Photo by Tim Hüfner on Unsplash

Tom Toman, who oversees our video production, made a video that asks folks on the street, “Who do you say Jesus is? You can watch it here.

John wrote his Gospel to show us who Jesus is. As he says at the end, ^{Jn 20:31 (NIV2011)}“These are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”

But is he right?

This week we are in chapter nine of John where Jesus is called a number of names, not all of them flattering. The name calling begins in chapter eight when Jesus calls himself, “the light of the world.” (verse 12) The people responded with “Who do you think you are?” (verse 53) And Jesus responded with “before Abraham was born, I am!” (verse 58)

That didn’t go well.

Abraham was born around 2000bc.

The people tried to stone Jesus for claiming to be eternal, and thus equal with God. Being divine, Jesus got away, and then comes chapter nine, when Jesus healed a man born blind. No one but Jesus ever heals a man born blind.

No one.

Besides Jesus.

In chapter 9, the Pharisees call Jesus

“This man” v. 16
“Not from God” v. 16-17
“A sinner” v.24
“This fellow” v.28

The Pharisees hate Jesus so much they can’t even say His name. You would expect some progression of knowing Jesus over time, some change in their perspective for better or worse. But nothing changes.

The blind man who gets sight calls Jesus

“Jesus” v.11
“A prophet” v.17
“My rabbi? In v.27 the man sarcastically asked the Pharisees, “Do you want to become his disciples too?” That sounds like he is considering himself a follower (disciple) of Jesus, even though he has not seen Jesus since he was healed. And the Pharisees call him, “this fellow’s disciple” in verse 28. So, he doesn’t use the words “my rabbi,” but he was already considering himself a follower.
“From God” v.33
“The Son of Man” (Messiah) v.35-38
“Worthy of worship (God in the flesh) v.38

The healed man not only had the name of Jesus right, but he also changed in his perspective of Jesus. Early on he calls Him a prophet, then to a teacher, and then a teacher from God. From there he realizes Jesus is the Messiah (Son of Man), and finally God in the flesh, worthy of worship.

You may not agree that Jesus is God, but without a doubt Jesus claims to be divine. One of my favorite online sites, gotquestions.org, gives this quote…

C. S. Lewis in his book Mere Christianity writes the following: “I am trying here to prevent anyone from saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him [Jesus Christ]: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on a level with a man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon; or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God. But let us not come up with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that option open to us. He did not intend to” (Macmillan, 1952, p. 55–56).

The Pharisees understood what Lewis was saying. Either Jesus was crazy, demonic, or divine. They accused Him of the first two, but never considered the last.

It’s worth considering.

He’s too wise to be loony and too good to be demonic. And here we are talking about a guy who never traveled more than 40 miles from home, never held a government office, wrote a book, or led an army. And yet He is still history’s most familiar figure. No matter how many Christians are killed, or Bibles are burnt, He won’t go away. He claims to be God and is known for his humility. Born in a stable, His influence still inspires music and art, influences our government, and sets our calendar.

This gives me hope.

“These are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”

This week we look at the story of the Sarcastic Blind Man in John 9. I hope you can join us. And I hope you enjoy his humor.

Dan

P.S. Here is the reading for this week, in order to read through the book of John by Easter. Hang on, it is chapters 9-10. This sermon will focus on chapter 9

Jesus Heals a Man Born Blind

⁹ As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
³ “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. ⁴ As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming when no one can work. ⁵ While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
⁶ After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. ⁷“Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means “Sent”). So the man went and washed and came home seeing.
⁸His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, “Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?” ⁹ Some claimed that he was.
Others said, “No, he only looks like him.”
But he himself insisted, “I am the man.”
¹⁰ “How then were your eyes opened?” they asked.
¹¹ He replied, “The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see.”
¹² “Where is this man?” they asked him.
“I don’t know,” he said.

The Pharisees Investigate the Healing

¹³ They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. ¹⁴ Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man’s eyes was a Sabbath. ¹⁵ Therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. “He put mud on my eyes,” the man replied, “and I washed, and now I see.”
¹⁶ Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.”
But others asked, “How can a sinner perform such signs?” So they were divided.
¹⁷Then they turned again to the blind man, “What have you to say about him? It was your eyes he opened.”
The man replied, “He is a prophet.”
¹⁸ They still did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they sent for the man’s parents. ¹⁹ “Is this your son?” they asked. “Is this the one you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see?”
²⁰ “We know he is our son,” the parents answered, “and we know he was born blind. ²¹ 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.”²² His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders, who already had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. ²³ That was why his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”
²⁴ A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. “Give glory to God by telling the truth,” they said. “We know this man is a sinner.”
²⁵ 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!”
²⁶ Then they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”
²⁷ He answered, “I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples too?”
²⁸ Then they hurled insults at him and said, “You are this fellow’s disciple! We are disciples of Moses! ²⁹ We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don’t even know where he comes from.”
³⁰ The man answered, “Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. ³¹ We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will. ³² Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. ³³ If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”
³⁴ To this they replied, “You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!” And they threw him out.

Spiritual Blindness

³⁵ Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”
³⁶ “Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.”
³⁷ Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.”
³⁸ Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.
³⁹ Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”
⁴⁰ Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we blind too?”
⁴¹ Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains. [1]

The Good Shepherd and His Sheep

¹⁰“Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. ² The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. ³ The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. ⁴ When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. ⁵ But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.” ⁶Jesus used this figure of speech, but the Pharisees did not understand what he was telling them.
⁷ Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. ⁸ All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. ⁹ I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out and find pasture. ¹⁰ The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
¹¹ “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. ¹²The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. ¹³ The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.
¹⁴“I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—¹⁵ just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. ¹⁶I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. ¹⁷ The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. ¹⁸ No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”
¹⁹ The Jews who heard these words were again divided. ²⁰ Many of them said, “He is demon-possessed and raving mad. Why listen to him?”
²¹ But others said, “These are not the sayings of a man possessed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”

Further Conflict Over Jesus’ Claims

²² Then came the Festival of Dedication at Jerusalem. It was winter, ²³and Jesus was in the temple courts walking in Solomon’s Colonnade. ²⁴ The Jews who were there gathered around him, saying, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.”
²⁵Jesus answered, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The works I do in my Father’s name testify about me, ²⁶but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. ²⁷ My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. ²⁸I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. ²⁹My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. ³⁰ I and the Father are one.”
³¹ Again his Jewish opponents picked up stones to stone him, ³² but Jesus said to them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?”
³³“We are not stoning you for any good work,” they replied, “but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.”
³⁴ Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I have said you are “gods” ’? ³⁵ If he called them ‘gods,’ to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be set aside—³⁶ what about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’? ³⁷ Do not believe me unless I do the works of my Father. ³⁸ But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.” ³⁹Again they tried to seize him, but he escaped their grasp.
⁴⁰ Then Jesus went back across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing in the early days. There he stayed,⁴¹and many people came to him. They said, “Though John never performed a sign, all that John said about this man was true.” ⁴² And in that place many believed in Jesus. ^[2]

[1] The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), Jn 7:53–9:41.
[2] The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), Jn 10:1–42.