1 00:00:00,450 --> 00:00:01,066 Hey, everybody. 2 00:00:01,066 --> 00:00:03,716 Thanks for being with us. Thanks for joining us. 3 00:00:03,716 --> 00:00:06,983 Wednesday of this week, as we continue through the ninth chapter 4 00:00:06,983 --> 00:00:08,033 of the Gospel of John. 5 00:00:08,033 --> 00:00:13,133 Really one pretty well crafted story runs through this entire chapter. 6 00:00:14,150 --> 00:00:18,350 Where we are, if you if you haven't been with us the last couple of days, 7 00:00:18,900 --> 00:00:21,600 Jesus has healed a man that was born blind. 8 00:00:21,600 --> 00:00:26,250 This has caused, some unhappiness from the 9 00:00:26,266 --> 00:00:29,633 the religious leaders Pharisees on two fronts. 10 00:00:30,150 --> 00:00:34,550 A that it was a Sabbath, and b it's occasioned an argument, 11 00:00:35,700 --> 00:00:39,683 about whether or not Jesus is able to do this and who Jesus is. 12 00:00:39,900 --> 00:00:43,733 Some really great themes that run through this chapter about seeing and not seeing. 13 00:00:43,733 --> 00:00:47,750 And then I think today, we see and also another 14 00:00:47,750 --> 00:00:50,750 theme, developing the idea of knowing and not knowing. 15 00:00:50,900 --> 00:00:54,950 So we are jumping in at verse 24. 16 00:00:55,550 --> 00:00:58,616 I'll read through about verse 30 for ten verses or so. 17 00:00:58,616 --> 00:01:01,466 Then we'll come back and and see what we find in it. 18 00:01:03,000 --> 00:01:04,550 So for the second time, they called 19 00:01:04,550 --> 00:01:09,166 the man who had been born blind, and they said to him, give glory to God. 20 00:01:09,616 --> 00:01:12,383 We know this man is a sinner. 21 00:01:12,383 --> 00:01:15,383 He answered, I don't know whether he is a sinner. 22 00:01:15,650 --> 00:01:19,433 One thing I do know, that one thing I do know, 23 00:01:19,583 --> 00:01:22,583 that though I was blind, now I see. 24 00:01:23,416 --> 00:01:26,416 They said to him, what did he do to you? 25 00:01:26,550 --> 00:01:28,800 How did he open your eyes? 26 00:01:28,800 --> 00:01:33,083 He answered them, I told you already and you wouldn't listen. 27 00:01:33,600 --> 00:01:35,866 Why do you want to hear it again? 28 00:01:35,866 --> 00:01:38,866 Do you want to also become his disciples? 29 00:01:39,350 --> 00:01:43,350 Then they reviled him and said, you are his disciple. 30 00:01:43,916 --> 00:01:46,283 We are the disciples of Moses. 31 00:01:46,283 --> 00:01:48,300 We know that God has spoken to Moses, 32 00:01:48,300 --> 00:01:51,300 but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from. 33 00:01:51,766 --> 00:01:52,766 The man answered. 34 00:01:52,766 --> 00:01:55,316 Well, this is an astonishing thing. 35 00:01:55,316 --> 00:01:57,083 You do not know where he comes from. 36 00:01:57,083 --> 00:01:59,100 And yet he opened my eyes. 37 00:01:59,100 --> 00:02:01,666 We know that God does not listen to sinners, 38 00:02:01,666 --> 00:02:05,100 but he does listen to the one who worships him and obeys its will. 39 00:02:05,600 --> 00:02:08,250 Never since the world began has it been 40 00:02:08,250 --> 00:02:11,450 heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. 41 00:02:12,116 --> 00:02:15,566 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing. 42 00:02:16,616 --> 00:02:18,116 Then they answered him, you 43 00:02:18,116 --> 00:02:23,600 were born entirely in sins, and you are trying to teach us. 44 00:02:24,200 --> 00:02:27,083 And they drove him out. 45 00:02:27,083 --> 00:02:29,850 As we've seen, I think, Michael, 46 00:02:29,850 --> 00:02:33,516 John gives us an escalation of the conflict. 47 00:02:33,533 --> 00:02:35,433 It starts with an issue. 48 00:02:35,433 --> 00:02:38,566 It then picks up with some conversation, with some argument. 49 00:02:38,866 --> 00:02:43,283 And now, interestingly enough, some of the most heated 50 00:02:43,283 --> 00:02:46,550 part of the discussion is with Jesus in the background, 51 00:02:46,550 --> 00:02:49,316 which is a little bit unusual in the gospel. 