Crown of Life Sermon -- 27 January 2008

JESUS IS THE LIGHT OF WORLD -- February 27, 2008

Sermon Text: John 9:1-39

“Did you come to remind me of my sin and kill my son?” the widow said as she looked upon the lifeless body of her son. “Is this the price my sin has cost me?” The death of my son.

As Job suffered like few have, enduring the loss of his children and wealth and health, here is what he heard from one of his so called friends. “When your children sinned against Him, He gave them over to the penalty of their sin.” In other words, “Job, when that mighty wind collapsed the house your sons and daughters were in as they were feasting, killing them all, you know they were just being punished for their sin. They must have really been 'feasting' for God to strike them all dead.”

When a person endures tragedy, when we hear a person suffer one disaster after another, when see a person in constant pain, what words or thoughts come to mind? “What did that person do for God to do this him? He must have done something really bad.”

What if that person is us? Do we ask, “God, what do you have against me?” “I see, this is getting me back for that sin. I know how you work. My conscience is telling me when I do something wrong, you will see to it I am punished.” That is the way we think. When suffering and disaster strikes a person or us this is God’s way of punishing sin -- the worse the suffering or disaster, the worse the sin.

So when the disciples walk by a man who was blind from birth, probably dressed in rags, hair unkempt, begging, what is the first thought that pops into their mind seeing this man’s suffering? "Rabbi, who sinned? This man or his parents, that he was born blind? Some terrible sin must have been committed for him to suffer so." “Come on, Jesus, tell us -- who was it? This man or his parents?”

The implication of a question like that is blind people must be worse sinners then people with sight. The implication of a question such as this is God isn’t finished punishing sin. He is still exacting his pound of flesh. Jesus being punished for our sin wasn’t punishment enough. When a question such as this is asked, our conscious is only hearing God’s Law, when God says," I will punish the world for its evil, the wicked for their sins." Our conscience knows and sees of nothing else -- only sees God as a God who hates and punishes sin. So, Rabbi, who sinned?

Who sinned? We all have sinned, we all have terrible things happen to us, we all suffer, we are all the worst of sinners. We all have faced consequences for our lies, for abuse of our bodies, whether it be with drugs, alcohol, overeating, not eating enough. It is true, suffering, sickness and disease can be the result of some sin, but God does not treat us as our sin deserve.

The punishment for our sin has been borne by someone else. The One who endured the full punishment for our sin, the One who endured God’s entire wrath and anger for our sin, is the Rabbi who said, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.? As long as it is day, we must do the work 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."

Today we have the utmost privilege of witnessing the work of God displayed in a blind man. The work, which was to give physical sight and spiritual sight. As we witness the work of God displayed, we through the eyes of faith see once more that this Rabbi, is the Light of the World, our Savior, the One whom God punished for our sins.

How Jesus restored this man’s sight is interesting, to say the least. Jesus spit on the ground, made mud, took that mud, put it on the man’s eyes and said, "Go wash in the pool of Siloam." Might this man have thought, here is just another person out to humiliate him? Putting mud on his eyes, telling him to go wash in the pool of Siloam. It took faith to trust in the words of this man unknown to the blind man.

Jesus came to this blind man. He did the work He was called to do, while it was still day, and gave sight to this blind man showing He is the Light of the World. Not everyone was convinced Jesus is the Light of the World. There was confusion -- who could give sight? This couldn’t be the blind man -- he only looks like the blind man. To end the confusion, this man ws brought before the Pharisees, the religious leaders, to hear their wisdom about this apparent miracle.

There was just one problem with going to the Pharisees. The Pharisees were blind. The Pharisees were looking for some way to put lights out on Jesus. They didn’t believe Jesus was the Light of the World any more they believed this blind man’s story. Even this miracle of a blind man receiving sight, didn’t convince them Jesus is the Light of the World.

The only thing the Pharisees were looking for was an excuse to snuff out the Light of the World. And they thought they had the smoking gun -- Jesus did this healing on the Sabbath. “He can’t be from God, He has allegedly broken the Sabbath. If that is the case, then how can a sinner do such miracles?” More confusion, so the Pharisees turn to the blind man once again, what do you say about him? "He is a prophet."

The religious leaders were saying, “He can’t be from God." The blind man was saying, “He is a prophet, He is from God. He was sent by God.” Tell me, who the blind ones were? The prophets spoke of the Savior giving sight to the blind -- Jesus was the light of the world -- but the religious leaders said he can’t be from God. The blind man -- He is a prophet -- which shows us Jesus not only gave physical sight to this blind man; He also gave spiritual sight.

It wasn’t long before the Pharisees threw this man who had been blind out of the temple area. They would hear no more talk about Jesus being from God. Jesus hearing the blind man had been thrown out, found him and asked, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?" Remember the blind man had never seen Jesus' face until now.

But the voice. The man who was speaking to him now was the same man who had told him go wash in the pool of Siloam. "Tell me so I may believe in him." "You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.Tell me so I may believe in him. You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you." ?Then the man said, "Lord, I believe," and he worshiped Him. ? Jesus said, "For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind." This man’s most debilitating blindness was finally gone. He was given faith to see that Jesus is the Light of the World.

Our blindness is gone as well. We see there is nothing good in us. We see the way to be right with God the way to eternal life, is not the way of the Pharisees who rejected Jesus. Who looked to themselves and their works. Who trusted in their wisdom and knowledge. Who determined they were not steeped in sin at birth unlike this blind man, because they were not born blind. Therefore they didn’t need a Savior, for they were not all that bad of people. It was all so clear to the Pharisees they saw the way to eternal life by their works not by Jesus. What does Jesus say? Those who see will become blind.

We were blind, but now we see. We see the cross and see forgiveness, where the punishment for our sin was made. On the cross we see that sinful belief that those who suffer more in this world or are afflicted with some malady, God must love less whisked away. One the cross we see the punishment for our sinful belief that God must love us more because we are not suffer like that person paid for.

We see the empty tomb and see life, not death or doubt. We see pain and sorrow and disaster that inflict our lives not as punishment from our Father exacting his pound of flesh from us for our sin, but loving discipline from a father. We see the works we do count for nothing to make us right with God but rather we see the works of Jesus has earned God’s love and favor for us. We have been given sight to see the light. The Light of the World -- Jesus. The way of salvation and eternal life has been made clear to us. We see the way is Jesus, Jesus, only Jesus.

If we see a person who is really suffering or who is enduring some handicap and conclude, God must not love them as much as he loves me. I must not be as bad a sinner as that person. What did that person do for God to punish them in this way? God must find my life and what I do more acceptable. Then it is time to stop being blind. For this morning we have seen the work of God displayed in the life of this blind man. And the work we have seen is this, Jesus giving physical sight, Jesus giving spiritual sight, showing us that He is the Savior, He is the way to eternal life, He is the one who is punished for our sin, He is the one who earned heaven -- He is the light of the world. Amen.

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