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let’s pray Lord God we love your word this is life for us this is how we see you and Lord this is how we are renewed in the midst of suffering God I pray that you would fortify us with it teach us convict us transform us and use me to do it Lord you know I am weak but you are strong I pray that you be glorified in Jesus name amen amen well when I was in college one of the courses that I took was an introduction to philosophy class it covered basic concepts having to do with logic argumentation and philosophical Theory but I’ll never forget an assertion my professor made on the first day of class he presented to us a version of the nights tour problem and he made a concluding concluding observation about it now what’s the nights tour problem if we can show the first picture slide when you guys are ready nights tour problem is a mathematical Puzzle first conceived of in the middle ages sometimes after the invention and popularization of the board game chess the question of the puzzle is this is it possible for the Knight that is the horse shaped piece on a chessboard is it possible to move the Knight into every single tile on the board without moving that piece into a specific tile more than once once in other words can the Knight touch every space on the chessboard without any repeats now remember the night Feast as you can see in the graphic it moves in a special way a kind of an l-shape two spaces in One Direction and then one space in another perpendicular Direction Take a Look yourselves at the picture on the screen and see if you can answer silently is this possible is a night’s tour possible on a standard 8 by8 board think about it decide for yourself hopefully you’ve made your decision now let’s take a look at the next picture this is a demonstration of how to move a night piece so that it indeed touches every single space on the chessboard only once you’ll see it play out kind of quickly and this is is just one possible solution in fact the nights tour problem since it was first discussed people have gotten more and more sophisticated in answering the question even using mathematical formula apparently there are billions of ways to complete a night’s tour even one in which you end where you begin and what is called a closed tour now some tour Solutions can even create beautiful syet iCal designs on the chessboard like in the one in this next picture there’s even some special colors to highlight it but you see that it’s symmetrical pretty amazing now considering all this evidence let’s come back to the initial question is it possible to move the night piece into every tile on the traditional chessboard without touching a space more than what’s what’s the answer yes it is possible whatever you thought before whatever you decided before no it can’t be possible or yes it is possible or I don’t know well now there’s only one answer you can give right you’ve heard testimony you’ve heard a statistic you’ve even seen demonstrations for yourself that a night’s tour can be completed so how can you respond in any other way than to believe it is possible this was my philosophy professor’s basic point no one can believe in something which he knows to be false when a truth is made obvious to you as in the case of this chess puzzle solution you cannot help but believe it whether you want to or not this is what my professor said but is that true is it really impossible for someone to believe something to be true when he knows it isn’t I would say the answer to that question is yes and no because when somebody wants something or fears something to be true badly enough he can convince himself that it is true even when deep down he knows that it is not or at least knows that he does not have enough evidence to be certain this is why for example people who lose contests of various kinds what is often the thing that happens next they will insist that the other side cheated even when there’s not conclusive evidence for that or even when there’s conclusive evidence against that the loser will insist I could not possibly have lost if my opponent played fair and square we all know he’s Shifty this is also why people who for example who constantly get into conflict with others they will insist the problem is really with everyone else and not with themselves I’m not the one doing wrong it’s all those evil ignorant over sensitive people out there and this is even why all humans created in God’s image will try to live without acknowledging their creator or only by worshiping him in the way that they themselves deem best As Romans 1 says all people know all people know that there is a God and that he is the god of the Bible creation has made it obvious the evidence is so obvious his power his eternality it is clearly seen yet all people Romans 1 says suppress this truth in unrighteousness so that they may live unaccountably as they wish you see human belief is not as simple as My Philosophy Professor suggested it was he essentially asserted that seeing is believing if someone shows you the truth and presents conclusive evidence you can’t help but believe it oh but you can help but believe it if you are determined enough despite the nonsense and self harm that comes to you in such an effort Pride self-righteousness self confidence self- Glory they function as blinders on the human mind so that even if we can see with our physical eyes we’re not able to see with the eyes of our heart with spiritual eyes and this is a pretty hopeless state to be in isn’t it if the Bible declares that this is the fundamental situation of humanity then we’re in big trouble because if we’re all blind who’s going to show us the truth who’s going to show us the light we