52 00:02:49,316 --> 00:02:53,816 Typically, Jesus is front and center in these kind of arguments, but 53 00:02:53,816 --> 00:02:57,650 the Pharisees now take it upon themselves to try and get to the bottom of this. 54 00:02:57,900 --> 00:02:59,700 So they say, give glory to God. 55 00:02:59,700 --> 00:03:02,600 In other words, admit that God did this. 56 00:03:02,600 --> 00:03:05,333 We don't think this man had anything to do with it. 57 00:03:05,333 --> 00:03:06,766 And he's a sinner. 58 00:03:06,766 --> 00:03:09,416 And a wonderful reply here. 59 00:03:09,416 --> 00:03:11,450 I don't know if he's a sinner. 60 00:03:11,450 --> 00:03:12,266 Here's the thing. 61 00:03:12,266 --> 00:03:17,100 I know I was blind and now I see if that sounds familiar to you, 62 00:03:17,333 --> 00:03:22,133 that that is the guiding, or he is the inspiration for the hymn amazing Grace. 63 00:03:22,133 --> 00:03:27,416 John Newton, who wrote amazing Grace, was drawn to that idea through this verse. 64 00:03:27,866 --> 00:03:31,466 And then they try to get to the bottom of, well, what did he do? 65 00:03:31,500 --> 00:03:33,650 How could he have done this? And, 66 00:03:35,033 --> 00:03:37,216 then the man asks, well, I guess what? 67 00:03:37,216 --> 00:03:38,566 You want to be his disciples. 68 00:03:38,566 --> 00:03:41,966 And that's kind of when things ratchet up to 11. 69 00:03:41,966 --> 00:03:42,916 Michael. 70 00:03:42,916 --> 00:03:47,416 There are so many threads within this text alone yet alone. 71 00:03:47,816 --> 00:03:51,200 The the larger piece that we're seeing unfold here. 72 00:03:51,683 --> 00:03:56,566 I just want to point out a couple of them and the first is no, 73 00:03:56,600 --> 00:04:00,650 it's the theme of sinner within this story itself. 74 00:04:00,650 --> 00:04:03,900 It starts off with that amazing nod here. 75 00:04:04,133 --> 00:04:07,016 We know that this man 76 00:04:07,016 --> 00:04:10,516 is a sinner, and the blind man 77 00:04:10,666 --> 00:04:14,866 who, you know, is really already bending up in this conversation. 78 00:04:14,866 --> 00:04:15,616 Did he sin? 79 00:04:15,616 --> 00:04:16,950 Did his parents sin right? 80 00:04:16,950 --> 00:04:20,216 You or my brother remember the disciples asking Jesus that now? 81 00:04:20,433 --> 00:04:23,900 Now we see that being teased out and pointed at Jesus, 82 00:04:24,116 --> 00:04:27,766 we know that Jesus is a sinner, but this man 83 00:04:28,616 --> 00:04:30,833 who just previously everybody would have 84 00:04:30,833 --> 00:04:36,566 assumed was sick because or was blind because he of his sin 85 00:04:36,566 --> 00:04:41,966 or the sin of his parents, is now asked to give account to is Jesus a sinner? 86 00:04:41,966 --> 00:04:43,500 Is he the one? 87 00:04:43,500 --> 00:04:46,950 Is he acting in some evil or insipid way? 88 00:04:46,950 --> 00:04:50,783 And Clint, I think what's fascinating about this is the Pharisees 89 00:04:50,783 --> 00:04:55,433 are working against their own benefit in argument of this form. 90 00:04:55,733 --> 00:05:01,050 They're going to a witness to try to mount a case against Jesus, 91 00:05:01,366 --> 00:05:05,483 that they would have not held this a reputable witness from the jump. 92 00:05:05,716 --> 00:05:07,400 And yet they're going to turn to him 93 00:05:07,400 --> 00:05:10,950 to try to turn the tables on this man Jesus, who they at this point, 94 00:05:11,333 --> 00:05:15,666 I have already been given ample motivation to want to kill. 95 00:05:15,683 --> 00:05:18,200 I mean, John has mentioned already 96 00:05:18,200 --> 00:05:22,016 numerous plots and the desire for Jesus Jesus's life to be taken. 97 00:05:22,250 --> 00:05:25,966 So what we have happening right in front of us here is a strange 98 00:05:25,966 --> 00:05:30,450 kind of reversal, where the locus of who is the sinner 99 00:05:30,716 --> 00:05:34,666 is being sort of sought out by these religious leaders 100 00:05:34,966 --> 00:05:37,966 while treating this man 101 00:05:38,250 --> 00:05:40,483 in a very inhuman way, 102 00:05:40,483 --> 00:05:44,333 looking at a man who's just healed and using his as argument 103 00:05:44,333 --> 00:05:48,383 against Jesus is, in its way, its own kind of sinfulness. 