Sermon - John 9

John 9.1-41 Jesus and the man born blind

Last week we looked at the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman, and we saw how the gospel is good news for anyone who has been searching for love, acceptance and safety, including victims of prejudice.
This week we have good news for anyone who was born blind. So most of us can switch off, right? Wrong… this story applies to more of us than you might think.

Whose fault is it? Who is to blame?

As Jesus went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’ (John 9.1-2)

It is interesting and perhaps a little disappointing that the disciples’ first question on encountering a man born blind is not “How can we help this man?” but “Whose fault is it that he was born blind? His own fault or his parents’ fault? Which is it? Who is to blame?”

Why people look for cause and blame

I can think of three reasons why people look for cause and blame when someone else has a disability or suffers misfortune:

(a) People are curious and like explanations.

(b) We try to reassure ourselves it couldn’t happen to us, we are different from these victims.

(c) We have a false/primitive idea of what God is like.
Disturbing Assumptions

We’ll come to Jesus’ reply in a moment, but first let’s consider the slightly disturbing assumptions behind the question. Two possible explanations are suggested by the disciples. Now, I can understand how a parent of a severely disabled child might wonder “Is this God’s way of punishing me for something I’ve done wrong?” A biblical example which might support this idea is the death of David and Bathsheba’s first child (2 Samuel 12). I don’t agree with this explanation, but I can understand how someone might think this.

The alternative explanation is harder to countenance. In fact it beggars belief that anybody would think an unborn child could do something which so offended God that the child deserved to be punished with a lifetime of blindness, or any other disability. What kind of demonic picture of God do the disciples have in mind?

It is bad enough that many people understand God as someone (a cruel tyrant) just waiting to punish you if you step out of line regarding one of his laws. This is a very mistaken, though common view, even today. But you could argue that, if God is like that, God is tough, but fair. Many Christians believe that. But to apply that idea to unborn babies takes us into the realms of nonsense. What law could an unborn baby possibly break?

What sin could he or she possibly commit? I’d go so far as to say that the very idea is blasphemous, because it relies on a perverted and false idea of what God is like.

We don’t do this, do we?

I’d like to be able to say I never do what the disciples did here. That when I encounter a homeless person on the street I never speculate about whether they deserve their misfortune, or whether they deserve my help. But, if I’m honest, it is one of the first things that goes through my head. I know why you are broke; its because you wasted all your money on alcohol and drugs!

WORSE STILL is when people (and I don’t do this!) seek similar explanations for natural disasters in which thousands of people die or become homeless, orphaned or ruined. “Who is to blame? Whose fault is it that Japan suffered this terrible earthquake and Tsunami?

Sadly, you can always find spokesmen for Christianity who are not only prepared to ask this perverse question; they also have all the answers!
David Yonggi Cho, senior pastor of the world’s largest church (Yoido Full Gospel Church, South Korea) was quoted as saying “Because the Japanese people shun God in terms of their faith and follow idol worship, atheism and materialism, it makes me wonder if this was not God’s warning to them.”

An anonymous internet blogger who modestly calls himself “WordofGod” was even more direct. He claims to be speaking words of prophecy straight from God when he writes:
“This is what the Lord God said: ‘You Japan are idolatry. You worship Buddha instead of me…You are proud of yourself – You are rich and you can do whatever you want, so you have become the most idolotrous country on earth.” He ends his post with these words: “I will punish you for your sins with my passion, and destroy you Japan completely by earthquake and tsunami. I will get you, the little island back into water, where you came from, and you will be just like a piece of wrack sinking into the bottom of the sea. BUT if you come out of the temples of Buddha, bow down on your knees before Me, and with your tongues confess I am the Lord God, repent All your sins, you may survive. I, the Lord have spoken.”

This writer is extreme, but not alone and I have heard of similar ideas being expressed – albeit with less ferocity – much closer to home…

TO HELP US EVALUATE these suggestions, let’s turn to Jesus’ reply to the disciples’ question about “who sinned/whose fault is it?”

‘NEITHER this man NOR his parents sinned,’ said Jesus, ‘but this happened SO THAT the works of God might be displayed in him. As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no-one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.’ (John 9.3-5).

Let’s unpack Jesus’s answer to the question about the reason for the blind man’s condition.

(a) Neither this man nor his parents sinned. Jesus is not saying these people had lived completely sinless lives. He is saying that the disciples are asking the wrong question.

(b) But this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. This happened. God didn’t make it happen but he allowed it to happen so that the works of God might be displayed in him. This might happen in a number of ways in the life of a severely disabled person:

(i) In the ways that other people (inspired by God?) serve and help the disabled person,

(ii) In the ways that the disabled person (inspired by God?) courageously overcomes their disability and lives a fruitful life in spite of it (this afternoon in Routes 2 we’ll be looking at the example of Joni Eareckson Tada), or

(iii) God might intervene in a miraculous way, as is about to happen in the case of the man born blind.

The Healing

I’m not going to dwell too long on the details of the healing itself, except to say that it is not strictly speaking a healing, as much as an act of new creation. And so it is fitting that dust is used by Jesus to make the paste for the man’s eyes, reminding us of the creation of the first human beings from dust (Genesis 2.7). The man born blind receives this gift, this pure act of new creation straight from the hand of God, with faith – walking blind to the pool to wash his eyes, he comes back seeing!