need an outside Source somebody outside of Fallen Humanity to do that for us don’t we and amazingly this is exactly what God has done this is what God did most profoundly by sending his own son Jesus Christ into the world Jesus is God’s light he is the one even who opens blind eyes even the eyes of one’s heart yet the way Jesus accomplishes this is let’s face it a miracle that while it cannot be fully explained as to how that happens you can certainly see the effects of it it has an obvious and Powerful effect on someone’s life when Jesus opens the eyes of someone’s heart and that’s what we’re going to see as we turn to our next passage in the Gospel of John so if you would please turn to John chapter 9 we’re beginning our investigation of verses 1 to 41 today we’ll just look at the first 23 verses the title of the message today is true blindness and true sight this is part one true blindness and true sight we took a little break in July and August but we are back to our verse by verse steady of John and we’re resuming with a pretty sizable section of scripture the account of Jesus healing a man born blind this is the sixth of seven special sign Miracles that the Apostle John son of Zebedee provides in this gospel to achieve this gospel stated purpose now what is that purpose it’s been a while so let’s remind ourselves John 20: 30-31 John 20: 30-31 John writes therefore many other signs Jesus also formed in the presence of the disciples which are not written in this book but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ the son of God and that believing you may have life in his name remember John originally wrote this work at the end of the first century specifically to henize Jews and Gentile god-fearers it is an Evangelistic gospel helping those from a Jewish background to not be afraid but to go all the way in believing and following Jesus now this gospel is still relevant today of course especially in ministering to the religious and professed worshippers of God which I think we would all consider ourselves in that category now because our new section is large we’re not even going to deal with all 41 verses but 23 verses is pretty large and because we read it earlier in our service we’re not going to going to read the whole passage to start as I often like to do we instead going to read the passage as we work our way through it and see its different parts let me give you the main idea though before we do so main idea of all 41 verses John reports the healing of a man born blind so that you will no longer remain spiritually blind in proud self-righteousness but instead see Jesus with true and saving spiritual sight I know it’s a little bit long let me say it again John reports that he of a man born blind that you will no longer remain spiritually blind in proud self-righteousness but instead see Jesus see Jesus with true and saving spiritual sight now the passage divides into seven scenes seven scenes which notably feature confusion a conclusion or both so you’re going to see that reflected in the headings that I use for my seven-part sermon outline we’re just going to do with the first four those headings today we’ll get the other three next time I’m preaching with you but let’s begin our investigation of the passage with the first heading that covers verses 1 to 7 what do we see in this first scene number one the disciples confusion the disciples confusion and we’ll just start by reading verse one chapter 9 verse one as he that’s Jesus passed by he saw a man blind from birth now notice the phrase at the beginning of this verse verse as he passed by or we could translate it and going away passing by when going away from where the text is not entirely clear of the exact time and place in which these events are about to unfold but recall what just took place in the preceding text in the context even John 8 we were just in the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles that important required Jewish religious feast this particular Feast began with Jesus Journey there in John 7 and it saw Jesus engage in several increasingly hostile conversations with the Jews right in the temple courts Jesus ended those conversations with a final denunciation of his listeners he told them that they were sons of the devil incapable of hearing his word and then he said of himself before Abraham was I am he declared himself to be God the Jews tried to Stone Jesus in response but chapter 8:59 says Jesus hid himself and left the temple now because our new text immediately follows that statement what transpires in John 9 probably took place soon afterwards in Jerusalem perhaps even on the same day and it’s then and there in Jerusalem perhaps the same day that we read the rest of what verse one says he Jesus sees a man blind from birth the man didn’t see Jesus obviously but Jesus sees the man now according to the other gospels Jesus has seen and even healed other Blind Men but this is the only recorded instance in the Bible of Jesus encountering a man born blind not just in the gospel but I believe in the whole Bible in other words this man has congenital blindness he was born without the ability to see properly or even at all this man has always lived in a world of darkness and probably had no way to contribute to his own family or even to his own Survival except by begging for alms on the side of the road which according to verse 8 which we’ll see in a moment that’s what this man has done characteristically he’s a blind beggar this is a difficult lot to be given for life to be sure especially in the ancient world I mean no Braille no Welfare Services yet aside from this great physical trial the man also has lived under the continual misguided Judgment of his own people as we