Bible Materials

TO DISPLAY THE WORK OF GOD

by   02/21/2008   John 9:1~7

Message


In the gospel story Jesus healed blind people on several occasions. Jesus’ healing of a blind man in today’s passage is very unique. On today’s stage Jesus and his disciples and a man born blind appear. The disciples raised one of the fundamental questions of mankind, “Why was the man born blind?” Their question was based on the theory of cause and effect. Jesus gave them a revolutionary answer. And then, Jesus opened the eyes of the blind man. Yet, his way of healing the blind man’s eyes was striking. Through this study, may we deeply accept God’s truth that our life is given to display the work of God at any human conditions and by this truth completely overcome man’s fatalistic view of life and truly display the work of God in our lives. First, Displaying the work of God in a man born blind (1-3). Look at verse 1. “As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth.” Jesus and his disciples’ walking together on the road was a beautiful sight. It was probably a sunny Sunday under the blue sky with no clouds at all. The disciples may have sung, “This is My Father’s World…” whistling. They were joyful and their faces were bright. Jesus saw a man blind from birth. In the Bible Jesus does not just see outward appearance. He has insight to see the whole. Jesus saw many years of the blind man’s crying, his present blind and begging condition and his future in God. But the disciples saw only what their physical eyes could see, a blind man begging on the street. At the scene right away they sighed, “O, poor creature!” Their faces turned dark and their hearts saddened. “Why was this man born blind?” Immediately the question arose in their minds, and they soon concluded that it was because of someone’s sin, probably God’s mistake. So they asked Jesus, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” In this one question they revealed their view of life and suffering. It was based on the theory of cause and effect. Jewish people thought that all the sufferings and miseries in life were because of human sins and God’s punishment on them. In particular they thought that blindness and leprosy were due to God’s curse. This world is a fallen world under God’s curse (Ge 3:17). And the second of the Ten Commandments says, “…punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me…” (Ex 20:4) God punishes man’s sin. If God does not punish what is wrong, God’s justice cannot stand and the world is to be in chaos with no concept of right and wrong. The principle of crime and punishment and the law theory of cause and effect are not wrong. Yet, that’s not all. God’s thought and way of working is profound. Right after Man’s fall God’s redeeming thought came out, redeeming the fallen men and the cursed world. He has been doing the redemption work until now. The future world will be far better than the first in the redeeming grace of our God. The problem is that only the idea of cause and effect is deeply embedded in all mankind and men cannot go further. In asking the question the disciples disclosed their own hidden fatalistic thinking about themselves. They were following Jesus, but still their way of thinking about life had not yet changed. They were not only fatalistic about the blind beggar’s life but also their own lives. When they were rejected by the people of the world time and again, they could not think positively about their future as disciples of Jesus. Nothing seemed to be certain and bright for them. As they saw the man blind from birth their fatalistic view of life surfaced. They seemed to be saying, “O, you are miserable; we are miserable too. Why? Whose fault is this?” In this world there are things that we cannot determine such as the family and the nation and the generation I am born into and our complexion, and natural disasters. Also, many things take place without our free will. We meet various kinds of people in life and confront daily incidents that cannot be predicted. As for most people, when things do not go as well as they expected, they easily fall into fatalistic thinking. When their situations become worsened and prolong in that state, fatalistic thinking overwhelms. Can there be an unambiguous answer to such a question? If so, where is it? Here it is. Look at verse 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.” Wow! What an answer, crystal clear! The question was complicated and dark but the answer was all clear and bright. Jesus said, “Neither this man or his parents sinned…” How come! Nonetheless to say this man was sinful at birth, sinful from the time his mother conceived him (Ps 51:5), and his parents sinned a lot in the sight of God. And his grandparents and great grandparents also sinned much and the sin record goes up to his farthest parents Adam and Eve. If God punished man according to his or her sin deserves, no one would survive, for the wages of sin is death (Ge 2:7; Ro 6:23). Even the punishment with blindness would not be enough before the righteous and holy God. Martin Luther said, “If I were God, I would destroy this earth three times a day.” So Jesus’ word, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” is really shocking and he was speaking it in the redeeming grace of our God through his Son Jesus Christ. In this grace of redemption the spiritual law of cause and effect has been turned upside-down. This is what we studied: “Neither do I condemn you. Go now and leave your life of sin” (Jn 8:11). Paul said in Romans 8:1,2, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.” The law of sin and death, that came from the law of cause and effect cannot prevail anymore in Christ Jesus. Jesus continued to say, “…but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.” Jesus is really great and wonderful. This remarkable word of Jesus opens a new way of looking at human sufferings and