John 9:1-12,35-38
March 14, 1999
Sermon preached by Rev. Donald Ng at the First Chinese Baptist Church of San Francisco
Near-Sighted
When I take off my glasses, I can’t see any of you because I am near-sighted. It’s safer for me and for you that when I drive to have my glasses on. This way I can read the highway signs before I get to my exit. And during Christmas, I’m the envy of my family because when I take off my glasses and look at the lights on the Christmas tree, I can see bursts of lights that glow and flicker. If you are near-sighted, try that sometimes. It’s as good as any light show. Now I am neither near-sighted or far-sighted. I now have
bi-focals!
Man Born Blind
Our ability to see is probably the most valued of our five senses. So when Jesus met a man on the road who was born blind, he performed a miracle on him. Jesus used one of the most insulting substance of his day, spit, and creates a mud-mask for the blind man’s eyes. The man ran the length of five football fields to the pool of Siloam to wash the mud from his eyes. When the man came back, he was able to see. For the first time in his life, he was able to have beautiful bright light pour into his eyes.
Just imagine with me for a moment. The blind man with mud in his eyes was probably the laughing stock for that afternoon. People denigrated him all his life by blaming his parents for something that they must have done to have a son born blind. For the length of five football fields, this blind man with a filthy face was groping and stumbling, trying to get to the pool of Siloam. People must have jeered him on the way.
“Hey, filth-face!”
“He’s got a mudball for an eyeball.”
“Nice look! Be glad you are blind, boy.”
So, it was not a pleasant walk. It was degrading, embarrassing, and humiliating. But the man went because he was touch by Jesus.
When the man pulled his head out of the water it was as if the blindfolds untied over his eyes. Light that he has never seen before was pouring into his eyes. He began running wildly—touching everything he could. Rather than groping around walls and fences, now he can see the colors of the flowers hanging in window boxes. Rather than stumbling over rocks and bushes, he can now see how they are lining houses and green gardens. Rather than hearing mocking voices jeering and laughing at him, he can now see their astonished faces in disbelief. Their smiles are not smiles of ridicule anymore. They are smiling because they are amazed and wondering about what just happened here.
Spiritual Insights
The man born blind suddenly had 20/20 vision like what I had when I was born in 1949. He was neither near-sighted or far-sighted, he was now able to see. He must have been thrilled to be able to see for the first time in his life—everything that you and I have seen many times over: the shimmering golden mountains, the deep blue sky particular against the Golden Gate Bridge, and the warm sunset over the placid Pacific Ocean. These are, indeed, beautiful sights, but the man was still spiritually blind. Although what he saw was spectacular and beautiful, he was still not seeing everything.
Our story for this morning could have easily ended with this great scene of the man born blind wildly running up and down the streets, touching everything he can find, and hugging his parents who have had to raise a blind boy. We can be happy and bit weepy with this kind of scene. That would make a good ending for a TV show, but not for Jesus’ screenplay. There is more to this story. God was not finished with just this one miracle. There’s more to this plot.
Seeing physically is just the beginning to this man’s new life. God wants him to see with spiritual insights too. Mature faith for this man will come from facing challenges and conflicts.
- The Unbelieving Neighbors
When the man came back to town and was now able to see, it was his neighbors and those who have seen him all his life as the beggar on the same corner, like in front of Old St. Mary’s who couldn’t believe their eyes.
“Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” Some were saying, “It is he.” Others were saying, “No, it is someone like him.”
When his neighbors wouldn’t believe him, he kept on saying, “I am the man.” I’m the guy you used to laugh and mock at.
There are times when we share with others about God’s blessings on our lives, we discover that no one believes us or even cares in hearing what we have to say. The response is often disbelief. When our own friends and neighbors are challenging and questioning our faith, we can either agreed with them and say that everything is a lie or because of our convictions, we can affirm that something really did happen to us. For the man who was born blind, the neighbors’ questions and disbelief led him to acknowledge that it was Jesus who put the mud on his eyes.
