Kaleo San Diego Church

Introduction

Tonight we will be continuing in the Gospel of John. I will be preaching to you in a manner this is much different that the usual continuous expositional style.

I will be doing two things different; one, I will be ending early tonight and, two, I will be preaching in a narrative form from the perspective of the man born blind.

Narrative

What I would like you to do is to close your eyes. I want us to enter into this mans world for a moment.

Thanks for closing your eyes, I want to tell you a story about my life, well at least a glimpse of my life leading up to a day that has forever changed me. It seems as if it’s a little easier to tell the story when you’re eyes are closed because you appreciate the story more when you can actually sense what my world was like for many, many years.

I won’t bother with giving you my name or age since my name and age really isn’t important to this story. As a matter of fact, the story really isn’t about me, its about someone that I met.

I was born several years ago to two loving, God fearing Jewish parents that were shocked to find out fairly early in my infancy that I was blind. They told me they could tell because when I was a month or two old, I wouldn’t, or should I say couldn’t, focus on their face, or blink when they waived their hand in front of my eyes.

They also said my eyes were not clear like other children, they were kind of cloudy. They said they thought that something happened during the birth but they weren’t really sure how or why I was blind.

I suppose the first memory I have of being frustrated that I couldn’t see, came when I heard other kids playing outside. I guess I was about 3 or 4 and I remember my father stopping me from trying to go outside to join them. I remember how painful it was when I first realized that I wasn’t like other kids and never would be. To hear them laugh as they ran by our door, and to hear them whisper as they try to find one another when they would play hide-and-go-seek, was very difficult as I grew into being a little boy. I guess the only thing I would ever do was hide, but never go seek.

I would never learn to read, though my parents would read the books of Moses, I could only listen. I remember hearing about the story of Moses and the burning bush, and I asked what a burning bush was and why it was so amazing to Moses. My mom had a hard time explaining what fire looked like because I had never seen anything to compare it to, so I would have to imagine the feeling of the heat of the bush. This helped me when she read Bible stories. It would help me if I tried to imagine what they felt, from touching or tasting or hearing things.

I would often cry at night because I would hear noises sometimes that sounded like they were coming closer, but I couldn’t see what or who it was. My dad would come in and get me and bring me into their bed so that I would stop shaking.

Other children would often make fun of me when I was out with my mom, especially when I was almost 13, she would still have to hold my hand through the crowds. I could feel their stares. I could feel their gestures even though I couldn’t see them.

Soon, I did turn 13, and in my culture when a boy turned 13 he was now responsible for taking care of himself as a man. I was supposed to get a job and start buying my own food and try to help out my mom and dad. It was my job, I was now a man.

My father was pretty stubborn about not letting me try to find a job because he didn’t want me to be hurt. That is one thing I remember very well, my fathers big hands that protected me. I always knew no matter what happened that my dads strong hands were there to catch me if I fell or hold me if I cried. But I still wanted to take care of myself. I needed to take care of myself. I wanted to be a man, and I was tired of people talking about me, and treating me as if I weren’t really human.

I went into town with my mom and tried to find work that I could do, but there really wasn’t much for me. Either the work needed someone to see, or the owners didn’t want a “project” on their hands. Needless to say, I wasn’t left with many options.

I started to think of how my life was going to be. You see, in my culture, women wouldn’t marry a man that was blind. They wouldn’t want to deal with the stares, and the questions, and the accusations that people would make. So, I knew that I would probably never find someone to love me in the way that a man and woman love each other, like my mom and dad. This was really hard to accept as a young man. I would often worry about my parents death, because I knew that when they left, I would really be all alone.

I guess I resigned to simply being defeated. I had lost all hope that things would get better. As a matter of fact, I thought they could only get worse with time.

So I started begging as a teen. I became quite good at it. I realized that if I went by the Synagogue on the Sabbath to beg, I would get more people to give as they were in a religious mood. Some would come out and give because they felt guilty over their own sin. Others would come out and give because they wanted to show their friends how generous they were. And others would come out to give because they felt sorry for me. Either way, it was the best place to be on the Sabbath. It seems as if people are more giving when they think they are doing their duty one day a week.