happenings in life. The man was born blind and had been blind for a long time, probably more than several decades. Undoubtedly his life was marked with sorrow and self-pity and bitterness and misfortune. Nothing good seemed to happen in his life. As for him life was not a good one at all, even for a single day, but troublesome and burdensome all the time. He maintained his life because he could not die. He sorrowed over himself and his parents and many others. No one in the world could see or speak of his human condition with any brightness. But Jesus’ view of the man born blind was full of brightness and hope, without even a hint of darkness. When Jesus said, “…this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life,” it is truly a marvelous view of life. The disciples looked backward in time to see this man’s life of suffering and try to explain it, but Jesus looked ahead to see what will happen in his life and how the life-suffering can be used to render glory to God. In this view of life all the fatalistic elements of life can be gone, and human suffering has a deep meaning. In Jesus there is no “someone’s fault” attitude. In him there is no fatalistic life-view. In him there is only the providence of God over any and every human condition. To Jesus this man was born blind in the perfect providence of God and his special purpose. His endless sorrowful and suffering life was also in God’s profound providence and purpose. Jesus’ answer is deeply rooted in God’s creation, which was good. When God created the world, it was good. Especially after the creation of man, God said, “It was very good.” Each person is the masterpiece of God, whether short or tall, beautiful face-looking or less beautiful, blind or full-sighted. This is the absolute creation truth. We recognize that some babies are born deformed because of their parents’ irresponsible life. Yet, still life comes from God; any human life is God’s creation. Man’s wrong doing cannot ultimately destroy God’s creation purpose. Ephesians 2:10 says, “for we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” God created each person uniquely, with a unique plan and a purpose. This blind man was also God’s workmanship with a unique character and plan of God. Surprisingly, Jesus himself is the Creator of this man born blind and his Redeemer. In Christ Jesus he had an ample reason to display the work of God in his life. According to Jesus, regardless of human conditions, life is a chance to display the work of God and reveal God’s glory. The important thing is that one must have a clear life purpose and direction to live for the glory of God and fiercely fight against fatalistic elements of life to display the work of God in his life. One mother agonized and sorrowed over her son’s slow development. She cried many tears. But through that she could come near to God, pouring out her heartfelt prayer to God. Now the son is grade in 2 and is fine and grows well, robust and bright. We continue to pray for him that the work of God be displayed in his life. There was an Italian conductor, Arturo Toscanini (1867-1957). Actually, he was a cellist. He had weak eight-sight. However, he did not despair but made a tremendous effort to memorize all the music notes. Once in a concert the main conductor of his orchestra could not perform, an opportunity to conduct came to Toscanini. He had no real experience as a conductor. But because he memorized all the music pieces, he could conduct wonderfully and amazed all the audience. At that time he was just 19. Since then, he rose to become a world famous conductor. It is true that one’s weakness can be turned to strength (Heb 11:34). In the Bible there are so many stories of those who displayed the work of God in their lives despite their adverse human conditions. Among them Zechariah is outstanding. He was a priest, but he had no child at all until he became like a grandpa. But he never stopped praying for a son to be given his family. Finally God answered his prayer and gave him the greatest son among men, John the Baptist. Thus he displayed the work of God in his life. Joni Ericson was 17 in July 1967. She dived into Chesapeake Bay and broke her neck. Since then she has been a quadriplegic, confined for life to a wheel chair. She became very fatalistic when she realized that she could not move even to commit suicide. But God did not abandon her. God intervened in her life through one-to-one Bible study with her shepherd. Through Bible study she found the life of mission for herself even in her situation. When she decided to display God’s glory with her entirely paralyzed body, she wrote many pamphlets about the victorious life of faith and drew many pictures by holding the pen or brush in her mouth. Formerly, her purpose of life was to show off herself to boys. After the accident, her new purpose of life was to display God’s glory. In order to display God’s glory, she fought against her fatalistic element of life as a matter of life or death. Through her spiritual fighting with herself, she rendered glory to God. May we see the work of God be displayed in U of T campus pioneering work. Second, Doing the work of God in one’s limited life-time (4-5). After giving the enlightening words of God’s truth, what did Jesus do? He had to speak more to them before healing the blind man. Look at verse 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.” Here we learn how to overcome fatalism. Believing God’s clear purpose in each given situation, one must work hard. No one can cope with his or her adverse situation by just sitting down and doing nothing. We must work. With clear life-purpose and direction, one must work and labour. Our lifetime is given to work, not to idle. In his creation, God made the Garden of Eden and put man there to work it and take care of it (Ge 2:15). Originally, work is God’s blessing. We are reminded of St. Paul. When God saved