"Who Sees?" (Salter) | John 9:24-41

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A reading from John chapter nine, verses twenty-four to forty-one.

So for the second time, they called the man who had been blind and said to him, Give glory to God.

We know that this man is a sinner.

He answered, Whether he is a sinner, I do not know.

But one thing I know that though I was blind, now I see.

They said to him, What did he do to you?

How did he open your eyes?

He answered them, I have told you already, and you would not listen.

Why do you want to hear it again?

Do you also want to become his disciples?

And they reviled him, saying, You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses.

We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.

The man answered, Why, this is an amazing thing.

You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes?

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.

They answered him, You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?

And they cast him out.

Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, Do you believe in the Son of Man?

He answered, And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?

Jesus said to him, You have seen him, and it it is he who is speaking to you.

He said, Lord, I believe, and he worshipped him.

Jesus said, For judgment I came into the world that those who do not see may see, and those who may who see may become blind.

Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things and said to him, Are we also blind?

Jesus said to them, If you were blind, you would have no guilt, but now that you say we see, your guilt remains.

This is the word of the Lord.

Please be seated.

Well, last week we met this man who had never seen a face, and Jesus gave him sight, and you would expect a celebration.

But instead the neighbors argued, and the Pharisees interrogated, and his parents were silent, afraid of being thrown out.

And this morning, the trial of this man resumes.

The man is called back in, and the question before us this morning becomes who can really see?

Let's pray.

Father of lights, we confess that we can sit in church and know the right words and still not see you.

Open our eyes this morning as you open the eyes of the man born blind.

By your spirit, let your word humble us, shape us, and bring us to worship.

Speak, O Lord, now, for your servants, they are listening.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Nearly two thousand years ago, the Roman philosopher and stoic Seneca wrote a letter to his friend Lucilus.

I read it this week.

It was about a woman in his house named Harpaste.

She had come to him as part of an inheritance.

She was a household entertainer.

And then she went blind.

Suddenly she was completely blind.

But she did not know it.

She kept asking to be moved to another room.

This room is too dark, she would say.

And they would move her, and she would say, It's this room is too dark.

And she would ask those around her to open the shutters, to bring a lamp.

Seneca notes she was certain of one thing: that the problem was the house.

The servants began to laugh at her.

But Seneca, the philosopher, did not.

Why?

He realized he was looking in a mirror.

He says and writes that what we might laugh at in her happens to all of us.

No one thinks he is greedy.

No one thinks she is ambitious.

You see, we are all sure, left to ourselves, that the problem is the room.

The faults we blame on circumstances, however, are actually in ourselves.

And what we see this morning is it is one thing to be blind.

It is another thing to be blind and convinced that you are not.

John 9 is about a man who was born blind and he knew it.

But it's also about a room full of religious leaders who thought they could see perfectly well and have no idea they are blind.

And like Seneca mentioned of that lady, before we scoff at them, I think we should notice maybe how much they might look like us.

They know their Bibles, they're confident in their convictions.

Jesus, the light of the world, had just opened a blind man's eyes right in front of them, and they still can't see who he is.

Hear this this morning when the light shines, no one is left unaffected.

In this text, we're going to see that one man is cast out and sought out.

And the men who were sure they could see are called out.

Let's look at the blind man in verses 24 through 38, who now sees that he is cast out.

In verses 24 through 34, we see this.

Jesus, in this moment of this scene, has walked off of the stage.

He opened this man's eyes back in verse 7.

And we will not see Jesus again in this text until verse 35.

So now the man stands trial alone.

But really, the man is not on trial.

The one who's on trial is Jesus.

Verse 24 says, So for the second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, Give glory to God.

We know that this man is a sinner.

Their words, give glory to God, is not a call to worship.

It is actually a sort of threatening oath that knows the confession that needs to come.

It's the same words that Joshua used to pull a confession out of Achan.

They want a confession from him, and they actually have already written it themselves.

Say it.

This man is a sinner.

They won't even name him.

They mean Jesus.

All the healed man has to do is to agree with them.

Verse 25, he answered.

Whether he is a sinner, I do not know.

One thing I know that though I was blind, now I see.

This man still has never seen Jesus.

And yet, in this question, he will not give up what he does know.

They have a conspiracy theory.

He has an irrefutable fact.

I was blind, and now I see.

That's what I know.

Verse 26, they said to him, What did he do to you?

How did he open your eyes?

In verse 27, he answered them, I've told you already, and you would not listen.

Why do you want to hear it again?

Do you also want to become his disciples?

It is the fourth time someone in this chapter has asked him how it happened.

His answer has not changed.

And yet they keep asking.

And his reply is, You won't listen.

Why should I go through this again?

And then he needles them as to the reason of their curiosity.

Oh, do you do you want to become his disciples?

Is that why you ask?

That did not make them happy.

Verse 28.