104 00:05:48,383 --> 00:05:52,100 And so John is doing this amazing sort of turn 105 00:05:52,433 --> 00:05:57,100 where the people obsessed with sin are the very people who say 106 00:05:57,116 --> 00:06:00,900 that sin lands on the very people for whom sinfulness 107 00:06:01,200 --> 00:06:06,416 could be most accurately, you know, applied or ascribed. 108 00:06:06,416 --> 00:06:07,550 And so I think, Clint, 109 00:06:07,550 --> 00:06:12,083 it's just that's one small aspect that has gone now through the story. 110 00:06:12,116 --> 00:06:14,216 But we're beginning to see John flesh it out. 111 00:06:14,216 --> 00:06:17,516 And I think it's done to great literary effect. 112 00:06:18,050 --> 00:06:21,950 I agree, and I think this is where two of those themes come together. 113 00:06:22,066 --> 00:06:25,733 We've been saying for the last couple of days that one of the 114 00:06:26,216 --> 00:06:30,566 one of the powerful threads of this text is the idea of what is obvious. 115 00:06:30,566 --> 00:06:33,650 In other words, what is seen and what is missed. 116 00:06:34,016 --> 00:06:36,016 And so these men, 117 00:06:37,400 --> 00:06:39,833 they they don't see what's in front of them. 118 00:06:39,833 --> 00:06:44,183 They've already gotten a conclusion and it keeps them blinded. 119 00:06:44,550 --> 00:06:48,766 And so now we have this wonderful reversal where the ones who can't see 120 00:06:49,366 --> 00:06:52,700 are criticizing the one whose blindness has been healed. 121 00:06:53,266 --> 00:06:56,300 And then there's the idea of knowledge of of knowing. 122 00:06:56,450 --> 00:06:59,450 We know this man is a sinner. 123 00:06:59,666 --> 00:07:03,233 And the other man says, well, I don't know that. 124 00:07:03,600 --> 00:07:06,450 I know that he healed my blindness. 125 00:07:06,450 --> 00:07:09,300 And I know that God does good things. 126 00:07:09,300 --> 00:07:12,916 And nobody's ever talked about people being healed of their blindness. 127 00:07:13,466 --> 00:07:16,250 And don't you think that that means something? 128 00:07:16,250 --> 00:07:18,450 Here's an astonishing thing. 129 00:07:18,450 --> 00:07:20,250 You don't know where he comes from. 130 00:07:20,250 --> 00:07:22,350 But he opened my eyes. 131 00:07:22,350 --> 00:07:26,400 So, in other words, what is obvious to the man who used to be blind 132 00:07:27,233 --> 00:07:30,266 is now hidden from the ones who think they can see 133 00:07:30,800 --> 00:07:34,433 and what what they think they know 134 00:07:35,216 --> 00:07:40,283 is the opposite, exactly the opposite of what is reality 135 00:07:40,283 --> 00:07:43,283 that is observable and obvious 136 00:07:43,366 --> 00:07:46,616 to even those who can barely see. 137 00:07:46,616 --> 00:07:50,700 And so, John is just doing a really nice job here 138 00:07:51,200 --> 00:07:53,750 of weaving this all together. 139 00:07:56,116 --> 00:07:59,100 We know that God does not listen to sinners. 140 00:07:59,100 --> 00:08:02,566 He listens to the one who worships him and obeys his will. 141 00:08:03,616 --> 00:08:06,750 If the man were not from God, he could do nothing. 142 00:08:06,916 --> 00:08:11,850 So, interestingly enough, this is the statement of the blind man. 143 00:08:12,166 --> 00:08:17,450 He looks at his situation he now sees, and where it leads him is, 144 00:08:17,666 --> 00:08:21,316 if this man wasn't from God, he couldn't do these things. 145 00:08:21,316 --> 00:08:22,650 What's the implication? 