EPISODE 9 John Chapter 9 ”Light Of The World” For Share The Word

Hi, and welcome to Share the Word, the best way to learn your way through the New Testament one chapter at a time. We know there are a lot of devotionals from the Bible available online. Our goal is to honestly and systematically present the whole story of the New Testament. So let's listen in to today's lesson and go a little deeper. Light of the World, John chapter 9. The most prolific Christian songwriter of the 19th century, probably ever, was a woman by the name of Fanny Crosby.

She composed, I've read, more than 8,000 Christian hymns and gospel songs. Some of you listening are probably familiar with some of them, like Blessed Assurance, Jesus Is Mine, or To God Be the Glory, Great Things He Has Done, a couple of her best-known ones. I love her powerful invitation song, Pass Me Not, O Gentle Savior. Probably my favorite song of all Fanny Crosby's writings was All the Way My Savior Leads Me. The words go, All the way my Savior leads me, what have I to ask beside? Can I doubt His tender mercy, who through life has been my guide?

Heavenly peace, divinest comfort, here by faith in Him I dwell. For I know, whate'er befalls me, Jesus doeth all things well. For I know, whate'er befalls me, Jesus doeth all things well. Miss Crosby was a highly acclaimed poet and songwriter in her day, honored by kings and presidents. In fact, living through the Civil War era, she wrote and performed the music for events like the funeral of President Ulysses S. Grant.

But the most amazing thing about Fanny Crosby is that she was blind, virtually from birth. She once wrote, It seemed intended by the blessed providence of God that I should be blind all my life, and I actually thank Him for this dispensation. If perfect earthly sight were offered me tomorrow, I wouldn't accept it. I doubt it then if I would compose hymns praise to God. I'm afraid I would have been too distracted by the beautiful and interesting things around me. Near the end of her life, she wrote a hymn she didn't share with anybody else.

She said she felt it was too personal. Then one night, she was introduced at a conference where the well-known evangelist Dwight Moody was speaking, and Dr. Moody asked her if she would give her testimony. At first she hesitated, but then she quietly rose and spoke for a couple moments, during which she said, There's one hymn I've written which has never been published. I call it my soul poem. Sometimes when I'm troubled, I repeat it to myself, and it brings comfort to my heart.

Then in her thin and aging voice, she sang, Someday the silver cord will break, and I no more as now shall sing. But oh, the joy when I shall wake within the palace of my King, and I shall see Him face to face and tell the story, saved by grace. Why was that song so special to her? she was asked many times. She replied, Because when I get to heaven, the very first face I will ever see will be the face of Jesus. What an inspiring woman of faith.

In John 9, where we've arrived today, we meet a blind man who had just about that exact experience. In chapters 7, 8, and 9, John has been telling us about this time, approximately six months before Jesus' death, when they visited Jerusalem for this religious festival, the Feast of Tabernacles. During that week-long national event centered at the temple, Jesus had these extraordinary clashes with his nation's religious authorities, clashes that erupted because of incredible claims he was making as he publicly taught in the courtyards of the temple. On the last day of the feast, Jesus had said things the religious leaders were so angered by that they started looking for stones to stone him for blaspheming. But in the confusion, John remembers, Jesus slipped away from them, getting lost in the crowds, because, in his words, Jesus' time had not yet come. Listen to this verse of Scripture.

The speaker is the apostle Peter, another one of the eyewitnesses, one of those who was with John this week at the temple. He spoke these words publicly in Jerusalem just shortly after Jesus' death and resurrection. Men of Israel, listen to this. Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did among you through him. You yourselves all know this. That's from Acts chapter 2.

Miracles, wonders, and signs. Rationalists and atheists discredit the whole of Christianity because its basis, the historical life of Jesus, cannot be disassociated from the supernatural. They reason, since they have never observed a scientifically proven miracle, and they assume the universe is a closed system of natural laws that have existed since it somehow accidentally began millions of years ago. The idea of miracles to them is absurd. So by extension, the claims about a miracle-working Jesus are also absurd. However, if you believe, as I do, in the Creator God of the Bible, who is separate from and sovereign over the universe He created, then miracles are certainly not impossible.

If He made the laws that govern the universe, why couldn't He temporarily suspend them? Isn't it interesting that the opponents of Christianity discredit the Bible because they deny the miraculous claims associated with Jesus, while Peter and the others who were actually there say it was by means of those very miraculous things that God Himself accredited Jesus? It was the unexplainable miraculous things that Jesus did that proved His identity. Anyway, it was at this same visit to Jerusalem that John remembers Jesus doing an extraordinary miracle, a sign, as John likes to call them. He describes the event matter-of-factly here in chapter 9, and when he records the reaction to it in some length in the rest of the chapter, things get kind of comical. Here's what happened in John's own words.

As we went along, we saw a blind man from birth. The disciples asked Jesus, Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he's been born blind? Neither this man nor his parents sinned, said Jesus, but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. As long as it is day, we must do the work of Him who sent me, because night is coming when no man can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world. Having said that, John remembers, Jesus knelt, spat on the ground, made some mud with the saliva and the dirt, and then rubbed it on the man's eyes.

