We continued our series called “Death to Life” at Gateway Church in Austin.
Discover the character and love of God as we journey through the 7 major signs in the Gospel of John. We will look at the life and work of Jesus through the eyes of one of his best friends and faithful disciples. In these 7 signs we encounter a depth to the glory and majesty of God, and how these truths can radically change our lives. They take us from lost to found; broken to whole; and from death to life.
Digging Deeper:
Work through the following questions and scriptures on your own, and get together with your running partner, life group, or friends and family to talk through what you are learning.
Discussion Questions
Message Video:
Message Audio:
Message Notes from Carlos Ortiz, Jr.:
We’ve all at one point or another experienced the proverbial question that lingers in predominantly western culture, “How can there be a God with so much suffering and evil in the world?”
The problem of evil is one of the primary arguments people make against the existence of God. Theodicy is a branch of theology that seeks to resolve the problem of evil with the existence of God and answer the question, “If God is good, why does He allow evil and suffering in the world?”
As he (Jesus) went along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
3 “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.
6 After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. 7 “Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means “Sent”). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.
8 His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, “Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?” 9 Some claimed that he was.
Others said, “No, he only looks like him.”
But he himself insisted, “I am the man.”
10 “How then were your eyes opened?” they asked.
11 He replied, “The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see.”
12 “Where is this man?” they asked him. “I don’t know,” he said. – John 9:1-3; 6-12; 35 – 39
This passage captures the growing tension between Jesus and the religious leaders, as well as the growing faith of the healed man. The issue at hand was that the healing occurred on the Sabbath, a day when Jewish law prohibited work (v. 14). The Pharisees were divided in their reaction to the miracle. Some argued that Jesus could not be from God because He broke the Sabbath law by healing (v. 16). Others, however, pointed out that a sinner could not perform such signs, indicating that this miracle demonstrated divine power.
The Pharisees, skeptical of the miracle, questioned the formerly blind man directly (v. 17). He declared that Jesus was a prophet, showing a growing recognition of who Jesus might be. However, this account did not satisfy the Pharisees, who doubted whether the man had actually been born blind, so they called the parents to confirm his blindness from birth.
The parents confirmed that their son had been blind from birth but were cautious in their responses, fearing the consequences of supporting Jesus publicly (v. 22). The Jewish leaders had already agreed to excommunicate anyone who acknowledged Jesus as the Messiah, so the parents deferred to their son, saying that he was of age and could speak for himself (v. 23).
The Pharisees summoned the man a second time, demanding that he “give glory to God” by admitting that Jesus was a sinner (v. 24). The healed man, however, gave a bold response, stating that whether Jesus was a sinner or not, he could not say, but what he knew for certain was that he had been blind, and now he could see (v. 25). This simple yet powerful testimony emphasizes the man’s personal experience of transformation, which speaks more loudly to him than the Pharisees’ theological arguments.
The Pharisees pressed the man further, asking how Jesus had healed him, but the man responded with frustration. He pointed out that they had already asked him this before, and sarcastically suggested they might want to become Jesus’ disciples (v. 27). This remark angered the Pharisees, who claimed to be disciples of Moses and rejected Jesus’ authority (v. 28).
The healed man then asserted that Jesus’ miraculous healing was proof of His divine mission (v. 30). He reasoned that God does not listen to sinners, and the fact that Jesus had healed him was clear evidence that Jesus was from God (v. 31–33).
The Pharisees, unable to refute his logic, reacted with anger. They insulted him, accusing him of being born in sin (an allusion to his previous blindness), and cast him out of the synagogue (v. 34). This excommunication marked a separation from the religious community, but it also signified the man’s growing independence from the Pharisees’ authority as he moved closer to recognizing the truth about Jesus.
This passage highlights both the Pharisees’ increasing hostility toward Jesus and the healed man’s progression from a simple understanding of Jesus as a healer to a bold acknowledgment of His divine power, despite the personal cost.
This is where we pick back up with the passage starting in verse 35
35 Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?
36 “Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.”
37 Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.”
38 Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.
39 Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”
The passage is very rich, and it is long, but there are a lot of moving parts to this one chapter that contains a sign from Jesus. I mean, we have a blind man, we have a family of origin storyline, there’s spitting and mud, chaos ensuing, a man being kicked out of his community, and a few other things. For the sake of focusing on the sign itself, what can we learn about Jesus in this passage?
