The Gospel of John Chapter 9
Eyes Wide Open
Last week during the closing prayer I asked that God the Holy Spirit would help
you connect the dots so that you could understand the meaning of the Cross
and the Resurrection.
Today I want you to add this to your growing list of take-a-ways—
Keep your Eyes Wide Open.
IF you close your eyes you can’t see,
IF you open your eyes you can see,
IF you open your eyes wide you are trying to see as
much as you can.
Eyes wide open: means you are seeking to understand,
Eyes wide open: means what you are about to do,
you’ve considered the consequences of your actions.
Eyes wide open: means you have a good idea as to what is at stake.
Chapter nine is a continuation of chapter 8.
The people have asked and asked Jesus who he is
Jesus finally answers “I am who I am”
“I am who I am” is the same name that God gave Moses to give the Jews to
call Him by.
This stirs up so much outrage among those you oppose Jesus that they are
picking up stones to kill him with.
As he is leaving the area,
Jesus sees a blind man.
A man who has been blind from birth and Jesus heals him.
This is part of the drama that is building to an incredible climax.
A quick survey of Jesus teachings from chapter 7 and 8 will help us see how the
Apostle John is doing his best to convince us that Jesus is the Messiah,
God incarnate.
John 7:16 (MSG)
What I teach comes from the One who sent me.
John 7:28-29 (MSG)
My true origin is in the One who sent me, and you don't know him at all. I come from him—that's how I know him. He sent me here."
John 7:37-38 (MSG)
"If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Rivers of living water will brim and spill out of the depths of anyone who believes in me this way
John 8:12 (MSG)
I am the world's Light. No one who follows me stumbles around in the darkness. I provide plenty of light to live in."
John 8:24 (MSG)
If you won't believe I am who I say I am, you're at the dead end of sins. You're missing God in your lives."
John 8:31-32 (MSG)
"If you stick with this, living out what I tell you, you are my disciples for sure. Then you will experience for yourselves the truth, and the truth will free you."
John 8:47 (MSG)
Anyone on God's side listens to God's words. This is why you're not listening—because you're not on God's side."
John 8:51 (MSG)
I say this with absolute confidence. If you practice what I'm telling you, you'll never have to look death in the face."
John 8:58 (MSG)
"Believe me," said Jesus, "I am who I am long before Abraham was anything."
Now I want us to recall the miraculous signs that Jesus has performed
The first miracle that Jesus did was to turn water into wine.
In chapter 4 Jesus heals the official’s son of a fever
In chapter 5 Jesus heals the cripple
In chapter 6 Jesus feeds the five thousand.
In chapter 9 Jesus will open the eyes of a
man born blind.
Do you see that the miraculous signs are getting more miraculous?
As Jesus’ teachings become more clear the miracles,
The signs he performs to back up what he says,
Get more spectacular.
We are going to view chapter 9, you can read along in your Bibles,
But before we do I want to give you just a little historical background’
During the Feast of Tabernacles there are two major ritual ceremonies
The water procession and the illumination of the Temple.
We’ve already considered the water ritual.
It is during this ritual that Jesus tells the people that he is the
true thirst quencher, the rock out of whom water flows.
John 7:37-38 (MSG)
On the final and climactic day of the Feast, Jesus took his stand. He cried out, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Rivers of living water will brim and spill out of the depths of anyone who believes in me
“We noted earlier that the rabbis saw in the water-libation of the Feast of Tabernacles a representation of the wilderness miracle of the water from the rock, a ceremony that pointed to the coming of a redeemer like Moses who would bring forth new water from the rock.
The second major ceremony during the Feast of Tabernacles is the lighting of the
Temple’s Court of Women.
The meaning of the illumination of the Temple was similar to that of the pouring of
the water.
The light shining out of the Temple into the darkness around was seen
‘as a symbol the Shekinah
(God’s glory manifested in the Most Holy above the ark)
And as a symbol of Isaiah 9:2 which we quote most often
during Christmas time.
Isaiah 9:2 (MSG)
The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. For those who lived in a land of deep shadows— light! sunbursts of light!
Now with this as the setting Jesus declares himself to be the light of the world.
John 9:5 (MSG)
For as long as I am in the world, there is plenty of light. I am the world's Light."
We need light to see.
Jesus will send the blind man to the pool of Siloam.
In Jesus day the waters of the pool flow from the Temple Mount and
are regarded as symbolic of the spiritual blessings that flow
from the dwelling-place of God. (Isaiah 8:6)
For Most of us westerners when you look at a picture or Jerusalem
Temple Mount is the entire area were the Islamic Dome of the Rock is
located.
Jesus has told the crowds that he is the water and he is the light.
Jesus sends the man born blind to the pool of God’s Blessing
And the man receives his sight.
The event is an authentication of Jesus claims.
Let’s watch this unfold for us.
Roll Video.
Did you notice the progression in the testimony of the man Jesus healed?
A series of questions are asked the man,
Notice his answers.