him, he worked harder than anyone else so that God’s grace to him might be without effect (1 Cor 15:10). He even said, “If a man will not work, he shall not eat” (2 Th 3:10). All the animals know how to rest and take it easy. To my understanding no animal can work willingly and purposely except ant. Proverbs 6:6-8, “Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet its stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest.” We can say work is the nobility of man. Jesus said, “Night is coming when no one can work.” Night is coming. This is an undeniable truthful statement. Everyone recognizes this. But not many people learn a lesson from this natural phenomena. Once Jesus said, “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near” (Mk 13:28). As summer is coming definitely, so is the coming of the Son of God. Night is coming when no one can work. It means that the time is coming when our brain does not function and our eyes and ears and mouths stop functioning, and when we cannot move our arms and legs and our hands and feet. So Jesus wants us to work before night is coming. As we all know, our time does not stop but flies by, and will never return. Still, it is easy to waste time, not working hard. So a Psalmist said, “Teach us to number our days aright that we may gain a heart of wisdom” (Ps 90:12). Work is good. However, what kind of work one does matters. The Pharisees really worked hard. Yet, their work was terrible, making use of a pitiful woman and seeking every effort opportunity to kill Jesus, who God sent. Their work was evil for their selfish purpose. Jesus said, “…we must do the work of him who sent me.” God sent Jesus to save all people of the world from their sins and bring them back to the kingdom of God. The work of God is the work of salvation, and it is the work of love for the people of this world. Soul salvation is the most precious and valuable work in the world. Jesus gave his life for the saving of one soul after another and then died on the cross for the salvation of all, world salvation work. All my work should be related to the work of world salvation. Third, Doing the work of healing the blind man with mud in saliva (5-7). Look at verse 5. “While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” Why did Jesus say this at this time and what’s the meaning of it? Jesus just could have said, “I am the light of the world.” The time when Jesus was in the world was the most precious time in history. Before Jesus’ coming the world was dark. But through the coming of Jesus into this world light dawned. Jesus the person is the light of the world, because he is our Redeemer and Saviour. Also, while in the world, Jesus showed us the life of light by living a life of faith. Humanly speaking, he was in the most fatalistic life-situation. He was born in a manger. He was despised because of his poor human background as a man of Nazareth in Galilee. The prophet Isaiah described him as a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. But his life was most beautiful and shining. He himself lived a life of faith. Hebrews 5:6 says, “During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.” So the author of Hebrews says, “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith…” (Heb 12:2). To the eyes of the disciples Jesus was often seen as one who was rejected again and again. In the previous the Jews picked up stones to stone him (Jn 8:59). Yet, Jesus said, “While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” Jesus wanted his disciples to grow in faith. Look at verse 6. “Having said this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes.” What an odd action as the light of the world! The disciples probably expected that Jesus would send rays of light from his hands to the man’s eyes as the light of the world. However, Jesus spit on the ground, made some mud with the lots of saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. Why did Jesus choose this way to attempt to open the blind man’s eyes? Probably Jesus remembered how the first human being was made: “…the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being” (Ge 2:7). Anyway, he himself did not need this kind of procedure for the opening of the closed eyes. Obviously, it was to help his disciples to teach them how to work. Medically speaking, what they needed was medical instruments for surgery or special medicine. However, Jesus and his disciples did not have any of such kind. At this situation Jesus used mud mixing dust and saliva, which everyone has. Jesus’ shepherd heart led him to use even such things for the miracle of opening the blind man’s eyes. The disciples must have wandered about how to do the impossible work of God with their poor human conditions. But Jesus showed them mud and saliva method to display the work of God. Then Jesus told the blind man, “Go, wash in the Pool of Siloam.” At this the man went and washed, and came home seeing. The disciples could see that finally through obedience the miraculous work of God could be done. Then Jesus told the blind man, “Go, wash in the Pool of Siloam.” At this the man went and washed, and came home seeing. The disciples could see that finally through obedience the miraculous work of God could be done. Making mud with saliva in shepherd heart and obedient faith we can challenge to do impossible things. With the mud of our Bible study in saliva of prayer may we serve God’s flock of sheep. Mixing mud with the saliva may we prepare for 2008 Purdue SBC and newly experience the power of God. We thank and praise God for Jesus’ enlightening words, “…this happened so that he work of God might be displayed in his life.” Holding to this truth of God may we work hard making mud to display the work of God in our lives. May God help us to fiercely fight against any fatalistic element of life in obedient faith.



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