This morning I want to make a few comments on the story of the healing of the man born blind in John 9 and then hand the balance of the time to our guest, Lewis Swann. Some of you know Lewis and have known his family, the Swann’s, for many years. I’ve asked him to be with us this morning because giving sight to the blind has become the story of his life.

Four quick things before Lewis comes up:

First, healing the blind is central to the work of the Messiah. It is not just in the New Testament that giving sight to the blind is a sign of the Son of God. Time and again it is mentioned as one of the ways we will recognize the work of the Christ.

Psalm 146:8

The Lord opens the eyes of the blind;

The Lord raises up those who are bowed down;

The Lord loves the righteous;

Isaiah 35:5

Then the eyes of the blind will be opened

And the ears of the deaf will be unstopped.

All through the New Testament Jesus refers to himself as the one who brings sight to the blind and light to the ones who are in darkness.

Luke 4:18

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,

Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor.

He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives,

And recovery of sight to the blind,

To set free those who are oppressed,

Luke 7:21-22

At that very time He cured many people of diseases and afflictions and evil spirits; and He gave sight to many who were blind. And He answered and said to them (John’s disciples), “Go and report to John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have the gospel preached to them.

The work of Christ is to heal and to bring light into the world that is blind to the truth of God. 

Second, sometimes it is sudden and sometimes it is gradual. In the story of Bartimaeus in Mark, Jesus heals him on the spot. In the story of the blind man in Mark 8 Jesus puts saliva on his eyes and asks him if he can see anything. “I can see people, but they look like trees walking. Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he looked intently and his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.”  Finally, in our story this morning Jesus makes mud and puts it on the blind man’s eyes and then instructs him to go wash in the Pool of Siloam. “So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.”  It is often a miraculous process and not a sudden event. The miracle takes time but it is no less a miracle.

Third, the effect of sight may be suffering from the spiritual blindness of others.

“Then they hurled insults at him and said, “You are this fellow’s disciple! We are disciples of Moses! We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don’t even know where he comes from.”

The man answered, “Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will. Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”

To this they replied, “You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!” And they threw him out.”

You may be familiar with Plato’s Allegory of the Cave. 

It begins with people bound in chains seated in a dark cave with a fire behind them casting shadows of things on the wall in front of them. They take the shadows as the real world. Now and then one of them leaves the cave and drags themselves up the steep path to the light. Of course, their sudden exposure to light and the real world is painful – almost blinding. Eventually, their eyes adjust and they begin to see the real world instead of shadows on a wall. Some return to tell the people what they have seen but they find themselves drawn back into the comfort of darkness and shadows. Others, return to try and explain what they have seen and people call them steeped in sin and possessed. Others return and attempt to free the slaves in darkness and are killed.

The good news is not always good news to those who have lived so long in their darkness and blind to the truth and the light.  As Sinclair Lewis said,  “It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.”  C.S. Lewis put it so clearly, ”There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, “Thy will be done,” and those to whom God says, in the end, “Thy will be done.” All that are in Hell, choose it. Without that self-choice there could be no Hell. No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it. Those who seek find. Those who knock it is opened.”

Fourth, the beggar receives not only his sight in stages but his understanding of Jesus in the same way. First, he says, “A man that is called Jesus opened my eyes.” Jesus is a man capable of wonderful things and possessing unusual powers.

Then he refers to him as a prophet and one to whom God has revealed his secrets. He is a man but a man with a special relationship to God. He is different but still only a man. 

Finally, he understands that Jesus is the Son of Man, the Son of God and the Christ. 

For many, it is the same and it is a gradual opening of the eyes and the mind to understanding who Jesus really is. More than a teacher. More than an example. More than a righteous man and miracle worker but, as Paul says, “The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.”