can see from the question that Jesus disciples give to Jesus in verse two look there now and his disciples asked him Rabbi who sinned this man or his parents that he would be born blind now this is interesting notice here the disciples rather than asking anything about how they or Jesus could help this man they asked Jesus to help clarify a theological question why was this man born blind and made to suffer so now notice what they assume the reason must be for this man’s plight it must be sin and not just the ancient sin of Adam and Eve that brought the curse of sin and God’s judgment on the world generally but more directly there was a specific sin that must have been committed by either this man or his parents but Jesus we need help figuring out which one it is on the one hand the disciple suggest that the man himself may have sinned that is sinned in the womb now I don’t know if that sounds ridiculous to you but it should I mean what kind a baby do in the womb that is sin the baby has no concept of sin no ability to sin yet some rabbis of jesus’ time taught differently after all Psalm 583 Psalm 583 says the wicked are estranged from the womb these who speak lies go astray from birth ah said some Jews babies can sin in the womb they can have evil desires maybe they can afflict their mothers with excessive kicking also some Jews taught that pregnant women a pregnant woman who worships in a pagan Temple she causes her unborn child to worship with her and thus share in the Sin a baby can be an idolator if the mother is an idolator so according to the rabbis well maybe this man sinned in the womb and was thus judged by God with congenital blindness but could that really be true on the other hand the disciples suggested Jesus that maybe it was only the Man’s parents who sinned they sin in some way to bring about this terrible condition for their son now this idea might seem a little bit more reasonable than the first but it still has problems it’s true that veneral diseases can be passed from mother to baby during birth and some of these diseases can cause blindness so maybe one or both of the parents were immoral alternatively God does speak in the Torah the first five books of Moses it does speak of visiting the iniquity of the fathers on on the children even to the third and fourth Generations God says of those who hate me so even apart from imorality maybe God visited a curse on this child for some parental sin okay we can see the logic of that but there’s a big problem with this view is that God specifically denies this kind of judgment in the Bible in the Old Testament Ezekiel 18:20 Ezekiel 1820a says this is God speaking the person who sins will die the son will not bear the punishment for the father’s iniquity nor will the father bear the punishment for the son’s iniquity we can talk about what that those other statements about third and fourth Generations we can talk about what that means another time but God says he does not judge children for the sins of the fathers so really neither of these explanations the man sinning or his parents sinning seems adequate to explain his situation hence the disciples confusion nevertheless the disciples still assume that the answer is one or the other why do they make that assumption well it’s because this was the cultural Assumption of the day this was the teaching by religious tradition of the rabbis of the scribes and Pharisees as one Rabbi said There Is No Death without sin and there is no suffering without guilt the common understanding is was at jesus’ time if you’ve got problems if you’ve got big problems if you’re experiencing big pain if circumstances are really not going well for you and the explanation is that you’ve sinned you’ve sinned in some way and God is chastening you until you repent this probably reminds you of certain miserable comforters in the Old Testament to job but this was the commonly held understanding of that time and some Christians today still hold to this understanding or fall into it now does the bible teach that sin can bring painful consequences even God’s chastening or judgment yes it does sometimes trials even physical trials are a direct result of sin and this is why the scriptures many times encourage and exhort us to obey God turn from your sin obey God avoid unnecessary trouble avoid God’s discipline experience God’s blessing instead that’s true but not all suffering is the result of sin there’s job there’s David as Greg mentioned earlier in the service there’s Joseph there’s Daniel men who multiple times suffered severely even though they had not done anything wrong in fact sometimes their suffering came Came Upon them because they did what was right bringing all this back to the man born blind not only were the offered explanations of the disciples as to why this man was the way that he was not only were these offered explanations plainly inadequate and a gross misunderstanding of the works of God there were also a deeply unkind assumption and Judgment of this man who’s already suffering great physical trial I feel like there is kind of a parallel today right you see somebody begging and your heart is tempted to assume the worst about that person oh the reason he’s begging is because he brought this upon himself sometimes that’s true it’s not always true well how does Jesus answer his disciples confused question we see in verses 3 to 5 Jesus answered it was neither that this man sinned nor his parents but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him we must work the works of him who sent me as long as it is day night is coming when no one can work while I am in the world I am the light of the world in verse three Jesus flatly contradicts the assumptions of the disciples and