(Pharisees) believed that holiness and a life pleasing to God came from separating yourself from sin and in obeying the commands of God. This all makes sense but, like many modern-day Christians, they had missed the point. They failed to see that God’s primary concern is not rules, but people. Instead of celebrating that thousands of people were hearing Jesus teach about the Kingdom of God they were repulsed by Jesus’ willingness to associate with people “like that.”
Adam Hamilton, When Christians Get it wrong
John 9: 1-17 (CEB)
1 As Jesus walked along, he saw a man who was blind from birth. 2 Jesus’ disciples asked, “Rabbi, who sinned so that he was born blind, this man or his parents?” 3 Jesus answered, “Neither he nor his parents. This happened so that God’s mighty works might be displayed in him.
God is not the author of evil, disease, or death, but He can use all things to good ends
4 While it’s daytime, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming when no one can work. 5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 6 After he said this, he spit on the ground, made mud with the saliva, and smeared the mud on the man’s eyes. 7 Jesus said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (this word means sent). So the man went away and washed. When he returned, he could see.
1). Jesus is communicating in a way the audience can understand
2). Jesus provides an opportunity for the man to participate in his own healing (V7)
8 The man’s neighbors and those who used to see him when he was a beggar said, “Isn’t this the man who used to sit and beg?” 9 Some said, “It is,” and others said, “No, it’s someone who looks like him.” But the man said, “Yes, it’s me!” 10 So they asked him, “How are you now able to see?” 11 He answered, “The man they call Jesus made mud, smeared it on my eyes, and said, ‘Go to the pool of Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed, and then I could see.”
12 They asked, “Where is this man?” He replied, “I don’t know.” 13 Then they led the man who had been born blind to the Pharisees. 14 Now Jesus made the mud and smeared it on the man’s eyes on a Sabbath day. 15 So Pharisees also asked him how he was able to see.
The man told them, “He put mud on my eyes, I washed, and now I see.” 16 Some Pharisees said, “This man isn’t from God, because he breaks the Sabbath law.” Others said, “How can a sinner do miraculous signs like these?” So they were divided. 17 Some of the Pharisees questioned the man who had been born blind again: “What do you have to say about him, since he healed your eyes?” He replied, “He’s a prophet.”
TWO TYPES OF BLINDNESS
1). Physical blindness of the blindman
2). Spiritual blindness of disciples & religious leaders
“Having spent time around “sinners” and also around purported saints, I have a hunch why Jesus spent so much time with the former group: I think he preferred their company. Because the sinners were honest about themselves and had no pretense, Jesus could deal with them. In contrast, the saints put on airs, judged him, and sought to catch him in a moral trap. In the end it was the saints, not the sinners, who arrested Jesus.”
David Kinnaman, unChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks about Christianity...and Why It Matters
Romans 12:1-3 (CEB)
1 So, brothers and sisters, because of God’s mercies, I encourage you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice that is holy and pleasing to God. This is your appropriate priestly service. 2 Don’t be conformed to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds so that you can figure out what God’s will is—what is good and pleasing and mature. 3 Because of the grace that God gave me, I can say to each one of you: don’t think of yourself more highly than you ought to think.
This is what will happen when we do this as a church:
People will engage you about your faith
They will not dread coming to church
Needs would be met (eyes are open, hearts open, hands open)
Broken people restored to wholeness
Nations Healed