There was a robbery of an 80-year old man in Daytona Beach, Florida, who is blind. The robber held the blind man with his bare foot on his throat during the incident. When the police arrested the suspect, the blind man was able to positively identify the robber by feeling his feet.
The man born blind was positively able to identify that it was Jesus who healed him. The man, using his keen sense of touch, felt Jesus’ hand when he put the mud on his eyes. Although he knew who to give credit for his sight, he still has a long way to go before his faith will grow.
A Panel of Judges
Next, the man was brought to the Pharisees for questioning. They were divided in their verdict because they thought that Jesus was a sinner to perform a miracle on a sabbath day. Some said, “This man Jesus is not from God, for he does not observe the sabbath.” But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs as miracles?” Once again in the midst of people quarreling, the man who is now able to see said, “Since he opened my eyes, he is a prophet.”
Before it was the man’s neighbors who wouldn’t believe him and he was able to recognize that it was Jesus who put mud on his eyes to see. Now surrounded by a group of biblical judges, the man is now able to say that Jesus is a prophet. The man’s faith became stronger from their questioning and disbelief.
The Pharisees couldn’t let themselves to believe because they were stuck on legalism. How can something good happen when Jesus did not observe the sabbath? They were only able to see what was there. They wore well-made prescription glasses that saw things only the way they were. Nothing more. Nothing less.
Man’s Parents
Still not believing what really happened here, the Pharisees sequestered the man’s parents to testify. They asked them, “Is this you son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” The parents agree that definitely this man is their son, but they acted in ignorance in what happened. Although they must have been real happy that their son is now able to see, they were afraid to vouch for him. They said, “He’s old enough. He can speak for himself.” The man’s parents were afraid for their own lives because disciples of Jesus were being kicked out of the synagogues in those days. The man’s parents were seeing double images. They were bi-focal Christians; able to see and know Jesus Christ but still unwilling to take their eyes off the Jewish faith. They wanted to play it safe. They didn’t want to miss seeing both religious shows on TV at the same time!
The man’s parents were unable and unwilling to stand up for their son. Their complicity left him out to dry. When they thought they had failed their son the first time when he was born blind, they really failed him now. They were too afraid to testify to the Pharisees that Jesus is Lord.
Being Kicked Out
So for a second time, the man was brought in front of the Pharisees to tell how it was possible for a person to be born blind to now be able to see. Questions after questions were asked. And the man’s answers were the same: “One thing that I do know, though I was blind, now I see.” And when the Pharisees continued to challenge the validity of Jesus healing on the sabbath and that such healing were done by a sinner, the man said, “Here is an astonishing
thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but he does listen to one who worships him and obeys his will. Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, then he could do nothing.”
By now the Pharisees were so rattled and fed up with this man’s testimony that they got real angry. The Pharisees were wearing shattered glasses. They couldn’t make sense of what they were hearing and their faith in only Moses’ law. The Pharisees thought they were the ones seeing clearly. With Moses’ law in hand, they could all see the eye chart very clearly. The E’s going this way and that way. But the man’s persistent testimony to Jesus’ miracle shattered their glasses that the only thing they knew to do was to throw him out of the synagogue!
Faith from Conflicts
While the Pharisees were seeing more and more unclearly; trying to bring some sense to their legalism and Jesus’ miracle of compassion, the man’s eyes were seeing ever more clearly.
It took disbelief from his neighbors, legalism of the Pharisees, the abandonment of his parents as the result of fear for their own lives, and physically being thrown out of the synagogue, for the man to mature in his faith. Only after bravely facing these challenges and conflicts, was the man able to realize who Jesus is. Seeing Jesus was becoming believing in Jesus.
When Jesus heard that the man was thrown out of the synagogue, he went out to find him. Just like the way Jesus first found this man next to the road. Jesus must have heard all about this man’s trials of ridicule from his neighbors, brought to trial twice in front of the Pharisees, his parents too afraid to stand up for him, and now being kicked out of the synagogue. Jesus may have even asked himself, “What have I done to this poor fellow? Perhaps I should have left him blind so that he wouldn’t have to face so many challenges and trials?”
