Blind Receive Sight
An all-creatures Bible Message

Blind Receive Sight

A Sermon Delivered to
The Compassion Internet Church

22 March 2020

Frank L. Hoffman, Pastor

Scripture References

John 9:1-41

Blind receive sight and those who see shall become blind is what Jesus said to the people after He had restored the sight of a man who had been born blind.

We believe that even though Jesus physically gave sight to a blind man, the true message of this story is about spiritually seeing the heavenly will of God and what the Lord wants us to do.

As an example, most of the people in the world are spiritually blind to the fact that we are to help free creation from its present corruption, which includes ending the violence that causes millions of humans and billions of animals to suffer and die every year, and this has to begin with our own lifestyle, which means that we should all be vegans, not just in what we eat, but in our whole lifestyle.

Being able to see in this heavenly manner includes having the love, compassion, and empathy that feels the pain and suffering of the whole of creation (every human, every animal, and the environment in which we all live).

When we recognize the fact that Jesus is our Lord and Savior, we need to allow the Holy Spirit to fill us completely without trying to compare how God wants us to live as compared to the way we have been living or the way that most people are living; we need to completely open up to the Lord with no preconceived ideas; we need to allow the Lord to cleanse us completely and restore us to be in the image of God that He created us to be.

With this in mind let’s take a look at John 9:1-41, and recognize the spiritual side of this physical healing…

1. And as He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth.

Most people walking by wouldn’t even notice or they would be indifferent to the problems of this man, but Jesus actually saw this man, as we should if we are truly living in the heavenly will of God.

2. And His disciples asked Him, saying, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he should be born blind?"

The disciples of Jesus also truly saw him, but their concern was not to help, but only to question why he was blind with the preconceived idea that his blindness had to have been caused by sin.

Even if a condition was brought about by sin in someone’s life, heavenly love and empathy should spur us to want to help.

3. Jesus answered, "It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was in order that the works of God might be displayed in him.

So Jesus answers their question, but with the explanation that through his life God would be glorified, and we believe that God is glorified in everyone who believes in Him, as well as in every effort we put in to freeing His creation from its present corruption, and ending the suffering of any humans or animals by ending the cause of their suffering.

As an example, being a vegan frees at least two animals a week from this suffering and lessens the pollution of this world.

In addition, being a healthful vegan improves our health, saving us money and lessening the burden of paying medical bills.

4. "We must work the works of Him who sent Me, as long as it is day; night is coming, when no man can work.

So Jesus tells his disciples that He is going to do something while He is still physically in this world, probably because some of the things that He has done will not happen again until He returns.

And, we need to remember that just because Jesus is no longer upon this earth in human form, we are still to do something to help, even if we cannot do the miraculous things that Jesus was able to do, and in addition we are to pray that God would do even more.

5. "While I am in the world, I am the light of the world."

Jesus is the light of the world, but we are also charged with bringing that light into the world around us at all times.

6. When He had said this, He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and applied the clay to his eyes,

This wasn’t very sanitary, and we believe that He only did this to demonstrate His abilities more dramatically so that the people would remember, but He could have just opened the eyes of the blind man by the power of God.

Nevertheless, we are to pray for God’s healing powers of body and soul to heal everyone who has a problem when we encounter them.

7. and said to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which is translated, Sent). And so he went away and washed, and came back seeing.

By having to do this, the man had to have faith in the Lord that this would heal him.

8. The neighbors therefore, and those who previously saw him as a beggar, were saying, "Is not this the one who used to sit and beg?"

This kind of questioning usually indicates someone’s lack of faith, for if they really believed that they were seeing a miracle, they would have just praised God.

9. Others were saying, "This is he," still others were saying, "No, but he is like him." He kept saying, "I am the one."

Again, this showed the lack of faith of the people, and we are not to be like them.

10. Therefore they were saying to him, "How then were your eyes opened?"

They most likely already knew the answer, but didn’t want to admit it, because it would have acknowledged that Jesus was Messiah.

11. 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."

This man was openly giving the Lord the credit, even if the people wanted another answer.

12. And they said to him, "Where is He?" He said, "I do not know."

We don’t have to see the Lord to know of His miraculous powers; all we have to do is believe and have the faith to speak the truth.

13. They brought to the Pharisees him who was formerly blind.

We believe they did this with evil intent so that they could have support in denying that a miracle of God through Jesus healed this man.

14. Now it was a Sabbath on the day when Jesus made the clay, and opened his eyes.

This is the excuse they were looking for, because they could lie about the fact that a miracle took place, because he was cured on the Sabbath, when no work was to be done, which is not true, for good works are always to be done.

15. Again, therefore, the Pharisees also were asking him how he received his sight. And he said to them, "He applied clay to my eyes, and I washed, and I see."

This is the same kind of hard of heart clergy we run into today when they fail to recognize the truth about us being responsible for the whole of God’s creation, which includes freeing it from it present corruption, but because they want to continue to eat the flesh and by-products of animals they deny that we are not to eat meat.

