John Ch 9
Chapter 8 of Johns gospel, is bookmarked by its opening, it is a poetic irony that the one man left with the women caught in the act of adultery who did not need to depart due to a conviction of sin and was legally able to cast a stone at her according to the law of Moses, that this man, that this very same man they picked up stones to throw at him.
What is incredible is that this all occurred during the same encounter in the temple. The Scribes and Pharisees withdrew under conviction of sin and then after Jesus had endeavored to reach them with his life, light, that didn’t condemn them they turned on him as they were unwilling to acknowledge their need for him as their saviour.
They could not tolerate organic life inside the temple, as it destabilized their own moorings on stone and so they moved to stone him so that they had no voice or light convicting them of sin!
The law was written to convict men of sin, thus their allegiance to the law of Moses was not one of humility but rather it had become a means of establishing themselves as righteous in Gods sight.
When they had picked up stones to throw at him, Jesus had hid himself and went out of the temple.
How did Jesus hide himself, did he crouch down and quickly mingle into the crowd ducking and diving a bit here and there. The verse doesn’t convey a particular supernatural component. So I think it is quite possible that Jesus did react with the impulse of life to exit that temple, knowing that it was not yet his time to die for the sins of the nation.
This conveys his humanity, that as God he humbled himself and became conformed to the image of a man. It puts a spring of life into his exit, not a humiliating withdrawal, it breathes a sharp twinkle in his eyes that loved life and was willing to persevere until his Fathers appointed time.
Jesus’s appearance in that temple, his outer garments and man, was able to mingle amongst all the other temple guests. Jesus had not dressed above and beyond his fellow man.
So then this is the great backdrop to the grand opening of John Chapter 9, a religious elite who considered themselves righteous in Gods sight, could not tolerate a light of life inside the temple of God: You are the temple of God!
Chapter 9:
As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth.
John’s gospel is the gospel of observation, the observation of peoples character.
John specifies that Jesus saw this blind man as he was exiting the temple. Jesus seeing this man lead his disciples to ask him the question: ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind’?
Jesus answered, ‘It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him’.
Jesus reaffirms to his disciples, those who had followed him out of the temple, that ‘as long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world’.
This man, the beggar, had mud placed on his eyes produced by the saliva of Jesus and the earth and he had then washed in the pool of Siloam, as instructed, and after washing his eyes were given sight.
Then his neighbors and those who had seen him as a beggar were saying, ‘Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?’
Some said, ‘It is he’. Others said, ‘No, but he is like him’. He kept saying, ‘I am the man’.
So this spectacle all centered on the reality that this man had been born blind & yet now his eyes where opened.
The people knew a very distinct thing had happened but they did not understand it.
They asked how his sight had been restored and he answered them.
They said to him, ‘Where is he’? He said, ‘I do not know’.
So they brought the man to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind.
This man seeing had happened on the Sabbath.
So the Pharisees asked him again how he had received his sight. And he said to them, ‘He put mud on my eyes, and I washed, and I see’.
Some of the Pharisees said, ‘This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath’. But others said, ‘How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?’ And there was a division among them.
So they said again to the blind man, ‘What do you say about him, since he has opened your eyes? He said, ‘He is a prophet’.
So they called his parents as they did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight.
His parents answered, ‘We know that this is our son and that he was born blind’.
‘But how he now sees we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself’.
His parents answered in this manner as they feared the Pharisees knowing that they had agreed that if anyone should confess Jesus to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue.
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. One thing I do 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 disciples, 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 worshipper 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 is he who is speaking to you’.
He said, ‘Lord, I believe’, and he worshipped him.
Jesus said, ‘For judgement I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those 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.
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It’s of interest that they brought this man to the Pharisees!
A wonderful miracle has just been performed and rather than rejoice in his gaining of sight, they interrogate him, and plough him with questions in a vain attempt at getting some kind of intellectual handle on what has happened.
They wanted a religious handle for events, and took him to the Pharisees.
This shows how embedded religion was in the society. But also how it had come to shape their lives to such an extent that they could not simply see a miracle and marvel at it. Their personal do’s and don’ts had become some rigid and part of the very fabric of their thinking that they could not cope with a miracle unless their could filter it right down through this framework.
The heart of worship had become governed by mental ascent and descent concerning do’s and don’ts. The leaders of the temple who had wanted to stone Jesus, their example had filtered right through even to this poor beggars neighbors, and where not even his own parents in such fear that they themselves dare not give testimony to the man they knew their Son had said had given him sight.
