is enough? Just a little bit more. How much intimacy is enough? Just a little bit more. How much knowledge is enough? Just a little bit more.
Here's the next scene: Jesus approaches the downcast man. The man does not know what Jesus looks like. And being overwhelmed with so many voices that day, he may have forgotten the voice of his healer. "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" Jesus says. The man is eager to find out who he is so that he can believe. Then Jesus turns his phrase on a double-meaning of the word "see," a word that was probably a repeated prayer in the blind man's life. "You have now seen him," he says, "And he is speaking to you."
The man believed, and worshipped. This is an episode of the profound sensitivity of Jesus. He sought him out and restored the lonely one’s sight. He helped him see that, though he's been isolated that day from his social community, there is another community of a vaster importance. And it wouldn't be much later till that man, once blind but then seeing, would discover the communion of saints such as the world had never known. If you feel much like that man of this story, allow Christ to draw near to you. And find your satisfaction, security, and well being in worshipping him.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Sign, Sign, Everywhere A Sign- A Savior Who Does Not Tippy Toe
Walking Tall
God is never uncertain or unsure. The world He created, as well as the principles and laws that govern it are subject to His whispers and shouts. He never holds council with anyone before moving. He never seeks a majority or consensus before acting. He never floats a public opinion poll before deciding. He never reacts in surprise, but acts in surety. He never panics. He never faints. He never sweats. In the 5’th sign of the gospel of John 6:15-21 we see a Savior who does not tipp toe timidly but walks tall on water easily.
Self-denial of prestige (6:15)
In verse 15 we see the misplaced zeal of the crowd who wanted to force the hand of Jesus to make him king of the land, and not king of their soul. They wanted to him sit upon the throne of a hill, and not the throne of their heart. They wanted to use Christ to serve their own ends. "What are You going to do for me, Jesus? I want to come because this is where the action is, this is where the crowd is. I want to come because I might cash in on some miracles here, I want to come because I've got an earthly agenda and I need somebody to fix my world the way I want it." There's no desire for worship.
Notice the humility of Christ and His self-denial when He stood against worldly honor. Notice the singular mindedness or devotion of Jesus in going about the Father’s will. The devout man lives no longer to his own will, or the way and spirit of the world, but to the sole will of God, who considers God in everything, who serves God in everything, who makes all the parts of his common life part of doing everything in the Name of God for His glory.
Sacred place (6:15)
Notice the necessary and needful element of withdrawing to a quiet place. He needed time to be alone. He needed refreshment. He needed to spend time by himself, in order to spend time with His Father. It was the habit of Jesus to do this. How poorly we perform our own private devotions, always in a hurry; beginning them in haste, and hardly allowing time to refresh and worship. We often focus on properly saying prayers, instead of praying.
Jesus seemed to get away to the same spots. People apparently knew where to find Him when they needed Him. He had sacred spots of holy ground for uncommon communion with His Father. If possible pray in the same place; reserve that place for devotion, and not allow anything common in it. If possible never be there, but in times of devotion. This kind of consecration of it as a place holy unto God, would have an effect upon your mind, and dispose you to such disposition, as would very much assist your devotion. This would dispose you to be always in the spirit of worship, when you were there; and fill you with wise and holy thoughts.
Sovereignty of His person (vss 6:21)
The Sea of Galilee is surrounded by mountains. And the winds blow down canyons and they come into this area which is surrounded by mountains on all sides, and the winds come racing in and they just swirl in that area. And it's common to anyone who's been there to see the Sea of Galilee with whitecaps. Not many lakes have white caps. They have winds that come off the ocean, winds that slide down from the mountains in Lebanon, winds that come from the desert to the east and these kinds of winds cause tremendous danger to the waters.
Here's this lake, 682 feet below sea level, winds are blasting into the place, the whitecaps are everywhere, the storm is increasing in intensity, they've been fighting the storm and according to Matthew it's now between three o'clock and six o'clock in the morning and it's in the dark and they're fighting all night to go three or four miles. And they don't know if they're going to survive and they're afraid. All of a sudden they look out and here's Jesus walking on the sea and they were frightened.
They didn't even know what to make of this. According to the parallel passage of Matthew chapter 14 Peter asks Jesus to invite him out of the boat into the water if it really is Jesus. The storm they were afraid of, but they were far more afraid of the One who obviously was walking on the water. But the key is in verse 20, "He said to them, 'It is I, do not be afraid.'"
Isn't this just like Him? Here are these worried, fearful, frightened disciples and who may well have drowned and Jesus had to intervene. He stilled the storm, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going. The storm was quieted. It stopped and instantaneously they went from wherever they were to the shore.
