John 9:13-23

First, thanks for joining us.

Thanks for putting up with us.

As we get moving here in

to the Gospel of John again, chapter nine.

Just a quick recap.

Yesterday we entered this story.

A man born blind. Jesus heals him.

Now we begin to unpack the aftermath of this, and there's quite a bit of it.

John really uses this story in some creative ways.

So read another part of it today.

And then we'll come back and have some discussion.

Verse 13,

they brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind.

It was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes.

Then the Pharisees began to ask him how he had received his sight.

He said to them, he put mud on my eyes.

Then I washed, and now I see some of the Pharisees said,

this man is not from God, for he does not observe the Sabbath.

But others said, how can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?

And they were divided.

They said again

to the blind man, what do you say about him?

It was your eyes he opened.

He said he's a prophet.

The Jews did not believe that he'd been blind,

and had received his sight, until they called the parents of the man

who had received his sight, and asked them,

is this your son who you say was born blind?

How does he now see? His parents said,

we know that this is our son, and that he was born blind.

We do not know how it is that he now sees, nor do we know who opened his eyes.

Ask him. He's of age.

He will speak for himself.

His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews.

For the Jews had already agreed that anyone who confessed

Jesus to be the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue.

Therefore, the parents said he is of age.

Ask him.

So now we begin in this healing story,

to kind of get into the controversy that it causes.

And the first controversy is that John drops in here

the detail that it was a Sabbath.

And, you probably know this, but the idea

of breaking the Sabbath here is that to make mud,

you could heal on the Sabbath, but not unless it was life threatening,

and not if it involved what would be constituted as work.

So the mixing of something, the mud and the saliva,

the placing it on the eyes, would have been considered by some

to be things that shouldn't happen on the Sabbath day that would constitute work.

However,

when they give this voice,

others say, how can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?

So you have here this divide.

What what I think is fascinating about this, Michael.

And we see this consistently in the Gospels.

Here's, here's this most incredible thing, right.

That this man.

He's been born blind.

Jesus heals him.

And you have some number among the people

who are offended by how Jesus does it or when Jesus does it.

And this isn't an accident.

I think John is intentionally here trying to show us how far some people

are from getting it, from understanding the truth of who Jesus is.

I think some historical understanding of what's happening

here does help us, because I think this is just really lost on us.

I mean, Clint, how many people today even give a second

thought to the idea on a Sabbath day going out and mowing their lawn

or, you know, buying groceries or getting whatever you need done?

For many of us, that is not even the thing of a second thought.

And so I think it's worth noting here

that part of this debate is rooted in this idea

that, one should be zealous

for the law, that one should find your identity

in that law that God gave to the people,

that the defining nature of who

we are as people of faith is what God has told us to do.

And so therefore, especially in Jesus's day,

there's all these reform movements and there's all of these really zealous

practices.

A lot of times we know Pharisees, Sadducees, there's other groups that

we know about from the historical record who are also incredibly zealous.

And, and so this is just a time in which

the idea of living this out is sort of in the air.

It's the culture.

It's the context.

It's what people are talking about, what we see happening here in the book of

John is we see John showing Jesus to be

the one who creates a new community by nature of the revelation of who he is.

And so therefore, when there's these debates over things like Sabbath

law, should this man have had the mud, put it on his eyes to have Jesus done

that work, should have the man listened and went all the way

over to the pool of sand so that he could wash his eyes.

That's what the Pharisees are fixated on and to be clear,

I think a charitable reading of that you could say that what they're fixated on

is that you're violating the nature of who

we are by nature, of what God told us to do.

And so therefore, how is it that you can rest so confidently?

And that's what's behind this question, is this man's not from God.

He doesn't observe the Sabbath.

What you have in the follow up question, though, I think is interesting,

how can a man who is a sinner perform stop signs is a way

not only where we see in the voice of the people, but we see

now, even within the narrative in John, a kind of infective question

that comes to us, the reader, Clint, and asks us to consider, okay,

so if Jesus is calling the people to a kind of community

that is not rooted in the literal living out of the law as it was

practiced by the Pharisees in that day, what is he calling people to?

He's calling people to a higher way.

He's calling them to a revealed identity.

And this is all now sort of unfolding in real time.

As John's heart portrays people stuck in an antiquated understanding

of who they thought God want them to be in the face of the one person

who is who God wants them to be and to become part of.