The Pharisees had a grip on society through the synagogues, and despite all the people having gone out to be baptized by John, it still held a central place in the social and religious and family life of the nation.
This man who had regained his sight, he was not out to become blinded again.
No this man was fresh and he was enjoying all the color he was now seeing.
This man knew the dialogue of the people, it was his livelihood to pay attention to every sound he could hear. This man may have sat in on many lessons in the temple, understanding the feasts and all the laws, as knowing when they came around and how to engage in conversation at the right season or day or scripture concerning the poor, taught by Moses, this all underpinned his daily bread. A good beggar, knows how to engage his donors, especially with a blessing.
But now that he had regained his sight, he wanted no part with it. That whole system of mental compartments and a narrow lens on the telescope of life, this man didn’t want to repeat the whole thing to the Pharisees again, as he knew that their real objective had nothing to do with learning about his miracle but rather it was an attempt to ensure that their hegemony over how and what people think was retained.
This man who had been given sight, was not going to allow the wonder of his miracle to be dimmed into just another overarching and heavy stone within the temple classes, NO, he himself had decided that his sight was far to valuable a gift to allow it to become just another brick in the wall.
No, this man who could now see, saw life for the first time not through the prism of a legal and religious society. That whole framework, that daily grind begging from his fellow worshippers had been completely removed by washing in the pool of Siloam. He had been sent to that pool by the light of this world and had come back seeing.
This man knew the texture of dust, as he rubbed it between his fingers pondering where the next group of travelers may have come from. So when he had been given sight, he was not impressed by the huge structure of the temple, that his begging had only ever managed a meal a day from – NO it was just as he had expected, it was all the worshippers had really been impressed with, they never came out and said with wonder, the priest gave me back my gift and said ‘your sins are all forgiven’. He had never had a gift as a consequence of the Pharisee imparting colour and a fullness of sight, even to his begging. No this beggar knew precisely how the whole system worked.
This man hadn’t had time to think much, but he noticed the sparrows nest within the rafters. This man saw the Pharisees greatest need was not for a repeat and a repeat, and repeat. NO they too need sight, and he knew it. He knew they needed to have their eyes opened, this blind beggar finally understood why he had been born blind, it was for such a time as this.
This man couldn’t care less being kicked out of the temple and banished from the synagogues, he would rather be able to see the ants and wonder at the loads they carried, than to be able too see but not wonder at the glorious liberty.
And what is this mans reward for simply being faithful to having washed in the pool he was sent to. And for not changing the narrative, oh thank God for this beggar who had personal integrity. This beggar had grasped hold of the very first lesson of life, their is a commandment and it brings with it all the promises of life. Their is a good shepherd who restores the soul and leads beside still waters.
This beggar, was not going to let slip what he had learn through fear and compromise to a system that had no wonder at sight, that could not be taught by the creator.
Hallelujah, this man wanted reality and he wanted the boom of the cool of the day in his life. Elephants, Giraffes, Monkeys and even Kangaroos, this man didn’t want a structure that contained the love and grace of God.
Amen.
This man was a true convert, a true religious convert according to Gods making and sending.
This is the pattern of discipleship, this man was a man, who had heard the anger and the anticipation of cornering Jesus with a women caught in the night, as they dragged her past him, sensing her fear and their malice intent. Perhaps he even knew who else had been guilty of such breaches of the law.
But this man had been given sight and his faithfulness to the first lesson, his integrity to the truth of it, is the real building block of true religion, and the fabric society and neighborhoods truly need. It was followed by the teacher himself, revealing to him that this gaining of sight, was the original heart of God for all men: that this man Jesus was indeed the Sabbath man, the very light of God, through whom all men receive every breath they breath. That he was the Messiah.
And he worshipped him. They stood in line in the temple, but he had been given clear plain crystal clear sight.
Jesus had been cast out so to speak & so had this disciple and convert. But when we are cast out, he is their to encourage are hearts that I will never leave you nor forsake you.
Thank God this beggar was born blind, Jesus’s loved this man, and used him as a demonstration a lesson for not just the nation of Israel but for the whole wide world. And the man born blind, was grateful, he was forever grateful that Jesus had saved him from seeing but being blind to the simplicity of the wonder of life.
1st lesson integrity to the light. 2nd lesson the wonder the great wonder that Jesus is the Messiah who says: Neither do I condemn thee. The marvel of a new covenant of a Sabbath Saviour he opens mens eyes to see the finished covenant: Rabboni, the garden man
eternalrays 