By Faith I Now See My Blindness

Third Sunday in Lent

March 23, 2014

John 9:39

By Faith I Now See My Blindness

In the name of Jesus.

I.

Worse than Blindness

Blindness is the one of the worst things ever. At least this is what people who can see think. Jesus' disciples seemed to think so. They considered being born blind such a curse that it must be an actual curse. From God.

John 9:1-2

As [Jesus] was passing by, He saw a man blind from birth. His disciples questioned Him: “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

Jesus answered that no one sinned; God is not cursing anyone.

John 9:3

“Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” Jesus answered. “This came about so that God’s works might be displayed in him.

And then Jesus takes up a better question: what is worse than physical blindness? His answer is this: thinking that you can see when you cannot. For example, who would be more dangerous behind the wheel: a blind man who knows he's blind or a blind man who is convinced he can see?

But go deeper. What's more dangerous than a blind man who thinks he can see? Jesus said that the answer is not a sinner who knows he's a sinner, but rather a sinner who is convinced that he isn't.

John 9:39-41

Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment, in order that those who do not see will see and those who do see will become blind.” Some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these things and asked Him, “We aren’t blind too, are we?”

“If you were blind,” Jesus told them, “you wouldn’t have sin. But now that you say, ‘We see’—your sin remains.

II.

Where are the Hypocrites?

There is a certain received “wisdom” among the blind who think they can see: the Christian Church full of hypocrites. They say that Christians claim to be better than non-Christians people, yet we do evil also. And in standing in judgment over us, unbelievers smugly gloat, “Practice what you preach, O hypocrite!”

A common, and often satisfying, retort is that there's always room in the Church for one more hypocrite. However, perhaps it's better to know that the Church is where hypocrisy stops.

The Church is the only gathering of non-hypocrites on the planet. A hypocrite is a someone who says that they can see, but are really blind. When Christians come together, we wisely confess that we are blind by birth. We say and mean that we are filled with sin from birth, from conception, when our life begins. We confess our blindness. We confess our stumbles, which are often horrible crashes. We hurt ourselves and those we're supposed to care for.

When the Holy Spirit baptizes a spiritually blind man with the hands and mouth of His pastor, a change takes place. Instead of a blind man who thinks he can see, a new creature is created in that holy water: one who now sees that he is blind.

III.

Seeing Blindness

I am blind, but now I see my blindness. By faith I now see my sinful Self as I truly am. By faith I see also Jesus, my Savior from my sinful Self. By hearing I trust more and more in Jesus' words, and less and less in what I think I can see.

John 20:29

Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

When we trust our eyes for our hope of things unseen, we falter. Like the followers of Jesus and the followers of Moses, we compare ourselves to others to prop ourselves up. This is not surprising—other people and their sin and their problems are things we can see. We use our sight to make ourselves look better.

Buried in the disciples' question, “Who sinned, Jesus?” is the implication that they didn't. They could see. Thus, they were cleared of sin.

The miracle mud for this trust in sight is listening. Listen to Jesus. Make His Words your words in your daily prayer. Judge yourself the worst of sinners, according to the words of Scripture, and you will find it difficult to trust your sight. We live on every Word that comes from the mouth of Jesus and so living, we see Jesus.

Ephesians 5:14

“Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead,

and Christ will shine on you.”

In the name of the Father

and of the † Son

and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.