Sermon Tone Analysis

Exegetical & Homiletic Point: Jesus is the Son of Man who opens blind eyes!

Intro

What would it be like to be blind?

What if I needed to get home but I had no eyes?

Could I drive a car?

Could I walk home?

We use our eyes to see soooooo much!

We take our eyes for granted!

It’s a lot harder to live without sight.

We run into things, trip over things, we can’t see danger like cars coming when you cross the road.

You wouldn’t even know how to get home unless you learned the path off by heart.

You know, Jesus healed a man who was born blind.

He never saw anything.

But, Jesus opened his eyes!

He was able to see for the first time!

Now he would be able to see the world around him, see it’s beauty, see how to get around and what his family looked like.

He could see!

Once he was in constant darkness, then he saw, and saw the light!

You know, Jesus gave that man his physical sight, but he can give us something even better than eyesight - he can open our spiritual eyes.

When our spiritual eyes are blind, we fumble about in the darkness, unable to see where we’re going.

We can’t see the truth about God.

We can’t find God.

But,

When Jesus opens our eyes we can see the truth.

We can see Jesus Christ as our Saviour!

We can see the way to God and all of the dangers of wandering off the path!

The way to eternal life is hard, and full of suffering, but when we have our spiritual eyes opened, we can follow Jesus as he leads us to everlasting joy.

Recap

After the Feast of Tabernacles - Jesus is the Light of the world, and the Living Water.

Apostle John is unfolding for us reason after reason why we must and should believe that Jesus is the messiah.

Including the bombshell in the previous passage that Jesus is the eternally existent God :the I AM.

This passage flows on from there.

While its a different occasion, it very naturally fits right next to this amazing revelation because there is a prophecy fulfilled here!

In this passage about a man recovering his sight, there are three big things for us to see.

Three big things for us to see.

The first is...

See Works of God (v1-12)

After Jesus’ huge revelations in and around the temple at the feats of Tabernacles he has slipped away to escape the murderous crowd.

Now the story pick up on some other occasion, probably on a different day, where Jesus & his disciples are traveling along.

Lets see what happens:

The blind man was known well enough that it was known he had a lifelong disability.

He probably hung out on busy roadsides to beg for donations.

Many people would have seen him every day.

Seeing this man sparks a theological discussion.

It raises a question about the world and the way God works.

Seeing as this man is blind, there must be some cause, what is it?

If God is in control, why is this man born blind?

Who sinned against God to cause this punishment?

This was a question that many people were wrestling through in Jesus day, they thought perhaps that disabilities like this were either passed on to children from parents who had done something wrong, or, maybe the man had sinned in his mother’s womb, and so God punished him with blindness.

This may sound wild to you, but this was a very serious question!

We know that sin entered the natural world though the Rebellion of Adam and Eve.

We know that God cursed them in judgment for their actions.

We know that God does punish sin.

So it’s not such a strange question to ask.

Jesus responds to their question:

This affliction was not caused by sin, neither was it a mere accident.

This happened for God’s Glory - so that the works of God might be displayed in him.

In God’s providential plan, he had this man in mind, both to suffer for many years with this disability, and to be a wonderful example to the world of God’s marvelous work in Jesus Christ!

This does not make it easy!

As one commentator said:

Why me?” Imagine the frustration, the torment.

Year after year he dealt with this affliction.

He had no idea that one day the Son of God would come to him and heal him.

But that was the plan of God for his life from all eternity.

Friends, I really want you to grab hold of this concept, because it will save you so much grief in life.

You really need to know this:

God is Sovereign.

He is sovereign over you, and your body and your life.

Our God is in the heavens and he does as he pleases.

We may know what caused the troubles and suffering that we experience in life, like we can find out the genetic defects that cause disabilities, or we can know the person who caused us pain.

We can investigate the cause of our suffering on a scientific level, but it is much harder to find out the reason for it in our life.

Why is this happening to me?

What is God doing in this situation?

Did I bring this on myself?

Is God punishing me?

These answers are hard to come by.

God doesn’t tell us the specifics of why we go though what we go though.

We want to know, but we don’t have a “right” to that information.

Even Job, that great suffering man was not told why he suffered so greatly and lost so much.

Part of our current trouble is that many of us have believed the lie of the world that “you deserve happiness” or that you have a right to be happy.

You don’t.

God gives us much happiness, and you get more when you live in line with God’s commands and design.

But, you don’t have a right to it.

You can’t demand it.

But you know who does have rights?

The King of the Universe!

But God has every right to use us for his glory.

We don’t get a say.

Whether you’re Balaam with his mixed motives,

Jonah the Reluctant prophet,

Paul the murdering persecutor,

Job the suffering servant,

Lot’s Wife,

Pharaoh of Egypt,

Or a blind man in Israel,

God will take us and use us to Glorify His holy name!

Some of us will be vessels of mercy, those outside Jesus will be vessels of wrath.

He chose this blind man to be a vessel of God’s glory.

And he can do the same with you.

We pray and hope and trust that all of you here today will similarly be vessels like this man.