Now go wash in the pool of Siloam, he instructed. So the man went and washed. And guess what? He came back seeing. His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him, often there begging at the temple, said, Isn't this the same man who used to sit and beg here? Some claimed it was.

Others said, Nah, it only looks like him. But he himself kept insisting, I am the man. I am the man. How then were your eyes opened? they demanded of him. He said, A man they called Jesus made some mud, put it on my eyes.

He told me to go to the pool of Siloam and wash it off. So I went and washed it off, and now I can see. So somewhere in the city at the end of that holiday week, Saturday actually, Jesus and his disciples had come upon this sadly familiar sight, this young blind man who sat begging near the temple. He would have been calling out to those who passed him by something like, Give alms to your merit, O tender-hearted souls, give alms to your merit. As he caught their attention, Jesus' disciples asked the question, So who sinned, Lord, this man or his parents, that he was born blind like that? Reflecting the teaching of the rabbis at the time that suffering, birth defects, deformities, all such tragic things were the result of God-specific judgments on people.

Since the man was born blind, the disciples wondered if it was something caused perhaps by his parents that he had been judged for. Jesus answered them, in effect, Wrong assumption. This wasn't caused by anything in this man or anything his parents did wrong. But it will serve a purpose to demonstrate the work of God in his life. It's interesting to me that what we call miracles, Jesus simply called God's work. And then he added, We must do the work of him who sent me while it is still day, because night is coming when no one can work.

He was saying, I think, I only have a limited time to accomplish what God sent me here to do. But did you notice that Jesus said we? That's because this is true for us as well as it was for him. He knew quite well that God had certain things for him to accomplish and that there was limited time to get them done. He wasn't meandering through life. Most of us, if we're honest, don't live our lives with that sense of mission or purpose or urgency.

We do not as keenly sense the fact that we really do only have limited time, and we don't fully get the importance of accomplishing something with it that matters to God and matters in eternity. But if you're one of Jesus' disciples, you've already accepted him as your Savior and leader, I hope you hear him saying this to you, just as John remembers him saying it to him. It's a very important truth that should rule in our minds. We only do have a limited period of time to accomplish what God has sent us here to do. John remembers then Jesus approaching that man and saying, While I'm in the world, I'm in the light of the world. Then he squat down on the ground where the man sat, spat into the dust and from his saliva made that muddy salve and smeared it on the blind man's eyes.

Go wash that off in the pool of Siloam. Siloam was a public pool not very far from the temple area. Jesus and his disciples then apparently proceeded on their way as the blind man set off, probably with help, to find that pool and do as instructed. I can't help but think there really is no indication in this narrative this fellow knew much, if anything, about Jesus or expected anything miraculous to happen when he went to the pool. It's quite possible he was just thinking, How weird. This fellow spits and smears mud on my face and then tells me to go wash it off in the pool.

Of course I'm going to wash it off in the pool. This is disgusting. At least that's what I would have been thinking, to be honest with you. So he made his way to the pool of Siloam, and he did kneel down over the edge of the basin and scooped water up and splashed it on his face. He washed that mud from his eyes, and when he did, for the first time in his life, the darkness gave way to light, to incredible light, and the world around him started coming into focus. Can you imagine the scene when he returned to the place where he had sat for years begging?

Even his friends hardly recognized him. Everything about him seemed changed. They kept saying, Could that be so-and-so? No, couldn't be him. And he kept insisting, Yes, it's me. It's me.

I'm the same man who sat here begging. What in the world happened? they wanted to know. And he told them about how Jesus had smeared mud on his eyes and sent him to the pool of Siloam to wash it off, and then, Where is the man who did this thing? they wanted to know. So some of them took this fellow to the religious leaders, the Pharisees, who they expected would be really interested in hearing about all this.

Some of the religious leaders recognized him as the beggar who was a fixture in the city, and they wanted, of course, to know the same thing. How in the world can you now see? So he recounted for them the story briefly. Now here's the amazing thing. As they listened to him tell how Jesus applied the mud and told him to go wash and so on and so on, they weren't thinking, Glory to God, what a miracle. They were thinking, wait, wait, wait.

Let's back up a minute. Did you say he made this salve by mixing together spit and dust? And are you saying he applied it to your eyes, and did he tell you to go to the pool of Siloam and wash it off? This is the Sabbath day, for crying out loud. What's wrong with you? Those things violated the Sabbath laws of the Pharisees.

Anointing on the Sabbath, bathing on the Sabbath. Isn't it obvious this fellow who told you these things couldn't be from God, or he would never be telling you to break the Sabbath rules? Really, that was their reaction. The Pharisees had developed many, many extra-biblical rules about what you can and cannot do on the Sabbath day, as if Jesus had violated some of them and instructed this man to violate others. This is what upset them. So they called for the man's parents and wanted to question them, figuring this had to be some kind of elaborate hoax.

When the parents arrived, they were questioned. Is this your son? Are you telling us that he was born blind, and how is it that he can now see? A bunch of questions. The frightened parents had already been made aware that those who were seen as supporting Jesus could be excommunicated, so they answered him cautiously. Yes, this is our son, and yes, he was definitely born blind.

