I invite you to turn with me to God's holy word to John chapter nine. It's found not only in your bulletin on pages eight and nine, but also in the yellow insert. And the mission statement given by Christ here in John 9 is in verse 39. He says, Jesus said, For judgment, I came into this world that those who do not see may see and those who see may become blind. That's the crux. That's the mission statement of our Lord. And we'll consider that at the end. But in order to do so, we work our way through this marvelous passage, this somewhat lengthy text, but a wonderful text, a story that tells us of the compassion of Christ and of the befuddlement of those who seek to explain life apart from Christ. We look at John 9 beginning at verse 1 through the end of the chapter. This is God's Word. As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, Rabbi, who sent 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. Having said these things, he 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 scent. So he went, and washed, and came back seeing. The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar were saying, Is this not the man who used to sit and beg? Some said, It is he. Others said, No, but it is like him, but he is like him. He kept saying, I am the man. So they said to him, Then how were your eyes opened? He answered, The man called Jesus made mud and anointed my eyes and said to me, Go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed and received my sight. They said to him, Where is he? He said, I do not know. They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. So the Pharisees again asked him how he had received his sight. And he said to them, he put mud on my eyes, and I washed, and I see. Some of the Pharisees said, this man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath. But others said, how can a man who is a sinner do such signs? And there was a division among them. So they said again to the blind man, what do you say about him since he has opened your eyes? He said, he is a prophet. The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight and asked them, is this your son who you say was born blind? How then does he now see? His parents answered, We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind, but how he now sees we do not know, nor do we know who opens his eyes. Ask him, he is of age, he will speak for himself." His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess Jesus to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue. Therefore his parents said, he is of age, ask him. So, for the second time, they called the man who had been blind and said to him, give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner. He answered, whether he is a sinner, I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see. They said to him, what did he do to you? How did he open your eyes? He answered them, I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples? And they reviled him, saying, You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from. The man answered, Why this is an amazing thing. You do not know where he comes from. And yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners. But if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opens the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing. They answered him. You were born in utter sin, and you would teach us? And they cast him out. Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him, he said, Do you believe in the Son of Man? He answered, And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him? Jesus said to him, You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you. He said, Lord, I believe. And he worshiped him. Jesus said, for judgment, I came into this world that those who do not see may see and those who see may become blind. Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things and said to him, Are we also blind? Jesus said to them, If you were blind, you would have no guilt. But now that you say, we see your guilt remains thus far the reading of God's word. Why don't we ask God for his blessing upon our time together? Gracious God, you who raise the dead to life, you who heal the lame and give them the ability to walk, and you who have opened the eyes of many blind before. We ask and we implore, Father, that now you would open our eyes again once more and open our ears and open our hearts to see and to hear and to understand your word. Father, we pray all these things in the name of Jesus. Amen. Have you ever been awakened by the sun? Not by an alarm clock, not by your mom or dad, not by a pestering sibling, but by the sun. By the light of the sun, by the warmth, by the acute radiant rays of the sun. They actually sell an alarm clock like that that's meant to replicate the light of the sun so that it's a more natural awakening process. But if you have been awakened by the sun, you know that there's really only two responses to that light and that radiance. You can either open your eyes and say, no thanks, and close them. continue in your lull in your sleep in blindness or you can begin to open your eyes and begin to see clearly the world and begin to see not only the light of the Sun but in the light of the light of the Sun begin to see your surroundings in your environment and such is a the crux before us, such is the issue before us. Christ is the light of the world. He is the son of righteousness that has come. Jesus says that he has come for judgment and judgment here is not a condemnation. Oftentimes it's used that way by John, but it is rather a differentiation. It's a division that Christ brings between men. On the one hand, those who are blind will see, he says. Those who in themselves are lulled and are asleep, those who cannot see when they confess their blindness, will come to see, will come to perceive, will come to be aware of Christ and in light of Christ, be aware of the world. And on the other hand, Those who see will come to Nazi, will become