The one thing that bothered me about begging though was the fact that many of the people that came out to beg for money could see and walk and speak and had arms and legs that worked! I couldn’t understand why someone would beg when they could work. Begging was the most demeaning thing I have ever done and I really irritated me that most of the other beggars would lie about their illness or infirmity.

One day I stood outside the Synagogue begging and I heard a teacher coming with his students. I could always tell it was a teacher because the students would ask so many questions.

Well, today this group of students stopped in front of me and started asking questions about me as if I wasn’t even there!

Not only where they asking questions, but the questions they were asking really showed me what kind of men they were. They asked their teacher who sinned, my parents or me, because I was blind.

I couldn’t believe their arrogance. My parents? My parents feared God. How could they blame my blindness on them? How dare they blame it on them. Me? As if I sinned in my mothers womb to deserve being blind for life!

I was about to say something when I realized that they were just ignorant and that telling them how stupid they were wasn’t going to help them or myself. So I stepped back and simply waited for their teacher to pick one of two ridiculous conclusions.

Something happened though that I still have a hard time explaining. Instead of the teacher doing what most teachers do, and answering wrong questions with wrong answers so that they will look smart, this teacher said something that I always believed but could never really understand. He said that it wasn’t my parents’ sin or my sin, but that I was born blind so that God would use me for His glory! Amazing! I always wanted that to be true, and now this teacher is saying it is so. Amazing!

Then this teacher did something else that I have a hard time explaining, He spit on the ground and made some clay and he smeared the clay over my eyes and then told me to go to the pool of Siloam and wash it off. I don’t know why I did it or what caused me to believe Him but I did as He asked. He had such authority in His voice. What a beautiful voice He had. So I began to wash off the clay from my eyes.

Please open your eyes.

As I began to open my eyes I felt something that I have never felt before. Pain in my eyes! I almost refused to believe what was happening. Am I….seeing??!! How could this be happening? I can see! For the first time in my entire life, I am seeing the things I could only hear. I can see!

There were others that were around the pool that could tell something was happening. But I was having a hard time looking at people for the first time. The shape of their face, their expression was nothing like anyone could have explained to me.

I ran back to the place where He was but I was having a hard time walking and running. I had to squint my eyes because everything was coming in so fast it was making me sick to my stomach.

When I got back to where He was, He was gone, but my neighbors started to ask me questions. They were shocked. I don’t blame them, so was I. They even thought that I was a man that looked like me. They knew something was happening. They asked me how this happened and all I could say was that this man name Jesus did it. What a beautiful precious name, Jesus.

I didn’t know where Jesus went, so they brought me to the Pharisees. I guess they wanted to show that there was a true miracle of God that just occurred.

I could tell when I walked in that something was wrong. Instead of being happy that God had done such an amazing work. Instead of falling on their face in worship to such a gracious and loving Father, they had a look on their face that I really didn’t understand until they started to question me. Then I knew that the face they were making was one of hate. I had never seen the face of hate before, I have only heard it. I have to be honest with you, I was almost wishing at that moment that I was blind again. It is the ugliest thing I have ever seen. Even to this day, though I have seen that face many times, I will never get used to it. I hope I never get used to it.

They kept questioning me about what happened and so I told them again. Then they started to argue with each other about who this man was. I didn’t know Him personally, other than His voice. I couldn’t really tell them much. Then they asked me who I thought he was. Why they asked me, I don’t know, but I told them that I thought He was a prophet of God. But they refused to believe my story or hear my answer. Instead, they went to get my parents.

At a time which I wanted to leap for joy, I had to restrain myself from tears when I saw fear in the eyes of my mom and dad. My mom and dad…for the first time I am looking at my mother. I will never forget her face. I remember as a boy tracing her face with my fingers and trying to see her with my hands. She was so beautiful. It was all I could do to hold myself together. I looked down at my fathers hands. Those hands that have protected me for so long, I wanted him to pick me up and take me away from the hate that I saw in the Pharisees face.

