If Jesus Could Heal the Blind Man...Can He Open Your Eyes?

Tom:

We’re continuing with the Gospel of John.We are in John:9:17They say unto the blind man again, What sayest thou of him, that he hath opened thine eyes? He said, He is a prophet.
See All..., “They say unto the blind man again, What sayest thou of him, that he hath opened thine eyes? He said, He is a prophet.”And of course Jesus had just healed this man, as we’ll see from the next verses that I’ll read, that this man was blind from birth and it was a miracle.Obviously, and also—

Dave:

Undoubted miracle.

Tom:

And it took place on the Sabbath which the religious leaders had problems with.But picking up with verse 18: “But the Jews did not believe concerning him,” (and of course “the Jews” is referring to the Jewish leadership.) “But the Jews did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind, and received his sight, until they called the parents of him that had received his sight.And they asked them, saying, Is this your son, who ye say was born blind? How then doth he now see?His parents answered them and said, We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind: But by what means he now seeth, we know not; or who hath opened his eyes, we know not: he is of age; ask him: he shall speak for himself.”Now Dave, before I go on with some of this, the parents were in a tight spot.They could have been thrown out of the synagogue for seeming to go along with and to be excited about what happened to their son.

Dave:

Yes, you need to read that next verse, well let’s read the next two because that explains what you were just saying.“These words spake his parents, because they feared the Jews: (that is the religious leaders) for the Jews had agreed already, that if any man did confess that he was Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue.”So there’s some heavy pressure on both the blind man and the parents and the rabbis are not willing to believe that Jesus did this miracle.Maybe they tried to explain away some of the other ones, I don’t know.But here’s a man born blind.That’s quite a miracle now and he’s—I don’t know how old he is, but he’s a mature person.“Therefore said his parents, He is of age; ask him.”So what is he?Eighteen, twenty, twenty-five, thirty?I don’t know and he’s been blind all that time and now he’s healed. They are not willing to believe, they have their own agenda.Tragically, there are many religious leaders that have their own agenda.I would have to say maybe, even some real Christians, some Christian pastors; some Christian leaders who want to protect their empire.They want followers of their own.That’s what Paul said to the Ephesian elders, remember?“After my departing, grievous wolves will enter in not sparing the flock and of your own selves shall arise speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them.”This of course was already happening in Judaism and the rabbis are running the show.They don’t want the boat to be rocked.They don’t want their authority and popularity to be threatened and here’s this upstart, this ex-carpenter from Nazareth and he’s healing people and he speaks with authority, like he knows what he’s talking about and he claims to come from God.He claims that God is his Father.He’s doing the miracles to prove it.They don’t like that and everybody knows it. But the blind man, he can’t deny what has happened to him.

Tom:

Well they said later, it is better for one man to die, than in effect for our whole system to be undermined or overthrown by the beliefs of this man and who he is.

Dave:

Yes, remember they had a deal with the Romans.They were able to live in peace with the Romans and they had a good thing going.Well if this Jesus upsets the status quo, well then serious things could happen for our nation.

Tom:

Picking up with verse 23: “Therefore said his parents, He is of age; ask him. Then again called they the man that was blind, and said unto him, Give God the praise: we know that this man is a sinner. He answered and said, Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.”

Dave:

Yes Tom, we know this man is a sinner.On what basis?He’s never done any sin.In fact Jesus could say which of you convinceth me of sin?When he came to John the Baptist to be baptized, John the Baptist who was his cousin and who apparently knew him, not just by reputation, but maybe had grown up in some relationship.They saw one another in their boyhood and so forth.He said to Jesus, you ought to baptize me.I mean I have nothing to baptize you for.I’m calling upon people to confess their sins and to be baptized and you’re not a sinner.But how do they know he’s a sinner?Well because he healed on the Sabbath.Whoa, that’s bad stuff!Well that’s the law that they imposed on the Bible.Remember?We mentioned it last time.If your ox or your goat or your sheep fell into a ditch on the Sabbath day, you could pull it out.Well then couldn’t you rescue someone from blindness on the Sabbath day?They’re jealous.They don’t like Jesus because he threatens the position, the exalted position into which they have worked themselves.

Tom:

Dave, there are some interesting tensions here in terms of applying what we’ve read with what’s going on in the church today.On the one hand, there are some who believe that everything is a miracle, or Benny Hinn or whatever evangelist is up there you know, he takes his jacket, or blows on people and they fall over.So there’s an excitement and a penchant for signs and wonders.On the other hand there are those who—

Dave:

A gullibility.

Tom:

Yes.

Dave:

A willingness to believe that anything that looks like it must be a miracle.

Tom:

Right, on the other hand there are those in the church that are almost blind to what God is actually doing; how he is working in so many ways, exciting ways.

Dave:

Well I guess you would have a tough time even proving that a man who was blind from birth wasn’t some natural thing that happened.Suddenly something happened to his eyes and so forth.There are those who are not willing to believe.But so this man says look, whether he’s a sinner or not, I mean I don’t know I never saw the guy before and all I know is once I was blind, and now I can see.Tom, it’s like a new Christian.A new Christian that has just met the Lord, has just been delivered from sin and delivered from the penalty has a new heart.You know, it happened to you, it happened to me.Something drastic has happened.We are transformed; we are new creatures in Christ.He doesn’t know much, but he does know that hey, I’m not what I used to be.I am not what I hope to be; I’m not yet what God is going to make me; but praise God I’m not what I used to be and it didn’t come about through some psychological program or reform.

Tom:

Some catharsis, no way.

Dave:

Something happened.Christ came into my heart; into my life and he changed me.Now this man doesn’t even know who Christ is, but he knows that once he was blind and now he can see.Now they want to go back over this again.Verse 26, “Then said they to him again, What did he to thee? How opened he thine eyes?”This guy is getting just a little bit tired of this.Verse 27—

Tom:

They are trying to dampen his spirit and what God has just done for him.He’s probably so excited he’s about to jump over backwards, but—

Dave:

Well you would be I would think.

Tom:

Yes!And they are trying to throw a wet blanket on him.

Dave: Verse 27, “He answered them, I have told you already, and ye did not hear: wherefore would ye hear it again? Will ye also be his disciples?”He’s being sarcastic now.“Then they reviled him, and said, Thou art his disciple; but we are Moses' disciples. We know that God spake unto Moses: as for this fellow, we know not from whence he is.” Now this young man has had his eyes opened.Apparently he’s gotten some spiritual sight as well, because it’s just logical.“The man answered and said unto them, why herein is a marvelous thing, that ye know not from whence he is, and yet he hath opened mine eyes.Now we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth.Since the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind. If this man were not of God, he could do nothing.”Wow, this man is lecturing them!Good for him!

Tom:

This is going to go over big though, right?

Dave:

Good for him!Praise God!Something has happened in his heart as well and you know we should have the boldness and the courage to stand up for our Lord under any circumstance and it’s logical, it’s rational.And they are going to throw him out now.

Tom:

Dave, before you get to that, I know some people, I have some family members who were in bondage to sin to the point where you just write them off and one particular that I’m thinking about a cousin of mine and his zeal—I mean today he has known the Lord now for 30 years, but I can remember the first couple of months this guy was so on fire for the Lord, doing things, saying things, not overwhelming in the sense—just his zeal.It was a zeal that God had tempered, but he was just constant about it.

Dave:

Right.

Tom:

And that happens.

Dave:

And this man has been touched by the Lord.Well, he’s going to find consequences.They are going to throw him out, but I think our time is up.Good thing to be thrown out of such company and begin to walk with the Lord and with those who know and love him.