Acceptance or Rejection
We should not be surprised when the
message of Christ's deity leads either to
saving faith or to total rejection of the salvation story.
Here's Gene:
Now in many aspects and respects this
Principle comes from the whole Gospel of John.
Because throughout the whole Gospel
you see acceptance growing.
And you see rejection intensifying.
We just saw that illustrated in the
previous stories. But we're going to see
it in many respects, summarized in an
incredible way in the story of the blind man.
Some call this a vignette of the whole
Gospel of John. Because you will see the
elements of the Gospel of John woven
into this one story.
So let's take a look at this story.
Here's the sign. Here is the miracle:
As he was passing by,
he saw a man blind from his birth. ...
Now there are some who don't believe
that there is necessarily geographical
continuity here. But I think there's evidence
that this basically happened after Jesus
told the Pharisees that He was God.
When He said: I am, I am, I am.
When they picked up stones to throw at Him
and He just disappeared through the crowds,
which was a miracle in itself.
I mean, they've got stones and all of a
sudden He disappears.
But if there is continuity here,
He shows up at the edge of the city
where He sees this man that was born blind.
And I think there's some evidence for that continuity.
...[So,] his disciples asked him:
Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents,
that he was born blind?...
Now think for a moment.
How could you actually be born blind
because of a sin before you were born?
You see, they were already dabbling in reincarnation.
That was creeping in to
Jewish theology on the part of the Pharisees.
And so they were bringing that in to
their question and Jesus answers:
...Neither this man nor his parents sinned, Jesus answered. ...
Now imagine you're sitting there and
you're blind. And you're begging.
And by the way, you have been told by
the religious leaders that you're blind
because of some sin that you've committed
or your parents have committed.
We're going to see later exactly what
they had done because it appears in this story.
And you're sitting there and all of a
sudden here's a man. You can't see Him.
You're begging. You heard them stop.
You heard the dialogue.
Who sinned, this man or his parents?
And then you hear this voice that says:
Neither this man or his parents have sinned.
Neither this man nor his parents have sinned,
Jesus answered.
What would happen to you? You're listening.
Your ears are good--ears develop.
Hearing develops in blind people and
Jesus knew that. He knew that this man was
hearing every word and:
...This came about so that God's works
might be displayed at him. ...
In other words, what he is saying here is
that I am the master of human destiny,
and even of misfortune. And Jesus continues:
...We must do the works of him who sent
me while it is day.
Night is coming when no one can work.
As long as I am in the world,
I am the light of the world. ...
Now why did Jesus use the words
day, and night, and light?
If you're a blind person, you know what night is.
You know what darkness is because
you've never seen any light.
And so would your ears perk up when
you hear someone say:
I'm the light of the world?
Now one thing you know:
You know the difference between
night and light is light.
This is what gives you ability to perceive--to see.
And you knew that within this 24-hour day
there was darkness and there was light.
And so here's the man who says:
I am the light of the world.
You see, Jesus used these words to
ignite in him faith.
That something good could happen to
him in spite of what had been taught.
That he was in this condition because of sin:
...[Then after Jesus] said these things,
he spit on the ground...
You're listening. You know what's going on:
...made some mud from the saliva,
and spread the mud on his eyes. ...
Boom! What would you be feeling and thinking?
Well when Jesus said this:
...Go, he told him, wash in the pool of Siloam,
(which means "Sent").
You would do exactly what this man did.
Jesus has built your anticipation and
your faith that something was going to happen.
...So he left, washed, and came back seeing.
Now what happened? When he came back,
the neighbors asked a very logical question.
What happened? How your eyes opened?
Notice his response.
I call this the man's first response.
He answered, The man called Jesus...
That's all he knew about Jesus.
..."The man called Jesus made mud,
spread it in my eyes, [and] told me,
'Go to Siloam and wash.'
[And] so when I went and washed
I received my sight."
Well the neighbors followed up with a
response and said: Well where is He?
And by the way, I think one of the
reasons they may have asked that
question is because the last they heard
was Jesus was in Jerusalem.
And they're going to stone Him and
suddenly He disappeared.
And He shows up on the edge of Jerusalem.
So they brought him to the Pharisees
and notice the Pharisees' initial response
because he repeated the story.
They said: What happened?
But notice how they responded.
Some of the Pharisees said,
This man is not from God, because he
doesn't keep the Sabbath. But others were saying,
How can a sinful man perform such signs?
And there was a division among them.
And this was not the first time there was a
division among the religious leaders
when they saw these signs.
Again they asked the blind man,
What do you say about him,
since he opened your eyes? ...
And notice his response:
...He's a prophet, he said.
And they did not like that.
This is going in the wrong direction.
He's going from a man to an interpretive answer.
