John 9:1-7, 13-17, 34-39
Pastor Nathan P. Kassulke“Jesus Gives Us True Sight”
Fourth Sunday in Lent
Sunday, March 19, 2023
“I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see” (CW 576:1). Those words come from a muchbeloved hymn. We just sang them minutes ago. John Newton wrote those words, wrote that hymn, “Amazing Grace.” Perhaps you have heard previously about his history as a ship operator for the slave trade. On one occasion, he was caught in a storm and cried out desperately to God. He credited that event at the very least to setting him on a path toward becoming a Christian, a priest, an abolitionist, and a hymnwriter. But John Newton was not blind. I doubt that comes as a surprise to you because you understand that words and figures of speech in English can have meanings other than their literal, straightforward sense. When we sing, “I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see,” we understand that we are speaking about these things in a spiritual sense. We’re not talking about being lost in the woods or unable to find our way around Tucson’s roads. We’re not talking about physical blindness or the need for eyeglasses or contact lenses. No, just like Newton, we are saying that there was a time we did not know God or understand his blessings to us, but God rescued us and made us his own. In that sense, we were lost but have been found and were blind but have come to see.
In today’s Gospel, we heard about a man who was blind in both senses. This man also came to see in both senses. And his experience is contrasted with the response of the Pharisees who really went the other direction. So let’s consider together a little more about this event and about the lessons we take from it. We see from this account that Jesus gives us true sight.
The first blindness, if you will—certainly it was a misunderstanding—that Jesus corrected was that of his own disciples. When they came upon a man who had been blind for his entire life, the disciples assumed that this issue was a punishment for a specific sin. But whose sin? It hardly seemed fair that a man ought to suffer blindness because his parents sinned. But if it was his own sin that caused the blindness, how would he have been born blind? Was he punished for something he would do sometime in his life?
In this case, however, the purpose of the man’s blindness was not punishment. The purpose was to bring glory to God through the work of Jesus Christ his Son. Jesus explained that the blindness was not due to either this man’s own sin or his parents. That is certainly not to say that these people were not sinners. They were sinners, just like all people. But Jesus reminds us that his plan is not what the world understands. He’s not talking about karma, where if you do good, you get good, and if you do bad, bad comes back to you. God’s plan is not to punish every sin with an earthly consequence, though for some sins there are natural consequences. God’s plan is to forgive sin and wickedness, to remember these things no more, and to use all things, even and especially the difficult things, to draw people close to him.
At times it may be difficult for us to remember God’s plan and his good purposes. How often does a Christian feel like crying out, “Why me, Lord?” When a beloved and active member of our church family is diagnosed with a terminal disease, we may wonder why something that seems so bad would happen to a person who seems so good. And aren’t we tempted to think that if our life is going well, God must be pleased with us and then to worry that if something goes wrong maybe he isn’t? Jesus tells us that this is not how God operates.
His blindness was a real burden for this man that we meet alongside Jesus and his disciples in John chapter 9. We wouldn’t want to place such a burden on someone or belittle the struggle. But don’t you suppose, after everything was done as we heard in this lesson that the man would have been thankful for what he went through? Don’t you think he would have found the struggle worth it?
First, Jesus dealt with this man’s physical blindness. He made some mud out of the dirt on the ground and his own saliva and placed it on the man’s eyes. He sent the man to wash in a pool that happened to be named for sending. And when the man did as Jesus instructed, he returned with his eyesight. He could see for the first time in his entire life. Jesus showed himself to be true God and all-powerful. He demonstrated his love
and mercy in the life of this man. He fulfilled prophecies about the Messiah bringing sight to the blind. But as amazing as all of this was, it may not be the most amazing part of this account. That’s because Jesus also dealt with this man’s spiritual blindness. The man knew right away that Jesus was something special. He called him a prophet. We’ll come back to the Pharisees who were questioning him, but this man saw Jesus return to him to clarify very specifically that he was indeed the promised One of God, the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of God. And the man fell down to worship Jesus. His life had been changed again. His physical sight would serve him well for exactly the rest of his earthly life. But his spiritual sight, seeing Jesus for who he really is, changed this man’s eternal destiny.
That’s what has changed yours, too. Whether you have had that moment of clarity and can recall your spiritual eyes opening, or you were brought to faith in Jesus as an infant at the baptismal font, what makes all the difference for you is that you have seen Jesus for who he really is. The blind man didn’t have Jesus say to him, “If you try really hard to see, then you will.” Jesus didn’t tell him, “You got unlucky, even though you are a good person, so let’s get this straightened out.” Jesus didn’t say, “What are you willing to do in order to see?” Jesus gave a gift through mud and washing, through his power and love. And the man could see. And that is how spiritual sight is given. It doesn’t depend on effort or improvement or behavior. It depends on God’s gift of faith. It’s the reason God has Paul say to the Ephesians and to us, “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light” (Eph 5:8).
Jesus does want us to love and serve him. He does want us to glorify him. God wants our sinful lives to change, but that is not what brings us closer to God. God brings us to himself and the result is that our lives change and we serve and love him.
But there are enemies and dangers all around. The Pharisees called the blind man in for questioning. Obviously, we’ve focused on specific parts of this chapter from John, we don’t have the whole thing in front of us that spells out even more details. Here’s what happened: the Pharisees opposed Jesus and blinded themselves to even the miracle he had done. They tried to deny that this man really had been blind. They tried to use his blindness as evidence that he was “entirely born in sinfulness” (EHV) or “steeped in sin at birth” (NIV). They thought that they should be the ones to determine right and wrong, to decide what should be done, to be looked on as authorities in spiritual matters. But that meant that even though they could see physically, and even though they had all sorts of spiritual advantages by birth as well, they were blind to the truth. They refused to see Jesus as the Savior that they needed. Your world is going to offer all sorts of darkness to obscure the truth about Jesus as your Savior. If our society acknowledges Jesus at all, it tends to look at him as a myth or a legend. Perhaps he was a good teacher, but all the miracles and rising from the dead talk must be made up. Activists try to demand that the very things that God abhors and forbids and that he knows would be deadly to your faith are actually the best things for you. They will make you happy. And that same worldly idea will try to convince you that not only is Jesus no help, he is really what is most wrong with you. The depth of the darkness and blindness of our world is truly incredible.
That’s exactly why Jesus came. He says, “For judgment I came into this world, in order that those who do not see will see, and those who do see will become blind.” He comes to rescue people out of spiritual blindness to make them see. And his judgment means that those who think they have sight of their own are ultimately revealed as frauds and darkness. Jesus really is the one who faced down the darkness of sin and Satan and death. He suffered the consequences and punishment of sin. He endured a torturous death on the cross and proved his victory by escaping the tomb alive. And now he invites you who see him as he truly is to share that sight with others.
Jesus gives true sight, and that means that we who were born in the darkness of sin and unbelief, doomed to death and hell, have been given not just sight but also eternal life in heaven. This is what we have to share with others. And this is what we have to cherish and to hold dear and to read and learn and study: “I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see.”
