Our preaching text for Sunday will be John 9:8-41. These verses contain the aftermath of the miracle we see in John 9:1-7 where Jesus gives sight to a man that has been blind from birth. Jesus makes it clear that this man’s blindness was not the result of some specific sin that he or his parents committed, but that his years of blindness were designed to display the works of God. In other words, God purposed to display his power and grace to save through this blind man’s healing. So, Jesus spits in some dirt and makes mud, anoints the man’s eyes and commands him to go and wash in the pool of Siloam. John tells us that the man simply obeys, that he goes, washes and comes back seeing. Well, he also comes back to a series of interrogations. It’s in these interrogations that we see this formerly blind man’s sight become clearer and clearer, and the religious leaders unbelief grow harder and harder. By the end of the chapter you have a man healed of blindness worshiping Jesus and the seeds of unbelief that will result in the ultimate rejection of Jesus (in his conviction and crucifixion) beginning to bud. The gospel is like a soft pillow where the tired and weary can find comfort and rest. It’s also like a battle axe, when that axe is swung and makes contact with its target it makes a clear divide. This is what Jesus said his ministry is like, “For judgment I came into the world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind” (9:39). As we read this chapter and you examine all of the people involved, who do you most reflect? Do you see yourself in the man who was blind? His neighbors? His parents? The Pharisees? May we all be able to say with the man born blind, “Though I was blind, now I see”!
Sermon Title: “Though I Was Blind, Now I See”
Sermon Text: John 9:8-41
Meditation Passage: Isaiah 35
Call To Worship: Psalm 113
Benediction: Hebrews 13:20-21
Songs For Sunday:
All Creatures Of Our God And King
Come Behold The Wondrous Mystery
O Lord My Rock And My Redeemer