146 00:08:22,650 --> 00:08:24,800 He's clearly from God. 147 00:08:24,800 --> 00:08:27,450 And and it's at this point 148 00:08:27,450 --> 00:08:30,766 where affirming Jesus sets 149 00:08:30,766 --> 00:08:35,116 the Pharisees off the most that they insult him. 150 00:08:35,716 --> 00:08:40,566 They accuse him of being born in sin and they drive him out. 151 00:08:40,583 --> 00:08:44,033 In other words, they they rid him or rid the 152 00:08:44,450 --> 00:08:48,083 the temple, the synagogue, not the temple, the synagogue of him. 153 00:08:48,600 --> 00:08:52,166 And if you remember where we started, this text, 154 00:08:53,666 --> 00:08:55,216 you see that John again 155 00:08:55,216 --> 00:08:58,433 has done a really beautiful job of bringing this full circle. 156 00:08:59,116 --> 00:09:02,116 You were born entirely and in your sin, 157 00:09:02,850 --> 00:09:07,433 so remember that this whole episode starts when Jesus 158 00:09:07,433 --> 00:09:11,850 and the disciples see a blind man and the disciples asked, who sinned? 159 00:09:12,416 --> 00:09:15,350 Whose sin was the problem, that this man would be blind? 160 00:09:15,350 --> 00:09:19,733 And Jesus says, no, this man is about to show the glory of God. 161 00:09:20,150 --> 00:09:23,966 And now, having done that, the very ones who should know better 162 00:09:24,150 --> 00:09:29,816 see instead and accuse this man, instead of being born in sin, 163 00:09:30,000 --> 00:09:33,950 of being steeped in sin entirely in sin. 164 00:09:33,950 --> 00:09:37,283 Just a a really nice, simple. 165 00:09:39,650 --> 00:09:42,650 Literary mechanism here to show us 166 00:09:42,950 --> 00:09:46,500 how far the Pharisees are from the mark. 167 00:09:46,916 --> 00:09:52,350 And that this man who just beginning this passage, this chapter was blind. 168 00:09:52,616 --> 00:09:54,983 What he now sees about Jesus. 169 00:09:54,983 --> 00:09:57,983 There's a really explicit 170 00:09:57,983 --> 00:10:00,950 reference to evangelism 171 00:10:00,950 --> 00:10:04,200 and discipleship in this text that I don't think we should miss. 172 00:10:04,733 --> 00:10:07,766 It comes right here in verse 27, when the Pharisees, 173 00:10:09,600 --> 00:10:10,500 are asked by 174 00:10:10,500 --> 00:10:14,033 this man, I've told you and you wouldn't listen. 175 00:10:14,300 --> 00:10:16,400 Why do you want to hear it again? 176 00:10:16,400 --> 00:10:19,450 Do you also want to become his disciples? 177 00:10:19,700 --> 00:10:21,866 John uses questions like this. 178 00:10:21,866 --> 00:10:23,750 So impactful. 179 00:10:23,750 --> 00:10:28,016 And this is a question that both rings 180 00:10:28,016 --> 00:10:31,883 with a note of sarcasm, a note of rhetoric or argument. 181 00:10:31,883 --> 00:10:34,366 Right? Like what more do you actually want? 182 00:10:34,366 --> 00:10:39,233 And simultaneously, I think, is in many ways a whole hearted question. 183 00:10:39,233 --> 00:10:40,283 Do what? 184 00:10:40,283 --> 00:10:44,033 What is the thing that you want to get from this line of questioning? 185 00:10:44,300 --> 00:10:45,833 Because there's a nod here. 186 00:10:45,833 --> 00:10:51,900 There's a tip here that if you are engaged in questioning Christ 187 00:10:51,900 --> 00:10:56,566 with an outcome already in mind, you will get that outcome right. 188 00:10:56,566 --> 00:11:01,016 If you come to Jesus and you were dead set, that I'm going to interrogate you 189 00:11:01,016 --> 00:11:05,450 to prove that you are a sinner, not in the line of Moses, 190 00:11:05,450 --> 00:11:08,966 but in the line of self-aggrandizement, that in a 191 00:11:09,383 --> 00:11:14,633 a heretical teacher, if you come to Jesus and your expectation is that he 192 00:11:14,633 --> 00:11:17,850 is this thing, then this story 193 00:11:17,850 --> 00:11:22,916 serves as a unbelievable illustration that there's no amount of evidence, 194 00:11:22,950 --> 00:11:27,416 not even the man that you walked by every day, your neighbor who was blind. 195 00:11:27,416 --> 00:11:31,966 You will not even recognize who that man is when God is done with him, 196 00:11:32,333 --> 00:11:36,983 because you are so dead set on the outcome that you preconceived. 197 00:11:36,983 --> 00:11:38,300 And so that question. 198 00:11:38,300 --> 00:11:41,033 Right, like, do you want to be his disciple? 