“Do You See

“Do You See?”

Text: John 9:1-41

© March 2, 2008 by C. Edward Bowen at Crafton United Presbyterian Church.

In case you didn’t already know it, I’m special. Yes, that’s right – I’m special. And that’s not just my opinion. No, it’s official. It’s been confirmed by a board-certified doctor. Because the last time I went to the eye doctor he told me that I was one in a thousand.

You see, going to the eye doctor is not one of my most favorite things in the world. The last time I went, the appointment didn’t start out so bad. They sat me down in a chair and asked me to read the letters on the eye chart – f, b, k, r, q, z. That wasn’t so bad.

But then the doctor asked me to lean back in the chair so that he could put some drops in my eyes. Well, that just wasn’t going to happen. Because even though I kept telling myself “Open your eyes and let the doctor do his job,” my eye lids were not cooperating. No, my eye lids basically cemented themselves shut and said back to me, “There’s no way we’re going to let this maniac pour acid into our eyes.” And finally, after the doctor had spent quite some time trying to pry to my eye lids open, and after he had spilled what seemed to be about a pint of eye drops on my face and on the floor, he had the wisdom to give up.

So he said, “Let’s try something else.” And he asked me to put my face in this contraption, so that he could maneuver this other contraption up toward my eyeballs, allegedly to do some kind of test. Well, guess what? That didn’t work either. Every time he started moving that gadget toward my eyes, my whole body lurched back. Eventually I’m pretty sure the doctor was giving serious thought to reaching into his wallet and handing me a $20 bill if I promised never to come back again. And when I apologized for being so difficult, the doctor said, “Don’t worry, this happens sometimes – in about one out of every one thousand patients that I see.” So I guess if I ever develop some kind of problem with my eyes, I’m going to have skip right over glasses and contacts, and go straight to a seeing-eye dog!

Here in the reading that we just listened to from Gospel of John we meet a blind man, a man who had been blind his whole life, a man who had been born blind. But instead of encountering some maniac opthomologist like I did, one day that blind man encountered Jesus. And because of that encounter, that blind man’s life was changed forever. You heard what happened. Jesus bent down and mixed together some mud, put it on the man’s eyes, and then told him to go and wash in one of the nearby pools of water. And when the man did that, instantly he could see.

And often that’s where we assume the story stops. There was someone who had a problem, Jesus came along and fixed the problem, and everyone lived happily ever after. And isn’t that how we often assume the Christian faith is supposed to work? We assume that if your life isn’t quite what it should be, let Jesus into your life, and thereafter you’ll never have problems again. But the thing is that if we read on in this story in the Bible, we discover that the day that blind man met Jesus wasn’t the day his troubles ended. No, the day that blind man met Jesus was the day his troubles began.

What do I mean? Well, take a look again at the story here in John. When that man is healed, when that man suddenly becomes able to see, first, he runs into some of his old acquaintances, some of the folk from around town who used to know him as the “blind guy,” the guy who sat around and begged all day. But when those old acquaintances see him now, there are no cheers of celebration. No one offers to run out and throw a party for him. No, all his acquaintances do is look at him and say, “Well, you certainly look like the guy that we know who’s been blind all his life. You certainly sound like him. But you can’t be him. After all, the man we know is blind, and you see. So you can’t be the same guy. What are you trying to pull on us?”

And then, second, along came the religious people, and they said, “If you were truly healed, that healing could only be brought about by someone with the power of God. But if the healing took place today, on the Sabbath, then it was done by someone who broke God’s commandment against doing work on the Sabbath. So, something’s not right about what you’re saying. Are you sure you can see? Were you really blind? There’s something fishy here.”

And finally, along came the man’s parents, and when they saw all the controversy that was arising they said, “Leave us out of this! We don’t want to get involved. If you have any questions about what happened, ask our son. He’s old enough to answer for himself. Just leave us alone!”

