All right, well, we're picking up this morning where we left off last Sunday in the story of Jesus.
Last Sunday, we heard how Jesus healed a man who had been born blind.
He enabled that man to see, and it was a sign that he is the light of the world,
the one who enables us to see and to understand what's really going on in life.
And we heard last Sunday how the man's neighbors reacted to that miracle.
Some of those who had known him when he used to be blind and a beggar.
But this morning, we're going to find out what happened when the religious leaders found out about this.
We're reading in John 9, verse 13.
John 9, verse 13.
They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind.
Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man's eyes was a Sabbath.
Therefore, the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight.
He put mud on my eyes, the man replied, and I washed, and now I see.
Some of the Pharisees said,
This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.
But others asked,
How can a sinner perform such signs?
So they were divided.
So John lets us know that the day that the man was healed was a Sabbath day.
And as I read this, I can't help but be sad.
Are these Pharisees happy?
That this man who had never seen before had his sight restored?
Are they excited that an amazing miracle of God has taken place?
No.
Instead, because it's the Sabbath day, some of them are asking questions about how Jesus did it.
Not because they want to know the source of his power,
but because they're looking for something in the way that he did it that they can use against Jesus.
And the man tells them how Jesus did it.
He made mud.
He put it on my eyes.
And what's the next thing they say?
Verse 16.
This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.
He did work on the Sabbath.
Making mud, that's work.
Isn't that sad?
These are not just people who don't believe in Jesus.
These are people who have their very hearts set against believing in Jesus.
They're trying to make a case that he's not from God,
because he made mud on the Sabbath day.
But, to the credit of some,
some of these religious leaders,
there were some there who realized that this isn't right.
Some of them asked,
how can a sinner perform such signs?
Only God can open the eyes of a man who has been born blind.
Would God grant or allow or work such a wonderful miracle through this man
if he was sinning in the very act of doing it?
That doesn't make sense.
So they were divided.
There was disagreement between some of them.
And at the very heart of all this is the accusation or the question
of whether Jesus is a sinner.
Whether he is a sinful man.
Let's remember what Jesus said to them back in chapter 8, verse 46.
He said,
Can any of you prove me guilty of sin?
Do you remember that?
To the whole crowd gathered in the sanctuary.
Can any of you prove me guilty of sin?
And if not, then why don't you believe me?
So Jesus has already challenged them to point out
anything that he has done that is wrong.
Any sin he has committed.
And so far, they've been unable to do so.
But you can see how now
some of these Pharisees are looking for
anything that they can
to discredit Jesus,
to show him to be a sinful man.
And it's like they don't even notice,
some of them,
that he just healed this blind man.
He can't be from God.
He just broke the Sabbath.
Making mud.
That's work.
At least by their interpretation of things.
Verse 17.
Then they turned again to the blind man.
What have you to say about him?
It was your eyes he opened.
The man replied,
He is a prophet.
They still did not believe that he had been blind
and had received his sight
until they sent for the man's parents.
Is this your son?
They asked.
Is this the one you say was born blind?
How is it that now he can see?
We know he is our son,
the parents answered.
And we know he was born blind.
But how he can see now
or who opened his eyes?
We don't know.
Ask him.
He is of age.
He will speak for himself.
His parents said this
because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders
who already had decided
that anyone who acknowledged
that Jesus was the Messiah
would be put out of the synagogue.
That was why his parents said,
He is of age.
Ask him.
So they doubted.
They were skeptical
that this miracle had really happened.
And in some sense,
I don't blame them for being skeptical.
I mean, except by a great miracle of God,
this would never happen.
A man born blind healed?
His sight given to him
for the first time in his life?
Some of them had some theories.
Maybe he wasn't really born blind.
Or maybe this is a different guy
than the one who was born blind.
And there's a bit of a mix up here.
But the parents confirm that,
yes, he is our son.
And yes, he was born blind.
And all these years,
he hasn't been able to see.
But they didn't want to say
any more than that.
John tells us that
the plotting and the scheming
of the Pharisees
has now come to a new level.