They didn’t care about me or my parents. All they wanted was to find something wrong with the man that healed me. The man named Jesus.

They began to ask my parents questions. Was I their son? Was I really born blind? Ridiculous questions. My parents grew more afraid and told them to ask me. I knew they were concerned because the Pharisees had already started to throw people out of the Synagogue if they claimed that Jesus Christ was the Messiah. They would excommunicate anyone that made that claim, and that excommunication meant the end of that person, their relationships and job. To get kicked out of the Synagogue was a horrible thing to go through. It would almost be better if you were dead.

To see them put my parents through this angered me. I started to feel a sense of righteous anger. It was almost a jealousy for my parents and God. I knew something was wrong with what they were doing.

So when they turned their questions back to me, I was prepared to face them. They began to ask again about Jesus. I told them Whether He is a sinner or not I do not know. One thing I know though I was blind, now I see. But they kept asking. I said; I told you already, and you didn’t listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become His disciples? I tried to explain that Jesus must be from God, and that no man has ever done such miracles to a man born blind. If Jesus were not from God, He would not have been able to make me see.

This made them angrier and they did what I knew they would do, they called me the sinner and threw me out of the Synagogue.

So there I sat. I was alone, yet I could see. I was afraid of the cost of my sight. Yet strangely, I almost looked forward to what God would do next.

Though I didn’t expect what would happen next. I was still adjusting to having sight, and thinking of all of the things that I would now be able to see, when I saw a man walking towards me. This man carried Himself with such poise and confidence, yet you could tell in His eyes that He was humble. I thought He was heading toward the Synagogue when He stopped to talk to me.

He asked me if I believed in the Son of God. What a great question. I had heard that a Messiah was coming and would be called the Son of God. But I didn’t know who this man was so I asked him to tell me who it was so that I could believe in Him. Though, even as I asked, I began to piece together where I had heard His voice. Almost at the exact time this man told me that He was the Son of God and that I have now heard Him and seen Him, I realized that this man was Jesus! I cried out “Lord, I believe.”

My body almost involuntarily fell to its knees and I began to worship the Messiah. Christ had come to give me more than physical sight. He came to give me spiritual sight. Eternal sight. His sight.

As I lay worshipping Him, I heard Jesus tell the Pharisees of their blindness. I hear Jesus telling them of their sin.

It is ironic that the very ones that spoke so loudly at Jesus sin and my sin, are the very ones that God will judge and hold them accountable for their sin. I pray one day they will see, they are the blind leading the blind, and I know from experience, they will all fall into the same pit.

So this is my story. This is my testimony. But I don’t own it. I must tell you. I am compelled to tell you. I follow Jesus the Christ. I follow a King that is more noble, more loving, more gracious and more righteous than any king that has ever or will ever walk this earth.

All because He came to me. All because He sought me. Beautiful, amazing grace.

It has been many years now since this story took place, a little over 2000 years actually. I wonder if you and I are not much different. I wonder if Jesus has come to you so that you may see. Or, perhaps you are still blind and begging.

I don’t know. God does. I don’t. But I do know this. If Jesus has done for you what He has done for me, you too should be willing to accept the skeptical questions from your neighbors, you too should be willing to stand before religious hypocrites without fear of their threats, you too should be willing to fall on your face before the one that gave you eyes to see, and worship your King.

Are you willing? Will you?