And that's this sort of misunderstanding that we see all throughout John.

But it's now flourishing in this story.

That the Bible doesn't do a lot of what we would call humor,

or maybe what we would understand as comedy.

But I think this is funny.

The idea that

there are these two groups of

people, and one of them says, well, he's obviously not of God.

He made mud.

And the other group says, yes, he made mud and cured a blind man.

You're getting a little fixated on the wrong detail here, right?

And that's in a nutshell.

That's John's point, right?

That they're they're missing the forest for the trees.

They're they're not encountering the truth of who Jesus is.

And, John begins to give us another clue in, in the words of this man,

they asked him, what do you say he he cured you.

It was your eyes he opened. What do you say?

And notice the interplay here.

It was your eyes he opened.

We told you yesterday that running throughout this story

is the metaphor of seeing and not seeing.

Not just physical blindness, but spiritual blindness.

So they ask what he sees, and he said he is a prophet and that just hangs there.

And then we go into a very interesting detail.

The Jews did not believe he'd been born blind.

I was I was trying to think a little bit yesterday.

Michael,

I'm not aware

of another miracle story

in the Gospels where people doubted the miracle.

Right?

They argue that it shouldn't have been done on the Sabbath.

That's there's one of those in all the Gospels, at least one.

But I, I don't think that at least

that I can call to mind another miracle story

where there's disagreement that the miracle happened.

And so I think that makes this story unusual.

So they go talk to his parents.

And and if you read this backwards, you clearly see that his parents are afraid.

It tells us that later.

But even in their answer, you know, hey, here's what we know. We.

Yes, this is our son.

Yes, he was born blind.

We don't know anything else. Go ask him.

He can speak for himself.

Don't bring us into this. If.

If that seems like an odd if.

That seems like an odd response from parents.

Keep in mind that John is is highlighting the tension here

between those who are trying to use religion to control and intimidate

and Jesus, who has this concept of setting people free.

And so this, this comment, they were afraid

of being put out of the synagogue, in other words,

being excluded from their community, being excommunicated from their faith,

and in response to that, they just sort of put their hands up and say, look,

here's what we can tell you, but you you have to figure out the rest on your own.

And again, if that seems odd, they are protecting themselves here.

They are also, I think, an example

of people caught in the middle of the struggle between

Jesus or truth

and religion in, in this case,

the malpractice or the mis practice of it.

I think that, Clint, to your previous point,

this is another excellent example of a humorous situation to be in,

and I think to sort of point that out, I want to go back to what we had read

last study, and this is here in verse eight,

the neighbors of those who had seen this blind man,

before as a beggar began to ask, is not the man who used to sit and beg?

Some were saying it is he, and others are saying no,

but it is someone like him and Clint.

I just want to sort of put out the idea that flows from this.

You have people who are neighbors, as the text says, people who have

regular encounters with this man who now that he can see, have so much doubt.

They are so blinded to what has happened that they go do the laughable thing

of finding this man's parents to ask them,

are you sure that this is your son who was blind?

That would be like you walking by your neighbor,

waving goodbye to your neighbor, you know, for years?

And then when your neighbor suddenly cuts their hair or gets it taller,

there's something you call their parents to to have identified.

Is this really, then,

this stark contrast between their accusation that this man,

was not blind?

And, you know, he's

essentially duping everyone because, you know, he's some kind of plant.

The idea that they are the ones claiming that the

that this is not true or that it's not honest, it's not forthright

is really fascinating because I think there's this

humorous sort of cord that runs through this text

that if you're blind, you're blind to everything.

If you're blind to reality, you see blindness everywhere,

and you never once catch a whiff of how far off the path you are yourself.

I think John is playing with those themes in a really nuanced

and kind of powerful way here.

This is more the kind of stuff that you're accustomed to in modern storytelling,

I think in many ways than you are in biblical storytelling,

because there's kind of a almost a gotcha like element to this,

I think is really, really well told.

And it is unique.

It's fascinating for the way that it's sort of leading us further into the

the depths of the darkness and sort of seeing

how from within the darkness, everything else is dark to.

We'll come back to this, I think tomorrow we can highlight it.

But the other thing I just want to point out that I do think John introduces

a second theme here that becomes very important.

And I would say that it's this idea of knowing and not knowing.

So we see it introduced here in the response of his parents.

We know this is our son.

We know he was born blind.

