Bible Passage: John 9:1-7, 13-17, 34-39
Pastor: Joel Jenswold
Sermon Date: March 15, 2026

Bulletin – March 15, 2026

In the name of, and to the eternal glory of, Jesus,

God wanted people to be able to identify the Messiah when he came into the world.  To help them know who the Messiah was, God made prophecies, or predictions, about what the Savior would be like.  One of the identifying things about the coming of the Messiah was this, Then will the eyes of the blind be opened. (Isaiah 35:5)

That’s why it is significant that in the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ ministry there are seven specific stories of Jesus opening the eyes of people who are blind.  There are also many general  references to occasions when Jesus heals all who were brought to him.  Very likely there were many blind people in these unnamed masses of people who were healed by Jesus.  The conclusion is simple:  Jesus is the promised Messiah, the promised Savior!

We have one of the specific stories before us this morning.  At its core it is a story of a blind man whose eyes are opened by Jesus the Messiah.  But as we consider this story, we will find that this story is in several ways An Eye-Opening Encounter with Jesus.

The first ones whose eyes are opened in this account are the disciples.  How so?  Jesus and his disciples are walking along when they see a man who was blind since birth.  He had never seen a day in his life.  Upon seeing him, the disciples have a theological question:  Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind. (v. 1)  They see an individual suffering and they draw the conclusion most people do.  “God must be punishing somebody.”  In their thinking, it was a binary choice.  An “either/or.”  God is either “zapping” this guy for his sin, or God is “zapping” his parents for something they did.  “So Jesus, which is it?”

Jesus answers, It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that God’s works might be revealed in connection with him. (v. 3)  No one is being “zapped” for sin!  God is at work here!  This man’s situation is a blank canvas on which God is going to paint a masterpiece!  Through this man, the power of God will be revealed.  Through this man, the Messiah will fulfill prophecy!  Through this man’s blindness and sight, the Messiah will be identified!

The disciples’ eyes were opened to something they never saw before.  May ours be, too.  Suffering is in this world because of sin, but not all individual suffering is God “zapping” you for some specific sin.  Have you ever stopped to consider that God will do his work in your suffering?  He will keep promises and show his power and exercise your faith.  The words of Exodus 14:14 come to mind.  When the Israelites were caught between the Red Sea and the advancing Egyptian army, the people were told, You need only to be still. God was at work!

Of course, the next eye-opening thing in our text is, well, the man’s eyes were literally opened!  Jesus spits on the dirt and mixes up a little mud.  He smears it on the man’s blind eyes.  Go, wash in the pool of Siloam. (v. 7)  The man does as Jesus said.   He blinks.  He blinks again.  For the first time in his life, he can see!   Buildings and trees and flowers and sunshine and people!  The man’s working eyeballs were a message to all on hand, “Messiah was here!”

There’s just one problem.  Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. (v. 14)  This isn’t really a problem.  Sabbath laws did not prohibit being nice to people.  But the “Sabbath-police,” the Pharisees, launch an investigation into this egregious thing Jesus has done.  How dare Jesus “work” and make mud and heal!  Scandalous!  They believe Jesus belongs to that class of people called “sinners.”  People who openly lived in defiance of God’s Laws.  They ask the man what he thinks of Jesus.  He is a prophet. (v. 17)  And the man says this in the section of this story that is not part of our text:  If this man [Jesus] were not from God, he could do nothing. (v. 33)  The Pharisees have heard enough!  “You were entirely born in sinfulness!  Yet you presume to teach us?”  And they threw him out. (v. 34)  They excommunicated him!

Here we catch a glimpse of the eye-opening opposition to Jesus.  Here the enemies of Jesus show their teeth.  Why do they hate Jesus so?  Have you ever known anyone like that?  Someone who is literally hell-bent on hating Jesus?  Someone who cannot see one good thing in the one who made blind people see and who gave his life to wash away our sin?  This is really human nature showing its teeth.  Opposition to Jesus is real and irrational!  This opposition in our text is the real-time version of what Paul wrote to the Romans, The sinful mind is hostile to God. (Romans 8:7)  Only one thing can overcome this hostile blindness in man: grace!

Enter Jesus!  Jesus catches up with the man.  Now, remember, the man was blind the first time he encountered Jesus, so when Jesus finds him now, he has no idea who this is.  Jesus asks, Do you believe in the Son of God? (v. 35)  The man says, Who is he? (v. 36)  Jesus says, You have seen him! (v. 37)  “You’re looking at him!”  And now the man’s eyes are opened in the greatest way!  “Lord, I believe!”  And he knelt down and worshiped him. (v. 38)  He sees Jesus as the Son of God, his Savior, and worships him!

There is the eye-opening miracle that you have in common with this man.  We call it conversion.  Your eyes have been opened! Your inbred hostility to all-things-Jesus has been overcome by…Jesus!  You do not see him as a threat to your way of life, but the one who saves you from your way of life!  The way to heaven is not some unknown riddle for you; you have come to see Jesus as the Way, the Truth, and the Life!  You see on the cross not some tragic death, but you see the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.  Your eyes have been opened.  With our eyes opened, we too exclaim, “Lord, I believe!”

Amen.