Jesus went out to find the man because there is still one more miracle to perform. Jesus asked him, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” The man answered, “And who is he, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him.” Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he.” The man said, “Lord, I believe.” The man who was born blind is now not only seeing Jesus face to face for himself, but he is seeing Jesus in his heart. “Lord, I believe in my heart that you are the Messiah.”
It wasn’t physical blindness all along! It was spiritual blindness! When we trust God with our lives, we don’t need to be able to physically see first. Why is it that when we who can see, jump down from a high place, that we tend to close our eyes doing it? Seeing where we may be going doesn’t necessarily lead us on a journey of faith. Many of us can see, but we may still be spiritually blind. There will be those neighbors who will
question you. There will be those bosses and officials who will say that you are not playing by the rules. And there will surely be those who are close to you, like your family or friends, who might say, “Why be a Christian anyway? What are you getting from it?” Against all these challenges and conflicts, we are invited to take a leap of faith to believe that Jesus is the Messiah. We may be able to see what Jesus is asking us to do, but we still need our hearts to believe.
Like the man born blind, do we need to also face questions and challenges before we believe? Perhaps for some of us, it will be necessary. A few months ago, Bill Leong forwarded me a story that goes like this:
A man found a cocoon of a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared.
He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force
its body through the little hole.
Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten
as far as it could and it could go no farther. Then the man decided to help
the butterfly, so he took a pair of scissors and sniped off the remaining bit
of the cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily.
But it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings. The man continued
to watch the butterfly because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarged and expand to be able to support the body, which would get smaller in
time.
Neither happened! In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling
around with a swollen body and shriveled wings. It never was able to fly.
What the man in his kindness and haste did not understand was that the restricting
cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening were God’s way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon.
Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our life. If God allowed us to go through our life without any obstacles, it would cripple us. We would not be as strong as what we could have been. And we could never fly.
The man born blind could not have understood Jesus until he first faced these challenges and questions to his recovery of sight. When we ask God to open our eyes so that we may see Jesus, we too may find ourselves facing questions and challenges to our faith in God.
It is only through the struggles of faith that we come to believe in Christ. It is only through the testing of faith that we come to the end of our journey to believe in Christ. It is only through being ridiculed, abandoned, ostracized, and kicked out that our spiritual blindness is removed so that we can see Jesus. It is only through the trials and tribulations that our own Lord, Jesus Christ had to endure all the way to be crucified on the cross on Calvary that we can now have everlasting life in heaven!
Seeing in Our Hearts
Seeing is not believing. We must see Jesus in our hearts. How do we see in our hearts? Throughout all of our lives, we have come to trust our senses. Taste a chan pei mui. Taste ginger. We can see the sunlight coming through our stained glass windows bathing the sanctuary with color. Hear the same rhythmic Chinese drums beating and firecrackers going off as each lion brings good fortune to another one of our neighbors. You can almost always smell Chinese food cooking and aren’t we glad that we don’t live upstairs. Touch the hand next to you that is touching your hand.
Although we have been taught better, it is easy to assume that nothing that lies beyond the reach of our five senses is entirely real. But as Christians, we do know better. To believe that only the things that we know from our five senses are real is roughly the equivalent of what a cockroach crawling across the front page of the San Francisco Chronicle knows about the state of the world! We see Jesus Christ in our hearts when we accept him as our Savior trusting God with our entire life.
My optometrist told me that for awhile my eyesight is stabilized. I won’t be getting worst with my near-sightedness or my far-sightedness for the next ten years. But whatever happens afterward, it will still be okay. Seeing is not believing. Slowly but surely, I am counting less on my senses to know God. When I come to the end of my earthly life, I will not need to rely on my seeing at all to believe in Jesus. I will finally come to believe Jesus Christ is Lord completely in my heart!
Let us pray.
O mighty and loving God, we give thanks for the faith that you have in us to believe in your plan for our lives. Open our eyes, that we may see glimpses of truth that you have for us. Place in our hands the wonderful key that will unclasp and set us free. Open our hearts. Illumine us, O God, your Spirit is divine! Amen.