We don't know how he now sees and we don't know who did this.

Tomorrow there's going to be an extensive discussion in the passage

we look at about what is known and what is not known,

and who knows things and who does not know them.

And I think John is is easing us into that here.

But I think that idea of knowledge or

of of knowing, maybe more specifically said, becomes really important

as in the way that John wraps up the rest of this story.

I also think a gospel that is heady

in a lot of ways is is very thoughtful and intellectual,

and there's a lot of metaphor and symbolism and multilayered.

Clint, I think we're going to discover in the transition tomorrow

that there's also a real earthiness to this story, a real practicality to

this story, that I think we're beginning to see those themes here as well.

The idea that the parents response here is connected to their fear

that they'll be put out of the synagogue in verse 22, is telling.

That kind of motivation is is very real.

It's very human. It is relatable to us.

If we too were put in a faith situation,

we would all hope that if it was a choice

between affirming the faith and not that, that we would be on the side

of doing the hard thing, even if there was some risk or consequence

of what might happen to our social circumstance.

But the truth here is we're beginning to see the cracks in some of those layers.

We're beginning to see that it's not all cut and dried, that parents

who are almost by definition thrilled, excited for their son

to be given new life are also scared for their own lives that they would be

tumultuous, changed by the miracle that has been done for their son.

So they know the truth of what has happened to him.

And yet, even though they know that they don't know the outcome,

they don't know what's going to happen to them.

They don't see far enough down the road.

And they don't trust at this stage that that Jesus has that in his hands as well.

So just the many layered nature here that we're going to see,

I think, in full display as we move on tomorrow.

There's there's some real practical tones

that are going to come out of this story, like, why are you so fixated

on the theoretical idea of Sabbath or the theological idea of Sabbath,

as opposed to the human at the center of it all?

And we'll there'll be more of that tomorrow.

I'll just try to make maybe two quick points.

One is here. Well, actually,

sort of both of them stemming from verse 27,

sorry, 22

and the first is if you read this, it's a

for the Jews had already agreed that anyone

who confessed Jesus to be the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue.

And so again, who is blind?

The one who has already decided

what they see and what they will not see?

So in already making that decision, John gives us a clue

that these are people with closed hearts and closed eyes and closed minds.

They it doesn't matter what they hear, it doesn't matter what they see.

It doesn't matter that they see a blind man who sees

they have already made up their mind and

and they are then able to enforce that on others as well.

And that's the second.

And this is speculation because we don't know the circumstances here.

But there is a sense in which these men

and their their crusade against Jesus

intrude on what should be

a joyous celebration for a family.

Who has this amazing thing happened to their son, this,

this young man or old man, however old he is, his parents are still alive.

But from the very first breath that he drew

at birth, he's not been able to see.

And his eyes are now opened.

And instead of having a big party and celebrating,

they have to answer questions carefully so that they're not pulled

out of their own synagogue.

And and, I'm not sure how intentional that is in the story, Michael,

but it's a it's a mark again.

It's a, it's it's an accusation,

I think, or a reality that stands out

in what happens when you deny the truth.

They not only miss who Jesus is,

they rob this family of a God moment by their own,

by their own stuff, their own selfishness, their own hatred,

their own manipulation, their own power and abuse

and again, is that a major takeaway from the story?

No, I don't think it is.

But I think it's an interesting thing to think about.

Well, I, I just make note here as we close out this section, right,

that the, the, the thing that will get you kicked

out of the synagogue is what claiming Jesus to be the Messiah.

Scholars tell us that John is one of the later Gospels.

So the fact that there may be Christians experiencing life

in which they see the compelling witness of who Jesus is and they know, claiming

Jesus is the Messiah is going to result in them being expelled from the synagogue.

And make no mistake about it, when the choice is put to the parents,

they cannot speak to the truth of who Jesus is.

Rather, they can only push that responsibility

off on their son and say he's of age.

You go talk to him so that is not confession

of Jesus Christ to be the Messiah.

That is a kind of self absolution that's retracting away

and not giving voice or witness to who Jesus is.

So here these parents, though they know the truth

of what has happened to their son, they are silent and unable

to respond to that truth in a way that recognizes its source.

And I think that John would have been right as a kind of both challenge

and comfort to a church, was facing those choices themselves.

Yeah.

I do think there were people reading that gospel living in that reality.

Certainly. Thanks for being with us.

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