the teaching of the Jews he clarifies that the man’s blindness from birth this terrible condition it it is not a direct result of sin but a manifestation of the mysterious but good sovereignty of God even God’s intent to display his great works before the whole universe in other words this man was born blind for the glory of God now this response from Jesus may have raised some questions in his disciples Minds perhaps in your minds right now even as I share it with you as to how God can ordain suffering even deep suffering like blindness from birth for his glory and still be a good god notice though that Jesus does not get into all that but instead brings his disciples back to task in verses four and five Jesus reminds his disciples that he is on a time sensitive mission to accomplish all the works given him by the father Jesus even reminds his disciples that they have an important role to play in assisting Jesus in his work before the day ends and the Night Comes That is to say before the light of the world Jesus himself goes out of the world now that is not to say of course that after Jesus leaving the world his Ascension to Heaven that there would be no more salvation light in the world or that there would be no more work for Jesus disciples to do on the contrary Jesus will have much to tell his disciples in John 13-17 about the coming of the holy spirit that will happen soon after Jesus leaves and Jesus will tell the disciples about the new work that they will need to do when the Holy Spirit comes work on Jesus behalf nevertheless the time of Jesus himself bodily on the earth shining as the light of Lights was limited and not to be squandered with ignorant theological speculations with questions that cannot really be answered guys make the most of God’s light while you have it because you won’t have it forever this is an exhortation we’ve already seen in the Gospel of John even in John 7 and8 and we’re going to see it again so again Jesus focuses the disciples on his mission as God’s sent one even Jesus rle as light of the world but what happens next well Jesus the living light heals the blind man of course look at verses 6 and 7 when he had said this he spat on the ground and made clay of the spittle and applied the clay to his eyes and said to him go and wash in the pool of silom which is translated sent so he went away and washed and came back seeing as amazing at this healing is as a another astounding display over the Power Authority and glory of the Son of God what may strike you is how unusual this particular method of healing is often in the gospels we hear Jesus completely heal with a touch with a word that that doesn’t happen all the time sometimes he does it a little bit differently and this is definitely one of those times notice we have a multistep healing involving some kind of odd steps Jesus spits on the ground okay he presses the wet dust of his saliva or the dust mixed with his saliva he presses it into a clay paste he then takes that paste and smears it over the Blind Man’s eyes okay that’s a little bit gross He commands the man to then wash in a certain pool and only after all that is the man granted his sight okay the question surely arises Jesus why did you do it that way that’s weird why not keep it simple why not just say I heal you or touch his eyes well some have noticed that Jesus fashioning of clay is reminiscent of Man’s first creation is it not man was formed from the dust and healing the man this way Jesus could be implicitly identifying himself as the Creator just as man was formed from dust I’m going to Fashion you new eyes from clay from dust there’s something to that probably furthermore our author John doesn’t want us to miss the significance of the name of the pool to which Jesus sends the man as part of the healing silom as John is Keen tell us with that little translation note it can be translated sent that name by the way comes from the fact that the water is sent to the pool in southeast Jerusalem from the guihan spring which is just outside the city of Jerusalem that’s via hezekiah’s tunnel that old famous tunnel is it then not entirely appropriate that the man is sent to the pool of sent by the one whom himself is sent by the father scent is Central to this whole Miracle consider too that Jesus has already identified himself at this Feast the Feast of Tabernacles as the one with living water even the Fulfillment of those promises in the Old Testament about God bringing Waters of blessing down upon Israel and I think I said this before but I’ll say it again that reality was celebrated at the feast partly by drawing water from the pool of Sci silom and pouring it on the altar in the temple so there’s a connection between the pool of silom and the celebration of God’s promise of Living Water and Jesus says that’s me how appropriate that the healing would again connect with that reality it’s the one who gives Living Water who sends you to the pool where the living water comes from he’s the one who heals you he’s the one who even grants you sight now Beyond these two reasons we’re also going to see a third reason shortly Jesus heals in this specific way partly at least to expose the Pharisees overzealousness for their religious Traditions ultimately though the answer as to why Jesus chose to heal this way is that such fulfilled the father’s good plan fulfills The Works that the father gave the son to do in mysteriously and sovereignly bringing God the glory that he deserves this is the way it had to happen because this was going to glorify God the most may I know all the ways how that’s true but it was true because that’s what Jesus did may not be the way we would have done it but I think that too is part of the point Jesus Is God we