Message

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In the previous passage we could hear Jesus’ words, “…but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.” It teaches us that one must have a clear life purpose to display the work of God in his life and all the given human conditions and happenings are opportunities to display God’s work and his glory. Then Jesus healed the eyes of a man blind from birth. It was the wonderful grace of Jesus to the man. Today’s passage is about what happened to the man after his eyes were opened. He could have enjoyed seeing many beautiful things in the world. The story is about how he was persecuted and how he bore the grace of Jesus. Bearing Jesus’ grace was costly, but his spiritual eyes were wide open to see Jesus and his faith grew deeper. To keep the grace of Jesus is the most important thing in Christian life. May God help us to learn this precious lesson. First, “He put mud on my eyes and I washed” (8-17). When the man blind from birth was healed and opened his eyes, we would expect that all the people who knew him would rejoice. But that was not the case. His neighbours did not say, “Thank God. Congratulations!” Rather, they asked, “Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?” No one could even imagine that the man would open his eyes and see. Undoubtedly the neighbours knew that he was the same man. Yet, the change was so sudden and unexpected to them that they asked such a question. Some claimed that he was. Others said, “No, he only looks like him.” They tried hard not to recognize him. But he himself insisted, “I am the man.” He could have said, “I was not such a bad person as a blind beggar. I was originally good. You are talking about other person.” He clearly said, “I am the man.” He surely meant, “I was such a lowly and miserable person as a blind street beggar. But now I am a new man.” When he was asked how his eyes were opened, he said, “The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see.” The formerly blind man testified to Jesus based on fact. His testimony was factual. He vividly remembered what Jesus did, how he responded, and finally what resulted: Jesus’ making mud and putting it on his eyes, Jesus’ command and his obedience, and his seeing. He received his sight from Jesus. It was through his obedience. That obedience was not easy. There was the obedience process. When the man heard Jesus say, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life…I am the light the world,” surely his heart was greatly inspired and moved. Yet, he must have wondered what it meant to him. Next, Jesus’ personal help came to him. Jesus made some mud with the saliva and put it on his eyes, and then told him to go to Siloam (the word means sent) and wash. Jesus’ help was hard to get as an easily despised and misunderstood person; it required trust and obedience. His practical obedience to Jesus’ concrete direction was more than one could say. He was quiet when Jesus’ saliva was spit and the mud put on his eyes. Then, without saying a word he went to Siloam and washed. Through this process of obedience his eyes were miraculously opened. The lesson he learned through his obedience was so precious. That’s why his testimony was factual, vivid and living, and he was confident in testifying to the grace of Jesus. When he was brought to the Pharisees and asked how he had received his sight, the blind man said, “He put mud on my eyes, and I washed, and now I see.” He was clear about what Jesus did and what he did, and he was not daunted at all in testifying to the grace of Jesus even before the Pharisees. Obedience is a channel to God’s immeasurable blessing. From the beginning stage of John’s gospel the author dealt with obedience. At the wedding in Cana, the wine was gone. It was an embarrassing situation. Accepting his mother Mary’s prayer, Jesus was going to do a miracle. Jesus did not do it all by himself. He commanded some servants there to fill the six stone water jars (each holding about 75 to 115 liters) with water. The author commented to the response of the servant, “so they filled them to the brim.” Then the water turned into wine. The master of the banquet and all the guests recognized the wine as the best and enjoyed it to their full extent. The author had to comment one more thing that nobody knew where the wine came from, though the servant who had drawn the water knew. The nameless unknown servants brought God’s blessing to the wedding. They were burden-bearers and at the same time miracle-bearers, because they knew the secret of God’s blessing, obedience. (The obedience of our Lord Jesus Christ in John’s gospel). May God help each of us to obey one concrete direction given to us very personally. Second, “One thing I do know” (18-34) The Pharisees still did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight. So they sent for his parents and asked, “Is this your son? Is this the one you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see?” These questions were straightforward and the answers were obvious. However, the Pharisees wanted to undo what had been done in the blind’s life even through his parents. The parents answered, “We know he is our son, and we know he was born blind. But we don’t know how he can see now, or who opened his eyes.” They added, “Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself.” When their lives were threatened, even the parents did not want to stand together with their son out of fear. It is true that in the world of faith one must stand all alone in the long run. Anyway, the parents escaped the situation, and the Pharisees could not accomplish their purpose. Again, the Pharisees had to confront the tough guy [who didn’t cooperate with them They really didn’t like]. Look at verse 24. “A second time they summoned the man who had been blind, ‘Give glory to God,’ they said. ‘We know this man is a sinner.’” At this second round, they were pressing him hard in the name of God to deny Jesus and his work. Then how did the man respond? Look at verse 25. “He replied, ‘Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see.” The man did not succumb to the authority of the Pharisees at all. Rather, he sprang up at the pressure. He knew how to give glory to God. It was through speaking out one thing he knew, the grace of Jesus. Of course as an uneducated, blind beggar, he did not have much knowledge of theology, philosophy, history, etc. But he knew one thing very clearly. That one thing was the grace of Jesus: “I was blind but I see!” This one thing was undeniable even if heaven fell. No one in the world would undo what Jesus had one to him. Although the whole world would deny it, he could not because God knew it and he himself knew it. So he wonderfully testified to the grace of Jesus: “I was blind but now I see.” In the past he could not see anything in blindness, even his own face. He did not know what kind of face he had. His blindness not only struck him outwardly but also inwardly. So many times he said to himself, “Why me?” Others also asked, “Why you?” in derision. There was no answer, for the question was unanswerable. In