Title: Seeing and believing / John 9:13
Topic: Seeing and believing / John 9:13-
Although Jesus took pity on the blind man and healed the blind man, it can be seen that the Jews' interest remained only in condemning Jesus Christ based on their own traditions.
However, those who were blind can see through the text that their faith becomes more and more materialized and they go out on the path of true faith.
1. I am Gross
1) Reveal your past
When those who knew him before came and asked, [Isn't this the one who sat and begs?], he confessed to himself, [I am he]. He is revealing his past to those who despise him and treat him with arrogant thoughts with a few pennies of hostility.
He assumed that revealing his poor past was not pleasant, and that revealing it would be a task that would drag him in front of the Pharisees, but he did not deny what happened to him, he was revealing it.
The beginning of this person's faith begins with the truth of what happened to him.
2. The man named Jesus
When the Jews ask [how are your eyes open?]
he answered
[Answered] The man named Jesus made clay and put it on my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam.
I was told to wash, so I went and washed, and I saw it.]
* If you look closely at this answer, very important meanings emerge.
1) It is written as [the man called Jesus], which means that although he did not believe in Jesus Christ as the Christ, he was sincere enough to call on his name with his mouth.
At that time, even when the Jews saw the miracles and signs of Jesus Christ, there were few people who were afraid of the religious leaders and called Jesus Christ by his polite name.
He was a person with candor and seriousness, at least bold enough to say [the person who opened my eyes was Jesus].
**Today, we live in a time when it is difficult to find such honesty.
2) His candor can be seen in the incident of Jesus overcoming the mud by spit on the ground, and simply saying [beat the mud]. You are confessing what you have seen with your own eyes.
***When the Jews ask where Jesus Christ is, he says, “I don’t know.” This means that the maturity of his faith is now at the level where he only knows that he has healed me. Able to know.
Facing the [event itself] was the beginning of faith.
3. I am a prophet
The Jews took him to the Pharisees. The reason was to dig into the truth of the matter as well as the thought of putting Jesus Christ in trouble through him.
1) The interest of the Pharisees was only the Sabbath.
According to Jewish tradition, when healing a disease on the Sabbath, unless it is a fatal wound,
It was forbidden to cure on the Sabbath and to make a full recovery. Therefore, according to their tradition, it was unjust to cure the blind on the Sabbath.
Therefore, they are only judging Jesus Christ by the standards of their own inheritance.
John 9:14 The day that Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes was a sabbath.
John 9:15 Therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he was able to see, and he said, "The man put mud on my eyes, and I wash and see."
John 9:16 Among the Pharisees or saying, “This man does not keep the sabbath, he does not come from God,” or, “How as a sinner, how can he perform these signs?”
**They are so full of disbelief that they do not even admit what they see.
They later bring in the parents of the blind, because
John 9:18 The Jews did not believe that he was blind and saw
call the parents and ask
It was because
It's something you can see, and even if you testify to yourself, you don't believe what you see.
Matthew 13:14 The prophecy of Isaiah was fulfilled for them, saying,
You will hear, but you will not understand; you will see, but you will not understand.
2) When the Pharisees ask the blind man, he confesses, “He is a prophet.” Contrary to the disbelief of the Pharisees, he says that he now confesses [to be a prophet] as faith sprouts and grows. This shows that the living faith is growing just as the Samaritan woman's faith grew.
4. A person who came from God.
John 9:33 Nothing can be done for this man except from God.
1) The Jews call him a second time and begin to interrogate him again.
John 9:24 Then they called the blind man a second time and said, "Give you glory, to God; we know that this man is a sinner."
**Implicit threat not to acknowledge Jesus Christ.
John 9:25 And he answered, I do not know whether he is a sinner, but one thing I do know
This is what I saw when I was blind
**He just honestly confesses what happened to him. The truth is the beginning of a new job.
John 9:26 They said to him, What did the man do to you? How did he open your eyes?
John 9:27 He answered, "I have already spoken, but they did not listen.
Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?
**It is rather strange to see the unbelievable Pharisees.
2) That person has come to God.
John 9:30 The man answered and said, It is strange that this man has opened my eyes, and you do not know where he came from.
**Point out the limitations of the Pharisees
John 9:31 We know that God does not listen to sinners, but He hears those who are godly and do His will.
**By speaking of his knowledge of the Old Testament, he points out that a little knowledge of faith is meaningless without a lot of knowledge.
He is defending his own story by citing the general Jewish doctrine that God does not hear the prayers of sinners.
John 9:32 Ever since the creation of the world, I have not heard that it opened the eyes of those who were born blind.
John 9:33 Nothing could be done to this man except from God.
**Since the creation of the world, from before Moses, as the Pharisees say, to the present, there has never been a blind
No, he opens my eyes, and I am the witness, so why don't you believe me when you see me?
It is to confess that [he is clearly from God].
Isaiah 35:5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be opened.
Isaiah 35:6 In those days the lame will leap like a deer, and the tongues of the mute will sing, For waters will flow in the wilderness, and streams will flow from the desert.
**Even in the most foolish one, the eye of faith sees the truth right away.
3) The last choice of the Pharisee was to drive him out.
John 9:34 They answered and said, Are you born entirely in sin, and teach us?
and drove them away,
**By asking if you are a sinner and a blind child teaches us, the Pharisees,
They end up covering up their unbelief.
5. Confession of [Christ]
John 9:35 When Jesus heard that they had driven the man away, he met him and said to him, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?
John 9:36 He answered and said, "Who is this, Lord? I want to believe."
**When I met Jesus Christ, I asked, [Lord, who is he? I want to believe] This is the same question as Saul of Damascus.
Acts 9:5 ... Who are you, Lord?
It is a question about the truth, about the Messiah.
John 9:37 Jesus said to him, "You have seen him, but he is the one talking to you now.
John 9:38 And he said, "Lord, I believe." And he bowed down.
**The figure of [Lord, I believe] and bowing down is the same as believing in Jesus Christ as the Messiah.
look.
His faith is from [the man called Jesus] to [a prophet] [who came from God]
And now, we grow in the faith of [Lord, I believe]. our belief is
It must be a growing faith.
**** conclusion ****
1. Not everyone who sees becomes a believer.
1) The Jews had known the blind man before, and were close to the fact that he had opened his eyes.
They came, but they did not believe what they saw.
2) Even his parents, fearing expulsion, refused to publicly admit that he had been healed.
3) The Pharisees, who have heard all these facts comprehensively, and who have been blind and have heard all of their stories, are not able to accept the amazing evidence of the truth because they are bound by their traditions about the Sabbath, which is only a minor issue.
2. Faith is acknowledgment.
1) The beginning of the faith of the blind begins with the fact that they have opened their eyes.
2) He begins to believe by acknowledging what has happened to him.
3. Faith must be growing.
1) self-recognition
2) That person called Jesus
3) I am a prophet
4) Those who came from God.
5) Lord, I believe.
4. Our faith is
1) Let's believe the truth that appeared before me.
2) Let's acknowledge the grace of God that has been shown to me.
3) Let's go on the path of growing faith.