John 9:24-34. A Changed Man

John chapter 9 recounts the story of a man whose life was radically changed through meeting Jesus. He had been born blind but Jesus had miraculously healed him. This healing was not just physical but was associated with a spiritual healing. His eyes were opened so that he came to see the truth about who Jesus was and he then began to worship him.

Which miracle was more important – the physical or the spiritual ‘opening of his eyes’? Jesus said to his followers,

“I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.” John 14:12

Jesus is clearly not referring to miraculous miracles as nobody can or ever will supersede Jesus on that score. He must be referring to the greatest work, when people come out of the fog of unbelief into the clear light of the knowledge of God’s truth.

This nameless blind man is such an admirable character, but what is best is the work God did in him. As we study this story two features stand out, features that God’s spirit gives to all who turn to him.

Growing wisdom

This man was blind since birth. Although primary education amongst Jews at this time was good, this man could not join in. however it is clear that he had ‘native wit’ in abundance. As the story is read, did you notice how he grows in his understanding about Jesus.

v. 11 ‘The man they call Jesus’

v. 17 ‘He is a prophet’

v. 35 ‘Do you believe in the Son of Man?’ This was a well recognised title for the Messiah

v. 38 ‘Lord, I believe,’ and he worshipped him.

He now had no doubt about Jesus and had committed himself to Jesus as God. It was utter blasphemy for a Jew to worship anyone other than God. The process of conversion to Christ is often prolonged but a time comes when we bow before Jesus Christ and acknowledge him to be our Saviour and our Lord. Without such personal surrender to Christ a person may be religious but they are not yet a Christian.

There was apparently a long build up before Saul became a Christian on the Damascus road. He must have been stronglyaffected as he witnessed the speech and martyrdom of Stephen. Here was a man who gradually came to understand the truth and who committed himself to Jesus and his service. It is most uncommon for people to immediately commit themselves to Christ when they first hear about him.

The ‘Parable of the Sower’ discourages us from celebrating too early when someone makes a profession of faith. They may be like seed sown on a path, when they very quickly fall away, or like seed sown on rocky places where they survive only a short time. They may keep going longer still but then find that ‘the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word’ (Mark 4:1-20).

Spurious conversions, that don’t last, are all too common.

However a personal commitment to Christ is essential for salvation. Church membership is not enough, we must worship Jesus Christ personally.

In the early years of the last century, Bishop Taylor Smith was preaching in a large English Cathedral. He was emphasising this need of all people to make a new start with God on His terms. He told the story of the upright Jewish leader, Nicodemus, who came to meet Jesus one night and was told:

“I tell you the truth, no-one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying , ‘You must be born again’ ” John 3 v. 5-7

The bishop continued, “Even that undoubtedly good man needed to turn towards his Saviour and make a fresh start, before he could become a subject of the kingdom of God - one of God’s people. My dear people, do not substitute anything for the new birth. You may be a member of a church, but church membership is not new birth, for ‘except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God’ ” (John 3:3).

On his left sat the Archdeacon in his stall, dressed in all his official robes. Pointing directly at him, the bishop said, “You may even be an Archdeacon, like my friend in his stall, and not be ‘born again’, for ‘except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God’ ”, and continued with his sermon.

A day or so later, the bishop received a note from the archdeacon: “You have found me out. I have been a clergyman for over thirty years but I have never known anything of the joy that Christians speak of. I never could understand. Mine has been a hard legal service. I did not know what the matter was with me, but , when you pointed directly at me - and said, ‘You might even be an Archdeacon and not be born again, I realised in a moment what the trouble was, I had never known anything of the new birth.”

You can imagine the delight of that bishop when they met up the following day and he was able to explain to the Archdeacon the simple truths of what God has done for us and what He requires of us. That it is not our attempts at righteousness nor our adherence to a code of behaviour that is sufficient, but our utter dependence on a Saviour who wants us to rely on him. The Archdeacon prayed and acknowledged his own need for a Saviour, and invited the Lord into his life to take charge.