blind, Christ says. And he does this. This is, as we noted two weeks ago, this is the way John introduces and is always introducing Christ. There is no neutrality, but only two responses. You are either for Christ or you are against Christ. You are either those who are blind who say, I am blind and I need you, Christ. you are among those who say I Can see and I don't need you and continue in your blindness John 9 our text is a Commentary on John 8 in John 8 Christ has said I am the light of the world and here in John 9 Jesus is going to demonstrate what that means it's it's almost like he's engaged in show-and-tell. I don't know if you've ever played show-and-tell, but you have an object, and it's some kind of artifact that has some meaning in your life, and you say, well, this is it, here it is, and you pass it around, and all the kids hold it in their hands, and then you not only show the object, but you tell about the object, and you tell the story, you tell the narrative that's connected with that object. That's show-and-tell. And if you're confused, kids, we'll play it afterward in catechism. Well, here, Jesus is not engaged in show and tell. It's more like tell and show. He has told the world who he is. He is the light of the world, and now he's going to show the world what that means, what that differentiation, what that division among men looks like. This is a parable. Christ telling and showing what it means that he has come for judgment. Note the miracle. The miracle is that at the start of our text, there's a man who's born blind from birth. And this is a parable. This is a story that is meant to illustrate all of humanity. All of humanity is born blind from birth. And this man, born blind from birth, at the end of the story, has come to see, not just physically see, but he has come to perceive, spiritually see, who Christ is. At the beginning, he was helpless. He was blind. He was a beggar. He was poor. He was destitute. And Christ gives him sight so that by the end he is worshipping the Lord. In verse 38, he is prostrated before the Lord and he has come to see Christ. And connected with the miracle is the mission. You see, Christ is not this kind of miracle worker in the Gospels. And oftentimes, I think we tend to see Christ that way. We read about Christ walking on the waters, Christ feeding the multitudes, Christ healing the lame, healing the blind. And we say, wow, isn't God so powerful that he can do all these things? See, but the point of the miracles is not to show, they are to show the power of God, but more integrally, they are to show the mission, the purpose of God in Christ. Christ wasn't a wonder worker. He wasn't a shaman. He wasn't a kind of miracle worker who was here to do powerful things. The devil can do powerful things. Demons can do powerful things. worked the works of light, the works of salvation, the works of the Father. In John 9, he gives this man sight to show, to illustrate, to give us a parable of his purpose, to give sight to the blind and to give blindness to those who have sight, but really to those who think they have sight. Christ came to give sight and to give blindness. this parable, and by parable, don't think, oh, this really didn't happen. No, it really did happen. This is history. This is as historical as it gets. But John, as a master artist, is weaving together the history, the true event of this miracle in a way that also gives us rich theological insight into Christ's mission. this parable proceeds, this story is conducted. and is told in six scenes. It's one act, told in six frames, in six panels, as it were. And these six panels are interesting. We'll comment more about them in a minute. But let us begin to note the story that John is portraying and painting for us here. In Act 1, Jesus begins to muddy things up. Jesus begins to muddy things up. Literally, he begins to create mud. He spits on the ground and makes mud from the earth. But metaphorically, he also begins to muddy the perceptions of this man, of the disciples and of the Pharisees. He's beginning to mess with their preconceived notions of sight, of what is true perception, what is the true interpretation of the world. Jesus and his disciples are in Jerusalem, and Jesus and his disciples are walking by this man. And the disciples see that the man is blind, and so they immediately go to their preconceived notions of why this man is blind. They begin to work out, as it were, their moral calculus. And they tell Jesus, Jesus, we know that suffering is caused by sin. We know that this man, he's blind and therefore there must have been sin in the equation somewhere. Jesus, tell us, is it his sin or is it the sin of his parents that caused his blindness? Jesus begins to correct them. And he says, it's actually neither wrong on all accounts. He says, it was not that this man sinned or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed. in him. They give Jesus a neat packaged explanation of the world and of suffering and why things occur, never realizing that God is at work even in this seeming tragedy. Notice what Christ says about himself. He is The light in verse five as long as I am in the world. I am the light of The world his mission his purpose the reason why he came prior to his death Is to bring recovery of sight to the blind More than any other miracle. It's this miracle that describes the messiah in the old testament in numerous places for instance in isaiah 61 in isaiah 42 The Messiah, the servant of the Lord, is the one who will give recovery of sight to the blind, who will open the blind's eyes to see Messiah. Christ creates mud, spits on the ground, and mixes the spit with the ground and makes mud. He anoints the man's eyes with the mud and tells the man some instructions. He says, go to the pool of Siloam, which means scent. We're told that the man goes and washes and comes back seeing. This is an interesting play here on words because Siloam means scent. And the man must wash himself in the pool of scent. It's