Well, He must be a prophet.
Well what happened there is they
didn't believe that he was blind.
They called his parents. What did they say?
Yes, this is our son. We know he's blind.
We know he can see. And then they said:
But we don't know how he came to see.
And that was a lie. Because John tells us
that anyone that confessed that
Jesus was the Christ would be thrown out
of the synagogue. So they were fearful.
So they verified he was a son. He was blind.
Now he sees. But they wouldn't talk
about Jesus doing this.
And so the Pharisees returned once
they knew that he was indeed this son.
That he had been blind. Now he can see.
We read in verse 24:
So a second time they summoned the
man who had been blind and told him,
Give glory to God.
We know that this man is a sinner." ...
And by this time, this man is a bit disturbed .
Because you've just been called a liar.
And you can see it in his answer.
...He answered, Whether or not he's a sinner,
I don't know. ...
You're the religious guys.
You ought to know about that.
...[But] one thing I do know:
I was blind, and now I can see!
And don't call me a liar.
You can feel the intensity in his response.
So what'd the Pharisees do?
Well they circled back and they asked
him the same question.
They're arguing in circles because the evidence in there.
And all they can do is either accept it or
go back and start over again.
And so they made a statement that was really a
result of what we could call "foot in mouth" disease.
They said to him: Look.
We don't even know where this man came from,.
And that was a significant admission.
And notice what happened.
The man's third response:
This is an amazing thing! ...
And at this point, I think he is somewhat putting
the knife in a little bit and twisting it.
...This is an amazing thing! the man told them.
You don't know where he is from,
and yet he opened my eyes. ...
And then he makes a statement:
...We know that God doesn't listen to sinners,
but if anyone is God-fearing and does his will,
he listens to him. ...
Right? That's what you've taught us.
Isn't that right? And then he goes on to say:
...Throughout history no one has ever
heard of someone opening the eyes of a
person born blind. [Right?] ...
Do you have any knowledge of anyone
in history doing this?
Now this is stupid, blind man.
They would call him stupid.
But not only can he see but he's
beginning to get enlightened in terms of
what's going on here.
And then he concludes that:
...[If] this man were not from God,
he wouldn't be able to do anything.
And it's really fascinating if you've ever
had a course in logic. This is what they
call syllogistic reasoning. You make a proposition.
You make another proposition. And then
you draw a conclusion.
Now if your propositions are wrong,
you'll come up with the wrong conclusion.
But here, these two propositions were correct.
And the conclusion was correct.
If this man were not from God,
he wouldn't be able to do anything.
And at that point, we know where he got
the idea that he was in this condition
because of sin. [He] said to them--
they said to him: You were born in sin
and you're going to teach us?
And they threw him out of the synagogue.
That's what his parents were afraid of.
And I love the culmination.
...Jesus heard that they had thrown a man out,
and when he found him, he asked,
Do you believe in the Son of Man? ...
And his response:
...Who is he, Sir, that I may believe in him? ...
And I think reading between the lines,
he recognized the voice. But he'd never seen Jesus.
...[Until Jesus said and] answered, You have seen him...
I'm standing here.
...in fact, he is the one speaking with you. ...
And notice his response:
...I believe, Lord! he said,
and he worshiped him.
Now notice what we have here.
We have this growing belief combined
with growing unbelief.
Some of the Pharisees who were with
him heard these things and asked him,
We aren't blind too, are we?...
And Jesus goes on to say:
...If you were blind, Jesus told them,
you wouldn't have sin.
But now that you say, 'We see,' your sin remains.
So let's summarize what happened here.
When he was first asked, he said:
The man called Jesus.
What did the Pharisee say?
This man is not from God.
The next confession: He's a prophet.
We don't believe you.
You can't be telling us the truth. But he was.
Thirdly, they came back and said:
What do you think?
Well, He must be from God.
You see the development.
A man, a prophet from God. And finally he said:
I believe, Lord.
And there was a statement of deity.
And he worshiped Him,
demonstrating that Jesus said:
I and the Father are One.
So you have this growing belief and
you have this growing unbelief.
And that's why I said that the story is
just a small picture.
A vignette of the whole Gospel of John.
Because you see that played out
in many different scenes.
The Reflection and Response is:
In what ways have you seen the
message of Christ's deity polarize people,
leading either to saving faith or to rejection?
I'm just going to leave you with that question.
Because I'm sure if you're aware today
of what's going on in the college campuses.
What's going on in our world at large.
You will see the confusion that is there
because of people who deny the miraculous.
And try to reason that everything in Scripture
that is miraculous, somehow
can be explained rationally as just a human event.
So let' remember this Principle:
We should not be surprised when the
message of Christ's deity leads either to
saving faith or to total rejection of the salvation story.