are not just to pause for a moment to think about application I think this fits well with our Sunday school series but how true that is for probably all the details of Our Lives I mean you think about the different things that have happened to you you can probably say God that’s not the way that I would have done it maybe even this last week this last month this last year you could say God that’s not the way I would have done it it was a little bit weird it was a little bit windy it was a little bit painful that’s not the way I would have done it God says I know but you’re not God you can trust me I know what I’m doing let me be God remember who you are I am bringing this about for a good end even your good end and my glory it’s just not going to be the way that you think it should go well regardless of all the specific reasons for why Jesus does this at the end of verse 7 we see the results of Jesus directions the blind man obeys which takes a certain Measure of Faith the blind man obeys he watches as Jesus commands and what do you know he comes back seeing seeing seeing for the first time in his life wow he must have been Overjoyed he probably can’t believe all the things that are available to see what a wonderful Miracle oh wow everyone is going to be so happy to hear this news and give God the glory right well let’s find out we come now to our second heading covering verses 8 to 12 this is number two the neighbors confusion we have the disciples confusion now we go to the neighbors confusion and we’ll read these verses all together verses 8 to 12 therefore the neighbors and those who previously saw him as a beggar were saying is not this the one who used to sit in begag other were saying this is he still others were saying no but he is like him he kept saying I am the one so they were saying to him how then were your eyes opened he answered the man who was called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me go to silom and wash so I went away and washed and I receed sight they said to him where is he he said I do not know well here’s a bit of surprise when the man comes back to his home or wherever he used to sit and beg the man’s neighbors and those who used to see him all the time they cannot agree if this is really the old blind beggar or not he’s so different some say yes this is the same guy others say no no no he just looks like him meanwhile end of verse 9 the man himself keeps saying I am the one you guys I can settle this for you I’m the one I tell you I’m that guy he has to keep on saying it but this apparently is not enough to satisfy the crowd these neighbors because as we read on the neighbors keep asking the man they keep asking the man how it happened and so the man keeps telling them in response and notice in his response the formerly blind man doesn’t know too much about Jesus the way he refers to him in verse 11 as is the man who is called Jesus I that’s not a very personal description right that doesn’t indicate very much knowledge or relationship and in verse 12 the man plainly admits that he does not know where Jesus is doesn’t know where Jesus went after encountering him so I think we can conclude from these details that this man does not yet have saving faith in Jesus you hardly knows Jesus at all but something is already starting to happen in the man something that’s going to continue to progress as the narrative does keep your eyes open for that meanwhile the confused neighbors rather than rejoicing they simply puzzled over what really happened to this man they can’t agree eventually they turn to the local authorities for help neighbors bring to the authorities so that these authorities might sort out what occurred and provide some counsel maybe which is what we see in our next heading verses 13 to 17 number three the Pharisees confusion number three the Pharisees confusion this is verses 13 to 17 we’ll just read verses 13 to 15 right now they brought to the Pharisees the man who was formerly blind now it was a Sabbath on the day when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes then the Pharisees also were asking him again how he received his sight he said to them he applied clay to my eyes and I washed and I see we read here that the neighbors bring the man before the Pharisees these would be the popular religious leaders the local scribes rabbis leaders of the synagogue now you probably remember but just in case the Pharisees generally hate Jesus and they’re already scheming to get rid of him why do they hate Jesus apart from Jesus exposing their religious hypocrisy and the burdensomeness of their man-made Traditions Jesus also claims to be God and he doesn’t keep the Pharisees extra rules the rabbis rules including their Sabbath Traditions it’s not an accident that only now we hear that the day was a Sabbath on which he performed the miracle why is that not on accident because now the Pharisees are involved and there’s one thing they’re concerned about it’s are you keeping the Sabbath you remember that God commanded in the law of Moses that the Jews were to honor the Sabbath keep it holy by doing no work on the Sabbath to rest on the Sabbath and that’s of course mainly talking about your vocational work not like anything that requires any ounce of energy at all but the rabbis who were very concerned about fencing in God’s law let’s make sure that nobody accidentally violates this in any way they impose all these extra rules about what was and what wasn’t considered work on the Sabbath and Jesus is in violation of those rules at least in two if not in three ways first Jesus healed on the Sabbath which is work according to the rabbis that’s forbidden unless someone’s life is in danger that’s okay but otherwise you got to be