SERMON: "Unbelief and the Miraculous, Part 1" (John 9:8–17)
Unbelief and the Miraculous, Part 1
(John 9:8–17)
Series: “John: Life in Christ’s Name” Text: John 9:8–17
By: Shaun Marksbury Date: October
1, 2023
Venue: Living Water Baptist Church Occasion: AM Service
I.
Introduction
Unfortunately, it causes
us to avoid engaging in right activities, as well. For instance, an experiment was conducted
with a classroom of students; everyone in the classroom except for one student previously
agreed to answer a math question incorrectly.
When the teacher asked for the answer to the question, every student except
for the unsuspecting child agreed with an incorrect answer. Even though the child knew this answer to be
wrong, he looked around the class and assumed that he must be in the wrong. He kept his mouth closed.
Unfortunately, the
power of the opinions of others doesn’t end at childhood. If many adults begin to agree that 2 + 2 = 5,
then the number of people willing to argue for against that will begin to
drop. Some will begin to think they are
wrong, or they will simply not want to rock the boat and be seen as an
outsider.
For some, though, the
truth is the truth, no matter what. Even
if the whole world is saying that Jesus is not the Christ, the Lord, there will
be some willing to stand against their peers and confess the truth. This is the case when the Lord has transformed
your heart — the fear of exclusion is nothing in light of the glorious
inclusion with the Lord Himself!
In this passage, we
see this man who the Lord has substantially changed. He is so different that those around him
question what has taken place, bringing him into conflict with the status
quo. Many had already decided to reject
Jesus, and others were afraid to embrace the truth, but this man knows what has
taken place. As he faces doubters, he
grows in his confidence in the Lord.
We also face the
doubts of our neighbors and even our leaders.
Even so, we cannot give into the pressure that they exude upon us. We must still believe in the truth despite
the doubters, which is what we see this morning.
II.
First, Believe in the Lord Despite the Doubts of
Neighbors (vv. 8–12)
Therefore the neighbors, and those who
previously saw him as a beggar, were saying, “Is not this the one who used to
sit and beg?” Others were saying, “This
is he,” still others were saying, “No, but he is like him.” He kept saying, “I
am the one.” So they were saying to him,
“How then were your eyes opened?” He
answered, “The man who is called Jesus made clay, and anointed my eyes, and
said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash’; so I went away and washed, and I received
sight.” They said to him, “Where is He?”
He said, “I do not know.”
Remember that the
last verse we read was v. 7, which said that the man came back seeing. He returned to the area he had occupied for
so long, which means that he was recognizable to his neighbors. Well, he was somewhat recognizable, anyway,
for something fundamental had transformed in this man’s life!
The neighboring Jerusalemites
had seen this man in times past begging.
As a beggar who was also born blind, he likely took a stooped posture, tilting
his head toward conversations while never exuding confidence in his body
language. Now, he returns without
assistance, perhaps walking erect without concern of stumbling, perhaps looking
directly into the faces of his neighbors for the first time. This activity alone would give him an entirely
different appearance to his neighbors, for he shed his former beggarly form.
This tells us how complete
this healing was. I watched a
documentary years ago on someone who had his vision repaired, giving him the
ability to see. However, he had
difficulty with it, adjusting to a new world of information. Even tasks which would seem simple to us,
like distinguishing between an actual apple on the table and a picture of an
apple, proved taxing. He had sight, but
then he had to learn how to see. When
Jesus heals the blind, we don’t read about months of rehabilitation and
training, and this blind man seems able to adjust to his new condition
instantaneously.
There is a sermon
in just this transformation. He could now
see, completely. His blindness had
locked him into a life of begging, relying on the kindness of others for sustenance,
but for the first time in his life, he can now work! He even walks and looks different than he
did. This is how completely the Lord
transforms us!
So, the neighbors
are unsure, asking, “Is not this the one who used to sit and beg?” They can’t agree, though. Some said he was the same man, but to those
who kept saying that he only looked like the beggar, this man had to keep replying
with who he was!
I need to give an
aside for those of you who study deep and like to engage in religious
discussions with those who are unbelievers.