They reviled him.

That's strong language, saying, You are his disciple.

But we are disciples of Moses.

Verse 29, we know that God has spoken to Moses.

But as for this man, again unnamed, we do not know where he comes from.

Now here they reach for the biggest name they have.

Moses.

However, Moses is not on their side.

And Jesus has already told them this in John chapter 5, verse 46.

John 5:46

If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote of me.

They knew Moses promised another prophet that would come.

And here he stands among them.

And they say, we don't know where he comes from.

They know Moses.

They know the law.

But the one thing that matters most, who Jesus is and where he comes from, they do not know.

They are blind.

And the blind man who now sees is about to show them.

Verse 30.

Why, this is an amazing thing.

You do not know where he comes from?

And yet he opened my eyes.

We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to them.

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.

The once blind now teaches the scholars.

You know what amazes him is their unbelief.

What amazes him is their blindness.

He says, Everyone knows God does not answer one who despises him.

And he knows and remembers perhaps of that promise Isaiah had, that Isaiah had promised that when God's salvation came, blind eyes would be opened.

The evidence is right in front of them.

They're religious and they're blind.

They answer him back in verse 34.

You were born in utter sin.

And would you teach us?

And they cast him out.

They have no answer for his rationale that Jesus has to be from God in order to do these things.

They just go to an insult, born in utter sin.

And you've got to remember what happened at the start of this chapter.

The disciples looked at this same man when he was blind and asked Jesus, Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?

And Jesus has already answered that in verse 3.

It was not that this man sinned nor his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.

And yet, despite that answer to his disciples and seeing that in John, now you hear what these religious leaders just admitted.

They believe that same doctrine that Jesus refuted with his disciples.

They say, because they know he was blind, that he was what?

Born in sin.

His blindness for them is connected to them, his sinfulness.

Now that is absolutely wrong thinking, as Jesus has already noted.

But listen to this irony.

Their wrong thinking reveals a reality they cannot deny.

By mentioning and calling back that he was born in utter sin as a blind man, what are they admitting?

He was blind.

And now he sees.

They are so blind that they can't even see their own logic of their wrong thinking, drawing them to refuse to admit the conclusion this man was blind, and now he sees, and we want nothing to do with him or Jesus.

So what do they do?

They cast him out.

This was more than being shown the door.

This is a sort of excommunication.

They cut this man off from worship and from his people.

And this is the very thing that his parents feared so much that in the previous passage they would not speak.

They knew the truth and they stayed quiet to keep their seats in the religious place, but their son couldn't do that.

This man was thrown out for telling the truth about Jesus.

And here's how this particular scene ends.

The beggar who now sees ends the scene outside the door.

But the learned inside of it get to stay inside, but in the dark.

Most of us will never be put out of a synagogue.

But I think sometimes our pressure is quieter.

When people know of our faith, it's a raised eyebrow, a table that goes silent, a deserved promotion threatened.

And in those moments, it's easier to go the way of the blind man's parents than the way of the healed son.

In those moments, you hold to the irrefutable fact.

I know this one thing.

I was blind, and now I see.

That could be this man's testimony.

Consider that 600 years earlier, God spoke to the shepherds of Israel who were herding the sheep.

They were casting them out.

Remember what he said?

Behold, I myself will search for my sheep, and I will seek them out.

In verse 34, you have a picture of the fulfillment of Ezekiel with the religious leaders who were supposed to care for God's people, driving them out.

But in verse 35, you have the fulfillment of Ezekiel 34, that the Lord, the shepherd, comes looking for his sheep.

A theme that we'll take up chapter 10.

The promise is fulfilled.

And you know what's so beautiful?

He's cast out of the synagogue, but he is found by the true temple.

He's found by the very temple of God.

He is sought out.

And Jesus asks him, Do you believe in the Son of Man?

I love that this man still will not pretend.

You know, don't ever answer a question you don't know the answer to, right?

He he answers, and who is he, sir?

That I may believe in him.

Jesus said to him, You have seen him.

And it is he who is speaking to you.

Can you imagine that moment?

He has never laid eyes on Jesus.

But he has heard the voice.

The face of Jesus is new to him.

The voice is not.

The voice is all he's ever known.

And when he connects the voice to the face in verse 38, he says, Lord, I believe.

And he worshipped him.

A man who has looked at nothing his whole life uses his new eyes to look at Jesus and adore him.

And it reminds me of one of the church's best loved hymn writers who longed for that very sort of moment, Fanny Crosby.

She was blinded as an infant.

She lived 94 years without sight.

And she is said to have remarked that given the choice, I would stay blind so that the first face I ever see is the face of my Savior.

Isn't that beautiful?

Fanny's saying.

I know his voice.

I can't wait to see his face.

It's what happens here.

The man in John 9 lived that very vision.

He heard Jesus' voice before he saw his face.