Please open your bibles to the Gospel of John chapter 9

Text

1 Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. 2 And His disciples asked Him, saying, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" 3 Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. 4 "I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work. 5 "As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world." 6 When He had said these things, He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. 7 And He said to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which is translated, Sent). So he went and washed, and came back seeing. 8 Therefore the neighbors and those who previously had seen that he was blind said, "Is not this he who sat and begged?" 9 Some said, "This is he." Others said, "He is like him." He said, "I am he." 10 Therefore they said to him, "How were your eyes opened?" 11 He answered and said, "A Man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, 'Go to the pool of Siloam and wash.' So I went and washed, and I received sight." 12 Then they said to him, "Where is He?" He said, "I do not know." 13 They brought him who formerly was blind to the Pharisees. 14 Now it was a Sabbath when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. 15 Then the Pharisees also asked him again how he had received his sight. He said to them, "He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and I see." 16 Therefore some of the Pharisees said, "This Man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath." Others said, "How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?" And there was a division among them. 17 They said to the blind man again, "What do you say about Him because He opened your eyes?" He said, "He is a prophet." 18 But the Jews did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind and received his sight, until they called the parents of him who had received his sight. 19 And they asked them, saying, "Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?" 20 His parents answered them and said, "We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; 21 "but by what means he now sees we do not know, or who opened his eyes we do not know. He is of age; ask him. He will speak for himself." 22 His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had agreed already that if anyone confessed that He was Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue. 23 Therefore his parents said, "He is of age; ask him." 24 So they again called the man who was blind, and said to him, "Give God the glory! We know that this Man is a sinner." 25 He answered and said, "Whether He is a sinner or not I do not know. One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see." 26 Then they said to him again, "What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?" 27 He answered them, "I told you already, and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become His disciples?" 28 Then they reviled him and said, "You are His disciple, but we are Moses' disciples. 29 "We know that God spoke to Moses; as for this fellow, we do not know where He is from." 30 The man answered and said to them, "Why, this is a marvelous thing, that you do not know where He is from; yet He has opened my eyes! 31 "Now we know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He hears him. 32 "Since the world began it has been unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of one who was born blind. 33 "If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing." 34 They answered and said to him, "You were completely born in sins, and are you teaching us?" And they cast him out. 35 Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when He had found him, He said to him, "Do you believe in the Son of God?" 36 He answered and said, "Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?" 37 And Jesus said to him, "You have both seen Him and it is He who is talking with you." 38 Then he said, "Lord, I believe!" And he worshiped Him. 39 And Jesus said, "For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind." 40 Then some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these words, and said to Him, "Are we blind also?" 41 Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, 'We see.' Therefore your sin remains.

I wonder who we are in this story? Are we the Pharisees, who are spiritually blind, who are more interested in religious traditions created by men? Are we the skeptical neighbors, who seeing the miracle try to rationalize by assuming a naturalistic explanation? Are we the disciples, who think the only reason people suffer and go through trials is because of their own sin? Are we the parents, who are afraid of the religious bullies? Are we the blind man, who doesn’t know much, but that once he was blind, and now he sees, all because of Jesus? I will let God and your conscience decide.

Please turn with me to the Book of Isaiah chapter 29, verse 18.

Isaiah 29:18 “In that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book, And the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity and out of darkness. 19 The humble also shall increase their joy in the LORD, And the poor among men shall rejoice In the Holy One of Israel.”

Isaiah 35:4-6 Say to those who are fearful-hearted, "Be strong, do not fear! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, With the recompense of God; He will come and save you." 5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, And the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.

6 Then the lame shall leap like a deer, And the tongue of the dumb sing. For waters shall burst forth in the wilderness, And streams in the desert.

Isaiah 42:5-8 Thus says God the LORD, Who created the heavens and stretched them out, Who spread forth the earth and that which comes from it, Who gives breath to the people on it, And spirit to those who walk on it: 6 "I, the LORD, have called You in righteousness, And will hold Your hand; I will keep You and give You as a covenant to the people, As a light to the Gentiles, 7 To open blind eyes, To bring out prisoners from the prison, Those who sit in darkness from the prison house. 8 I am the LORD, that is My name; And My glory I will not give to another, Nor My praise to carved images.

Isaiah 61:1-3 "The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, Because the LORD has anointed Me To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;

2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn,

3 To console those who mourn in Zion, To give them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning, The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they may be called trees of righteousness, The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified."

Please turn with me to the Gospel of Luke, chapter 4, verse 16.

Luke 4:16-21 So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. 17 And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written: 18 "The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; 19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD." 20 Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. 21 And He began to say to them, "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."

Let’s pray…

Communion

0 Comments | Login to Post Comments

• Calendar
• Agenda