The unbeliever you speak with, if he or she has knowledge of the Greek
text of the Bible, might note that the expression in the original language that
this man uses in v. 9 is ego eimi, “I am.” This was a big deal when Jesus said this in
back in John 8:58, but not so much here.
The Jews responded to Jesus by picking up stones, but this man doesn’t
get that reaction. That’s because that,
while the ego eimi phrase can refer to God’s name in Exodus 3:14, it can
also be a shorthand way of saying “I am he.” This is important in apologetics, as we
defend the deity of Christ, for some people might know that the expression “I
am” can be translated differently throughout the Bible. Context determines meaning on all such
questions.
This man is simply testifying
to the fact that he’s been transformed. So,
in v. 10, they finally get to the important question: “How then were your eyes
opened?” This question is just as
important for the formerly blind man as it is for his neighbors, for it forces
him to think about who Jesus is and how it’s possible that He could heal a man
of blindness.
As such, throughout
this chapter, this man is going to undergo an evolution of belief about Jesus. Here in v. 11, he’s going to refer to the “man
who is called Jesus.” In v. 17, he’s
going to say that Jesus is “a prophet.” In
v. 25, he even expresses doubt that Jesus is a sinner. Finally, in vv. 35–38, we’ll see him call
Jesus Lord, profess belief that He is the Son of Man, and then fall down and
worship Him! It’s fascinating how the
questioning, doubts, and even persecutions of others will force us to think
about Jesus like never before, thinking through and developing a theology about
Him!
As for this moment,
this man reports exactly what he knows and what happened. In v. 11, he says, “The man who is called
Jesus made clay, and anointed my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash’;
so I went away and washed, and I received sight.” Being blind, the man only knew Jesus by what
He is called, and then he did what the Lord told him to do.
So, the people ask
the most natural question imaginable in the next verse. They ask, “Where is He?” As one commentator notes, this question “does
not betray a desire to check their neighbour’s story, but a natural desire to
meet the man who had performed such an astonishing miracle.”[1] His
limited testimony is enough for them to want to meet Jesus.
(As an aside, I
hope that encourages you. You might not
know Greek and Hebrew, name all the books of the Bible, or quote the early
church fathers. Still, just as this man’s
testimony was enough, you can certainly also tell others about what He’s done
for you!)
Now, this man was in
a difficult spot. Jesus had sent him to
wash, and when the man had returned, he wouldn’t have known by sight who healed
him yet. Perhaps our Lord even moved on
to another area. Either way, he can’t pick
Jesus (or anyone yet) out of a crowd.
This means that he can’t point them to Jesus just yet. This will force the man to think more about
the importance of knowing Jesus.
Yet, the crowd isn’t
sure yet about all this. The people
might be emotionally stirred right now, but they don’t necessarily believe in
Jesus based on this testimony. In fact, rather
than thinking through this, they decide to consult “the experts,” taking this
man to the religious leaders instead.
And that will only lead to more unbelief, as we see next.
III.
Second, Believe in the Lord Despite the Doubts
of Leaders (vv. 13–17)
They brought to the Pharisees the man who
was formerly blind. Now it was a Sabbath
on the day when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. Then the Pharisees also were asking him again
how he received his sight. And he said to them, “He applied clay to my eyes,
and I washed, and I see.” Therefore some
of the Pharisees were saying, “This man is not from God, because He does not
keep the Sabbath.” But others were saying, “How can a man who is a sinner
perform such signs?” And there was a division among them. So they said to the blind man again, “What do
you say about Him, since He opened your eyes?” And he said, “He is a prophet.”
The neighbors would
well know that the Pharisees opposed Jesus.
We saw that in the last chapter, and in v. 22, we’ll note that the
people knew that the Pharisees had already decided to excommunicate anyone from
the synagogues who choose to confess Christ.
Still, the people are astonished by this miracle, so they want their
anti-Jesus leaders to explain how Jesus could open the eyes of a man born
blind.
The Pharisees, of
course, are eager to answer this question.
