The Gospel of John Lesson 31 (4-21-2013) John 9:1-10

The Gospel of John Lesson 31 (4-21-2013)

Lesson 31 – John 9:1-10

After Jesus’ encounter with the Pharisees in chapter 8 which ended with their picking up stones to stone Him you would have thought that He, Jesus, would have learned His lesson and would have taken a more subdued posture or profile in His public ministry for a season, letting things calm down some. But, this was not the case. Many Bible commentators believe that the beginning of chapter 9 is a direct continuation of the happenings of chapter 8 and directly in leaving the scene found in chapter 8 Jesus pauses to do another public act of obedience to the Father’s will that will get Him into even more and deeper trouble with Israel’s religious leaders than we saw in chapter 8.

How could this be possible? How much worse could it get? (We know where it eventually ends) Chapter 8 ends with these religious leaders not only wanting to do Jesus bodily harm, but at the end of chapter 8 we actually see them perform the actions that they had been thinking all along picking up stones intending to stone Him to death.

But, His time had not yet come. Their actions and intentions were not yet to be. However, leaving that scene after having such an encounter He turns right around and performs another public miracle that could potentially insight these religious leaders to make another attempt on His life. What would motivate Him to do so? We find the answer in v. 4 of chapter 9. He tells us and His disciples that His full resolve was to serve and perform the will of the Father. He would do so even at the risk of losing His life.

In v. 4 He reminds His disciples of a very important principle while they are in this present world, that is that they only have a limited amount of time to do what God has for them to do while on this earth. Many Bible expositors believe that at this point in Jesus’ ministry that Jesus was only about 6 months from the Cross. There was much yet to do. God the Father had given Him a mission. He was to turn those who would eventually believe toward their Father making God known to them. He was the Light. They, the people and this world had been in darkness. Before the darkness of death on the Cross was to be Jesus would have to display the Light so that those who would come to believe would follow Him even through the period of night on the Cross.

Time was short. There was not much daylight left to manifest His works proving Who He was and making clear the offer that He was making to them. Again, many believe that the night of death is what He was referring to here. His work needed to be fully completed before this event happened. He was the ‘Light of the World’. As we are aware the Light of the world left us (for a season) following His crucifixion and resurrection. It is true that He did not leave us comfortless, but He did leave and we see here in the beginning of chapter 9 that He knew that the time of His Presence and influence in revealing the Kingdom of God to a dark world was short. His night was coming. Being the Light of the world His leaving meant that our night was coming too. There was not much day left. He needed to complete His work while it was still light.

Being Jesus’ disciples He has given us the same example. He tells us that in essence that we to only have so much time to do the things that the Father has for us to do accomplishing His mission in life while we are here. The key part of the last sentence is ‘in life’, which is the light so to speak of our life. Do we have a plan of how this time of our life is to be spent? Once we pass from this life what we have done is done whether we completed our task(s) or not. We cannot add anything… words, actions, or deeds once we die or pass from this earth.

It is also true that once gone we cannot right any wrongs that we were responsible for. Jesus here admonishes us to work while it is light in this world and in the light of our life or while we are alive. A day will come when our labor will be finished completed or not. Let’s hope that we will have done enough. A parallel passage would be Jn. 4:34-8. (Call to action. Give moment for thought and personal response. I want to give you an opportunity right now to refocus your life to take more direct steps to get involved to do your part in establishing God’s Kingdom)

After leaving the confrontational and basically hostile situation in chapter 8 Jesus and His disciples pass by a man that had been born blind or had been blind from birth. The disciples bring up one of those mysterious questions that you may have often want to ask, but rarely get a chance to ask anyone with enough wisdom and/or experience that might give you the right answer.

Up to this point all they had gotten was answers concerning one’s opinions or thoughts on this topic. But, for some reason down inside the answers that had been given were really not definitive always leaving them with the question down inside asking ‘I know that I have heard supposedly what the possible answers were, but what is the real answer?’ They figured that Jesus would know so they asked Him for the answer of why someone from birth ends up this way in a situation such as this? In getting their response from Jesus they were expecting to get one of two answers in reply.

