They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind.14
Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man’s eyes was a Sabbath.
15 Therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. “He put mud on my eyes,” the man replied, “and I washed, and now I see.” 16
Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.” But others asked, “How can a sinner perform such signs?” So they were divided.17
Then they turned again to the blind man, “What have you to say about him? It was your eyes he opened.” The man replied, “He is a prophet.” 18
They still did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they sent for the man’s parents.
19 “Is this your son?” they asked. “Is this the one you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see?” 20
“We know he is our son,” the parents answered, “and we know he was born blind.
21 But how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself.”
22 His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders, who already had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue.
23 That was why his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.” 24
A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. “Give glory to God by telling the truth,” they said. “We know this man is a sinner.” 25
He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”26
Then they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” 27
He answered, “I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples too?” 28
Then they hurled insults at him and said, “You are this fellow’s disciple! We are disciples of Moses!
29 We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don’t even know where he comes from.”30
The man answered, “Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes.
31 We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will.
32 Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind.
33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”34
To this they replied, “You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!” And they threw him out. 35
Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”36
“Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.” 37
Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.” 38
Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.39
Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.” 40
Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we blind too?” 41
Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.
The Pharisees begin arguing with the man who was once blind but now sees. Perhaps you noticed that Jesus seems to disappear, He is not in the narrative at that point.
Rather, darkness, those who are truly blind men, converse with the once blind man. The name of Jesus is only mentioned to say that if you mention it, you are to be cast out of the synagogue.
Listen carefully to what darkness says; If you profess Jesus, then you are cast out of fellowship…if you confess Jesus…you are thrown out of the fellowship of darkness.
Think about that, if you insist upon Jesus, then you will be cast out of the darkness, by the darkness…how ironic! Do you see what is happening? The darkness today will cast out the light, the ones who see. The darkness understands quite clearly
that there is no room for light in its domain. Darkness knows that it is not compatible with light!
With all of this being true, then we must ask why so many who say they love Jesus found pleading with the darkness, “Please accept me, please let me in, please
do not cast me out…I want to be a part of you…” And if we are not speaking those words, we are saying it by the choices we make. What are we doing? Don’t misunderstand me, darkness will pretend a love affair with the children of light, as long as the children
of light are the ones compromising their true character…but make no mistake about two things:
First, the only way you can come in is to turn down if not turn off the light. And second, darkness desires you to reject the light, that is always its goal, no matter
how nice it might sound at the moment. So many Christian people are being tempted to compromise their spiritual life and most are unaware of what is happening! You might think, “How do you know that, you don’t know their hearts!” True, I don’t know
their hearts, and I don’t pretend to. But I do know what Jesus has told us about the darkness. And our Lord makes it clear that the darkness will not let you be fully devoted to Christ without a fight…It will not tolerate that, and if you think it will, if
you believe the sweet sounding words, you are failing to see the spirit of the one behind the darkness.
Look how powerful darkness is as it is illustrated in the text: The man’s parents realize that there is truth here, they see the evidence of it, but they are unwilling
to face the opposition that will come to them if they confess Christ openly. It would be hard to believe that parents of such a son, who had lived so long with the sadness of his condition and had so longed for him to see, could then be so timid about the
astonishing change in his condition, if there weren’t such people all around us all the time!
How many there are who lose life out of cowardice, the fear of man. How many scientists do you suppose there are who have private doubts, serious doubts about evolution,
have reason to believe it isn’t true, but who never say a thing in public for fear of the scorn of their peers…Or doctors and nurses who are deeply uneasy about performing abortions but would rather do so that deal with being excommunicated from their fraternity!
But parents??? Yes…that is the power of darkness.
Jesus, as he did at the beginning, separated the light from the darkness, he calls a people unto himself, to be distinct, peculiar, a people who see what most do not.
We, the church, are said to shine forth as light in a crooked and perverse world, shine forth as light, in darkness, not by becoming like it but by being its opposite. The apostle Paul asks:
“What fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness and what communion has light with darkness…”
Do you see it? Because, brothers and sisters, the darkness certainly sees it, they cast out the man who sees, they threaten to dis-fellowship him, to excommunicate
him, so that they might stay in the dark and have no influence of the light in their midst. The world gets it…but does the church? The church of Christ has lost all sense of who we are. Why else are we running to the world to show us the way we are to live,
the way we are to worship, the way we are to live in our marriages and in raising our children…and it is easy to show that the habits, the behavior of the church is no different from that of darkness.
Why does the world dictate to the church? Why did Francis Schaeffer say, “show me what the world is doing today and I will show you what the church will be doing in
7 years.”? The only part of Schaeffer’s words that I disagree with is the 7-year part, for it seems to rarely take that long!
Think of how absurd it would have been for this blind man to go and make a couple of patches to put over his eyes, that although he can see, that he would choose to
continue to live as if he were blind…but so many Christians do exactly that! Jesus did not seek to transform the culture…he did not say to Nicodemus, “Hey Nic, let’s find some common ground from which to work. No. He said, Nicodemus, you religious man, you
have to start over, you have to be born again!
Jesus came to judge the cultures of man as he says in verse 39…he came to remove people from the culture of blindness and place them into the culture of light, a kingdom
culture that is not of this world. Jesus comes to take blind eyes that see only this world, and transform, not culture, but the souls of men that they might see and that they might set their new found eyes on the culture above. Jesus is the light of men, but
he never tells us as we shine that we are to seek to return to pre-fall Eden, he tells us to pilgrimage to the city of God that is in heaven, one that has no artificial light, such as a sun, but a land that is lit by the glory of the One who is light.
The light comes to this one man and he who has sat in darkness all his life, has known nothing but the blackness and emptiness of this nothingness, is brought to the
light and by the end, the world of light, the world of heaven, the world of Jesus has given him the ability to see. While at the same time, those who boast they do see, are kept in blind darkness. John asks us: Who in this narrative is really the blind one?
But the questions are also aimed at us: Do you see? Do you really see? And, do you now live in the light as those who ARE light without fear? Are we, as the light exposing the darkness, the darkness in the world and in our own hearts? Darkness and light are
mutually exclusive…which are we?
Prayer: Father forgive me for compromising with the darkness. I confess that out of the fear of man and the fear of rejection I have at times turned off the light
of the Spirit so as to ‘fit in’ with the darkness. I am appalled at myself and my lack of courage. I begin this day by seeking You, the light of the world, the light of life, wanting to live without fear and in the joy of life that the light brings to me.
May I walk in the light, as He is in the light and rejoice in the life that is mine in Christ Jesus, Amen.
Hymn: O Light that Knew No Dawn