The healed man in this story understood that a personal commitment to Christ was vital. When interrogated by the Pharisees, for the second time, he was asked to reply to their questions under solemn oath,

“‘Give glory to God . . . We know this man is a sinner.’ He replied, ‘Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see.’” John 9:24-25

How ironic. The healed man is asking the religious people to see things clearly. The fact that an impossible miracle has been performed by Jesus means that he is an extraordinary person. Either he is of the devil or of God. How else could the ‘Laws of Nature’, or better the ‘Laws of God’ have been broken. There is no other explanation. The Jews wanted to prove that he was from Satan, they already thought this likely because he had deliberately broken the Jewish ‘Sabbath Laws’. If his powers were of God, surely he would keep to God’s laws! What they had failed to realise was that their literal interpretation of the law was not what God intended.

The healed man was dealing with religious experts who were supposed to be sincere. However he now begins to understand that they were not men of integrity. He could see a clear difference between the way they were behaving and speaking with that of Jesus. They don’t want to know the evidence, they didn’t want to face the facts and indeed used every possible means to avoid facing the facts and their consequences. There is an old saying,

“Convince a man against his will,

He’s of the same opinion still.”

There was clearly no point in continuing to discuss what has happened with such biased interrogators. Jesus faced the same problem when he was brought before Herod by Pontius Pilate.

“When Herod saw Jesus, he was greatly pleased, because for a long time he had been wanting to see him. From what he had heard about him, he hoped to see him perform some miracle. He plied him with questions, but Jesus gave him no answer.’ Luke 23:8-9

Godly Silence

We must not misinterpret the silence of God. There are many who say they have prayed to God over some problem, perhaps the illness of someone very close, but God has not answered as they have requested. They say this is why they are unbelievers. They have taken the silence of God to suggest he is disinterested. However the silence of God can mean that he doesn’t think it worthwhile to give an answer. God is not at our ‘beck and call’. He won’t give conviction to those who don’t want it. God doesn’t present the facts to those who are unwilling to face them. God refuses to discuss issues with those who have already made up their minds to reject him.

Godly Wisdom

Silence does not mean that God has not given us ample evidence about the claims of Jesus. Look at this man’s reasoning, his logic is impressive. His starting point was that a miracle had been performed.

“The man answered, ‘Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes.’” John 9:30

“Nobody ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind.” John 9:32

He then teaches the Jewish leaders a fact they should have known from reading the Scriptures,

“‘We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will.’” John 9:31

His deduction is that what has happened to him is exceptional, so Jesus must be very special. God has listened to Jesus, therefore Jesus cannot be blatantly sinful. Therefore he must come from God. This is clear sharp and cohesive reasoning. Doubtless the lovely caring character of Jesus also contributed to his reasoning. He is an intelligent man.

John loves to include hints and asides in his writings. The man’s parents were clearly scared of the Jewish authorities. When they were interrogated by the sceptical Jews, who did not believe it was possible for a man born blind to see, they were asked,

“Is this your son?” . . . “Is this the one you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see?” John 9:19

The Jews’ theory was that this whole story was somehow a fabrication, a political scheme to enhance Jesus reputation. They were suggesting that the parents were lying. The parents didn’t want to get involved in this debate about Jesus so wisely ‘passed the buck’. They must have known that their son was ‘savvy’ and would be able to deal with the authorities. They just confirm the facts but add,

“But how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself.” John 9:21

The man’s brilliant reply to the authorities may have been the inspiration of God. God does open people’s mouths in difficult situations so that they say just the right words. Didn’t Jesus say to his disciples,

“When you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say.” Luke 12:11-12

Emotionalism

There are some Christian groups that are high on emotional stimulation and excitement but low of use of the mind. A visitor to such a church meeting said that it was as if there was a notice as you enter,

‘Kindly leave your mind at the door and collect it on the way out!’