From their point of view, what they had been taught was the commonly believed theory that all infirmities, troubles and afflictions were given as punishment or as a consequence for sins or wrong actions done by them or somebody directly connected to them such as a connected family member. They would have probably quoted verses such as Num. 14:18 as their justification for their reasoning. This was not only a commonly held belief in Jesus’ day, but is also a commonly held belief by many today. But, Jesus tells them that there is at least a third answer telling them that in reality there is only one answer, ‘that all is done to show forth the glory of God!’

In this case He in answering them dispels the myth that all afflictions are the result of a person’s personal or family sin. It is true that sin and its resulting effects are the cause of many physical, emotional, relational and spiritual problems and complications, but not in every case. Some conditions and situations or physical ailments are not the direct result of the afflicted person’s sin or as in this case not even the fault of those near or related to them.

In v. 3 Jesus shares with them the bigger picture that this situation was given to show forth God’s glory and in this particular situation to reveal who Jesus was to the people. People like this in their society, as in many cultures, were looked at and treated as outcasts honestly believing that infirmities such as this could only be deserved by being more wicked than others and were treated as outcasts. But, if we were to stop and consider such logic we would quickly come to the realization that this could not be true for if it was true then the religious leaders that we saw in chapter 8 would have been maimed, lame and grossly afflicted with leprosy and the like for in chapter 8 Jesus had declared them to be gross sinners and some of the most wicked men in God’s eyes on the face of the earth.

One thing that comes out in this passage is that basically ‘God’s mercy reigns’ here on earth at the present. Even though God does display His justice in His acts here on earth at this time we must conclude that for a season He has offered His mercy to us delaying our final verdict at least for a season. One would have to agree that in this world at present we do not see His judgment instantaneously for wrongs committed whether they be large or small and His mercy is seen much more prevalent to us at this time than His judgment.

This is an interesting passage of Scripture here. In essence Jesus is saying here that not only this man’s life and infirmity, but our life and all lives are influenced by God’s Personal touch for His glory. In other words, God had a plan for this man’s life. It included this day found right here. At a point in this man’s life God chose to make him whole concerning his infirmity. We do not see this man even ask Jesus to heal him. But God in His wisdom and in His mercy chose to use this moment to free this man from his blindness for His Glory.

We see as we read further in this chapter that because of this man’s experience which included the time prior to his healing and the circumstances surrounding his healing that his heart eventually turned toward God and he became a strong witness for the Lord who was willing to accept persecution for testifying concerning what had happened being truly grateful for God’s mercy and touch.

After God’s touch this man realized that there was another side to life, a side of life that had a real and a personal connection to a Living God that cared about him. His heart receiving God’s mercy could do nothing but praise Him.

In telling His disciples that not all bad things of this life are related directly to personal sin He reveals that indeed bad things do happen to so called good people and that our lives are tempered and filled with God’s wisdom and influence meant for His Glory His using the good or bad from our point of view for His purposes.

This man’s infirmity was seen as a curse by those in his culture. God meant it as an eventual blessing and used it to His praise as Jesus reveals to us here. We do not always see it as so. But, the beauty of situations such as this in being a part of what is happening is that we get to participate in and receive the benefits of His praise and His glory being involved which has an ending that can only be good. This is what this man being blind from birth found to be true and he could not say enough good about what had happened.

We see in vs. 6 and 7 that Jesus tests the man’s faith. He spits on the ground and makes mud and puts it on the man’s eyes,..not a recipe for healing blindness, and tells him to go and wash it off. The man obeys and to his surprise receives the blessing of his obedience for the first time in his life seeing. I truly wonder how that must have felt to him. To see for the first time, what an amazing thing. The man overcome with what has happened goes and tells everyone.

This was a public display of God’s mercy and power. His neighbors and those around him knew who he was. They also knew that he was blind and had been so since birth. However, now they encountered someone who looked just like him, but with one difference, this man could see. In v. 9 and 10 some of his neighbors question if it was actually him. But, the man born blind straightens them out by telling them that it is he and they end up asking him how this thing came to be.