It is good to be with you again today for another edition of the Weekend Sermon. I hope that this day finds you well.
This week has been very busy. I am doing a lot of work around the house with the hope of trying to put the house up for sale again. I didn't have much luck last time, but I will try to get things fixed up a little and see about selling it this spring. It is still my intention to try to get up enough money to start a larger ministry. My job and writing have gone well so far this week.
There is so much going on in the world right now, and there is a lot to pray for. Please pray for those affected by the hurricane in Mexico and those affected by the earthquake in Afghanistan. Let us also continue to pray for peace. I heard a report on the war in South Sudan on NPR this morning that made me sick. Please pray for peace in this very troubled country.
Let us continue to pray for those areas of the world where there are few Christians. Let us pray for the message of Jesus to reach more people in Madagascar, Somalia, Bahrain and Indonesia.
For the last several messages, we have been in a series on the way that the divinity of Jesus is presented in the book of John. We first examined the "I Am" statements of Jesus, and now we are examining the sign miracles presented in John. Today we focus on Jesus' healing of the man born blind.
One day as Jesus and His disciples were walking along, they came upon a man born blind. The disciples wanted to know if the man sinning or his parent's sins caused him to be born blind. Jesus said that that didn't have anything to do with the situation.
Jesus spit on the ground and made some mud. He put the mud on the man's eyes and told to him to go and wash in the Pool of Siloam. The man followed the word of the Lord, and his sight was restored.
When the Pharisees saw that this man was healed, they were angry because he was healed on the Sabbath. They asked the man who had healed him. The man did not know. The Pharisees then accused Jesus of healing by demonic powers. The healed man disagreed, and he was thrown out.
Later, Jesus found the man and asked him, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" The man said he did not know who that was. Jesus then revealed to the man who He was, and the blind man worshiped the Lord Jesus.
There is a lot to learn from this healing miracle. First, let's look at what this miracle has to teach us, and then let us look at how it is a sign of the divinity of Jesus.
The first thing that I want to point out is the idea of sin being responsible for sickness. The prevailing idea in Jesus' day was that if you were sick or disabled it was because either you were a sinner or your parents had sinned. That is the basis of the disciples' question.
Jesus makes it quite clear in this passage that that type of thinking is wrong. He said that it wasn't the man's sin or his parent's sin that had caused his condition.
We live in a fallen world. Sickness and other bad things happen to people. Sickness is not the punishment placed on a child because of parent's sin. And, if you are sick with some disease it is not because you have some kind of unconfessed sin in your life.
There is a teaching going around that says that if you have enough faith and you don't sin you will have perfect health and prosperity. This is not the teaching of the Scripture. This is not the teaching of Jesus.
One of the reasons that so many of the sick and the outcasts responded to Jesus is because He did not condemn and reject them as the religious leaders of the day did. He cared about people and He helped them.
When I was a boy, I was very sick because of a congenital immune disorder. I grew up in a church that thought that if you were sick it was because of some sin in your life. I knew that this wasn't true, but this kind of attitude expressed to me all the time caused a lot of depression. I am so glad that when I was older, I discovered who Jesus really is.
The second thing that I want to focus on is the attitude of the blind man's parents. When the blind man was brought before the religious leaders, they also brought the man's parents as well to testify if the man was really born blind. The parents said that their son was of age, he could speak for himself.
This is a nasty and horrible way to act. These parents left there son to beg and then they wouldn't help him out in a difficult situation because they were afraid.
What this teaches me is that even when those who are supposed to love us and care about us reject us, Jesus does not. He loves us and stands by us no matter what. He will never leave us and He will never forsake us. When the man had been cast out and was alone, Jesus came and found him, and Jesus showed love, mercy and compassion to him.
One other thing that I want to focus on from this miracle account is the fact that the blind man obeyed the Lord and gave Jesus the glory. When Jesus told the man to wash in the pool, the blind man did it. He was obedient to the voice of the Lord. After he was healed and he found out who Jesus was, he worshiped Jesus as his Savior and Lord.
This is an example for us today. We should obey what the Lord commands us to do. Whatever good thing comes into our lives, we should thank the Lord and give Him all the honor, glory and praise.
Now, how does this miracle demonstrate the divine nature of Jesus. Jesus created something out of nothing which is something only God can do. The account emphasizes the fact that this man was born blind. It also says that Jesus spit on the dust, and then He placed the mud in the man's eyes.
I think the clear implication is that this man was born without eyes. Jesus took the dust of the earth as in the original creation of man and made the man knew eyes with which to see. This is the reason the people and the religious leaders were so astonished. Jesus had healed other blind people. But this healing was different, It was more than those others. It was much more miraculous.
As great as this miracle was, the greatest miracle is when we come to Jesus and He gives sight to our eyes that were once blinded by sin. Jesus forgives us and allows us to see with the eyes of faith. Just like the blind man, we see Jesus for who He really is, and we worship Him as Savior and Lord.
Next week, we will continue in our series on the signs of John. I will post the verses on Monday, and I hope to post the review on Wednesday. May God bless you all. Amen.
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