“Paradox of Human Vision”

John 9:13-39

13 They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. 14 Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. 15 Then the Pharisees also began to ask him how he had received his sight. He said to them, “He put mud on my eyes. Then I washed, and now I see.” 16 Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not observe the Sabbath.” Others said, “How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?” And they were divided. 17 So they said again to the blind man, “What do you say about him? It was your eyes he opened.” He said, “He is a prophet.” 18 The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight 19 and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” 20 His parents answered, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind, 21 but we do not know how it is that now he sees, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.” 22 His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus] to be the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. 23 Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.” 24 So for the second time they called the man who had been blind, and they said to him, “Give glory to God! We know that this man is a sinner.” 25 He answered, “I do not know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” 26 They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” 27 He answered them, “I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?” 28 Then they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. 29 We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.” 30 The man answered, “Here is an astonishing thing! You do not know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. 31 We know that God does not listen to sinners, but he does listen to one who worships him and obeys his will. 32 Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” 34 They answered him, “You were born entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us?” And they drove him out. 35 Jesus heard that they had driven him out, and when he found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” 36 He answered, “And who is he, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him.” 37 Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he.” 38 He said, “Lord, I believe.” And he worshiped him. 39 Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment, so that those who do not see may see and those who do see may become blind.

Homily:

There are many truths we can draw from this narrative from John’s gospel as well as from the readings which you heard moments ago from Sharon. But the overriding truth of all of these readings it summed up by Jesus when he says that it is often the seeing who are blind and the blind are the ones who end up seeing.

John gives us one of the clearest examples of this spiritual paradox.

As Jesus and his disciples are walking along, they encounter a man who had been blind from birth. The disciples immediately begin searching for an explanation.

“Rabbi,” they ask, “who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

It was a common assumption in those days that suffering was the result of someone’s sin. Someone was to blame for this man being blind. But Jesus rejects this as false. He says…

“Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that the works of God might be revealed in him.”

Then Jesus does something remarkable. He kneels down, makes mud with the dust of the earth, places the mud on the eyes of the man, and tells him to go wash in the pool of Siloam.

The man goes. He washes. And for the first time in his life—this man sees! What a glorious miracle!

But strangely enough, this wonderful miracle does not lead everyone to faith. Instead, it reveals something deeper about the human heart.

The man who had been blind begins to see clearly—He sees clearly with his physical eyes and he sees clearly with the eyes of faith.

But the religious leaders, who pride themselves on their spiritual insight, become increasingly blind.

These were educated men, scholars of the law, guardians of religious tradition. If anyone should have recognized the work of God, it should have been these guys.

But instead they become trapped by their own assumptions and rigid  religious beliefs.

They argue that Jesus cannot be from God because he healed on the Sabbath day. They question the man’s parents; but don’t believe his parents when they confirm that he was indeed born blind.  They harass the man himself and question him again and again.  And when they can no longer refute the man’s testimony, they simply throw him out.

At the end of the story Jesus says something unexpected that hits home to these spiritually blind religious scholars and teachers. And I quote: “I came into this world for judgment so that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.”

This paradox is not new in the Bible. Long before the days of Jesus, God taught the prophet Samuel a similar lesson.

Samuel had been sent to the house of Jesse to anoint the next king of Israel. When he saw Jesse’s oldest son, tall and impressive, he thought surely this must be the one who I must anoint to be King.

But God stopped him and said,

“The Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”  (1 Samuel 16:7)

This truth is simple but hard for us to accept; God has a different vision that we do.

Our vision is faulty because we are prone to see only the physical.  God seeks to correct our vision by giving us HIS vision which is beyond the physical.

The way he does this differs from time to time and from person to person. For example, Jesus gave the man in our gospel lesson God’s spiritual vision by healing him first of his physical blindness. But when Jesus desired to open Saul’s spiritual eyes when he was traveling on the road to Damascus, HE strikes him blind in order to accomplish this mission.  We learn about this in the Book of Acts.

Later, after Saul who became Paul, regains his physical vision, he writes the words which Sharon read earlier. He says……

“We look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen; for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal.” Paul had lost his physical vision, at least for a while, but he gained his spiritual vision in the interim. Now Paul began seeing the way God sees.

Just as in the case of Paul, the gift of faith trains us to look beyond appearances—to see God’s grace at work, God’s purposes unfolding, and God’s promises standing firm.

In other words, faith teaches us to see with the eyes of the heart. To see as God sees.

Last week our Sunday School began with the singing of “Blessed “Assurance, Jesus is mine. O what a foretaste, glory divine. Heir of salvation, purchase of God. Born of His Spirit. Washed in His blood.” Do you know who wrote that hymn? It was written by Fanny Crosby.

Fanny Crosby lost her sight when she was only six weeks old due to a doctor’s mistake. She lived her entire life without physical sight.

And yet she could see more clearly the grace of Jesus than those with perfect 20/20 vision. She had spiritual vision. She could see as God sees.

Over the course of her life she wrote more than 8,000 hymns; five of which are in our Red Hymnal book.

Someone once expressed sympathy to her because she had never seen the beauty of the world, a beautiful sunrise or a beautiful sunset.  Her reply was unforgettable. She said,

“If perfect earthly sight were offered to me tomorrow, I would not accept it. Because when I reach heaven, the first face that shall ever gladden my sight will be the face of my Savior.”

Imagine that. Many people who can see the mountains and oceans never truly see Christ. But Fanny Crosby, without physical sight, saw Christ clearly.

Another beloved hymn, written by John Newton, tells the same story. John Newton wrote:

“Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found, was blind, but now I see.”

Newton was not physically blind. But he knew he had been spiritually blind for a long time.  But when God’s grace touched his life, John Newton realized that the greatest miracle is not simply restoring sight to the eyes—it is opening the eyes of the heart.

The story of the blind man in John 9 finally turns toward us. Because blindness can take many forms. We can be blinded by fear, by disappointment, by discouragement. We can be blinded by greed,  materialism, vanity or narcism. We can even be blinded by political opinions and arguments. We can be blinded by a “know it all” attitude.

Sometimes we think we see clearly. But then, Christ comes and shows us how much we have yet to learn.

The good news of the Gospel is this: Christ still opens blind eyes. He still gives light to those who sit in darkness. And the prayer that matters most is the simple confession which the blind man in John’s gospel prayed. “Lord, I believe.”

As Christ opens the physical and spiritual eyes of the blind man we find in John, so he stands to open our eyes as well. He stands to heal us of our blindness so that we can see as God sees.

I would like to close my message with you today by reciting a song which I learned many years ago and which has given me great comfort during the many times God has brought me through days of darkness when I could not see the way I was going. Here are this words:

“Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face. And the things of this world will look strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace”.   Someday I want the whole congregation to sing this song. But for now, here is one we all know… “Open My Eyes..”