healed on another day second Jesus made clay making clay requires a form of kneading which is work and also forbidden on the Sabbath also Jesus Anointed The Man’s eyes there was some debate about this among the rabbis but some rabbis said that’s work too that’s forbidden on the Sabbath go be anointed another day these man-made rules go far beyond the attent of God’s actual scripture but these were Central to the rabbis the Pharisees self-righteous religious system this is what they had morphed this is what they had mutated Old Testament Judaism into you can’t get rid of these Sabbath rules without the whole thing crumbling no we got to keep these rules and Jesus is not doing that so the Pharisees are presented here with this supposedly healed man healed in a way that means Jesus broke the Pharisees rules which they considered God’s own rules and how are they going to respond to that well verse 16 therefore some of the Pharisees were saying this man is not from God because he does not keep the Sabbath but others were saying how can a man who was a sinner perform such signs and there was a division among them ah like the neighbors the confused Pharisees cannot agree as to how they should think about in respond to what just took place really Jesus has on purpose placed these Jews in a pickle with his special Miracle which by the way is the only Miracle mentioned in connection with jesus’ visit to Jerusalem on this Feast of Tabernacles remember that his brother said go up so they can see all your signs he doesn’t go up and do signs at least as recorded in the text he just talks except for this except for this particular sign on the one hand to admit the miracle as from God this is clearly God this man must be from God well that would totally contradict the Pharisees traditions and their religious Authority their religious authority over Israel and this is not an option for one side of the Pharisees there’s no way we can admit this no on the other hand to reject the miracle for the sake of upholding rabinal tradition and the Pharisees Authority would seem to ignore the plain evidence right in front of them a man born blind is testifying that he can now see because of what Jesus did for him and notice this second side represented here among the Pharisees they note that this isn’t the first time that Jesus has done something like this for they say notice how can a man who is a sinner performs such signs plural he’s done things like this before actually remember John 5 he did another healing on the Sabbath which got the Pharisees so wrinkled in other words if Jesus is a notorious Sinner and law breaker as we’d like to think of him how is it that he keeps on doing these Supernatural works that only God could enable him to do these are powerful works of help and healing This Is Not Just Smokes and mirrors these are works that only God can do they are kind they are amazing they’re powerful how can we just ignore this and say he’s not from God unable to resolve this conundrum without compromising either their Traditions or their integrity the Pharisees gr from an answer from the healed man himself maybe he has some insight verse 17 so they said to the blind man again what do you say about him since he opened your eyes and he said he’s a prophet now there’s an astute answer from somebody who probably has very little theological training this formerly blind man sees the same evidence that the Pharisees do and he comes to a sound conclusion this man must be from God if he can do such signs if he’s from God he’s a prophet now this still is not quite a profession of saving faith in Jesus as Messiah and Son of God but it’s another step in the right direction this is definitely progress from The Man Called Jesus this is he is a prophet I see the evidence I’m sure he is a prophet and this is one step ahead of the self-righteous Pharisees very hesitant to face the truth but it’s at this point that the Pharisees Hit Upon a potential solution to conundrum a solution that requires the presence of the healed Man’s parents which brings us to the fourth heading verses 18 to 23 this is the last one we’ll look at today and it really is the turning point of the narrative number four the parents confusion in quotes and conclusion let’s read verses 18 to 23 Al together as well the Jews then did not believe it of him that he had been blind and had received sight until they called the parents to the very one who had received his sight and questioned them saying is this your son who you say was born blind then how does he now see his parents answered them and said we know that this is our son and that he was born blind but how he now sees we do not know or who opened his eyes we do not know ask him he is of age he will speak for himself his parents said this because they were afraid afraid of the Jews for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone confessed him to be Christ he was to be put out of the synagogue for this reason his parents said he is of age ask him do you see what the Pharisees are attempting to do here the Pharisees who are now called the Jews here remember that usually refers to the leaders of Israel but it’s showing them to be representatives of the entire people who ultimately reject Jesus these Pharisees are hoping the Man’s parents can discredit Jesus by testifying that their son wasn’t really B born blind after all and therefore he could not have been healed by Jesus we can get out of this healing conundrum if we can just establish a healing didn’t actually take place nice okay let’s see what the parents say well unfortunately for the Pharisees the parents do verify that the man is their son and was indeed born blind and he can see now hm that seems to suggest that a miracle