And so at the end of the day, yes, that blind man could see – but now he had a whole new host of problems that he had never had before. He had lost all his friends. His family was basically shunning him. And the religious leaders had booted him out, excommunicated him. And so at that end of the day, yes, that blind man could see – but now he had more new problems than he knew what to do with. And worst of all, it seemed like he was all alone now, without a friend in the world.

But not quite. Because as this story in the Bible draws to a close, Jesus returns. And he offers that man hope. Jesus says to him, “I am the light of the world.” And with those words, Jesus was telling that man that no matter how much darkness might come into our lives – no matter how much suffering or hardship might come our way – we don’t have to be afraid. Because in the end, the victory belongs to God, and God won’t let us down.

Another person in the Bible who experienced the truth of those words was a man by the name of Paul. Maybe you recall how Jesus came barging into Paul’s life one day. Paul was on his way to the city of Damascus, when all of a sudden Jesus appeared to him in the form a brilliant, blinding light. And after Jesus spoke to Paul, Paul’s life was changed forever. In particular, Jesus commissioned Paul to be an apostle, to be someone to take the good news about Jesus and spread it to people far and wide. But if you think that from then on Paul’s life was all happiness and bliss, you better think again. Because just like with that blind man, the day that Paul met Jesus wasn’t the day his troubles came to an end. No, the day that Paul met Jesus was the day his troubles began.

To show you what I mean, I want to invite you to turn in the pew Bibles in front of you to page 185 in the New Testament, to 2 Corinthians 11, starting at verse 23. Here Paul is describing what he has gone through since he became an apostle: “Are they ministers of Christ? I am talking like a madman – I am a better one: with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless floggings, and often near death. Five times I have received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I received a stoning. Three times I was shipwrecked; for a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from bandits, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers and sisters; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, hungry and thirsty, often without food, cold and naked” (11:23-27).

Wow! We might be tempted to think that if someone had to go through all that for being a Christian, they’d give up on God and stop being a Christian. Not Paul. No, turn now to page 198 in the New Testament, in the fourth chapter of Paul’s letter to the Philippians. You need to understand that when Paul was writing these words, he was sitting in a jail cell, imprisoned because of his faith, and he knew that fairly soon he was going to be put to death. But even so, look at what he wrote in the fourth chapter of Philippians, beginning at verse 4: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (4:4-7).

Even though Paul faced suffering, he saw the hope that he had. Even though Paul faced hardship, he saw that Jesus was always there for him. Even though Paul faced all kinds of challenges, he saw that God wasn’t going to let evil have the final word. What about us? What about when suffering and hardship and challenges come into our lives? Do we see what Paul saw? Do we see what that man who had been born blind saw?

Back in the Middle Ages there was a faithful Christian known as Martin of Tours. And there is a story told about him that one day the devil came to him, but the devil had taken on the appearance of Jesus. But it turns out that just as Martin was about to fall down and worship him, he looked at the palms of Jesus’ hands and cried out, “Where are the nail prints!?” Instantly, the devil disappeared and left him.[1]

Why were the nail prints so important to Martin? Because those nail prints in the hands of the resurrected Jesus are what show us, in an unmistakable way, that yes, suffering in this life is real – suffering in this life is unavoidable. But that suffering doesn’t have the final say. Because God is with us, and in the end, the ultimate victory belongs to God.

Being a Christian and putting your faith in Jesus doesn’t mean that all your troubles are instantly going to come to an end. Being a Christian and putting your faith in Jesus doesn’t mean that suddenly your breath is going to smell better or that your bank account is going to get larger or that your IQ is going to jump 20 points. No, despite what some people might think, being a Christian and putting your faith in Jesus doesn’t mean that all of your problems are going to suddenly come to an end.

But being a Christian and putting your faith in Jesus does mean that we’re able to see something that many other people aren’t able to see. By being a Christian and putting our faith in Jesus we’re able to look beyond whatever sufferings and hardships and challenges we might be facing right now, and we’re able to see the hope that’s out there, the hope the God has prepared for us, the hope that in the end the victory belongs to God. Do you see it? If not, look to Jesus, and let him open your eyes.