But how he came to see, we don't know. He's a grown man. You'll have to ask him. Well, they already had, but they tried again. They called the young man back in and said, Give the glory for whatever happened to you. Give the glory to God.

We know this man Jesus, and he's a sinner. I love this guy's response. It's at verse 25 in our chapter. He says, Whether he's a sinner or not, I don't know. But one thing I know for sure: I was blind. But now I can see.

What a wonderful answer, he says. You asking me these hard questions. I don't know the answers. But there's one thing I do know for sure. I used to be blind, and now I can see. The Pharisees, John says, continued to insult and harass this fellow, trying to get him to denounce Jesus.

But he didn't budge off his story, even in the face of intimidation. He insisted, Never since the world began has anyone been able to open the eyes of someone born blind. If this man were not from God, would he be able to do that? So John says, They, that is the religious leaders, threw him out of the synagogue. That doesn't mean the religious leaders shoved him out the door of some place that day. It means they excommunicated him.

The worst thing you could do to a person in that very religious society. It meant they declared him a pariah in their community, someone who could not attend synagogue and was to be shunned by good people. The last words they hurled at him were, You were steeped in sin at your birth. How dare you lecture us? And they threw him out. You know, Jesus wouldn't let the situation end there.

He heard about the treatment this poor fellow received at the hands of the Pharisees, and he found him again before he left the city. I wonder if the formerly blind man recognized Jesus' voice when he heard it now, the same voice that he'd heard in the darkness say, Go wash in the pool of Siloam. But now Jesus said to him, Do you believe in the Son of Man? And he replied, Who is that, sir? Tell me so that I might believe in him. And Jesus told him, You have now seen him, and he is the one speaking to you.

And the man said, Then, Lord, I believe. And John says he worshipped him. Don't miss these things in passing. Jesus identified himself to this once blind man as the Son of Man. That's a title ascribed to the Messiah by the prophet Daniel in chapter 7 of his prophecy. Jesus also did not reject the man's worship, although we know only God is worthy of worship.

Remember John's purpose statement in 20:31? He wrote to convince us Jesus was in fact the Messiah, and to convince us Jesus was God on earth in human form. He's showing us here this one man who now believes those claims. The apostle John wrote about this incident from Jesus' life after many years. He said at the end of his gospel, remember, that if he'd written all the things and all the signs that Jesus had done, the world couldn't contain the books. Instead, from all of those memories and all those remarkable things during the years he spent with Jesus, he chose seven signs, seven miraculous events that he saw with his own eyes.

Because, as I've suggested, John saw in these displays of Jesus' power acts of significance. Already we saw the sign of water turned to wine at Cana at the wedding. We saw the feeding of the thousands from a little boy's lunch. So what do you think John found so significant about this particular encounter between Jesus and this man born blind that begged near the temple? If you read all the Gospels, you'll find that Jesus healed several blind people. Why did this particular situation stand out to John?

I believe he saw in this episode some incredible irony. Remember, it was at the Feast of the Tabernacles where the lights of the menorah, representing God's presence, burned brightly each evening. Jesus openly had declared earlier that day, I am the light of the world. Then he did something that no one had ever done before or since. He proved it by opening the eyes of a man born blind. Who ever had heard of such a thing?

Yet those who refused to accept the light remained in imposed self-darkness. Have you ever noticed how winged insects are drawn to the light and crawling creatures are repelled by the very same light? Isn't that interesting? Today we're living in very dark times. Unspeakable evils are crawling out from under the rocks, it seems like, in my society anyway. We can angrily curse at the darkness, or as someone has put it well, we can light our candles.

At Share the Word, we're lighting a candle. John wrote in the very opening lines of this gospel, The light shone in the darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome it. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, but the world didn't recognize him. But to all who will receive him, to those who will believe in his name, he will give them the right to become God's children. The simple testimony that once blind man gave to the Pharisees has been the experience of believers for 2,000 years now. This one thing I know: I once was blind, but now I see.

We may not be able to explain it all theologically. We may not explain it very well, put it in words you can understand. But we know, those of us who have accepted Jesus and believed who he really is. Who've received Him as our Savior and our Leader, we know that when we made that decision, a light went on in our lives. We see things now we didn't see before. We understand things we didn't know before.

We love things we didn't love before. And we too have the assurance Fanny Crosby had that one day, when we finish our journey here, we will see Jesus face to face. Weren't you, as I was, struck by her saying, in effect, I'm thankful I was born blind because I think if I had been able to see, perhaps I would have been too dazzled and distracted by things around me to know God the way I know Him. I think many people are exactly there. That is, too enamored and distracted by the things whirling around their lives to take the time to focus on a relationship with God. That's why I'm so glad you're here, listening and thinking it all through.

And I pray that God will open all of our eyes to see exactly who Jesus really was and why we all need Him. In fact, I hope, if you haven't already, you'll receive Jesus as your Savior and Leader today. If your heart is telling you you need to do that, do it. He's the light of the world. Until next time, this is Paul for Share the Word. Wow, that was some thought-provoking information, wasn't it?

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