Jesus is Weird
You read that right, Jesus was meant to live in Austin or Portland. For those of you who think this word, weird, is too much to use as a way to describe the one who died for our sins, let’s read one of many definitions of the word, “weird.”
“Weird” is a subjective term that is often used to describe something that is strange, unusual, or out of the ordinary. I’m not sure if there’s another word to better describe some of Jesus’ actions, and I love it!
I mean when you and I see someone who is lame, someone who is homeless, someone who is in dire need of help, do you spit on the ground, have enough spit to make mud, stir it up and then place it on people? For some of us that isn’t just weird, it’s NASTY, gross, uncouth, completely inappropriate, but for Jesus it’s par for the course. Why would Jesus choose to heal in this way?
There are some who believe that it was a Symbolic Act of Creation. Jesus’ use of mud could symbolize an act of creation. In Genesis 2:7, God formed Adam from the dust of the ground. By mixing His saliva with the earth, Jesus may have been demonstrating His divine power to recreate and heal, as only God can. This act reinforces Jesus’ identity as the Son of God, who has authority over creation.
For others the take could be that he was Challenging Legalism. Jesus healed the man on the Sabbath, and His actions of making mud and healing could be seen as deliberate provocations to challenge the Pharisees’ strict Sabbath laws. The Pharisees considered any form of work, including making mud, as a violation of the Sabbath. Jesus’ healing in this way showed that God’s mercy and power supersede human legalism, emphasizing that doing good, even on the Sabbath, is in line with God’s will.
Followers of Jesus shifted the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday in order to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. And I’d like to encourage you to see your Sabbath on Sunday just as Jesus did. The Sabbath is for healing. It’s the perfect day to regroup, to reconnect with God and with others, and to rest from work. Come every Sunday praying “God show me what you have for me and what you want from me”. It doesn’t matter what the topic of the message will be, but God will answer that prayer if you are searching for Him!
There is definitely something to the sign having an element of Faith and Obedience. By instructing the man to wash in the Pool of Siloam after applying the mud to his eyes, Jesus gave him a role in his own healing. This required the blind man to act in faith and obedience, even though he might not have understood why. The act of washing away the mud could symbolize spiritual cleansing, highlighting the theme of spiritual blindness and the need for faith in Jesus. If these are possible learnings about Jesus himself, what does the book of John show us about Jesus’ belief system?
Jesus knows pain is inevitable
If we fast forward to John 16, we get great insight into how Jesus sees suffering and the human condition. He’s warning his disciples that they are about to face a period of grieving, and he’s preparing them for that day.
20 Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. 21 A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. 22 So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy. – John 16:20-22 –
And we read at the end of that chapter, in verse 33 his mantra on the subject.
33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” – John 16:33
I know we live in a society that wants to be painless, and that pain is a bad thing, and anything that inflicts pain is inherently evil. But there are pain points that add to the beauty of this life.
- I’ve seen 4 children being born, and my wife in sheer agony delivering them, and all the while I found it so beautiful.
- For as many tattoos as we have around here, there’s not one person who experienced their art on physical display without the pain of the process.
- Those beautiful earrings you wear came at the expense of pain.
We shy away from pain, and yet Jesus is asking his disciples to lean in when they are experiencing this pain. Why?
Jesus knows God is present in our pain
Going back to the beginning of this passage in John 9 we read that His disciples asked him…
2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3 “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.
The prevailing thought was that if this innocent child was born blind, then there must be a spiritual reason for his blindness. So who is the culprit? Is it the boy’s parents’ sinful patterns and waywardness, or was it the not so innocent baby who is at fault?
This thought comes from their Jewish background, and a passage from Exodus 34:6-7:
“The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, 7 maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.”
This phrase is often misunderstood. The religious leaders in Jesus’ day seemed to be teaching that the children of sinful parents will be punished for their parents mistakes. Now we all know that children at times do experience the consequences of their parents mistakes, but this isn’t God’s doing. That is the responsibility of the parents.
The phrase 3rd and 4th generation is actually an idiom that gets lost in translation. Tim Mackie of the Bible Project points out that “three, even four” is a Hebrew turn of phrase used in Amos and Proverbs to say “however many.” in other words, God contrasts his eternal purpose to bring loyal love to His people with his commitment to also deal with rebellion in each generation.
Each generation has the freedom to choose whether to go the way of their parents or to go the way of God.
