John 9:1–7, 39–41

¹As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth.

²And his disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"

³Jesus answered, "It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.

⁴We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work.

⁵As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world."

⁶Having said these things, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man's eyes with the mud

⁷and said to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing.

³⁹Jesus said, "For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind."

⁴⁰Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, "Are we also blind?"

⁴¹Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, 'We see,' your guilt remains.

The sermon today will be preached by a blind man. And it will also require a blind audience. If you are not blind, then perhaps you can stop listening for the next few minutes.

I am glad to be blind this morning, because Jesus tells us here that he only deals with blind people. In fact, only blind people are forgiven. At the end of this chapter of John's gospel, Jesus concludes; "I you were blind you would have no guilt; but if you say 'you see', your guilt remains."

That's why, as he was walking along, Jesus picked out this blind man, because Jesus deals only with the blind. The man didn't come to Jesus looking for help. In fact, it never occurred to him there was any help available. People born blind could not be healed.

Satan told Eve, "Your eyes shall be opened and you shall be like God." So today, all who are descendents of Adam and Eve want to be God. We judge others; we condemn others; we say, "That person is not a Christian. Look at what he does." God alone has the right to judge, but we try to be god and do the judging. So the disciples judged this blind man and his parents and said, "Whose sin is he being punished for, his or his parent's." They were accusing him of sin. They were judging and condemning him. But Jesus says "his affliction had nothing to do with sin or judgment on sin," "It was so that the works of God might be made manifest."

So like the disciples, we consider ourselves to be judges of others sins. We think we can see. Jesus said to those considered to be wise and spiritual, "If you were blind, you would have no guilt. If you say you see, your guilt remains." What an upside down judgment Jesus made. Jesus says, "we all have a log in our eyes that blinds us from being able to see. If you are blinded by a log, how can you pluck the speck out of your neighbor's eye?"

In other words, Satan's promise to Eve that your eyes will be open and you will be like God, was a lie. Satan is a liar and deceiver. Adam and Eve's eyes were closed by Satan, and they became the antithesis of God.

So every man and woman born of Adam and Eve are blind. We judge affliction as punishment from God for some sin. We judge that troubles are penalties for certain past deeds. We judge only what we see and hear. We judge riches and wisdom as good, and we judge troubles as evil. But God turns this upside down. What we call jolly, rich, beautiful, powerful and handsome, God calls poor, sick, weak, impotent. We think we are learned, but we are ignorant in God's sight. We see our trials and sufferings as weakness. We despise the crosses we are called to bear in this life. We see them as shame and weakness. But Christ says to Paul, "In your weakness God is powerful."

We despise the cross of Jesus as weakness. We are ashamed to have a God who died on a cross. Some Christians today even want to put their crosses away and hide them in a corner because it reminds them of weakness, shame and death.

But God turns everything upside down. Christ takes away that which we delight in and gives what vexes us. What Christ considers evil we consider good. And Christ considers good what we consider evil. Christ proves this in that God himself became man, and in him we find what we consider the worst of all evil; we find him dying a shameful death. But God considers his death and dying as the most precious thing he has. Christ accepted it joyfully and voluntarily.

So in the end, we who are aloof and consider ourselves wise and learned are the most blind of all. We are descendents of Adam and Eve and so we are born blind. And as the blind man knew, no man born blind can be healed. This blindness can be taken away by none but Christ.

Jesus came to give sight to those who do not see; to open the eyes of the blind. Jesus came for the very purpose to open our eyes and give us sight. For that reason he became the blind, the weak, the poor, the lowly, in order to give us sight. In our Old Testament reading, God says, "Who is blind but my Servant, or deaf as my messenger whom I send? Who is blind as my dedicated one, or blind as the servant of the Lord? He sees many things, but does not observe them; his ears are open, but he does not hear." He sees your sin; he hears your sin; but he does not observe them. Rather he pays for them and washes them away. He takes away your sin and casts it into the deepest places of the sea. He removes it as far as the east is from the west; as far as the heavens are above the earth.

This man blind from birth is really you and me. He shows that we are all born blind from Adam's birth and that blindness adheres to us by nature. Christ is where all who undertake to do something of themselves are compelled to submit and be conquered. The blind man did not imagine that he would be made whole, for a man born blind could not receive his sight. He did not come searching for Jesus, rather Jesus came to him.

We therefore, must despair of everything we can do. We can do nothing but freely surrender ourselves to God no matter what happens. You must completely despair of yourselves. If you look at yourself, your life, your afflictions, your trials and find complete despair, then call upon God and pray and plead and knock and his grace is already there. God's grace can never forsake you who despairs of yourself. To the humble God gives grace, not to the proud. The blind man despaired of any hope to ever see. He did not want to see. He needed to be blind for Jesus to heal him. We need to be blind and despair of ever seeing in order for Jesus to heal us. Then as God opened Balaam's eyes to see the angel of the Lord, he opens your eyes to see the Angel of the Lord, Jesus Christ. As Elisha prayed and the Lord opened the eyes of his men to see the mountains full of horses and chariots and the armies of God, so Jesus opens your eyes to see the armies of God encamped around you, surrounding you to protect you and lift you up in the midst of your trials and afflictions. As the men on the road to Emmaus were breaking bread with Jesus, their eyes were opened and they recognized Jesus, so in the breaking of the bread at the Lord's Supper your eyes are opened to know Jesus and dine with him.

Jesus takes away the blindness of sin. He took our humanity and our blindness and suffered our sin in his flesh. He went to the cross to pay for your sin. And so your sin is forgiven. Therefore, "afflictions are not always punishments or signs of wrath." "Troubles are not always penalties for certain past deeds, as in the case of Job or this blind man. When you suffer do not let your conscience tell you that God has rejected you. Troubles have more important things to do, as with this blind man." (Ap XII). They are works of God intended for your profit, that "the works of God might be made manifest." His "power is made perfect in our weakness." And "His grace is sufficient for you."

So your afflictions are not God's punishments. It is the will of God that our bodies should be sacrifices, just as the prophets and John the Baptist and other saints were killed. Sin is forgiven that you may have eternal life. There is no punishment left for sin. But the death that resides in our flesh is not abolished "for the sake of righteousness, that is, to exercise and test the righteousness of those who are sanctified." (Ap XII).

Jesus washes you from your sins, as the blind man washed in the pool of Siloam. "Wash yourselves and make yourselves clean... Come now, Let us reason together, says God, though you sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool." (Is 1:18). Jesus cleanses you by the washing of water with the word, in Baptism IEph 5:26). At the font he "saved you by the washing of regeneration." (Tit 3:5).

God has given Jesus as "a light to the nations to open the eyes of the blind." (Is 42:6). He is your light! He has opened your eyes! "You are the light of the world." "Let him who walks in darkness and has no light trust in the name of the Lord." "Your light shall break forth like the dawn and your healing shall spring up speedily." Therefore, "Arise, shine, for your light has come and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you." Go! Bring others to the light. The world is in darkness, but the light shines in word and Sacrament. Here in this place, where the word is preached and the sacrament administered is the light of the world, that opens the eyes of the blind. Go out into the highways and byways and bring in the blind, the tired, the sick, the lonely, the downtrodden. For we have the light. It is here in the word. Their eyes shall be opened.

Jesus sent the blind man to the pool of Siloam. The word Siloam means sent. So Jesus sends you to the blind, to those living in the darkness of our world, to bring them to the light. To this place where the word of God shines. Where Jesus opens the eyes of the blind.

Amen.