Light Born Blind

Light

Born Blind

Did you know you were born blind

From birth some of us claim we can see

We are willing to tell others what this world looks like

Then there are those who know they are blind

They know they don’t see this world clearly

They feel blind and humbled for their lack of understanding

It is the ones who recognize their blindness from birth

That can receive sight like the story of the blind man in John 9

Jesus said, "You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you." 

Then the man said, "Lord, I believe," and he worshiped him.

Jesus said, "For judgment I have come into this world,

so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind." 

Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked,

 "What? Are we blind too?"

Jesus said, "If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin;

but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.

Who are you?

The one who says, "Lord, I believe,"

Or, the one who claims they can see?

The world is described differently by both

Born Blind

John Chapter 9 is an interesting

story about Jesus and a blind man.

The first thing we discover is

this man was blind from birth.

The other day I had to put a new

master brake cylinder on my truck.

I watched a YouTube Video to refresh

my memory on how to bleed the brake

fluid through the new master cylinder.

In the video the man said wear safety glasses

because out of all the fluids used in a car, brake

fluid can make you blind if is gets in your eyes.

It seems I get things in my

eyes all the time when I work.

So the thought of brake fluid making me blind

was on my mind the whole time I did the job.

There are a lot of reasons a

person who can see will go blind.

If you are like me, the older

 I get the weaker my eyes get.

This, too, is a lesson, but the blind man

in the story was blind from birth.

  The disciples asked Jesus…

 "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his

 parents, that he was born blind?"

Can you hear someone saying...

It would seem obvious that this man before

he was born got brake fluid in his eyes.

So I think we all could rule out the

man was blind because of his own fault.

So what about the parents, did they sin?

Did they put brake fluid in the baby’s eyes?

The answer from Jesus is…

 

“Neither this man nor his parents sinned,”

said Jesus,

So what is the lesson?

Read through the strange things

Jesus does of making spit balls of

dirt and pasting it on the man’s eyes.

And keep reading how Jesus tells the blind man

to wash off the mud in the pool of Siloam.

At the end of the story the Pharisees

don’t want to believe Jesus, the Light

of the world, healed the blind man.

They don’t want to believe that

the blind man and his parent’s sin

were not the cause of his blindness.

Some Pharisees who were with him

heard him say this and asked,

"What? Are we blind too?"

John 9:40

The Pharisees asked,

 “Are we blind, too?”

Jesus said, "If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin;

but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.

John 9:41

Jesus, in this statement, is telling

us there are two types of blindness…

The one type of blindness

is the blindness from birth.

We are all born blind.

 We are all born in the dark.

We are born without knowledge of light or sight.

This blind man from birth did not

create his blindness, nor did his parents.

Yet, he was still blind.

When Jesus later meets up with the man…

Jesus heard that they had thrown him out,

and when he found him, he said,

"Do you believe in the Son of Man?" 

"Who is he, sir?" the man asked.

"Tell me so that I may believe in him."

Jesus said, "You have now seen him; in fact,

he is the one speaking with you." 

Then the man said, "Lord, I believe,"

and he worshiped him.

John 9:35-38

The blind man from birth just walked in

 blindness until Jesus opened his eyes.

Now on the other hand the Pharisees asked…

 “Are we blind too?"    

Jesus’ reply is…

 "If you were blind, (like the man born blind)

you would not be guilty of sin;

but now that you claim you can see,

your guilt remains.

Both the man blind from birth

and the Pharisees were blind.

Both needed Jesus to heal them.

The blind man trusted Jesus and gained sight.

 

The Pharisees claimed they could see.

Too many people today are claiming they can see.

They claim they have the answers.

Yet, they are blind and have been from birth. 

There is only One who can make us see.

If we ignore the fact that we are blind

and claim we can see, we will never see.

It would have been very stupid for the blind man

from birth to say I am ok I can see this world just fine.

But many of us claim, like the Pharisees, that we can see.

Jesus at the beginning of the story said…

   

“…While I am in the world,

 I am the Light of the world."

 

Without the Light of Jesus, the

world is dark and you can’t see.

You can make all the claims

you want, but you are blind.

The world is full of people who do not accept

Jesus and His Word who claim they see.

And Jesus would say to them the

same thing He said to the Pharisees…

  “But now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains”

When we can admit we cannot see,

we realize we can’t see the answers to this world.

This humble, lost, blind feeling opens

the door for Jesus, the Creator and Savior

of the world to smear some mud on our eyes.

 And when we wash we will see.

  

The one who has been given sight by

Jesus will describe the world differently than

the one who claims they can see without God.

Scripture Reading

John 9 NIV

9:1 As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"

3 "Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. 4 As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. 5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world." 

6 Having said this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man's eyes. 7 "Go," he told him, "wash in the Pool of Siloam" (this word means Sent). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.

8 His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, "Isn't this the same man who used to sit and beg?" 9 Some claimed that he was.

Others said, "No, he only looks like him."

But he himself insisted, "I am the man."

10 "How then were your eyes opened?" they demanded.

11 He replied, "The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see."

12 "Where is this man?" they asked him.

"I don't know," he said.

13 They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. 14 Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man's eyes was a Sabbath. 15 Therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. "He put mud on my eyes," the man replied, "and I washed, and now I see."

16 Some of the Pharisees said, "This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath."

But others asked, "How can a sinner do such miraculous signs?" So they were divided.

17 Finally they turned again to the blind man, "What have you to say about him? It was your eyes he opened."

The man replied, "He is a prophet."

18 The Jews still did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they sent for the man's parents. 19 "Is this your son?" they asked. "Is this the one you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see?"

20 "We know he is our son," the parents answered, "and we know he was born blind. 21 But how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don't know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself." 22 His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews, for already the Jews had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Christ would be put out of the synagogue. 23 That was why his parents said, "He is of age; ask him."

24 A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. "Give glory to God," they said. "We know this man is a sinner."

25 He replied, "Whether he is a sinner or not, I don't know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!"

26 Then they asked him, "What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?"

27 He answered, "I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples, too?"

28 Then they hurled insults at him and said, "You are this fellow's disciple! We are disciples of Moses! 29 We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don't even know where he comes from."

30 The man answered, "Now that is remarkable! You don't know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. 31 We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will. 32 Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing."

34 To this they replied, "You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!" And they threw him out.

35 Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" 

36 "Who is he, sir?" the man asked. "Tell me so that I may believe in him."

37 Jesus said, "You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you." 

38 Then the man said, "Lord, I believe," and he worshiped him.

39 Jesus said, "For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind." 

40 Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, "What? Are we blind too?"

41 Jesus said, "If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.