an illustration, it's a parable of how we receive sight. We are washed in Christ. Christ is the one who has been sent. And John tells us to make this connection because he describes Christ as the one who has been sent. He says in verse four, we must work the works of him who sent me while it is day. Night is coming. when no one can work. How is it that men, women, and children receive their sight? How is it that we can come to see we regain sight only as we are washed in Christ, the sent One? The man washes himself and regains physical sight and comes back. And now things begin to get interesting. Act 2 begins with the neighbors and those who had seen this man looking at him, wondering in bewilderment about him. What's unique about Acts 2 through 4, or conversely Acts 1 and 6, is that Jesus is nowhere to be seen in the beginning, I'm sorry, in the middle of this act, in the middle of this story. Jesus appears at the beginning and he appears at the end. But once the man has washed, once the man has come back, receiving his sight, Jesus disappears. He's nowhere to be found. And when Christ leaves the scene, you'll notice that something else leaves the scene as well. Something else is absent. Clear perception. Clear perception. The question is asked and asked over and over again. How were your eyes open? In verse 10, in verse 15, in verse 19, in verse 26. Clear perception, clarity of thought is absent from the scene and what we begin to see here is that we are going to the San John is going to lead us and give us a tour of foggy, hazy human speculation. When Christ is not in the scene, when Christ is not in life, what results is just foggy ignorance. When we try to explain life, when we try to explain the world apart from the Messiah, all we have is the same question. How is it that this happened? How is it that your eyes were open? What is the explanation? What is the significance of the world? Immediately, this man is surrounded by his neighborhood, and his neighbors make of him a spectacle. They begin to prod him, as it were. He is a specimen underneath the microscope of their curiosity. And in verse 9, they say, well, it's him. It's the man who was born blind. And others say, well, no, but he looks awfully like him. And the man, you can imagine, is just frustrated. He's saying in between these two crowds who are speculating about him, it's me. It really is me. When he's asked, OK, so it's you. How then were your eyes open? He answers. with a brief summary. He says, the man called Jesus made mud and anointed my eyes and said to me, go to Siloam and wash and not content with this answer that it was this man called Jesus. They proceed to take him to the only sensible place, the only logical group of people, the Pharisees. You see, because the Pharisees were the experts of interpretation. They were the ones who had sight. They were the ones deemed in ancient Israel as the experts of all things religious. And so a kind of makeshift courtroom is built around the man. the religious experts, the Pharisees, the ones with the definitive perception and interpretation on life are brought into way carefully on this man's predicament. And so he's asked for a second time how he had received his sight. And thickening the blinding fog at this point is that All of this happened on the Sabbath. The Sabbath, this is John just introducing for us a little wrench in the narrative. And see, the problem wasn't the Sabbath. Sabbath is never the problem. The problem is the pharisaical interpretation and perception of the Sabbath, that Christ had healed this man on the Sabbath, meant big problems for Christ. It meant that Christ probably had violated at least three points of Pharisaical law on the Sabbath. He healed the man, and healing was prohibited on the Sabbath, except when life itself was in danger. This man's life was not in danger. Jesus healed him. Jesus was guilty of healing on the Sabbath. The second point of violation according to law, the pharisaical interpretation of the law, was that Christ had needed saliva on earth to make mud, and kneading was prohibited, K-N-E-A-D. That's what you do with bread, right? Making mud was a kind of kneading, and Christ had made mud, and so Christ was guilty of this as well. And thirdly, Christ had then proceeded to anoint the man's eyes with the mud. And anointing was prohibited on the Sabbath. It was a third violation of Sabbath law. And so the upshot, the result, the long and the short of it is that Christ is a guilty man in the courtroom of the Pharisees. He is guilty of breaking the Sabbath. In verse 16, some of the Pharisees say, this man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath. And others say, how can a man who is a sinner do such signs? They weren't being polite to Jesus. They're actually accusing him. He is a sinner. Thus, he can't possibly have done this sign. And so they press the man. Verse 17, to say something about him, what do you say about Christ, what do you say of the one who opened Your eyes. And so, pressed to acknowledge something about Christ. He says, He is a prophet. A very safe, a very non-committal answer. Not satisfied with this, we move to Act 4. The Pharisees have interrogated, have raked this man on the coals, and so they're going to, unsatisfied with his answer, Proceed to interrogate the man's Parents and things are beginning to heat up here things are beginning to get more and more hostile because this is the first time in this chapter that John uses that key term the Jews and to describe, that is used to describe the enemies of Christ, the enemies of the gospel. And so John says, the Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight. So they bring the man's parents and in verse 19, they ask them, is this your son who you say was born blind? And now for the third time, they ask, how then does he now see What the man's parents make clear is two facts. In verse 20, they say, first of all, our son was born blind. Fact number one. Fact number two, our son now