Sermon: Seeing Sin - April 23, 2006

John 9

     (Read verses 1-7)

     How amazing it is that some people are able to see sin lurking behind every tree and under every rock!  There it is!  Here it comes!  Surely that is it! 

     The disciples and Jesus are just walking along when they see a man who is blind—blind from birth.  The disciples begin to ask, “Why has this blindness befallen him Jesus?  What has caused it; his sin or his parents sin?”  Friends, if he has been blind from birth are the disciples suggesting that he possibly sinned in the womb?  What is a womb sin anyway?  Of course if you see sin behind every tree and under every rock you will certainly see it in the womb!  When the disciples look at the blind man they see sin.

     Well, Jesus informs them that neither he nor his parents sinned; that his blindness has nothing to do with sin! Raymond Brown, a New Testament scholar, has written, “Jesus was asked about the cause of the man’s blindness but he answers in terms of its purpose.”[1]  And according to Jesus the purpose is that God will be revealed through the man.  Jesus then talks about being light and bringing light into the world; as the eye brings light into the body.        

     Jesus then proceeds to spit onto the ground and then to knead his spit with the dirt making a mud pack.  He then places it on the blind man’s eyes.  Now take note, the blind man has said nothing!  He did not ask for a healing.  All he knows is that this stranger is putting a wet substance on his eyes and telling him to go wash it off.  He does.  And he sees!

     John then records that the blind man’s neighbors begin to question him as to what has occurred.  They are even uncertain as to whether it is really him who now sees or if it is someone who looks like him.  The neighbors then decide to take him to the religious leaders to get their opinion on the matter.  Mistake!  (Read verses 13-17)

     Now notice—the Pharisees, the religious leaders, like Jesus’ disciples are good at seeing sin.  They see it in Jesus!  “This one is not from God because he does not observe the Sabbath!”  Jesus broke a Sabbath regulation, which was a terrible sin.  What did Jesus do that was so bad?  He worked on the Sabbath!  Remember?  He mixed or kneaded the dirt with his spit—that was work!  So he sinned!  And as the Pharisees said, “How can a person who is a sinner perform miracles?”

     Since the Pharisees are not convinced of the man’s story, that he was ever blind, that this is all a hoax, they call his parents in to question them.  The parents confirm that he was born blind; yet, they know nothing about his healing!  So the Pharisees once again question the man who was formerly blind. (Read verses 24-34)

     These religious leaders will not give up.  They do change the direction of their argument but they will not give up.  They are now convinced that the man had been blind but they insist that Jesus, the horrible Sabbath-breaking sinner, not be recognized as an instrument of the healing. 

     The formerly blind man is getting a bit irritated with these religious folk.  He tells them that he has no explanation for his healing.  “All I know,” he says, “is that prior to my experience with Jesus I was blind and now I see!”  Further, he asks the Pharisees, since they seem so interested in Jesus, if they want to become his disciples.  At this suggestion the Pharisees nearly go into seizure!  “How dare you say something like that to us?  We follow the law!  We know what is right!  And we do not know about this Jesus!”  The man who was formerly blind just cannot remain quiet; he turns the religious leaders theological argument back onto them.  “Well,” he says, “this is astonishing!  You do not know Jesus; yet, you say that God does not listen to sinners and you say Jesus is a sinner yet Jesus opened my eyes.  If he were not from God he then could not have done this!”    

     At this point the Pharisees completely lose it!  They say to the man, “You were born entirely in sin and you are trying to teach us?” Like Jesus’ disciples the religious leaders see sin in the man’s blindness.  Friends, leave it to the religious leaders—they see sin everywhere except in themselves! 

     Listen now as I read the final scene from today’s story. (Read verses 35-41)

     What a strange mission Jesus has!  “I came into this world…so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind.”  When the Pharisees hear Jesus make this comment they say to him, to this one they consider to be a sinner, “Surely you do not think that we are blind!”  Jesus says to them, “If you were blind, you would not have sin.  But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.” 

     Friends, there is nothing any more dangerous than people who presume that they already see,[2] who presume that they know everything.  Especially when these seeing people are so good at seeing the sin, the problems, the mistakes, in everyone else while missing their own sin, mistakes, and problems.  This reminds me of Jesus’ words in the Sermon on the Mount.  “Do not judge, so that you may not be judged…Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye?”[3]

     Jesus’ disciples saw sin in the man born blind.  The Pharisees also saw sin in the man, as well as in Jesus.  And Jesus, he saw the man!  The first verse of today’s text reads, “As Jesus walked along, he saw a man blind from birth.”   Jesus saw the man!  Jesus came to bring sight, spiritual sight, to those who recognize a need for it.  The Pharisees did not recognize their need because they were too busy recognizing, seeing, the sin in others.

     So?  We have a choice to make.  Are we going to choose to see as the Pharisees see or are we going to choose to see as Jesus sees?  Are we going to see the sin in others or are we going to see others?  Are we going to see the fault of others and judge them for their faults or are we going to see the need that others have and help to meet their need—as did Jesus with the blind man?  Are we open to the spiritual sight that Jesus offers or do we prefer the blindness of thinking we already see and really need no correction? 

     Seeing sin or seeing people—it is our choice to make!