has taken place even by Jesus but then we see something strange from the parents what’s with their apparent confusion as to how their son was healed it seems like they’re going out of their way to testify that they have no idea who did it or how it happened they suggest that the Pharisees simply ask their son since he is after all of age he is of sound enough mind he is of great enough maturity to think and answer for himself you don’t have to ask us just ask him by the way we don’t know how old this formerly blind man is is he may be only 30 years old or something not necessarily a boy he’s a man but maybe not that old now do that parents really not know what happened to their son or who healed him I mean true their parents probably weren’t right there when it happened it’s not like they traveled with their son all the way to silom and came back with him probably not but surely their son has told them if he told all the neighbors he told them what happened he told them who did it why don’t the parents say that well the parents are playing dumb on purpose they’re pretending not to know they’re pretending to be confused why is that well verses 22 and 23 tell us directly it’s because the parents are afraid they are pattern if that’s your direction oh I can’t stand up for Jesus I I love my family too much I uh I don’t want to lose these things that I really enjoy need in this world Jesus says all right well that’s all you get because you’re going to lose all this and you’re going to lose me can’t love people more than me can’t fear people more than me they can only kill the body they can’t kill the soul if you’ll confess me I’ll confess you I won’t be ashamed of you I’m going to come for you I’m going to bring you to myself I’m going to bring you into the paradise of God into the kingdom of the the Messiah where there’s only life and joy forever and I’ll be with you during the journey that you still have on Earth I’ll sustain you I’ll help you through the suffering I suffered first through the suffering I’m going to help you don’t be afraid don’t be afraid to confess me before men after all I’m the light now that you’ve seen the light in me the very light of God were you really elect for the darkness instead you know you now know you can’t go back admit that you didn’t have the light before and embrace me as the light Jesus says and you will have the light of life when the way of reconciliation of God is given to you so freely so mercifully how can you see that and then say no thanks there’s a reason why that brings God’s judgment I mean what greater offense can you do do before a God and to a god when he’s provided such an abundant salvation and say not for me thanks actually don’t like that I don’t think that’s valuable I don’t think that’s worth it I like this instead at least one application of our passage is that we are not to be afraid to stand with Jesus or suffer for doing what’s right I know we’re tempted to that I’m tempted to that but when we see the clear light and love for Jesus we can’t yield to that fear can’t settle for that blind existence that walking in the dark as is true for this blind man this man born blind so will be true for us whatever we lose for Christ we will gain so much more and whenever we suffer for Christ God will use for our ultimate good and His glory one more verse to encourage you as we end mark 10:29 to30 Mark 10:29 to30 Jesus said truly I say to you there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms for my sake and for the gospel’s sake but that he will receive a hundred times as much now in the present age in the new family of God even in the church houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and Farms along with persecutions and in the age to come eternal life let’s pray Jesus thank you for opening blind eyes we’ll see you more next time for sure but this is the essential testimony that all of us will be able to will be able to give are able to give if we know you I once was blind but now I see I didn’t know the way I didn’t see things clearly I didn’t see you clearly oh God but you opened my eyes you showed mercy upon me I didn’t see you you saw me and you came after me and you healed me and now that I see the light now that I know the truth I can’t go back Jesus you are worth it how could I do anything less in light of what you have done for me what you’ve done for us so God help us not to be a fearful people help us not to be afraid to follow you in suffering so that we may also Follow You Into Your Glory we may not lose your life which you have freely granted to us thank you for forgiving us for our sins thank you for showing us the light of Life the pathway into your presence what Jesus you have secured for us now and forever Lord where we are tempted to fear to do the right thing even Lord to admit painful truths God I pray that you’d help us to do that we know it’ll be good for us in the end help us to have faith and help us Lord help us to be bold with people to not shy away from admitting yes I’m with Jesus and you need to come to him Lord help us not to be afraid help us not to be lazy help us not to be so self-centered so that we are not willing to tell the truth that wonderful gospel truth to other people Lord I pray in particular that you would bless the Outreach at the mall Lord that we would be empowered bold so full of joy Lord and Zeal for you to declare your gospel message to those that we meet to Those whom you bring God so that God you might open their eyes too Lord you are going to call out your own but thank you that you’ve given us to roll the plane and help us not to be so afraid that we won’t participate and therefore miss out on the blessing of obedience thank you for this word Lord amen