American Loon

Last week, we left Jesus and His disciples with a man born blind. The disciples had asked Jesus if it was sin of the father or of the son that had caused this man’s blindness. A valid question for it was taught in the Pentateuch, specifically Exodus 20 verses 4 and 5, that the sins of the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me. You’ll note that Exodus 20 is where we derive what is called the 10 Commandments. Basically what came down the mountain with Moses after Yəhōwā had used His finger to write His law onto a stone tablet. So, by asking their Rabbi this question, you can discern that these boys had not really gotten to the point of understanding the lessons that Jesus had been teaching them. Remember, they had been with Christ for about 2 and a half years now. Being a Jew, they had a lot of cultural baggage to drag around and hinder their understanding. Jesus told them, “No, it was neither, but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him.“ (John 9:3)

And then because Christ was always teaching, He said “We must work the works of Him who sent Me as long as it is day; night is coming when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the Light of the world.” (vv. 4, 5) He may have said what He did because it is possible that it was late afternoon when they had encountered this man and Christ seemed to always use the real world as a practical example, to illustrate a larger truth. It would be curious to know the blindman’s thoughts as he sat there listening to this dialog going on about him. Pharisees that would have walked passed him would more than likely have spoken out loud about how this man was a sinner because he was blind, and that was that.

Not so with Christ, He sees the afflicted, the downtrodden, the harlots and tax assessors as those needing redemption and healing. Jesus leaned down, spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and applied the clay to his eyes. (v. 6) Then he told the man to go, wash in the pool of Siloam, which the man did and he came back seeing. (v.7)

Now the scripture tells us that this man’s neighbors see this man walking around and seeing, questioning “Is not this the one who used to sit and beg?” (v. 8) But others, not willing to believe their lying eyes, said “No, but he is like him.” The man, now seeing and was also not deaf, kept saying “I am the one.” (v. 9) Now starts the trouble, his neighbors say fine, if now you can see, “How then were your eyes opened?” (v. 10) He answered, “The man who is called Jesus made clay, and anointed my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash’; so I went away and washed, and I received sight.” They said to him, “Where is He?” He said, “I do not know.” (vv. 11, 12) I think what might be going on here is, to this guy’s neighbors, he was always a beggar and more than likely a sinner to boot. Now he is walking around and no longer a beggar and they sound like they are a little affronted by him being their equal now. By whose authority were you allowed to change your social status. And if you are telling us it was this Jesus guy, whom I am sure they had at least heard about, where is He now? I don’t think I like his neighbors much. They had never treated this guy well when he was a blind beggar and now they are giving him the third degree about how he came to see.

These neighbors then get the Pharisees involved. (v. 14) They can’t have people just up and starting to see when they never had before. And now we find out it is the Sabbath and is probably the whole reason for the conflict. You are not allowed to do many things on the Sabbath. Healing is on the can’t do list and Jesus healed this guy on the Sabbath. The Pharisees were asking him again how he received his sight. And he said to them, “He applied clay to my eyes, and I washed, and I see.” (v. 15)

Some of the Pharisees were saying, “This man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath.” But others were saying, “How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?” And there was a division among them. Note that in their division, they were united in their being against Jesus healing people on the Sabbath. Their precious Sabbath which they had written rules and rules and more rules of what you can and can’t do.Their hearts could not abide people being healed on the Sabbath. You would think they would rejoice at this man’s sight being given to him. Instead, they continued to question the man. They said to the blind man again, “What do you say about Him, since He opened your eyes?” And he said, “He is a prophet.” (v. 17)

The Jews then did not believe it of him, that he had been blind and had received sight, until they called the parents of the very one who had received his sight, and questioned them, saying, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? Then how does he now see?” (vv. 19, 20) The Jews mentioned here are the Pharisees. Demanding answers to their nonsensical questions. We see this today, where truth is presented and rejected by those who rule us. Truly nothing is new under the sun. (Ecclesiastes 1:9).

His parents answered them and said, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; but how he now sees, we do not know; or who opened his eyes, we do not know. Ask him; he is of age, he will speak for himself.” (v. 21) The parents are terrified of the power of these Pharisees. This is referred to in the next verse: His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone confessed Him to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue. (v. 22) If you were put out of the synagog you were in for hard times. You would not be permitted to buy in the market or sell. It would be similar to you not being permitted to shop at Walmart or any other of the supermarkets or businesses. Everybody would know you are banned and if they let you shop, they would then be kicked out of the temple too. Similar to what is going on today with our Caesars telling us you need to be vaccinated to fly anywhere, you have to wear a mask to shop and 6 feet of social distance is safe but 5.5 feet is not. Pharisees then, Pharisees now.

This was the reason that the parents of the blind man told the Pharisees to ask their son to answer their questions. (v. 23) They were scared to be put out of the temple. I wonder at their behavior. Their son had done nothing wrong, yet they were not sticking up for him. He was a recipient of Grace, not the instigator. However anyone associated with this event was to be judged guilty by these Jews.

