The Blind Beggar Healed

John 9:1-7

 

INTRO: The remarkable story of the man blind from birth being healed is found only in the ninth chapter of John’s Gospel.  It is in this wonderful chapter that Jesus anoints the eyes of the blind beggar with clay and then sends him to the pool of Siloam to wash.  The blind beggar, in obedience to the words of Jesus, goes to the pool, washes his eyes, and comes to Jesus seeing.

 

I.        VSS 1-3, BLIND BY GOD’S PROVIDENCE

A.       Vs 1, As Jesus made His way from the temple, he sees a man who was born blind.

1. His blindness was congenital, existing at birth.

a. He had never seen the sun rise or set.

b. He had never seen the beauty of a rose, the face of his mother, or the home in which he lived.

c. He had never seen the Sea of Galilee or the Jordan River flowing to the Dead Sea.  He was blind.

d. From babyhood, to boyhood, to adulthood, he was blind.  He grew up in darkness.

2. Jesus saw this man, but the man did not see Jesus.  He was blind.

a. Jesus, now less than six months from the cross, was not consumed by His own trials and sorrows.  He was concerned about others.

b. “Oh what compassion, o boundless love!  Jesus hath power, Jesus is true. . . .”

3. This blind man is a picture of man lost in sin.  The sinner man is spiritually blind.  His understanding is darkened; his heart is blinded (Eph 4:18).

a. Man is blind– he cannot see how awful his condition is.  Eph 2:12.

b. Man is blind– he cannot see that he is in need of a Savior.  John 3:3 says: “Except a man be born again, he cannot see....”  He is blind.

c. Mor blind men were healed by Jesus than men of any other affliction.  This calls our attention to the fact that man is in the dark spiritually.

4. We do not know how the disciples knew that this man was blind from birth.  It is possible that he was a well known blind beggar who sat day by day at the Temple gates.

B.       Vs 2, The question of the disciples comes from the Jewish tendency at that time to trace each affliction, each sorrow to a particular sin.

1. “Who did sin, this man....?”

a. The disciples were echoing a popular teaching in their time.  The teaching of reincarnation.  Was this man being punished for something he had done in a former life.  “It is hardly possible to appreciate the implications of this text without first understanding its theosophical background.  Among the people of Palestine were those who believed in the doctrine of reincarnation.  Today the same kind of people teach that a man must know six hundred emanations– that is, he must live six hundred times, and advance in every one, to reach perfection.  If a man progresses well in one life on earth, the next time he is born he begins on a higher level of opportunity.  On the other hand, if a man fails in this life, the next time he returns to earth the present failure is punished in that he will be handicapped in some measure.  When the disciples suggested this man might have sinned before he was born, they were re-echoing the teaching of their times.  They wondered if this man were being punished by God for something done during a former sojourn on earth” (Powell 197-198).

b. Of course, reincarnation is not Biblical and this thought is to be dismissed.

2. “Who did sin.... his parents?”

a. Had his parents sinned in pre-marital relations?

b. Had the sins of the parents, whatever they may be, been passed to this son? (Exodus 20:5).

C.      Vs 3, Jesus answers the question of the disciples by saying: “Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.”  Not that the parents had sinned, because his blindness was not connected to their sin.

1. This man’s blindness was with a purpose.  That purpose was “that the works of God should be made manifest in him.”

a. The blindness of this man was the touch of God in his life.

b. Only the God of heaven and Christ His Son knew the plan of God for this man.  It is through this blindness that this man will believe in Christ and give praise and glory to God.  As I look back on the sorrows of my early childhood, I can now see that they were intended to bring me to God.  This sit he work of God (Jn 6:29).

2. There is a false doctrine being spread about today that it is never God’s will for anyone to be sick, and if they are sick, it is because of sin or lack of faith.  This man was blind not because of his sin or his parents sin.  He was sick so that God could get glory.  There are three basic causes of sickness:

a. Sickness to the glory of God as seen here.  “Affliction, sorrow, pain, disappointment, and loss are always opportunities for displaying God’s grace.... it enables the sufferer to show God in action” (Barclay 45-46).

b. Sickness as chastisement.

c. Sickness unto death.

 

II.       VSS 4-5, WORK WHILE IT IS DAY

A.       Vs 4, The “day” speaks of His life on earth.  The “night” speaks of His death.

1. Jesus must perform this miracle now.  This man’s blindness was no accident.  It was timed by God to coincide with our Lord’s earthly ministry.  This blindness was in the plan and purpose of God.

2. We, His disciples, are taught by His example to work in God’s vineyard while it is day.  We must make the most of our opportunities to serve Christ.

a. We must be about the Father’s business.

b. “We are not sent here (this world) to eat, and to drink, and to pass our time in pleasure; but to do the work assigned to us.  Every moment of our time is given us for that purpose, and should be employed for that end. . . . And when we lie down. . . at night, we should inquire, how far we have executed the will of our heavenly Master” (Simeon 478).   We need to redeem the time (Eph 5:16).

3. One day our work here on earth will end.  When the night of death comes, we can work no more.  We need to work till Jesus comes.  “We’ll work till Jesus comes, We’ll work till Jesus comes, We’ll work till Jesus comes, and we’ll be gathered home.”

4. Night will not only come to the saint, it will come to the sinner as well.  Sinner harden not your heart (Heb 3:8, 15; 4:7).  Now is the day of salvation (II Cor 6:2).

B.       Vs 5, The blindness of this beggar is the backdrop against which Jesus says: “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

1. Jesus made this statement in 8:12 and repeats it here.

2. The first time that Jesus said: “I am the light of the world,” the backdrop was a moral problem: the woman taken in adultery.  This time, the occasion is a physical problem: blindness.

3. Jesus did not say: “I am a light.”  He said, “I am the light.”  Jesus will not only bring sight to this man’s eyes.  More importantly, He will bring light to his soul.

 

III.      VSS 6-7, THE HEALING OF THE BLIND MAN

A.       Vs 6, Jesus could have simply spoken the words, “be healed,” and the blind man would have had sight.  Or Jesus could have reached out and touched the man, not saying anything, and the man would have been healed.  Why did Jesus anoint this man’s eyes with clay?

1. Was it to symbolize that man is made from the dust of the earth?

2. As we shall see in the next verse, the clay placed upon this  man’s eyes would bring on a right heart attitude, an attitude of obedience.

a. It is not the clay that healed the blind man.  It was obedience to the Word.  Just as this man was healed by obedience, he was also saved because of obedience (9:35-38).

b. It was not the muddy water of Jordan that healed Naaman, it was an obedient heart.