For a young Christian it is wise to say simply,

“One thing I know. Once I was blind but now I see.” John 9:25

However after a few years such a position should be untenable. We should be able to say more than what happened when we first began the Christian life. A young Christian should be growing in the faith. They should be coming to an increasing understanding and knowledge of Scripture and be learning to verbalise coherently why they have accepted that Jesus is the Saviour of the world. Peter wrote later,

“Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.” 1 Peter 3:15

When we were at school we had to do ‘prep’ or homework to be ready for the tests to come. So disciples of Christ must be committed to doing our ‘prep’ or homework to prepare us for witnessing coherently about why we have turned to Christ.

One of the marks of a person becoming a Christian is that they want to understand more. When Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones gave up a career in medicine to teach people the Bible, his first job was in a small chapel in South Wales. His wife wrote a book about their ministry there, working amongst miners where the unemployment rate was high. There was very little education. An elderly man who couldn’t read at all was wonderfully converted. Mrs Lloyd-Jones offered to teach him to read. She started by using a reading primer she had used to help her five year old daughter - ‘The Little Red Hen’. Simple words keep being repeated as the ‘hen’ that was ‘red’ meets a ‘pig’. However this poor man made very little progress at all. After some weeks he said,

‘I don’t want to read that book. Could you try me on the Bible?’

They went to John chapter 10 and he immediately made progress slowly reading with his finger on the line.

The point is that when people are converted, God opens their minds. We begin to really think for the first time. I found this to be true for myself. When I ‘inked in’ my commitment to Christ in my first year at university I found that I wanted to understand more of the Bible, and how history, philosophy and science substantiated what the Bible taught. Questions and doubts were there to be answered. Why is there so much unbelief around today? Surely the reason is that people’s minds are closed and they don’t want to think, to investigate. The miracle of creation is all around us but people are blind to see it. Babies are born but their creator remains unrecognised.

Growing Courage

This healed man was not ashamed to say what had happened to him. He had the courage to stand up to oppressive religious interrogators and say what they needed to hear. The power of his inquisitors was significant. They could ‘excommunicate’ him which meant exclusion from the synagogue, exclusion from all trade and friends. No wonder his parents were scared,

“His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews, for already the Jews had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Christ would be put out of the synagogue.” John 9:22

Most people in this world have no idea where they are going and are completely confused about spiritual matters. Christians soon discover that the Holy Spirit gives them a longing to share the answers God has given us as well as the courage to winsomely explain these truths. Although we are naturally apprehensive about standing up for Jesus we will begin to pray for opportunities, even if it is just to invite friends and family to come and hear about what they have learned.

There is no such thing as a secret disciple. Belief and confessing Christ go together. Paul wrote,

“That if you confess with you mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth you confess and are saved.” Romans 10:9-10

This courage comes from God. There are several simple ways to start to talk about Christ. The best is to start talking about something with religious connections but get to the point where you can say,

“I hope you don’t mind me asking but are you committed to Jesus yourself or aren’t you sure about these things?”

We must not be brash, we must always be respectful and gentle, but we must help people to think about the claims of Jesus.

It is no coincidence that immediately after his disciple acknowledge that Jesus is ‘the Christ’, the Messiah the world had been waiting for, they are told,

“If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.” Mark 8:34-35

Today, in the west, many Christians are ashamed of Jesus and scared what others will think if they openly side with Jesus. To us Jesus says,

“If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.” Mark 8:39

When Paul wrote to a middle-aged church leader he reminded him,

“So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God, who has saved us and called us to a holy life.” 2 Timothy 1:8-9

No Christian will ever get anywhere without this courage. We need to keep praying,

“Lord help me to understand so that I am fearless but wise for you.”

It is no good thinking that you can stand up and speak for Christ if you want everyone to love you all the time. At the end of John’s account of the life of Jesus comes the lovely story of two very senior Jews who sat on the Sanhedrin, the ruling body of the Jews that consisted of seventy people. They both came out into the open and took their stand besides Jesus.

“Later Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jews. With Pilate’s permission he came and took the body away. He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who had earlier visited Jesus at night.” John 19:38-39

Whatever our status or role in life Christians are called to learn more about Jesus, learn to keep asking questions about him and to boldly find ways to let others know about him.

BVP