True disciples are marked out and they're sort of sorted and separated as Matthew 14:33 puts it, "Those who were in the boat worshiped Him." Any who claim to be Christians will worship the Lord. You will see it in how they sing the songs. It will be reflected in their prayer life. The importance they place on being here on the Lord's Day to worship. How important is it to them to spend time with the Lord every day, adoring and thanking and praising Him. Is Jesus Christ the love of their life? Is it obvious that they long for Him? Is there a sense of deep humility? Is there a sense of deep respect and awe over Jesus Christ? Are they marked by adoring wonder?
We have more in common with the disciples than you may think. There was nothing special or unusual about them. They were ordinary people who were simply going about their business. Just like that, when they least expected it a storm.
Here is the journey of our lives. We go about our business doing the same old thing, the same old way, getting the same old results, and are often shocked that it is so. We live out our lives in the delusion of safety and comfort thinking that this will isolate us from or at least minimize our exposure to pain, trial, tribulation, uncomfortable situations, and challenging circumstances. As we live and grow older we begin to catalogue trials and solutions and file them away. In other words, here’s the problem and here’s the solution that worked and here was the result and here’s how to handle it the next time. A familiar or similar trial like experience comes up and we go to our files and we apply the remedy and we wait for the thing to be resolved and then we move on.
What do you do when the familiar or similar trial comes up and the previous solution doesn’t work? Or worse yet, you encounter something brand new and have no previous solution to rely on?
What we do is spend an enormous amount of timing solving things ourselves, relying on our own abilities and talents and skills and experience, and we never really developed a history of steady dialogue with God over simple and complex things. And so, we are overwhelmed and frightened. Jesus shows up we don’t know how to respond because He and His ways are unfamiliar to us.
There will be moments of tension for all of your days as a believer. Jesus will for awhile encourage you and whisper to you to let go of the temporal and hold onto the eternal. Then, He might take you to a place you’ve never been. The solutions will be as varied and unique as the calming of a storm or the walking upon its waters. He is calling you out of the familiar, and the illusion of safety, and the delusion of the comfortable towards a realization of intimacy, power, trust, growth, and maturity.
The journey of this life will have some rough waters. But Jesus is watching even when it seems as if He is not near or His arrival delayed. When may get tossed about a bit, but it makes us better rowers and rescuers. We may swallow some salt water, but it makes us appreciate the simple ways of life. We may get hurt, but we have a comforter. We may get off course, but we have a captain of our souls to steer us aright again. The boat may seem battered at times, but He will get it safely to the other shore.
There is a point and a purpose. It is to draw attention to Christ by allowing the glory of His image to shine through our maturing process as we face the storms of life and row through them with Christ as our navigator and captain.
God is never uncertain or unsure. The world He created, as well as the principles and laws that govern it are subject to His whispers and shouts. He never holds council with anyone before moving. He never seeks a majority or consensus before acting. He never floats a public opinion poll before deciding. He never reacts in surprise, but acts in surety. He never panics. He never faints. He never sweats. In the 5’th sign of the gospel of John 6:15-21 we see a Savior who does not tipp toe timidly but walks tall on water easily.
Self-denial of prestige (6:15)
In verse 15 we see the misplaced zeal of the crowd who wanted to force the hand of Jesus to make him king of the land, and not king of their soul. They wanted to him sit upon the throne of a hill, and not the throne of their heart. They wanted to use Christ to serve their own ends. "What are You going to do for me, Jesus? I want to come because this is where the action is, this is where the crowd is. I want to come because I might cash in on some miracles here, I want to come because I've got an earthly agenda and I need somebody to fix my world the way I want it." There's no desire for worship.
Notice the humility of Christ and His self-denial when He stood against worldly honor. Notice the singular mindedness or devotion of Jesus in going about the Father’s will. The devout man lives no longer to his own will, or the way and spirit of the world, but to the sole will of God, who considers God in everything, who serves God in everything, who makes all the parts of his common life part of doing everything in the Name of God for His glory.
Sacred place (6:15)
Notice the necessary and needful element of withdrawing to a quiet place. He needed time to be alone. He needed refreshment. He needed to spend time by himself, in order to spend time with His Father. It was the habit of Jesus to do this. How poorly we perform our own private devotions, always in a hurry; beginning them in haste, and hardly allowing time to refresh and worship. We often focus on properly saying prayers, instead of praying.
