“A Gracious Opportunity”

John 9:1-12

The lectionary’s suggested Gospel reading for today is John 9 in its entirety. I opted not to follow the lectionary, but in doing so left out what Paul Harvey likes to call “the rest of the story.” And now for “the rest of the story.”

After being healed the man who had been blind from birth and his parents underwent an inquisition of sorts at the hands of the Pharisees. There were questions as to whether or not the man had really been blind. There was the issue of Jesus having healed him on the Sabbath. The man managed to get through the ordeal without being baited into saying or doing something wrong. Finally in frustration and disgust the Pharisees drove him away, making sure to let him know that they stilled considered him, healed or not, to have been a sinner even before he was born.

At the end of the chapter Jesus finds the man, and after a brief discussion he accepts Jesus as Lord. Jesus then addresses the Pharisees, letting them know that they were not only spiritually blind, but also that they, and not the man in question, were the real sinners.

Obviously Jesus stirred up a hornet’s nest just because he had given this man his sight. Once again he proved the old adage that no good deed goes unpunished. The hostility that was generated eventually made it necessary for Jesus to retreat to a place across the Jordan River in order to escape the wrath of the Pharisees – see chapter 10, verses 39 and 40.

What had Jesus done and why had he done it? He had given a man blind from birth his sight, a good thing, right? Not according to the Pharisees: Jesus had done this good thing on the Sabbath, thus breaking the Mosaic Law as interpreted and applied by the Pharisees.

Jesus had made it clear early in his ministry that he had come to fulfill the law not abolish it. But the law he had come to fulfill was the Law of God in its original form and in accordance with God’s original purpose. The Law was to be a gift, an act of God’s grace, not a bunch of ridiculous man-made rules. The Sabbath, as Jesus had also said, was made for man not man for the Sabbath. Healing a blind man was indeed a true Sabbath thing to do.

In his commentary William Barclay wrote: “[It is] a supreme truth that the glory of God lies in his compassion…” Jesus Christ the Son of God, the Word made flesh, God-with-us, was exercising God’s own compassion when he healed that man. The healing glorified God.

That leads us to ask the same question the disciples asked Jesus: “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Going against the conventional wisdom and accepted theology of that time, Jesus answered: “Neither this man nor his parents sinned…” The man’s blindness had absolutely nothing to do with anybody’s sinfulness.

So why then was he blind? Jesus didn’t waste time and energy debating the question. He instead took the conversation in a different direction when he completed the sentence quoted earlier: “… he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him.” He took the gracious opportunity the man’s blindness afforded him, or to maybe phrase it better, he used the man’s blindness as an opportunity for grace.

That in itself raises another question; had God arranged to have that man born blind just so that on a certain date and at a certain time Jesus could heal him? No. God’s providence is one thing, divine puppetry is quite another. Predestination holds an important place in our Reformed theology; cold fatalism does not.

For whatever reason – genetics or some congenital disease – the man was born blind. Not to be punished. Not to provide Jesus with a flesh and blood miracle prop. God was not glorified in the man’s blindness. He was glorified in his healing. God’s compassionate works were revealed when the man was given his sight.

Jesus then used the occasion to stress the urgency of his mission, a mission that his disciples would inherit. His time on earth was running out. God’s purposes had to be manifested in him sooner rather than later. It was already very late.

So Jesus healed the guy right then and right there. How he did it might seem at the least unsanitary and at the most extremely gross. He spat on the ground and used the puddle to form a paste that he then placed on the man’s eyes. That sounds nasty to the modern mind. But those who observed the miracle thought that Jesus was doing something quite acceptable. It was a belief at that time that the saliva of a distinguished person had curative powers. It is important to note that the verb translated as “spread” or “rubbed” also means “anointed.” Jesus had anointed the man with a healing substance. He then instructed him to go to a pool called Siloam and rinse out his eyes. Then he would see. The man went. The man rinsed. The man saw.

Folks were astonished, some to the point of believing that he wasn’t even the same man. They asked him what had happened. He told them. They asked where Jesus had gone to. He honestly told them that he did not know. Thus ends today’s reading. We’ve already dealt briefly with “the rest of the story.”

But we still haven’t dealt with the whole story, or at least with its implications. John 1:9 tells us this about Jesus: “The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.” Jesus was the light of God sent to dispel the world’s darkness. He referred to himself as such in verse six of today’s text. Nothing epitomizes utter darkness more than blindness. Jesus gave that man the gift of sight. He could now see the light, literally and figuratively. In time the man truly did believe that he had experienced the light of God in the person of Jesus.

Irony of ironies, the Pharisees who could see were spiritually blind to God’s reality made known in Jesus. Those who so self-righteously claimed to be righteous proved to be unrighteous. They called Jesus and the man he had healed a sinner, when in fact they were the greatest sinners of all.

What are we to take from all this? What is it that God’s Word is teaching us? One thing that we must never forget is that God is supremely glorified in his compassion, and that this glorious and compassionate God can use even the most tragic situations to work out his redemptive providence and grace. The reality of a man blind from birth was in a sense inexplicable; there was no sound biblical or theological explanation for it. At best there were some theological guesses that turned out to be wrong.

It is good for us to know that God is at work even in the most horrible situations of our lives. Ultimately his will is going to prevail, and although we might not understand why his will is what it is, within the scope of God’s immeasurable eternity he is working for our good even as he works his own purposes out. The light of his gracious providence will prevail over every form of darkness.

A lesson that we must constantly re-learn is that some folks who claim or even appear to be righteous are in fact not. And not everyone we blithely discount as a sinner beyond redemption is truly so. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. None of us is truly righteous, no not even one.

Our only righteousness is found in Jesus Christ, but there are those among us who fake that very well. Jesus himself has told us that not everyone who shouts “Lord! Lord!” will inherit the Kingdom. He has made it clear that there are going to be some surprises come judgment day, not all of them pleasant. Therefore we need to be real careful when we set about the task of trying to identify those who are sinners and those who saints. God makes those decisions; we do not. We can make some educated guesses but ultimately it’s not our call.

Another lesson has to deal with the urgency of Christ’s mission. It is now our mission and it’s no less urgent today than it was 2,000 years ago. Jesus has called us to be at work in the world as salt and light. He has commissioned us to tell his story and preach his Gospel. He has sent us out to be about his Father’s – our Father’s – compassionate business. He has equipped us with the power of the Holy Spirit in order that we will able to grasp those opportunities to display his grace that come our way.

Our Father’s business is urgent business. We know not the moment of our Lord’s coming again: maybe sooner, maybe later. As the old hymn tells us we must work for the night is coming. And even if the Lord doesn’t come in our lifetime we are all going to die. Not knowing when that might be it is incumbent upon us to be about God’s business sooner rather than later. Those to whom we are called to witness also have finite lives. Either they hear the Gospel while they are alive or they will never hear it at all. Again, what happens then is in God’s hands. Still, it’s best that we take no chances. Gracious opportunities come, and then they go maybe never to present themselves again. Amen.