The Works of God Displayed
The Works of God Displayed
John 9:1-23
Main Idea: The works of God always point to Jesus and always point people to worshipping Him.
I. The Man Born Blind
John 9:1-5: As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.
If you want to “work the works” of the One who sent Jesus into the world, make friends with vulnerability, with suffering, with disability, and with the needy. If you are among the “strong,” use your strength to attend to the weak.
James 1:27: Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.
II. The Healing of A Man Born Blind
John 9:6-7: Having said these things, (Jesus) spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man’s eyes with the mud and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing.
People often think that if miracles like this were only happening today it would be much easier to believe in God. The facts of this story argue against this assumption. Bold miracles tend to confound and confuse.
III. The Man Who Heals Men and Women Born “Blind”
The prophet Isaiah had foretold a “day” when the eyes of the blind would be opened. He speaks of it beautifully, yet enigmatically. On the one hand, he speaks of a “day” in which “the deaf shall hear the words of a book, and out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind shall see” (Isaiah 29:18; 36:5-6). On the other hand, his very ministry would have the effect of “[Making] the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes” (Isaiah 6:10). He is sent to a people who are “blind, yet have eyes, who are deaf yet have ears” (Isaiah 43:8).
John’s eyes were opened and his ears unstopped the evening of the day Jesus rose from death. Luke records the event this way: “Then (Jesus) said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.” (Luke 24:44-47)