silence he had to swallow up all human sorrow and his fate. He was blind and would be blind forevermore. How he wished to see even in his dream! Yet, that was impossible. But a miracle happened; now he could see. He could see everything in the world. What he had wished came true. In the past the world was dark to him, because he could not see. Now the world was bright, because he could see. He wanted to shout toward the whole world, “Now I see!” All people of the world could see, but their seeing was different from his. To them seeing was natural and taken for granted. However, to him seeing was special, coming after darkness. All others’ seeing was from below, but his seeing was from above. It was a miraculous act of God and the matchless grace of Jesus. The grace of Jesus was so wonderful that it was impossible for him to deny it. He had to testify to it before anyone. This one undeniable grace of Jesus made him special and strong and undefeatable in the world. Now he had to say, “Lord, why me?” St. Paul was a persecutor of the Church of God to the point of hating and murdering believers. So he said that he did not deserve to receive the grace of Jesus and be called to be an apostle. Yet, he confessed, “By the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was without effect” (1 Cor 15:9,10). And he encouraged his spiritual son Timothy to be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus (2 Ti 2:1). When we read the Old Testament, God really wanted his chosen people Israel to remember the grace of God, saying, “I am the LORD who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery”: they were slaves under the bondage of Pharaoh in Egypt but the LORD God delivered them and made them free people of God with his precious mission. In John 21, in helping Peter to be restored from his failure and sin and wounds, Jesus said to him, “Simon, son of John, do you truly love me more than these?” Jesus wanted him to know who he was. He was a son of a mere Galilean fisherman, who would live and die following the fish in the sea of Galilee. But Jesus called him out of his dark meaningless life with no truth of God. In the calling he would follow Jesus and grow as a disciple of Jesus. Later, Peter said to God’s flock of sheep, “For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God” (1 Pe 1:23). Again he said, “Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy” (1 Pe 2:10,11). They were strangers and nobodies in the world. But shepherd Peter wanted them to know who they are in Christ: “You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praise of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” I was a legalistic Christian with no word of God’s truth. Outwardly I was okay diligently pursuing spiritual things. Yet, inwardly I was sinful and cloudy and dark and deadened, with no joy or sorrow in life. I was nicknamed stone-Buddah with heavy agony of life but with no expression. At the same time I was vulnerable to evil spirits to destroy myself. But when the word of God came into my heart through Bible study, I was made alive in the Spirit of Christ Jesus and became a living stone with true joy and meaning of life and victory over evil spirit. Jesus’ saving grace was really big in my life. God gave me a precious mission and mission family according to the promise of God, “You will be a blessing.” In his grace I have come thus far, keeping my life of mission. He has provided me with his words of truth. No one could and can remove this living stone from Jesus and from this land of my mission. I was a dead stone, but now I am a living stone with the enduring word of God. In this grace I may continue to be living and growing through the living and enduring word of God until the solid rock like gospel ministry is formed in U of T campus pioneering work. We see more how strong and courageous the man was. When the Pharisees asked him persistently, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” he answered, “I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples, too?” He spoke boldly with wits. Then they were upset and hurled insults at him, saying, “You are this fellow’s disciple! We are disciples of Moses! We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don’t even know where he comes from.” However, the man did not withdraw back even one step. He moved forward and answered, “Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will. Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” When he kept the grace of Jesus, he could be stronger and his spiritual eyes were wide open to see the unique history of God. In chapter 7 we met temple guards who had been sent to arrest Jesus but reported honestly, saying, “No one ever spoke the way this man does” (Jn 7:46). God opens the eyes of pure hearted people to see God and God’s history (Mt 5:8) At this point the Pharisees really got mad and said, “You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!” And they threw him out of the community. Keeping the grace of Jesus was costly, yet he willingly paid the cost. Though they could cast him out of their community, they could not do away with the faith in him. In this the man was not crushed but stood firmly holding to one thing he knew. Third, “I believe” (35-41). People can abandon us, but our Lord Jesus never does so (Isa 49:15). Look at verse 35. “Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, ‘Do you believe in the Son of Man?’” At this time the man seemed to need sympathy and comfort. However, Jesus helped him in his faith. When he was abandoned by people, even by his family members, it was the best time for him to find who Jesus really was. So Jesus asked, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” “Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.” Jesus blessed his earnest request and revealed himself to the man. Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.” Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him. He found who Jesus really was. He was not only the healer of his blinded eyes, but also the Son of Man, who is the Son of God. He is the true object of our worship and life-commitment. John 20:31 says, “But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” By confessing, “I believe,” the man received salvation and eternal life and the kingdom of God as a child of God. He would become a victor in this world. 1 John 5:4,5 says, “…This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.” Jesus came into this world to open the eyes of all mankind to see the Son of God and put their faith in him. But because of their pride the Pharisees remained spiritually blind and could not see Jesus, the Son of God. In their guilt they were condemned and only the eternal judgment was waiting for them. In this passage we deeply learn the importance of keeping one thing I know, that is to testifying to the grace of Jesus: “I was blind but now I see.” What a grace it is to see the words of God and the spiritual world and see the kingdom of God through his Son Jesus Christ. With faith in Christ Jesus we can overcome the world.

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