They can't seem to turn the tables
against Jesus
in conversation with him
in front of the crowds.
And he's continually exposing them
in front of the people.
And so they implement a new policy.
Anybody who acknowledges
that Jesus is the Christ,
that he is the Messiah,
will be put out of the synagogue,
excommunicated,
kicked out.
In other words,
we've made our judgment
about this man,
and he is not the Messiah.
And if anybody crosses us,
there will be consequences.
Verse 24.
A second time,
they summoned the man
who had been blind.
Give glory to God
by telling the truth,
they said.
We know this man is a sinner.
He replied,
Whether he is a sinner or not,
I don't know.
One thing I do know,
I was blind,
but now I see.
Then they asked him,
What did he do to you?
How did he open your eyes?
He answered,
I've told you already,
and you did not listen.
Why do you want to hear it again?
Do you want to become
his disciples too?
Then they hurled insults at him
and said,
You are this fellow's disciple.
We are disciples of Moses.
We know that God spoke to Moses,
but as for this fellow,
we don't even know
where he comes from.
The man answered,
Now that is remarkable.
You don't know
where he comes from,
yet he opened my eyes.
We know that God
does not listen to sinners.
He listens to the godly person
who does his will.
Nobody has ever heard of
opening the eyes
of a man born blind.
If this man were not from God,
he could do nothing.
To this they replied,
You were steeped in sin at birth.
How dare you lecture us?
And they threw him out.
So they go after the man again,
and you can almost hear it
dripping from their words.
An accusation that this blind man,
this man who was blind,
is a liar.
Give glory to God
by telling the truth.
In other words,
stop lying to us.
We know that you've been lying to us.
We know that this man,
Jesus,
is a sinner.
Again,
they've made up their minds
about Jesus already.
The man who was blind
seems to answer
quite humbly at first.
I know very little
about the man
who did this for me.
I can't tell you
about his life.
I can't tell you
about how he has lived.
All I know
is that he healed me.
But that's not good enough
for the Pharisees.
They ask him again,
well, how did he do it?
And you get the sense here
that this poor man
is sick and tired
of telling his story
to them again
and again and again.
He knows that they're
just looking for something
to discredit the miracle
or to discredit Jesus.
And it's almost as if
something inside of him
just snaps.
I've already told you,
he says.
Why are you asking me again?
And he throws in
this little dig of his own.
You guys seem so interested
in this.
Do you want to become
his followers too?
You can hear the sarcasm
in his words.
And they don't like
that one bit.
It says at this point
that they began
to insult him.
Oh, we already know
that you are
this man's follower.
We aren't going to
follow this man.
No, we're followers
of Moses.
We know that God
spoke to Moses.
But as for this guy,
we don't even know
where he comes from.
And I love how the man
who was blind
answers him,
answers the Pharisees here.
He says,
now that is remarkable.
You don't know
where he comes from?
And he opened my eyes.
What is the man
amazed at here?
I think he's amazed
at their inability
to read the clear sign.
I mean, isn't it obvious?
Look what he did to me.
It's a miracle.
This kind of thing
has never been done before
by anyone.
If this man was a sinner,
God wouldn't have done
this through him.
Isn't it obvious
that he is from God?
Like, what more do you need?
And this conversation
ends
with the Pharisees,
I think,
showing their true colors.
What an arrogant statement.
You were steeped
in sin at birth.
How dare you lecture us?
It's a pretty loaded statement.
They're basically saying,
well, who are you
to tell us
what we should believe
about Jesus
on the scale
of religious authority,
on the scale
of righteousness?
You're at the very bottom.
And why do they say
that he is utterly sinful
from birth?
Because he was born blind.
This kind of goes back
to the conversation
that Jesus had
with his disciples.
We talked about this
the other day.
His disciples asked him,
Jesus,
who sinned
that this man
was born blind?
And Jesus said,
wrong question.
Wrong assumption.
It wasn't this man
or his parents
who sinned.
That's not the reason.
But now we see
that the Pharisees
are the prime example
of this kind of self-righteous
and arrogant religious pride.