Now, the issue here isn’t that the people and the religious leaders are
looking for clarity. It’s okay to ask
questions and investigate claims. As John
later says, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see
whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the
world” (1 John 4:1). As one commentary notes,
“The law cautioned people to be wary of teachers who might lead them astray by
performing signs and wonders (Deut 13:1–5).”[2] So,
the issue isn’t that the Pharisees are holding an inquest and seeking to get to
the bottom of this miracle.
The problem here is
that the Pharisees have already decided against Jesus. They have already heard of other miracles and
have chosen to ignore them. So, they are
not necessarily moved by this testimony, either; even in light of all the
subtle reminders that this man was formerly blind. So, the Pharisees ask questions because they want
to poke holes in testimonies about Jesus; they’re seeking evidence they can use
against Jesus before the people. As the
religious leaders God ordained in Israel, they are using their position to
intentionally lead people away from Jesus Christ — that’s what makes the
error of the Pharisees so damnable.
Specifically, the
Pharisees seem to fixate on the fact that Jesus performed this miracle on a Sabbath
day, as v. 14 suggests. In v. 15, they ask
again of the man how the healing took place, and he focuses on the fact that
Jesus applied the clay to his eyes. Remember
that spitting on the ground and mixing mud or clay was (and still is) forbidden
on the Sabbath day.[3] It
seems like such a small thing, especially considering it changed the blind man’s
whole life, but that is the aspect on which the Pharisees chose to focus.
It's worth noting
that the Pharisees were not so obsessed with Sabbath observance that they
couldn’t imagine any scenario in which it was acceptable to work. They had no problem with priests working on
the Sabbath, for instance, slaughtering animals. They also believed that it was okay to labor
to save a man who was “in imminent danger of death.”[4] Yet,
in their religious minds, this man could have lived another day blind.
One might ask why Jesus
would choose to continue to antagonize the religious leaders on this point,
then. Why not just heal on another
day? One commentator points out this question
and provides the following answer. Jesus
did this,
First
and foremost, because it displayed His divine authority as Lord of the Sabbath
(Luke 6:5). But He also did it to demonstrate that such extrabiblical standards
were an unnecessary and oppressive burden on the people. By making the seventh
day a wearisome one governed by dozens of trivial, hairsplitting rules, the
Jewish leaders had perverted God’s design for this weekly day of rest and
thanks to God; after all, as Jesus pointed out, “The Sabbath was made for man,
and not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27). The religious leaders prided
themselves on keeping the minutiae of the legalistic Sabbath rules, while at
the same time ignoring far more important issues such as showing mercy (cf.
Matt. 12:11–12; Mark 3:4; Luke 13:15–16). No wonder Jesus excoriated them for
“[tying] up heavy burdens and lay[ing] them on men’s shoulders, [while] they
themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger” (Matt. 23:4). They corrupted the Sabbath, turning it from a
day of glorifying God into a means of legalistic self-glorification.[5]
Jesus challenged
their self-righteous system, which they could not forgive. So, in v. 16, many of them say, “This man is
not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath.” They might even have put the emphasis on the “is
not”! As one commentary notes, “One
would have expected that such a miracle as Christ wrought upon the blind man
would have settled his reputation, and silenced and shamed all opposition, but
it had the contrary effect; instead of being embraced as a prophet for it, he
is prosecuted as a criminal.”[6] They
would not allow this to stand.
Still, just as not
all religious leaders are bad, there were a few who were a bit more open, it
seems. They reply, “How can a man who is
a sinner perform such signs?” Some note
here that this could be a division of different forms of unbelief. While that’s possible, it’s not the only
explanation. There were secret believers
among the Pharisees. Still, that Jesus
performed signs isn’t proof-positive of His godliness. As another commentary notes, the argument
is
worthless, even if the conclusion is sound. Not only the Old Testament (Dt. 13:1–5) but
also the New (e.g. Mt. 7:21–23; 2
Thes. 2:9) insists that miracles cannot be an infallible guide to spiritual
authority. If Moses’ rod could become a
snake, so could the rods of the Egyptian magicians. This does not mean miracles have no attesting force. They are sometimes seen as ‘signs of the
apostles’ (cf. 2 Cor. 12:12). In the Fourth Gospel, although any demand for
signs is rebuked (cf. notes on 4:48),
yet Jesus prefers faith based on signs to no faith at all (10:38; 14:11). In other words, the second group employs at
best a weak argument, but comes up with the truth, however hesitantly
expressed.[7]
So, at least this question
invites more inquiry. This means that
there was, as we read here, division among the ranks of the Pharisees. Jesus often provoked division of opinion (John
6:52; 7:12, 43; 10:19).
