Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The text on which this morning's message is based comes from our Gospel lesson (John 9, the opening of the eyes of the blind man at the Pool of Siloam) read earlier.

God performed many miracles in the Old Testament, before Jesus' time. He saved his people out of Egypt through the Red Sea. He had his prophets like Moses (Numbers 12: 13) and Elisha (2 Kings 5) healed people of leprosy. Isaiah (2 Kings 20) heal King Hezekiah of some unknown malady. He had Elijah (1 Kings 17) even raise the widow's son from the dead. But except for an Aramean army that was temporarily blinded and then sight restored, opening the eyes of the blind had not been done before Jesus. Opening the eyes of someone who had been born blind was completely unheard of.

But yet here comes Jesus. Jesus is opening the eyes of the blind right and left. Matthew 9, Jesus restores the sight of two blind men. Matthew 12, Jesus heals a man who was blind, mute and demon-possessed. Matthew 15, throngs of people bring blind and lame people to Jesus, and he heals them. Matthew 20, two blind men along the road plead for mercy and Jesus touched their eyes and restored their sight. Matthew 21, Jesus heals more blind people at the temple in Jerusalem. Mark 8, Jesus restores the sight of a blind man in Bethsaida. Mark 10, Jesus heals blind Bartimaeus. Luke 18, Jesus restores the sight of a blind man in Jericho. And here in our Gospel text, Jesus opens the eyes of this man in Jerusalem, sending him to the Pool of Siloam just outside the city. At least 8 distinct stories of Jesus restoring physical sight to the physically blind, in which Jesus opened the eyes of at least 15, perhaps 100's of sightless people.

I have a pastor friend in St. Louis, David Andrus, who became totally blind at the age of 11. He pointed out to me that in this story of John 9, John never says that Jesus "healed" the blind man, but that he "opened" his eyes. Rev. Andrus asserts that blindness is not a disease or sickness per se. A sickness may cause blindness, but blindness itself is not a sickness. Rev. Andrus asserts that sight is a gift from God, like the gift to be able to dance or play the piano. Sight is a gift not given by God to all people. Sight, "opened eyes," is a gift God has not given at this time to Rev. Andrus, or to Jim Putney, or to many others. Even more of you here have lost the ability to see well, the gift of strong sight. For those of you who do have the gift of good sight, I might suggest that you sometime give yourself the temporary experience of blindness by blindfolding yourself for an hour or longer and going on a "trust walk" with a friend guiding you. If you've never done that before, it can renew in you a sense of gratefulness for the gift of sight God has given.

We can be assured from this text that no necessary direct link occurs between our personal sin and blindness, or any other physical disability or disease for that matter. Granted, sometimes there is a direct link. If someone gets drunk and then drives, their sinful drunkenness could lead to a car crash with injuries or worse. Being adulterous can result in infection with serious sexually transmitted diseases. But Jesus is clear here. Not all diseases and disabilities are the result of personal sin. Our sinful human nature often wants to make a direct, law-oriented link between actual sin and human affliction, as the disciples did. "2 His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"

But Jesus replied ""Neither this man nor his parents sinned,… but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life." Jesus is not saying that this man and his parents are perfect, sinless. But He is saying that bad things sometimes happen to people that are not directly caused by actual sins. Bad things sometimes happen for reasons that go beyond our ability to understand God and the story He is writing in our lives. Sometimes bad things happen, ultimately, for good reasons. Our gracious and loving God can use many different means to bring about his work, his glory. My friend Rev. Andrus believes that he is blind not because of any particular sin he committed in his childhood, but to the glory of God. His blindness has allowed him to have a unique and powerful ministry, having the privilege of reaching and touching and talking with many other blind people and to help them feel and see the gracious hand of God leading them in the middle of their darkness. His blindness also protects him from many and various visual temptations in life, temptations of television, magazines, and computerized pornography that have led so many astray.

Blindness has also been used to the glory of God in China. Christian materials are often blocked at the borders into communist, officially atheistic China. We learned again this week in the news that many priests and pastors are in prison because of teaching about Christ. But Bibles and books about Christ written in Braille get past the border guards because the guards don't know how to read Braille. Blind persons in China are often the most literate and most able to read God's word in their homes to others who do not have access to it. Their blindness becomes a blessing to the glory of God.

Ultimately, that is the reason for this text in John 9. The reason for this man's blindness was to give glory to God, to show that Jesus Christ was sent to be the light of the world. I said earlier that the Old Testament had almost no miracles of blind people having their eyes opened. But that doesn't mean the Old Testament is silent on the issue. Again and again the prophet Isaiah speaks of the time of the Messiah being a time when the blind will see again. Isaiah 35: 5 "Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped." The Lord says to his servant the Messiah in 42: 6-7 "I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness."

Apart from Christ's light in our lives, we would all sit in permanent darkness. The Pharisees chose to sit in that darkness. Despite all the evidence to the contrary, they chose to deny Jesus was sent from the Father, and to deny Him again and again.

You've all had the experience of being blinded by the light. You know the situation. You've been in darkness for hours and then someone turns on a bright light. The light is overwhelming, blinding for a moment. You shut your eyes to keep out the light while your eyes adjust. You actually have an option right then. You can keep your eyes shut, and spare yourself the discomfort of the bright light. Or you can slowly open your eyes to the brightness, allowing your eyes to adjust to the shock of the light. Unfortunately, the Pharisees, along with billions of other people in the world have chosen to keep their eyes shut to Jesus' light. But for those of us who have seen the light, whose eyes have been opened by Jesus, regardless of the quality of our physical sight, we get to see the vivid colors of the life Jesus has won for us. Jesus, the "Sent One" comes to each of us blind ones and says "Do you believe in (trust in) the Son of Man?" Just as physical sight is a gift from God, so to is spiritual sight, faith and trust in Him, a gift. Just as we can go on a physical "trust walk" when we walk blindfolded with a friend, we can daily, continually go on spiritual "trust walk" with Jesus, the light of the world.

You and I were blind, helpless in our sinful condition to see the light of Christ. But God was never blind. He sees everything. He saw our sin and our need. He saw our sin and its eternal consequences, separation from Him in outer darkness. He saw our needs. He sent His Son, true God, true Man, to be the light of the world. In the darkness of Good Friday, on the cross, He took on our darkness. In the light of Easter, in his resurrection, we see the shining angels and the promise of his heavenly light. The risen Christ opens our eyes from our spiritual blindness, and his Words wake us from the dead to see his light. Our sight restored, we do exactly what the formerly blind man did in our text, we worship the Lord!

The grace and peace, the gift of being able to see our eternal Savior Jesus be with us all. Amen.



Some of the ideas for this sermon come from an article written by my friend David Andrus in Concordia Pulpit Resource, March 2002, and from personal discussions with him.