sees, and that's very evident. Our son who was born blind now sees. But the connection between these two facts, they refuse to explain. How this happened, we don't know. We don't know how our son went from blindness to sight. The fear of man has dripped them. They're completely non-committal. They say, we don't know. It's best if you ask Him. He's of age. He's old enough. He's an adult. You can ask Him. They fear the synagogue ban in verse 22. They fear getting thrown out of The synagogue, they fear being out of favor with the religious authorities. When push comes to shove, when they're under the spotlight, they do not commit. They do not confess. They do not abide in Christ. But they say, ask the man. He's of age. And then Act V opens. The man and the Pharisees once more are squared off. The Pharisees for the second time called the man who had been blind and said to him, give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner. They're pressing this man who had been born blind. They're asking him, listen, we want a fair reckoning of what's happened. We're here as impartial prosecutors. As prosecuting attorneys, we're trying to get to the bottom of this. We're conducting a fair and objective investigation to get to the facts of what has happened. And we need you to speak up. If you've seen Les Miserables, It's like the Pharisees here. It's like they take on the role of Inspector Javert. I think that's how it's pronounced. You know, he goes once a crime has been committed and he says, tell me what has happened. I need to know. I'm Inspector Javert. I need to know the facts. Everyone speak up. All of you are subpoenaed. Don't go anywhere. And they're telling this to this man, give glory to God. Give us the facts. Tell us what has happened. The irony, of course, is that they're asking the man to give glory to God, and he's about to. The inquiry, of course, this trial, this prosecution is a charade. It's a monkey trial, as we saw with Pilate and Jesus in John's later chapters. So we see here, they don't want truth. They don't want to get to the bottom of what happened. They want their truth. They want this man's answer to conform and square with what they know already of Christ. The guy's a sinner. The guy's a sham. And we know because we're the religious experts. We're the ones who have true sight in Israel. The man begins to see their investigation for what it is. It's a farce. And in verse 27, you can sense the frustration, the increasing, growing frustration of the man. He says, I have told you already and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? And he gives him a little jab. He says, do you also want to become his disciples? If I give my testimony once, twice, three times, is it because you also want to believe in him? The man responds in a way that just completely provokes the Pharisees. The Pharisees are insulted. They say, Verse 28 we are the experts here. We're the keepers of the mosaic flame. We're disciples not of this man Jesus but of Moses We know we know the real deal about life. We have true sight in this world And yet the man does not relent we see that at the end of of this act, in verse 30 through 33, he has responded with the logic of faith, not the logic of unbelief, not the reasoning of disobedience and blindness. He says, if this man were not from God, he could do nothing. In essence, what he's saying is, this man has healed me because he comes from God. He has been sent from God. And what we see here at the end, as we are finishing off Act 5, is that this man's faith has grown and this man's sight, his spiritual perception has grown as well. In verse 11, he says that Jesus is a man. The man called Jesus. He's a mere man. In verse 12, he doesn't know where he's found. He doesn't know his location. Yet, in verse 17, he says he's a prophet. Still non-committal, still safe answer, and yet he's a prophet. And then finally, in verse 33, he comes from God. This man, Jesus, is sent by God until we go to verse 38 and see that this man believes and worships the Lord. The man who had been born blind physically and spiritually, by the end, has come to see the Lord physically. He sees Him in front of him. But also spiritually, he worships the Lord. In Acts six, the beginning, Jesus reenters the story, there has been confusion, there has been fogginess, there's been. Vain speculation as to who Christ is, there's been accusations of Christ. There's been chaos and obscurity. And Christ, though, when he comes back in, brings with him clarity, brings him brings with him sight, true sight and perception. As the Good Shepherd, Jesus searches for this man until he finds him. He has compassion on this man who has been kicked out out of the synagogue and ostracized by the religious authorities. And he confronts him with who He is. He says in verse 35, Do you believe in the Son of Man? The man answers, Who is He, sir, that I may believe in Him? There's still a bit of fogginess in this man's eyes. He still can't quite see Christ. But he says, I want, I want to see Him. Jesus said to him, you have seen him and it is he who is speaking to you. And at that point, all the scales from this man's eyes get dropped. And he says, Lord, I believe. And John tells us that he worshipped him and probably prostrated himself before the Messiah. The man who was born blind has come to see Christ because of Christ's power. And then Jesus says, the crux of our text, he says his mission, his purpose statement. In verse 39, a paradox, something that seems like a contradiction, something that seems like it doesn't quite fit. He said, Jesus said, for judgment, I came into this world that those who do not see, that those who are blind may see, and those who see may become blind. What Jesus is getting at here is this, that everyone is born blind. Everyone is born blind from birth, like this man, spiritually blind. And when Christ comes into the world, he comes to differentiate those who want to see, those who recognize that they're blind. See, because