Dial In with Jonny Ardavanis - Dial In - John 9:1-17 (Ep. 26)

Episode Date: May 4, 2020

Dial In is a devotional series with the intention of helping followers of Christ understand God’s word and love Him more. Jonny seeks to communicate the profound depth of scripture in a digestible and condensed format each weekday. The goal of the podcast is that our “minds would be renewed” as we behold who God is in His word. In this series, Jonny is walking sequentially through the Gospel of John.In this episode, Jonny covers John 9:1-17 where Jesus heals a man who was born blind on the sabbath. Jesus takes initiative with the man and approaches one who would have been avoided his entire life. We see in this story a fitting metaphor of the human condition: lost, helpless and blind, but Jesus pursues in His grace and offers us restoration and healing.        Watch VideosVisit the Website Follow on InstagramFollow on Twitter

Hey guys, my name is Johnny Artavanis, and this is Dial In. In this episode, we're in John chapter 9, verses 1 through 17. These are the words of God. Let's view them as such in Dial In. John chapter 9, verses 1 through 17. As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth, and his disciples asked him, Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, It was not that this man sinned or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.

We must work the works of him who set me while it is day. Night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. Having said these things, he spit on the ground and made mud with saliva. Then he anointed the man's eyes with the mud and said to him, Verse 2. Some said, it is he. Others said, no, but he is like him. But he kept saying, I am the man. So they said to him, then how were your eyes opened? He answered, the man called Jesus made mud and anointed my eyes and said to me, go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed and received my sight.

And they said to him, where is he? And he said, I do not know. They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. So the Pharisees again asked him how he had received a sight. And he said to them, He put mud in my eyes, and I washed, and I see. Some of the Pharisees said,

This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath. But others said, How can a man who is a sinner do such signs? And there was a division among them. So they said again to the blind man, What do you say about him, since he has opened your eyes? He said, He is a prophet. The gospel writer John is writing his biography of Jesus so that you may believe that Jesus is God, that he is the only Savior. But John's purpose is not merely biographical in the sense that he wants

to give you facts and information. It's evangelistic in the sense that he wants you to hear about the words and works of Jesus Christ and believe in him and receive eternal life. Now, this entire chapter is basically one narrative centered around a miraculous healing. Jesus knows that his death is just months away. And he says in verse five, while I am in the world, I am the light of the world. And in this passage, he's going to give a blind man physical light. But more important than that, he's going to give this man spiritual light. There is a precious spiritual analogy for us in this passage. Whether or not you grew up in the church, you're probably familiar with the miracles

of Jesus. In many cases around the world, this is what Jesus is known for, a miracle worker. But we must reconsider the power and stunning reality of these miracles. Because if we look at the Old Testament, the crux of the Jewish faith, miracles and healings are actually incredibly rare. They hardly ever happen. And when Jesus comes onto the scene, he doesn't even perform a miracle until he's 30 at the wedding of Cana. And we talk about that in episode four. And then from that point on after John two,

miracles, signs, and healings would have been routine and almost daily occurrence. We can conclude that because John says at the end of his gospel, that if all the things that Jesus did were recorded, not all the books in all of the world could contain those miracles. Matthew 12, 15 says that Jesus came and he was healing all the people, all the people in all the places. Jesus essentially rid Israel of disease. People with deformed limbs were given new limbs. People who couldn't see were given new eyes.

People who couldn't hear were given new ears. People that were leprous were cleansed. There is no medical or natural explanation for what Jesus does. There is no one like him in human history. And the prophet Isaiah says in Isaiah 42 verse 7, that when the Messiah comes, he will come and heal. And this is exactly what Jesus does. So we have this great joy here in chapter 9 of looking at one of the thousands and thousands of miracles that Jesus would have done.

And what we will see, sadly, is that instead of the Jews coming to faith, instead of them acknowledging that there was no human explanation for what they have seen and experienced, they just hate him more. The greater the evidence that Jesus gives, the greater the hatred against him. Now, I love how the passage starts. It doesn't start with someone running to Jesus saying, please heal me, or someone saying, Jesus, come, come, my son is is sick it starts with Jesus in verse 1 seeing a man who was blind Jesus saw this man and he went out of his way to approach him in his misery Jesus is kind and the disciples are looking at this blind man and they asked Jesus who sinned

Jesus this man or his parents this is a reflection of their theology, where there is suffering, there must have been sin. And we see this in the book of Job, when Job's life is destroyed, and all of his friends come to him and say, he surely must have something to repent of. But this is not the case. The disciples are looking for the cause of this man's blindness. But Jesus tells them in verse three, there's another reason why this man is born blind. And that is so that the works of God may be revealed in him, that Jesus would show his power and his identity. This man is blind. Jesus is saying so that Jesus might be glorified in healing him and giving him sight. So here's what Jesus does in verse six. He spits in the dirt, makes

some mud, rubs it on the guy's eyes, and then verse six. He spits in the dirt, makes some mud, rubs it on the guy's eyes, and then tells him to go and wash in the pool and come back and find him. We don't really know why Jesus employed this method, but what we do know is this guy would have been desperate. He would have tried anything to be able to see. Imagine this with me. He would have spent his entire life asking himself, why me? Why am I blind? Everyone else can see, but I can't see anything. All I've ever known is darkness and poverty and loneliness and helplessness. But Jesus sees this man and he comes to him. The gospel records more cases of blind people being healed than any other disability because it provides for us one of the clearest spiritual analogies. This man cannot see Jesus but Jesus sees

him and he comes to him. This man is trapped in desperate darkness and God has to take initiative with this blind man through Christ. That is how grace operates. We are lost. We are enemies of God. We do not know the truth. We are blind and cannot see Christ. But God sees us and He comes to us and opens our eyes. And that's what we see here with this man. First his physical blindness is removed and then in the next episode we'll see that the blindness of his mind and his soul is removed and he sees Christ.

This man comes back seeing in verse seven, and he's looking for Jesus, but Jesus isn't there. And the people are saying, wait, isn't this the guy that used to be blind? Isn't this the blind guy that used to sit there? What happened to you? And he says, all I know is that the man named Jesus healed me. I don't even know what he looks like.

Help me find him. And we'll see that conversation in the next episode. One last observation is that the promise of a God who cannot lie is that he brings good out of everything and that he uses pain and suffering and the most confusing elements in our life to bring about his glory. But healing isn't the only way to display the glory of God. If Jesus never healed this blind man, he could have still displayed his glory. When Paul cries out three times for his thorn in the flesh to be removed, Jesus says, my grace is sufficient for you and my power is made perfect in weakness.

God's power and God's glory are seen just as much in his sustaining grace as in his healing and transformative power. And one day, he will wipe away every single tear. And Paul reminds us that this light, momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. When, like this man, you and I will see Jesus Christ face to face. Stay dialed in.