Jesus seemed to get away to the same spots. People apparently knew where to find Him when they needed Him. He had sacred spots of holy ground for uncommon communion with His Father. If possible pray in the same place; reserve that place for devotion, and not allow anything common in it. If possible never be there, but in times of devotion. This kind of consecration of it as a place holy unto God, would have an effect upon your mind, and dispose you to such disposition, as would very much assist your devotion. This would dispose you to be always in the spirit of worship, when you were there; and fill you with wise and holy thoughts.
Sovereignty of His person (vss 6:21)
The Sea of Galilee is surrounded by mountains. And the winds blow down canyons and they come into this area which is surrounded by mountains on all sides, and the winds come racing in and they just swirl in that area. And it's common to anyone who's been there to see the Sea of Galilee with whitecaps. Not many lakes have white caps. They have winds that come off the ocean, winds that slide down from the mountains in Lebanon, winds that come from the desert to the east and these kinds of winds cause tremendous danger to the waters.
Here's this lake, 682 feet below sea level, winds are blasting into the place, the whitecaps are everywhere, the storm is increasing in intensity, they've been fighting the storm and according to Matthew it's now between three o'clock and six o'clock in the morning and it's in the dark and they're fighting all night to go three or four miles. And they don't know if they're going to survive and they're afraid. All of a sudden they look out and here's Jesus walking on the sea and they were frightened.
They didn't even know what to make of this. According to the parallel passage of Matthew chapter 14 Peter asks Jesus to invite him out of the boat into the water if it really is Jesus. The storm they were afraid of, but they were far more afraid of the One who obviously was walking on the water. But the key is in verse 20, "He said to them, 'It is I, do not be afraid.'"
Isn't this just like Him? Here are these worried, fearful, frightened disciples and who may well have drowned and Jesus had to intervene. He stilled the storm, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going. The storm was quieted. It stopped and instantaneously they went from wherever they were to the shore.
True disciples are marked out and they're sort of sorted and separated as Matthew 14:33 puts it, "Those who were in the boat worshiped Him." Any who claim to be Christians will worship the Lord. You will see it in how they sing the songs. It will be reflected in their prayer life. The importance they place on being here on the Lord's Day to worship. How important is it to them to spend time with the Lord every day, adoring and thanking and praising Him. Is Jesus Christ the love of their life? Is it obvious that they long for Him? Is there a sense of deep humility? Is there a sense of deep respect and awe over Jesus Christ? Are they marked by adoring wonder?
We have more in common with the disciples than you may think. There was nothing special or unusual about them. They were ordinary people who were simply going about their business. Just like that, when they least expected it a storm.
Here is the journey of our lives. We go about our business doing the same old thing, the same old way, getting the same old results, and are often shocked that it is so. We live out our lives in the delusion of safety and comfort thinking that this will isolate us from or at least minimize our exposure to pain, trial, tribulation, uncomfortable situations, and challenging circumstances. As we live and grow older we begin to catalogue trials and solutions and file them away. In other words, here’s the problem and here’s the solution that worked and here was the result and here’s how to handle it the next time. A familiar or similar trial like experience comes up and we go to our files and we apply the remedy and we wait for the thing to be resolved and then we move on.
What do you do when the familiar or similar trial comes up and the previous solution doesn’t work? Or worse yet, you encounter something brand new and have no previous solution to rely on?
What we do is spend an enormous amount of timing solving things ourselves, relying on our own abilities and talents and skills and experience, and we never really developed a history of steady dialogue with God over simple and complex things. And so, we are overwhelmed and frightened. Jesus shows up we don’t know how to respond because He and His ways are unfamiliar to us.
There will be moments of tension for all of your days as a believer. Jesus will for awhile encourage you and whisper to you to let go of the temporal and hold onto the eternal. Then, He might take you to a place you’ve never been. The solutions will be as varied and unique as the calming of a storm or the walking upon its waters. He is calling you out of the familiar, and the illusion of safety, and the delusion of the comfortable towards a realization of intimacy, power, trust, growth, and maturity.
The journey of this life will have some rough waters. But Jesus is watching even when it seems as if He is not near or His arrival delayed. When may get tossed about a bit, but it makes us better rowers and rescuers. We may swallow some salt water, but it makes us appreciate the simple ways of life. We may get hurt, but we have a comforter. We may get off course, but we have a captain of our souls to steer us aright again. The boat may seem battered at times, but He will get it safely to the other shore.
There is a point and a purpose. It is to draw attention to Christ by allowing the glory of His image to shine through our maturing process as we face the storms of life and row through them with Christ as our navigator and captain.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)