So a second time they called the man who had been blind, and said to him, “Give glory to God; we know that this man is a sinner.” (v. 24) He then answered, “Whether He is a sinner, I do not know; one thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” (v. 25) It is refreshing to see someone that up till now did not know the Grace of our Lord, having truly seen it (pun lovers, rejoice!) now defends it. The Pharisees continue with being stupid, “What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?” He answered them, “I told you already and you did not listen; why do you want to hear it again? You do not want to become His disciples too, do you?” (vv. 26, 27)

Have you ever been so mad, you couldn’t see straight? This is where these Jews are now.
They reviled him and said, “You are His disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where He is from.” (vv. 28, 29) They claim to be disciples of Moses, yet they did not live as Moses did. Moses gave them their law, and they turned around and added rules to this law that God did not command or condone. You shall not add to the word which I am commanding you, nor take away from it, so that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I am commanding you. Deuteronomy 4:2 They were lost in the forest of God’s laws, because they kept running into the tree of self proclaimed righteousness.

The Holy Spirit now lends the man his closing argument and he answered them. “Well, here is an amazing thing, that you do not know where He is from, and yet He opened my eyes. We know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is God-fearing and does His will, He hears him. Since the beginning of time it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, He could do nothing.” (vv. 30-34) It was more than the Pharisees could bear. They answered him, “You were born entirely in sins, and are you teaching us?” So they put him out. (v. 35)

I do believe that this convert to Christ is the first to be kicked out of the temple. Contrast this with another Sabbath healing. The one at Bethesda with a man who was lying by the pool for a very long time. This is in John 5 and when the man gets healed and is walking around with his pallet, some random Pharisee accosts him and tells him “It is the Sabbath, and it is not permissible for you to carry your pallet.” (John 5:10) When he answered them, “He who made me well was the one who said to me, ‘Pick up your pallet and walk.’” They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Pick up your pallet and walk’?” But the man who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped away while there was a crowd in that place. (John 5:11-13) Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “Behold, you have become well; do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse happens to you.” The man went away, and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. For this reason the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because He was doing these things on the Sabbath. (John 5:14-16) The implication here is, Jesus finds him, knows his heart and then warns him to be careful and sin no more, lest something worse happens to him. This healed man takes this information, that it was Jesus that healed him and tells the Pharisees who it is. Here is a sermon by John MacArthur that gives a great overview of this whole event. https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/43-25/the-damning-power-of-false-religion

So the man at the Bethesda pool went back to the Pharisees to tell them what they wanted to know. He did not get kicked out of the temple and stayed within the cold and unloving embrace of his Jewish religion. Safe from persecution, and healed. Back to John 9, this once blind man stood up for this Rabbi that had healed him and infuriated the Pharisees with his answers.

Jesus heard that they had put him out, and finding him, He said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” He answered, “Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?” Jesus said to him, “You have both seen Him, and He is the one who is talking with you.” (vv. 35-37) Another occasion when our Lord declares who He is.

And he said, “Lord, I believe.” And he worshiped Him. And Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, so that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind.” (vv. 38, 39) This statement was not just for the now healed man, it was also for the disciples that were around him and for the people walking by.

Those of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these things and said to Him, “We are not blind too, are we?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but since you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains. (vv. 40-41) Their sin was glaringly obvious to Christ but they were convinced of their righteousness.

So what of our obvious sins? We have the same log in our own eye, just a different context. First off, do you think of yourself as a good person? The Pharisees did, certainly. Christ said it plainly in Mark 10:17, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone”. Our culture relentlessly promotes the idea of being good. The scripture refutes this in Romans 3:10-18 , Psalms 14:1-3 and Psalms 53:1-3. You need to put that notion away and seek your Redeemer. Pharisees were big into works beget righteousness. You do things, good things and they are credited to your being good with God account.

What about us? I think that quite a few people go to church, because that is what good people do. What happens when you are called to account, like this man who was once blind? Will you stand up to those persecuting you? He did, he was just a beggar and when the time came, the words of the Holy Spirit entered his mouth and he spoke truth to those that would not hear it. Like it or not, we live in the same world today. We have rulers that condone evil and persecute good. We also have the same Holy Spirit that this man did and when God is on your side, you can not lose. Sure, he got kicked out of the temple, but he gained eternal life. Where do you think the Pharisees that kicked him out of the temple are right now? In darkness and torment, is where they are, for eternity. It has been told to us that if we believe in Christ, that He died on the cross and was raised up again, that we obey and follow His commands, we who believe will have eternal life. Repent, Believe, Obey and Continue. It’s as easy as that. Go forth and do so.