Folks, we will too.

We who know his voice, we will see his face.

And at that time, we like the blind man, we will worship.

This is the only time in John's gospel that anyone worships Jesus.

And notice Jesus does not stop him.

This is very important because angels refuse that kind of worship in Revelation.

But Jesus here receives it.

Why?

Because he is God and He is worthy.

Remember the oath in verse 24?

Give glory to God.

Well, ironically, he does just that.

At the end of the day, he gives glory to God, and the sight that was given to him leads him to the face of Jesus.

No one asks us.

Many of us may be grateful for what Jesus has done, but I want to ask us this.

Are we brought to our knees by it?

Are we brought to our knees by who he is in adoration and worship?

Are we longing to see his face and worship him?

So the man the proud cast out is the man the Savior sought out, and now Jesus turns to the proud and calls them out.

Verse 39.

Jesus said, For judgment I came into this world that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.

Yes.

Jesus came to save, not to condemn.

He said that in John 3 17.

Then what of this statement that for judgment I have come into this world?

Well, when the light comes into the world, it opens blind eyes, but it also exposes the sight of those who refuse to see.

You see, just by walking into the world, Jesus divides it.

He is a physician who diagnoses humanity.

You know, the hardest cases are the ones who are sure that they are okay.

Verse 40.

Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things and said to him, Are we also blind?

I wish they were sincerely asking that question, but they're not.

That question is really more like, surely not us.

He's not talking about us.

In verse 41, Jesus said to them, If you were blind, you would have no guilt.

But now that you say we see, your guilt remains.

Look closely at what Jesus says.

Their blindness is not innocent.

Though they have seen the light before their face, they have refused it.

What makes their guilt so terrible is that they are certain they can see.

You see, a blind man who knows it can be led.

But a blind man who insists he sees will walk into every wall in the house and complain about the furniture.

Note that word, remains.

Your guilt remains.

Jesus most often uses that word for abiding in Christ.

But here it refers to a guilt that abides, that will not go away.

What causes our guilt to abide, to not go away?

It is self-sufficiently saying, I can see.

That's what causes the guilt of our condition to remain.

These were the Bible teachers, the men who prayed, the men who tithed, the men who knew Moses.

And so, as we've seen repeatedly in John, it is entirely possible to sit in church every week and know every answer and still be blind.

But verse 45, I want you to see, is not a slam door.

Listen to it again.

If you were blind, you would have no guilt.

But now that you say we see, your guilt remains.

What is he meaning?

You know, the beginning of the way out is the beggar's confession.

I was blind.

Honesty about your own condition, and honesty that left to myself, I cannot see.

There's only one who can open my eyes.

His name is Jesus.

And that one who pronounces this to the religious leaders just chapters later will stand trial himself.

He will stand in the dock in our place, and he will be condemned so that the guilt of the blind sinners who turn to him will not remain.

How would you know this morning if you are here blindly saying, I can see?

You know, that that statement rarely sounds like pride.

It sounds like being sure.

Can I give you one indicator, maybe, that you say I see, but you might be blind?

Perhaps you're unteachable?

You're quick to spot blindness in someone else, you're slow to see on your own.

Or another way to ask it is this when was the last time God's word told you that you were wrong and you let it?

The last time God's word shined on you and said, You are wrong, and you yielded.

That's a sign of true sight.

The word of God is standing right in front of them, disagreeing with everything they think, and they do not yield.

They're blind.

So back to the start, we don't know whether anyone ever told that young lady in Seneca's house the truth.

Seneca's letter does not say.

But we know from that story that the cure was never another room.

Someone needed to take her hand and say, It isn't the house, it's your eyes.

The blind at least ask for a guide.

Those who think they are can see and are really blind wander around without one.

So in John 9, who really sees?

The man who knew he was blind ends the passage worshiping Jesus.

The men who said we see remain in the dark room in a religious place.

Who sees?

Very simply.

The ones who know they are blind and turn to Jesus, who hear his voice and then say, I was blind, and by his grace I see.

Praise the Lord if you've heard his voice.

We will see his face.

Let us pray.

Lord Jesus, the light of the world, we thank you that you do not leave us in the dark.

Take the truth we have heard and plant it deep in our hearts so that it takes root and bears fruit in our lives.

Make us like the man who would not let go of the one thing he knew.

I was blind and now I see.

Give us courage to tell the truth about you, even when it cost.

Thank you that when we are cast out, you come looking for us.

You found us before we ever found you.

Let every gift you give bring us to our knees and worship.

Guard us from the blindness that self-sufficiently says, I see.

When your word tells us we're wrong, give us grace to listen and to change.

Make us quick to confess our deep need for you.

We praise you that the guilt we confess does not remain because you have carried it for us.

Keep us close to you, our shepherd, until the day we see you face to face.

In your name we pray.

Amen.