before you can see, or before you receive sight, you have to say, I'm blind. You have to acknowledge your condition. Christ says, there's a differentiation, there's a division that occurs with my coming into the world. There are those who recognize their blindness and say, I want to see. And then there are those, on the other hand, who say, even though they're blind, I'm alright. I can see. I have sight. Thank you very much, Lord. He comes to make that judgment. If you're in the dark, if you're waking up, the light hits you, what do you do? It's only one of two responses. You can open your eyes and see and begin to see, or you can keep your eyes closed and remain blind and remain in the dark. Men can either confess their blindness, Jesus says, or they can deny their blindness and remain blind. This is a paradox similar to that which we find in Matthew chapter 9. And there Jesus says, those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick need a physician. And I have come not to call the righteous, but sinners. What Jesus is saying there is not that there are actually people who are well, not that there are actually righteous people in the world who don't need Him, but rather there are people who perceive themselves as well, and as good, and as rich, and as self-sufficient. Jesus does not come for perfect people as we noted last week, but He comes for the sick, He comes for the dead, He comes for the blind, He comes for the lost. That's John 9 for us. It's out here. We see it. We see the progression, I hope, maybe somewhat clearly, maybe somewhat foggily, but it's there. But John doesn't allow us, again, to remain objective bystanders, spectators to what he has just said. He wants to bring us into the story. He, as it were, drags us into the story. of this man born blind. And he says, you are either a blind beggar or you are a blind Pharisee. It's one of the two and only one of the two. You can insist that you see, Christ says, and believe yourself capable of guiding your own life and of interpreting life for yourself, of deciding what is good and what is evil. Or you can say, I'm blind. Christ, you're right. Your interpretation of my life is correct. I'm blind and I need you. There are two kinds of blind people and only two kinds of people in the world. Those who are blind and say they are blind and acknowledge their condition. And those who say, I'm not blind. and I don't need any help." God's perception of your life is a true perception. God's perception of our need, of our condition, is a true perception and it's one born out of grace, you see. The point this morning and the takeaway is not to weigh upon us our condition as much as to weigh upon us the Savior who redeems us from our condition. Salvation is that divine work of reversal. Those who are dead are made alive in Christ. Those who are deaf are made to hear the praises of God. Those who are blind in Christ are now made to see Christ and made to rejoice in the recovery of sight that Christ has given them. As we celebrate Advent, as we celebrate Christmas, let us remember that Christ has come as the light of the world to shine forth his light into our hearts. And as we see that light, what do we do with that light? As we hear God's excellencies, the perfections of Christ's character, the excellencies of his law. Do we say, I'm perfect. Thank you very much. I have no need, as the church in Laodicea said. I have no need. I have no deficiency. Or do we say, thank You, Lord. Thank You, Lord, for reflecting back to me that mirror of liberty, that law of liberty, that reflection of grace to remind me of my continual need for You. As Revelation says, that continual need to buy from the Lord clothing and salve for our eyes so that we can see. And as we celebrate Christmas. Not only do we think of these things for ourselves personally, but let us think of these things with respect to others. to others who don't see, to others who are lost, to others who are groping around in darkness, blind. You know, unbelief is like, it's like a blind man driving a taxi. Would you ever get into a taxi that's driven by a blind man? Would you? The guy is utterly blind. And yet he's calling people to trust him. I'm going to guide us here in life. I'm going to guide myself in life. And that's what unbelief is, you see. And when we see that, we need to be moved and have compassion and say, this is utter folly. You're going to drive yourself off a cliff. Blind people thinking that they see. Blind people thinking that they see. Guiding other blind people. And let us tell those around us, I was blind. I thought I was independent. I thought I was self-sufficient in life. But I have come to see that Christ is true sight. He has given me true sight. I was blind, but now I see. And what He has done for me, He does to all who confess His name. He does to all who seek refuge in Him. And this Christmas, Let us seek the recovery of sight of the blind. Amen. Let us pray. Our Father in Heaven, we thank You that the light of the world has come into the world. And Lord, He has brought with Him life, sight, Truth, He has shown forth in the darkness, and darkness has not been able to overcome Him. Father, many of us know a time when we were dead, and lost, and blind. And in Christ, we have come to see. Father, I pray that we would never forget that which You saved us from. Like this man, born blind, that we who have come to see, Lord, would worship You continually, would prostrate our hearts before You. And Father, that all of us, with full devotion, with attentiveness of mind and heart and understanding, would drive, would pursue, would run after those who are lost. Father, that we would be moved as Christ was moved. That we, in Christlike fashion, would seek their recovery. Those who are blind. Those who are lost in our midst. Father, dispel the fear. Dispel the darkness in our hearts. Give us boldness. Give us confidence. Give us compassion, we pray. We ask these things now in the name of Jesus. Amen.