We finished out John 8 last week, Jesus had just spoken the words that testified as to who He was: “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.” (v. 58) Abraham, as we found out, was held in high esteem by these people. Through him, they claim their inclusion into righteousness, belonging to a people claimed by God. The fact that they wrote their own rules as to what constituted righteousness and did not do what Abraham or even Moses did, obey God, made them blind to God actually standing in their midst, speaking truth to their lies. So when they heard this truth, it caused them anger that this Rabbi would dare to tell them their entire way of life was wrong. Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him, but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple. (v. 59)

We come now to John 9 and find that the disciples are now mentioned again. They have been absent from this gospel for the last 2 chapters. Jesus has been focused on working with the crowds of people who were in Jerusalem to attend the Festival of Booths. Jesus has been interacting with the people, demonstrating who He is, declaring who He is, making pronouncements about His identity that are supported by His power expressed in the miracles that He did. He has been working with the people and with the leaders and there has been no real need to speak of the disciples following Him around, observing their Rabbi. 

I am pretty sure they’ve been about. We see in John 6 after Jesus had spoken what is characterized as “hard words” in verses 55 and 56: “For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.” Because of that, many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore. So Jesus said to the twelve, “You do not want to go away also, do you?” Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.” (John 6:66-69) All of that leads me to believe that anything short of the cross, would not keep these men from He who has eternal life. Their learning would all become clear after Christ had ascended and the Holy Spirit had indwelt them. As He does with us, those that truly believe. This is where the cross separates the Old Testament from the New Testament. The Old Covenant ended with the symbolic tearing of the curtain in the temple. (Luke 23:45, Mark 15:38, Matthew 27:51)

Theologian Timothy Luke Johnson says that the tearing of the temple curtain could symbolize “the end of the old covenant of atonement through animal sacrifice and the beginning of a ‘new covenant’” (Johnson 379). In this “New Covenant” a priest would no longer be needed.

But we are getting a bit ahead of ourselves. The scripture states: As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?”  They are still in Jerusalem and walking about, although I am not sure how much time has passed from the last event. The one where the people picked up stones to throw at him and He demonstrated His deity by disappearing from their midst. Try that the next time you get in an uncomfortable situation. 

The disciples question Jesus because of their acknowledgment of Him having the Words of Life. They have seen by now a seemingly endless parade of healing and casting out of demons. It was a valid question for them who grew up believing that if you had a malady or deformity or something bad happened to you, it was the result of sin in the life of those afflicted. They also believed that it could be from the sins of the father that could be visited on the life of the son. This belief more than likely comes from Exodus 20 verse 4 and 5 or what we know as the second commandment: “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.” We had quite a bit of discussion last week of this commandment, and a wee bit of unhappiness of my interpretation of the first part of this commandment. 

Be that as it may, many if not most of the Jews believed that the sins of the father could be visited on the son. I think that today, if you questioned people about this, they would call it karma, which is just a foolishness, but many people endorse that kind of foolishness. Jesus told His men “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him.” (v.3) I am sure that was news to these boys because the predilection to believe in what you’ve been taught and everybody professed know, was strong. 

What is said next is something that if the boys were paying attention, they probably would have understood, but up till now, had not shown any real understanding except the obvious and sometimes not even then. We must work the works of Him who sent Me as long as it is day; night is coming when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the Light of the world.”

From Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

He identifies the disciples with Himself in the redemptive work of His mission. There is before them a striking instance of the power of evil. He and they are there to manifest the power of good. They must gird themselves to the task. If we are right in placing the whole section from John 7:37 to John 10:21 on the same great day of the Feast (comp. Note on John 9:14), then this work must have come near the close of the day. The sun sinking to the west may have reminded them that the day was passing away, and that the night was approaching. He was reminded of the day of life, and the night of death. He will not be long in the world (John 9:5). That night will be the close of His human work, and the shadows of evening are already falling upon Him.

From Benson Commentary

The night cometh, when no man can work — As if he had said, I see death approaching, which, as it puts a period in general to human labours, so will close the scene of such labours as these, and remove me from the converse and society of men. The period of his opportunity for doing the will of his Father, and glorifying him on earth, was at hand, and therefore he would lose no time, but be active and laborious. Thus, the consideration of our death approaching, should quicken us to a diligent improvement of all the opportunities of life, both for doing and gaining good. The night cometh — It will come certainly, and may come soon and suddenly: and when it comes we cannot work, because the light afforded us to work by will be extinguished, and the time allotted us to work in will then be expired. When the night comes, the labourers must be called. They must then show their work, and receive according to the deeds done in the body: for then the time of probation will be ended, and the time of retribution begun.

These 2 commentaries bring home, to us at the very least, seek the Lord while He may be found. (Isaiah 55:6) The time to seek Him is now, while we are still walking on this earth. For none know the span of their days, illustrated by Psalm 39:4-6.

“Lord, make me to know my end
And what is the extent of my days;
Let me know how transient I am.
“Behold, You have made my days as handbreadths,
And my lifetime as nothing in Your sight;
Surely every man at his best is a mere breath. Selah.
“Surely every man walks about as a phantom;
Surely they make an uproar for nothing;
He amasses riches and does not know who will gather them.

When He had said this, He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and applied the clay to his eyes, and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated, Sent). So he went away and washed, and came back seeing. (vv. 6-7) Another miracle by He who is the Light of the World and we discover the fallout of that and compare and contrast another earlier miracle by Our Redeemer next week.