Unable to settle
the issue on their own, they invite the opinion of the formerly-blind man. In v. 17, they ask, “What do you say about
Him, since He opened your eyes?” There’s
an emphatic pronoun here — “You, what do you say about Him?” They consult the recipient of the miracle to
learn his opinion of the Miracle Worker.
A few commentaries
note that this may not be an admission that Jesus opened the man’s eyes. The language might indicate here that they are
leaving the suggestion to him: “You say he cured you of your blindness—well,
what do you say about him?”[8] Some
were certainly less willing to believe than others.
Whatever the case,
this questioning prompts the man to take his first step forward with
Jesus. He says of Jesus, “He is a
prophet.” This is the same initial conclusion,
you’ll remember, that the woman at the well came to concerning Jesus (John
4:19). What does he mean by this?
First, it’s not
clear whether this man was thinking that Jesus is “the Prophet” predicted by Moses
(Deut. 18:15). There’s no article in the
original language, though it can still be read that way based on a rule of
Greek grammar. However, this man
probably doesn’t have that level of belief in Jesus just yet, and so the translations
opt for “a prophet” here.
What’s significant
about the man saying that Jesus is a prophet?
Before, he had identified Jesus as a man. However, as he heard his neighbors and the
Pharisees debate, he’s concluding that Jesus isn’t only a man. At the very least, Jesus is operating with the
blessing of God. He’s asked, and he
gives his conclusion, even knowing that this is an unpopular opinion — Jesus
isn’t just an ordinary man!
IV.
Conclusion
The Pharisees don’t
like this reply. Next time we are in
this text, we’re going to see them get more antagonistic. However, this man will only continue to grow
in his belief.
As we go through
this, we continue to read the rich irony here in John’s Gospel. As one commentary notes, “This poor blind
beggar had a clearer judgment of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God,
and saw further into the proofs of a divine mission, than the masters in Israel, that assumed an
authority to judge of prophets.”[9] He
could see truths about Jesus that people able to see their whole lives were
blind to seeing.
The question, of
course, is whether you are blind to the truth. Do you see Jesus as just an ordinary man? Or, are you willing to go against the
opinions of others and say that Jesus is more than that? If you see the truth about Jesus, I hope that
you won’t allow the questions of others create doubt within you. And, if you are not sure that you’re a
Christian, I hope that you will come to this true Prophet and ask Him to open
your eyes!
[1] D. A. Carson, The
Gospel according to John, The Pillar New Testament Commentary, (Leicester,
England; Grand Rapids, MI: Inter-Varsity Press; W.B. Eerdmans, 1991), 366.
[2] John D. Barry, Douglas Mangum, Derek R. Brown, Michael
S. Heiser, Miles Custis, Elliot Ritzema, Matthew M. Whitehead, Michael R.
Grigoni, and David Bomar, Faithlife Study
Bible, (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012, 2016), Jn 9:16.
[3] Carson, 367.
[4] Gerald L. Borchert, John 1–11, The New American Commentary, (Nashville: Broadman &
Holman Publishers, 1996), 25A:318.
[5] John F. MacArthur Jr., John 1–11, MacArthur New Testament Commentary, (Chicago: Moody
Press, 2006), 402.
[6] Matthew Henry, Matthew
Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible: Complete and Unabridged in One Volume,
(Peabody: Hendrickson, 1994), 1977.
[7] Carson, 368.
[8] Ronald Trail, An
Exegetical Summary of John 1–9, Exegetical Summaries, (Dallas, TX: SIL
International, 2013), 491.
[9] Henry, 1979.