They're basically saying,
yeah, well,
we know
why you were born blind
in the first place.
It's because you were
utterly sinful
from the moment
you were born.
Right from the start.
So don't you dare
try to teach us.
And they threw him out.
Cast out.
Excommunicated,
I think,
is implied here.
The true colors
of the Pharisees
are coming out
more and more.
And this is why
Jesus called them
children of the devil.
Well, what can we take
from all this?
There is a good turn
to what's happened
that we're going to look at
next Sunday
with this blind man.
But this morning
we're here to partake
of the Lord's table.
That's our focus.
And one of the things
that we see woven
through this whole section
is this accusation,
this question
of whether Jesus
was a sinner.
Whether he is
a sinful man.
The Pharisees,
they're desperate
to prove
that Jesus is a sinner.
They want a reason
to put him to death
while maintaining
their religious face.
they've stumbled upon
one of the greatest
miracles ever done.
But they're blinded
by their pride
and evil desires
and they refuse
to acknowledge
the truth
that this wonderful sign
Jesus did
points to.
And ironically,
it's the man
who was born blind
and has lived blind
all of his life
up until this day
who is seeing
things clearly.
He doesn't know
Jesus personally
but he's able
to read the sign
correctly.
And he sees
that whoever
this man is
he must be
from God.
God would not
work miracles
through him
if he was a sinner,
if he was an
unrighteous man.
And so John
by telling this
true story
invites all of us
to consider
for ourselves
is Jesus
a sinner?
Is Jesus
a man
who stands
guilty before God
like all the rest
of us?
Or is he
truly innocent,
righteous,
and pure?
Is Jesus
being arrogant
and self-righteous
when he calls
out to the crowd?
Can any of you
prove me guilty
of sin?
Or is it
possible that he
stands apart
from the rest
of us
as the sinless
son of God?
The one
human who is
without sin.
How would we
know?
God has given
us clear signs
like this one.
Restoring the
sight of this
blind man
through Jesus.
Something only
God can do.
And the man
is right.
God would not
endorse,
he would not
work his
wonders through
someone who
claims what
Jesus does
if his
claims were
false.
If he was
deceiving.
If Jesus,
or is Jesus
a sinner like
the rest of
us?
The clear
testimony of
God is no.
He is not a
sinner.
He is my
son.
He is the
one I sent
into the
world.
And there
are many
scriptures that
talk about
this.
It's how the
story goes.
Think about
Judas.
The one who
betrayed
Jesus.
What did he
have to say?
After betraying
Jesus, he went
back.
He said, I
have sinned.
I have
betrayed
innocent blood.
He knew
Jesus was
innocent.
Then there's
Pilate.
Three times,
he comes back
to the people.
I find no
basis for a
charge against
this man.
He's innocent.
innocent.
And then he
washes his
hands.
Even Pilate's
wife knew
Jesus was
innocent.
She told
Pilate, don't
have anything
to do with
that innocent
man.
For I have
suffered a
great deal in
a dream because
of him.
Peter knew he
was an innocent
man.
He walked
three years
with Jesus.
And he wrote
this in his
letter.
He committed
no sin.
And no
deceit was
found in
his mouth.
The devil
knew he
was a
sinless
man.
And he
made his
best effort
to change
that, if
he could,
by tempting
him in the
wilderness.
But of
course, Jesus
did not
give in.
In Hebrews
chapter 4,
verse 15,
we read
that Jesus
is our
high priest.
Christ.
And he
is able to
empathize with
our weaknesses
because he
has been
tempted in
every way,
just as we
are.
Yet, the
author of
Hebrews says,
yet, though
he was
tempted, he
did not
sin.
Not once.
Paul, in
his letter to
the Corinthians,
2 Corinthians
5.21,
God made
him who
had no
sin to
be sin
for us.
he knew
no sin.
He had
no sin.
Hebrews
7.26,
referring to
Jesus again
as our
high priest,
he says,
such a
high priest
truly meets
our need,
one who
is holy,
blameless,
pure,
set apart
from sinners.
