Mar 10, 2002

This is an amazing story. Step by step we can follow the blind man’s walk from great to greater faith. His spiritual experience is quite concrete. He was touched by the hand of the Lord in a way that led him into worship.

All of you gathered here this morning have been touched. That is why you are here to worship. Think it over for a moment how God has blessed you in so many ways. How he took care. How he met your need. How he responded to your prayer. I imagine you can put together a long list. What a list of God’s amazing grace is seen in your life and in our congregation!

Back to the story.

This blind man must have been a well-known character, the disciples knew all about him. When they saw him they used the opportunity to put to Jesus a problem with which the Jews were very much concerned about; the connection between suffering and sin.

This man, they said, is blind from his birth. Is his blindness due to his own sin, or to the sin of his parents?

We may ask; how could the blindness possibly be due to the man’s sin from his birth?

From what age is a human being responsible for good and wrong? Some people at that time argued for the idea of pre-natal sin. Some people even believed in the pre-existence of the soul, a well-known idea from the Greeks, and consequently the souls were considered good or bad. The human body was thought of as sinful. This is not according to Christian faith. Our body is God’s gift. It really is a strange idea that a person’s affliction might come from sin that he has committed before he was born.

The alternative is that the man’s affliction was due to the sin of his parents. It is a well-known thought in the Old Testament and the Jewish tradition that children inherit the consequences from their parent’ sin or the blessings from their good work. But Jesus does not confirm explicitly the connection between affliction and the forefathers life. He says:

"Neither this man nor his parents sinned, he was born blind so that God’s work might be revealed in him."

In the Gospel for today Jesus put on a very different focus. He does not try to explain the connection of sin and suffering. He says that this man’s blindness offers to him an opportunity of showing what God can do; "he was born blind so that God’s work might be revealed in him."

In the Gospel the miracles are signs of the glory and the power of God. They reveal what God can do. He is the Almighty, the Creator. The miracles also demonstrate the compassion of God. The compassionate Father. Affliction, sorrow, pain and disappointment often are opportunities for displaying God’s grace and his mercy. Walking with God, facing troubles they often bring out the strength and the beauty, the endurance and the nobility which are in a man’s heart when God’s Spirit is there. This experience conveys joy and strengthen our faith.(1.Peter)

So many things to comment on in this story. I cannot spend the time this morning.

Before we leave this wonderful story I would love to recognize the growth and progression in the blind man’s faith in Jesus. When the Pharisees ask him about what happened he answered he did not know but he added: "One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see."

At the very beginning he named Jesus a man; "The man called Jesus did it to me" v.11. Obviously he thought of Jesus as a wonderful man. He never met anyone who could do the kind of things Jesus did. What a person! That is true, in any gallery of the world’s finest men and great heroes Jesus must be put in first place. In the collection of the world’s greatest sayings his parables would be listed at the top.

You might ask many questions, but you cannot question Jesus was a unique man.

Many of you may add, The man called Jesus did it in my life. What would you like to mention?

The man in the Gospel went on to call Jesus a prophet.

When he was asked about his opinion of Jesus he said: "He is a prophet." v.17. He realized Jesus was sent from God to bring God’s message to men. When we read the wisdom of the words of Jesus, his teaching and preaching, we are bound to say: "This man is a prophet." If men, followed the wisdom of Jesus I am convinced that personal and social, national and international problems would be solved. If ever any man has had the right to be called a prophet, Jesus has. Therefore, listen to him!

Finally the blind man confessed Jesus was more than a human being. He understood the human categories were not adequate to describe him. He got his eyes opened, he got the light for blind eyes and he saw in Jesus the Son of Man and confessed: " Lord, I believe." And he worshipped him! v. 38.

It is an amazing thing about Jesus that the more we know him the greater he becomes. The problem with some human relationships is that the better we know a person the more we know about his weakness and his failings, but the more we know Jesus, the greater he becomes as Lords and Savior. This is about our journey in faith. Where sin is, the grace is even greater.

What a friend we have in Jesus! All our sins and grief to bear! What a privilege to carry, Everything to God in prayer.

What an amazing grace! That taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved, How precious did that grace appear, the hour I first believed!

Let us worship him this morning!

Amen.

The Norwegian Lutheran Memorial Church ·  924 E. 21st St, Minneapolis, MN 55404-2952 ·  (612)874-0716