John 9:10-11 (MSG)
They said, "How did your eyes get opened?" "A man named Jesus made a paste and rubbed it on my eyes and told me, 'Go to Siloam and wash.' I did what he said. When I washed, I saw."
With open eyes his first answer is “a man named Jesus”
Jesus the man
The Pharisees ask
John 9:17 (MSG)
They came back at the blind man, "You're the expert. He opened your eyes. What do you say about him?" He said, "He is a prophet."
With eyes open wider the man’s second response is a prophet opened his eyes.
Jesus the prophet
The Pharisees wind up excommunicating the man for his testimony.
He’s thrown out of the community. Banned and Banished.
John 9:35-38 (MSG)
Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and went and found him. He asked him, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" The man said, "Point him out to me, sir, so that I can believe in him." Jesus said, "You're looking right at him. Don't you recognize my voice?" "Master, I believe," the man said, and worshiped him.
With eyes wide open the man’s third response is worship.
Jesus is God.
Are your eyes wide open?
I’ve been reading this book by David Kinnaman entitled UnChristian,
Kinnaman says the most people reject Christianity not because the message
of Jesus, the gospel, is unattractive
but rather they are rejecting Christians because of their blatant
hypocrisy while touting a moral superiority.
We say the Jesus is God,
We boast that Jesus is our savior,
But we don’t live like we mean it.
The man born blind sees with eyes wide open and his response is worship.
Worship is giving God his due.
What is God due?
God is due our love.
Not a half hearted love,
Not a passing fancy love,
But a passionate committed love.
1 John 5:2-3 (MSG)
“…Do we love God? Do we keep his commands? The proof that we love God comes when we keep his commandments …”
A person with eyes wide open worships God.
A person with eyes wide open cultivates a passionate and committed love
for God.
A person with eyes wide open demonstrates this love through
obedience to God’s commands.
So, What are God’s commands?
Jesus summarized the entire Old Testament for us.
Matthew 22:36-40 (MSG)
Teacher, which command in God's Law is the most important?" Jesus said, " 'Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.' This is the most important, the first on any list. But there is a second to set alongside it: 'Love others as well as you love yourself.' These two commands are pegs; everything in God's Law and the Prophets hangs from them."
A person with eyes wide open
Obeys God’s commands
A person with eyes wide open
Seeks to meet the needs of others even when it costs them to do it.
A person with eyes wide open
Is an excellent manager of their material resources.
A person with eyes wide open
Fulfills the destiny God has given opportunity for.
A person with eyes wide open LOVES.
Jesus goes on to say that he and all his followers must do God's work while there is
time to do it.
John 9:4 (MSG)
We need to be energetically at work for the One who sent me here, working while the sun shines. When night falls, the workday is over.
A person with eyes wide open uses his or her time to worship.
Not just some of their time.
All of their time.
Not just Sunday morning.
Every morning, Every Afternoon, Every Evening and
Every night.
A person with eyes wide open worships 24-7
And God uses them as the highway by which he sends his help into the lives
of people.
To help a fellow-human being in need is to manifest the glory of God,
for it reveals to any one who looks what God is like.
You know what God is like,
Look to the Cross,
God is love.
When you love you manifest the glory of God,
When you love you become light
When you
love you become living water.
One of the greatest sorrows of life is to discover that it is now too late to do
something which you might have done.
Decisions must be made,
Work must be done
while it is day, before the night comes down.
The clock is ticking.
Decide today that your life,
The way you live it,
Will manifest the glory of God.
When we spend ourselves to help those in trouble, in distress, in pain, in sorrow, in
affliction, we love,
when we love, we are Christ like.
God commands us to love—
Not a warm mushy feeling that comes and goes according to who you feel
during a given day.
Love is an act of the will.
Matthew 5:42 (NIV)
Give to the one who asks you…
They might not ask with words,
But you can see their need,
Living with eyes wide open you will respond to the need.
That’s what love does.
That’s what God does.
I try to live this way.
God’s grace makes it possible.
There are times when I say—God I can’t, I’m spent, I’m done.
My eyes begin to close,
I turn away from the needs,
I look inward and start licking my wounds.
In those times God calls me out,
And says come and be with me,
I will renew you, I will refresh you,
I will restore your passion.
Come let me love you.
When I let him love me,
He restores my soul.
By his grace I open my eyes wide again.
Once again He shows me that He knows no bounds when it comes to
meeting my needs.
So that I can know no bounds when it comes to meeting yours.
So once again, here’s your take-a-way---
Live with your eyes wide open.
Look beyond the circumstances, seek to understand your times.
Live with your eyes wide open
Consider the consequences of your actions or your inactions
Live with your eyes wide open
Heaven or hell may hang in the balance.
Live with your eyes wide open
So that what you believe is evident in the way you live your life.
Live with your eyes wide open.
Be a lover.
The Pool Today
This is the pool that you'll see today whether you walk through Hezekiah's Tunnel and emerge here or walk above through the City of David. There are clear remains around this pool from the Byzantine church built by Empress Eudocia. This is the pool that has long been visited as the pool of Jesus' miracle.