But Jesus doesn’t just go with the flow of common thinking and understanding. No, instead he is saying, “yes, you will suffer, have loss, be disappointed, but my presence is with you, which brings peace and healing.”
Jesus knows: Blindness is curable
If you really pay attention to these signs, and the words of Jesus you will see a pattern that there are things we see with our physical eyes and then there’s the thing beneath the thing. There’s a spiritual implication for every interaction Jesus has. That is no different with this sign here in John 9.
First, there is the obvious Physical blindness of the man Jesus encounters. Jesus leans in to this physical need starting in verse 5
5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 6 After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes.
Jesus is meeting a physical need where it needs to be met, with physical touch and healing. But then there’s the thing beneath the thing, and that’s where Jesus shares that hidden meaning. In verse 39 he says…
“For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”
This is the second aspect of blindness Jesus is addressing, Spiritual blindness.
He’s clearly stating that by his presence those who are blind will gain their sight, and yet those who can see will become blind. That isn’t saying Jesus will cause them to be blind, but it does say that those who are haughty and think they have seen all there is to see, will actually become spiritually blind, and unable to see Jesus in his fullness.
This is why I pray EVERY Sunday, “God give us eyes to see what you see, ears to hear what you want us to hear, and a heart ready to receive all that you have.” We cannot simply rely on our physical abilities, our own strength, and our own understanding, to contend for and walk in the fullness of God.
That being said, the fullness of God doesn’t necessarily mean that we will see every situation fully while we are in this body.
11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. – I Corinthians 13:11-12
The NOW is temporal, the now is physical, the now is time bound
But the THEN, is eternal, the THEN is God’s fullness, the THEN brings completion
This helps us understand Jesus better, because
Jesus knows: We don’t need the full picture
Going back to our John 9 sign, we see Jesus put this on full display. He puts the spit in the dirt, makes mud, puts it on the man’s eyes, and doesn’t even have the decency to clean it off. He instructs him on where to go, so that he can clean it off himself.
7 “Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means “Sent”). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.
The man simply had to go in obedience walking still in his physical blindness as his spiritual blindness began to evaporate. Sometimes our spiritual being is walking in more wholeness than our physical being.
God I’m going to follow you with my whole heart, God I’m going to worship you. And as life gets difficult, as the pains of life begin to mount up I will still praise you.
When I lose a child, I’ll praise you
When I get sick, I’ll praise you
When I lose my job, I’ll praise you
When I have more questions than answers, I’ll praise you
When I my body begins to give out on me, I’ll praise you
And one day, when my body is fully restored and healed in your presence, one day when I see you face to face, God, I will fully know and be known!
For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
The last thing we know about what Jesus believes is that…
Jesus knows You must know one thing…
Here we have the blind man being interrogated about Jesus. The people around him are not thrilled he’s been healed. They care more about the process of his healing than the fact that he can now see. He has been thrusted into being a defender of a Jesus he barely knows. So when he’s cornered to explain who Jesus is, and if Jesus is himself a sinner for not adhering to the law…the man’s response is so poignant.
25 He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”
You may not know everything there is to know about Jesus. You may be here for the very first time and just starting to explore faith in Jesus. You may have just recently started following Jesus, or maybe you are one of those who will be going public with your faith next weekend at baptism. And someone wants you to know your theology of Jesus, who he is, is he fully man, is he fully God, and you may not know the answer, but you do know this one thing:
I once was lost but now I’m found
I once was an addict and now I’m free
I once was bound by the chains of life and they have been broken off
I once did not believe but now I believe …why?
Because I once was blind, but now I see!!!
Jesus’ desire is for us to be one who is transformed from physical and spiritual blindness to a people who can now see who he is. We may not know fully, we may not understand the science, we may not even understand what really took place, but here’s what we do know. When I step into his presence, and when I allow God access to my heart and soul…something shifts…something is different. His love surrounds me no matter what is happening in my life.
If you have experienced new life with Jesus, look for ways to help others find what you discovered. Does it need to be awkward or odd. Just talk to people and ask them about their spiritual journey. When you listen intently and actively, they are far more open to hearing about your spiritual journey as well.
And maybe you’ve made it through many struggles, now is your turn to help others through theirs. Jesus told us that we will find our life when we lose our life serving others!
You don’t have to have all the answers, you don’t have to have it all figured out, but you can be on mission with Jesus to bring his light and love to the world around you!