16. 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.

See how some (we suspect it was most) denied the truth while others (which we believe are relatively few) believed, and the division among the clergy continues to this very day.

17. They said therefore to the blind man again, "What do you say about Him, since He opened your eyes?" And he said, "He is a prophet."

They were just trying to trip up the formerly blind man; they had no interest in learning the truth.

We find the same kind of clergy today in many of our churches when it comes to issues about veganism and animal rights.

18. The Jews therefore did not believe it of him, that he had been blind, and had received sight, until they called the parents of the very one who had received his sight,

Based upon their actions, we don’t believe they ever really wanted to know the truth; they were only looking to put him out of the Temple, so no one could challenge their hard of heart ways.

19. and questioned them, saying, "Is this your son, who you say was born blind? Then how does he now see?"

The last thing they wanted to hear was that his healing was a miracle of God.

20. His parents answered them and said, "We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind;

This just puts a nail in their hard of heart coffin, for it is not giving them the excuse they want to put him out of the Temple, and we need to watch out for people like this today, for they are all around us.

21. but how he now sees, we do not know; or who opened his eyes, we do not know. Ask him; he is of age, he shall speak for himself."

They may have really known, but did not want to tell these hard of heart clergy, because of fear.

22. His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed, that if anyone should confess Him to be Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue.

And today many clergy are seeking subtle ways to do the same things to vegans and animal rights people.

23. For this reason his parents said, "He is of age; ask him."

This is the cowardly way out.

These kinds of hard of heart clergy only stay in power for they make people fear instead of having unconditional love, compassion, and empathy for the whole of God’s creation.

They are spiritually blind and don’t even realize it, or don’t want to admit it and won’t let the Lord heal them.

The blind receive sight only when they sincerely seek to be healed.

24. So a 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."

They had already heard the truth, but didn’t want to believe it so they kept asking questions so that they could find a way to put him out of the temple to stop others from seeing that the blind receive sight from their Messiah.

Furthermore, they have already condemned Jesus as being a sinner because He healed someone on the Sabbath, which then again just shows their hardness of heart.

25. He therefore answered, "Whether He is a sinner, I do not know; one thing I do know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see."

Again he was telling the truth, but I really believe that he was just handing them back their accusation about Jesus, and probably not what he really believed.

26. They said therefore to him, "What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?"

They have already heard the truth that the blind receive sight from God, but because they lacked any real spiritual connection with God, they kept challenging the truth.

27. He answered them, "I told you already, and you did not listen; why do you want to hear it again? You do not want to become His disciples too, do you?"

With this question, this man challenged their faith, for it was obvious that he was healed by God.

28. And they reviled him, and said, "You are His disciple, but we are disciples of Moses.

They were only disciples of the letter of the Law, and not of Moses, because Moses definitely had a spiritual relationship with God, unlike these temple leaders.

29. "We know that God has spoken to Moses; but as for this man, we do not know where He is from."

Again, we find it very hard to believe that they didn’t really know where Jesus was from, and that they just didn’t want to admit it.

30. The man answered and said to them, "Well, here is an amazing thing, that you do not know where He is from, and yet He opened my eyes.

Again, the man, who was more Godly than the temple leaders, challenges their faith.

31. "We know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is God-fearing, and does His will, He hears him.

By this statement these temple leaders have really condemned themselves.

32. "Since the beginning of time it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind.

This is further proof that they really know that truth, for this man was healed by the Lord, who was not just another man like them.

33. "If this man were not from God, He could do nothing."

Again the formerly blind man challenged their faith, for they obviously knew that Jesus had to have been from God.

34. They answered and said to him, "You were born entirely in sins, and are you teaching us?" And they put him out.

Then their anger finally came to the surface and they did what they had already made up their minds to do in the first place.

35. Jesus heard that they had put him out; and finding him, He said, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?"

Then Jesus sought to have this man express his own faith openly.

36. He answered and said, "And who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?"

He knew that Jesus was from God, but most likely didn’t know Him by the name Son of Man.

37. Jesus said to him, "You have both seen Him, and He is the one who is talking with you."

Now this man knows that Jesus is the same person.

38. And he said, "Lord, I believe." And he worshiped Him.

This is the proof of His faith.

39. And Jesus said, "For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see; and that those who see may become blind."

We believe that Jesus was here speaking spiritually, for while He gave this man physical sight, he also had spiritual sight.

40. Those of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these things, and said to Him, "We are not blind too, are we?"

Because they were, they tried to justify themselves.

41. Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would have no sin; but since you say, 'We see,' your sin remains.
NASB

Their sins remained, and they were spiritually blind, for the proof that the blind receive sight was right before them, and they still wouldn’t admit it.

We are not to be like them.

We are to be the peacemaking children of God, who live in His heavenly will, and truly see the will of God and recognize His miracles.

Amen?

Amen.

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