He doesn't
have to
offer
sacrifices
for his
own sins
like the
rest of
human
priests
had to.
because he
doesn't have
any sins
of his
own.
He is
pure.
The
apostle John
himself,
in his
letter,
wrote these
words,
1 John 3.5,
in him,
that's in
Jesus Christ,
is no
sin,
no wrong
doing,
no guilt.
In fact,
John tells
us the
reason that
Jesus came
was to
take away
sins,
to take
away the
guilt of
others,
for the
sins that
they have
committed.
So whether
Jesus is a
sinner or
not,
is very
important.
It's at the
heart of
what we
celebrate at
this table.
Because if
Jesus was a
sinner,
then his
death was
deserved.
And it
accomplished
nothing for
us.
God
was a
sacrifice.
He came
to be a
sacrifice that
would atone
for our
sins.
And for
him to be
that acceptable
sacrifice,
that acceptable
substitute,
we know from
tracing the
theme throughout
the whole of
the scriptures,
he had to be
spotless.
He had to be
without
blemish,
without sin.
Peter talked
about this
too in his
letter.
We looked at
this in
Sunday school.
He said,
for you know,
it was not
with perishable
things such as
silver or gold
that you were
redeemed from
the empty way
of life handed
down to you
from your
ancestors.
No, you
were redeemed
with the
precious blood
of Christ,
a lamb
without
blemish or
defect.
For us to
be redeemed,
for us to
be set free.
Someone had
to take the
punishment that
we deserved.
But not just
anybody could
do that.
He had to
be a human,
a man like
us, yet
without
blemish,
without
defect,
without any
sin or guilt
of his own.
This was the
only way.
This is
God's salvation
plan.
Peter said
this in
1 Peter,
3 verse
18.
Christ
suffered
once for
sins,
the
righteous
for the
unrighteous,
to bring
you to
God.
sinless
for the
sinner.
The
innocent
for the
sinner.
The
innocent
for the
guilty.
It was
the only
way that
we could
be justly
forgiven,
that we
could be
saved from
the wrath
of God
that we
deserve.
And so
it matters
everything that
Jesus is
not a
sinner.
The
Pharisees
were dead
wrong that
day.
And the
man who
had been
born blind
and was
healed,
he was
on the
right track.
And this
table means
everything to
us.
Because of
this,
the blood
that the
cup
represents
is of
infinite value
to us.
The body
of Jesus
that the
bread
represents
can truly
give us
life.
and it's
only because
Jesus
himself had
no sin
of his
own,
no guilt
of his
own,
that he
could atone
for our
sins.
And that's
what he
did when
he suffered
and died
on the
cross.
And Peter
tells us
that he
did that
to bring
you to
God,
to bring
me to
God.
Forgiveness,
relationship
restored.
And so
as we
come to
the table,
we're here
to celebrate
this.
We're here
to remember
the most
valuable and
precious things
in the
universe,
the body
and the
blood of
our Lord,
broken
and poured
out for
us.
So if
you're here
this morning
and you
have repented
of your
sins,
and you
believe that
he is
that spotless
lamb,
who took
the punishment
that you
deserve,
then I
invite you
to partake
together
with us.
I'm going
to pray.
We'll have
a moment
of reflection
and Charles
will come
and serve
the table,
but as you
receive the
bread and
the cup,
I'll just
ask that you
hang on to
it until
everybody has
been served
and then
we'll all
partake
together.
Let's
pray.
Lord
Jesus,
we stand
amazed as
we think
that you
lived a
sinless
life,
because we
know that
from our
vantage point,
that's
impossible.
That's all
we've ever
known right
from the
start.
We are
sinners.
We are
guilty.
And so we
stand in awe
of you for
that.
But most
of all,
we thank
you that out
of your
mercy and
grace.
You would
come and
trade your
life for
ours.
We can't
even comprehend
that kind
of love.
We say
thank you.
Bless each
one of us
in our
hearts as
we do
this in
remembrance
of you.
We ask
in your
name.
Amen.