The Investigation

I’m not going to say much about the Pharisees’ investigation of the healing either. It is a passage of high comedy, as the teachers of the law display their spiritual blindness in their refusal to attribute what has happened to God. The formerly blind man can now see well enough to run rings round them, even as they condemn him for having been born “steeped in sin” (9.34) and as they condemn Jesus as “this fellow who does not keep the sabbath” (9.16, 28-29).

The Right Response

Let’s return to verses 4-5, where Jesus explains the right way to respond to someone else’s disability or misfortune:

As long as it is day we (that is, Jesus and his disciples) must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no-one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world. (John 9.4-5)

The followers of Jesus are to continue to do the work of God as long as they are alive, as long as they have light.

The work of God does not consist of condemning, punishing and throwing out people who have sinned or have been born in a dangerous place or brought up believing the wrong religion. The work of God is saving, helping, loving and healing people. All people. If time allowed we could look at many Bible passages which confirm this (eg Psalm 103.1-17).

We need to be assisting with this work with all the strength God gives us, for as long as we are alive.

Let me Emphasise

God DOES NOT punish people with disabilities or diseases. Not ever. Nor does God want us to engage in speculation about whose fault it is, but to seize the day, dive in and help. To stop working out theories about how somebody might have offended God and instead, do something about making it better.

What about Nations and Other Religions?

Does this apply to nations too? Were Pastor Yonggi Cho and the WordOf God blogger wrong? Yes it does apply and they were wrong.

John 9 is about an individual need, but in Luke 13.1-5 we hear about a couple of cases where groups of people were struck by tragedy:

What about those Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices? Jesus asked “Do you think those Galileans were worse sinners than all the others because they suffered this way? I tell you, NO!” Jesus could not be more emphatic.

Well what about the eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them – do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem?. I tell you, NO! Again Jesus could not be more emphatic.

So did Japan’s people ‘deserve it’ more than say the people of the UK or USA, Spain, France, South Korea or Thailand? I tell you, NO!

Did God make his earthquake and his tsunami skip past all these other countries, with all their faults, just so he could teach the Japanese people a lesson, so they would fear him and worship him? Did God pull the trigger? I tell you, NO!

Mark 4.35-41 is sometimes quoted here to prove God does control storms to do his will . But in this passage Jesus CALMS the storm; he didn’t start it. Furthermore, he REBUKES the storm, showing its origin was demonic. So the passage proves the opposite point to the one that hardline “christian prophets” want it to mean!

Let me offer a different explanation. Could it be that this disaster happened because Japan is “located at the intersection of three continental plates which are slowly grinding against

each other, building up enormous seismic pressure that every so often is realised with ferocious force”? (Daily Telegraph 11.3.2011)… well yes, I suppose so.

Am I saying that Jesus is not judgmental towards disabled people or Japanese people or Buddhists or people who suffer accidents? Yes I am.

But Jesus DOES have some harsh words of judgement…

Yes he does … at the end of John 9. They are directed against the self-righteous religious people, who are happy to say God hates somebody else, whilst they themselves are of course loved by God. People who claim to be representing God but are really misrepresenting God.

Is God not issuing a warning THROUGH these people? This is the word of the Lord and all that? NO. God is issuing a warning TO these people… change your ways; stop being judgmental; stop scaring people away from God with your Bad News gospel; don’t be blind guides who lead vulnerable people into a ditch; repent and follow Jesus, the light of the world.

So where was God when disaster struck Japan?

God was working in and through the prayers and practical aid which many generous people, some of them Christians, have sent from other parts of the world.

And through the character which the Japanese people themselves have displayed following the disaster. Bill Schiller wrote movingly in the Toronto Star (March 19th):

“A Japanese friend and I had flown to Aomori to meet a colleague and then drive south to the tsunami zone. We had a car full of gas, but knew we’d need more. Gas stations would be closed along the way, detours would be everywhere and the prospect of running out of fuel loomed large. On hearing this, Hiroyuku did not hesitate. He gave us his last 10 litres of gas, smiling as he handed it over. ‘We’re all in this together,’ he said. It was humbling and spoke, I thought, to the Japanese character under pressure: civil, strong, with a sense of community – and a concern for others – that deserves our admiration. I saw it on display everywhere last week: in survivors, civil servants, volunteers and just about everyone in the service industry: people holding it together against incredible odds, carrying on, meeting uncertainty with strength and grace.”

Do you see anything God can work with here? Or must God stay away from these poor people until they learn to bow down to the sick, caustic perversion of the gospel that tells them they deserved it, and that God is the one who did this to them?

You want to know where God was when this crisis hit Japan? Look carefully and you see Christ at work amongst the rubble. And if most Japanese people can’t recognise him, that could be because of the bad news gospel they’ve heard from people like us.

Conclusion

Billie and I were fortunate to attend the British Embassy in Madrid on Wednesday and to meet HRH Prince Charles and the British Ambassador to Spain, Giles Paxman. An Ambassador’s role is to represent his country’s head of state and government in a foreign country. He or she has a duty to do this honestly and diligently. The worst thing an Ambassador could do would be to misrepresent his country’s attitude and intentions to another. To say to the people of the country he is in “my King hates you and is declaring war on you, to bring about your destruction.” If that was untrue, if that was in fact the opposite of the truth, it would be a crime and a dereliction of duty for an Ambassador to say these things.

Friends, we were all born blind – spiritually – and if we can now see, it is because of God’s mercy for the world and is so that we can be Ambassadors for Christ . So we need to be always merciful, because God, as seen perfectly in Jesus, is always merciful:

God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.

(2 Corinthians 5.19-20).