199 00:11:41,033 --> 00:11:44,516 Is that the goal or is there something else? 200 00:11:44,516 --> 00:11:47,300 And of course, they're not interested in being his disciple. 201 00:11:47,300 --> 00:11:48,233 They're interested 202 00:11:48,233 --> 00:11:52,250 in catching him and being able to sort of turn the plot against him. 203 00:11:52,250 --> 00:11:57,233 And, in John, it's not Jesus's time, so that won't go their way. 204 00:11:57,466 --> 00:12:00,683 But they'll keep at it until they get their ends. 205 00:12:01,166 --> 00:12:04,800 There's also, I think that since Michael, we saw this, 206 00:12:04,950 --> 00:12:09,000 you know, remember that the Pharisees go to the man's parents and they say, 207 00:12:09,150 --> 00:12:10,950 you know, tell us about your son. 208 00:12:10,950 --> 00:12:13,400 And they say, go ask him, right. 209 00:12:13,400 --> 00:12:14,300 Go to the source. 210 00:12:14,300 --> 00:12:17,450 And now the man says, do you want to be his disciples? 211 00:12:17,716 --> 00:12:20,483 Why are you talking to me about whether he's a sinner or not? 212 00:12:20,483 --> 00:12:21,916 Here's here's what I know. 213 00:12:21,916 --> 00:12:24,800 I was blind and now I see. 214 00:12:26,000 --> 00:12:27,533 Do you want to follow him? 215 00:12:27,533 --> 00:12:28,666 Well, go to him. 216 00:12:28,666 --> 00:12:32,366 And so, again, part of the part 217 00:12:32,366 --> 00:12:35,366 of the plotting of the Pharisees 218 00:12:35,416 --> 00:12:39,983 is to not deal with Jesus directly, but to try and find some reason 219 00:12:39,983 --> 00:12:44,966 to be unhappy with him, and something that will bring the situation 220 00:12:45,000 --> 00:12:49,166 in to what they've already decided that Jesus is off base and 221 00:12:50,366 --> 00:12:52,166 the story itself 222 00:12:52,166 --> 00:12:55,166 keeps just pushing us toward, well, 223 00:12:55,666 --> 00:12:58,666 go to the source, go to the source, 224 00:12:58,700 --> 00:13:01,366 go to Jesus, go ask him. Go listen to him. 225 00:13:01,366 --> 00:13:04,366 Go watch what he does. And, 226 00:13:04,733 --> 00:13:07,733 it is really interesting how John, 227 00:13:08,716 --> 00:13:12,983 particularly I think I would say this, push back 228 00:13:12,983 --> 00:13:16,366 Michael, if I how John particularly 229 00:13:16,733 --> 00:13:19,733 uses the Pharisees 230 00:13:20,633 --> 00:13:23,633 to push a theme to the reader. 231 00:13:24,200 --> 00:13:28,516 There's conflict with the Pharisees in, in all the Gospels that's built in, 232 00:13:29,566 --> 00:13:32,566 but I think John uses their characters 233 00:13:32,866 --> 00:13:37,816 especially well to push the reader to, to join in 234 00:13:38,216 --> 00:13:42,616 on some of the debates and discussions and to make a decision 235 00:13:43,250 --> 00:13:48,233 about what we see when we encounter these stories of Jesus. 236 00:13:48,600 --> 00:13:51,833 I think there's a different tone, because I think of the 237 00:13:52,800 --> 00:13:55,950 accusations that Jesus makes against the Pharisees, 238 00:13:55,950 --> 00:13:58,950 you know, whitewashed tombs, or he calls down, 239 00:13:59,933 --> 00:14:02,400 different sort of warnings against Jerusalem. 240 00:14:02,400 --> 00:14:07,216 I think what you have in John is a the Pharisees 241 00:14:07,216 --> 00:14:12,083 stand as a representative sample of those who are so close 242 00:14:12,450 --> 00:14:16,050 and spiritually as far away as you can possibly be. 243 00:14:16,050 --> 00:14:20,183 I think they're a warning sign out on this on the road of faith 244 00:14:20,633 --> 00:14:25,516 that look at these people who deny actual healing, 245 00:14:25,516 --> 00:14:29,833 that a man who could uncontroversial be 246 00:14:31,016 --> 00:14:34,016 be claimed as a miracle story. 247 00:14:34,200 --> 00:14:37,500 No, no one here asked after, you know, they confirm 248 00:14:37,500 --> 00:14:40,550 that this isn't some kind of dupe or switch, right? 249 00:14:40,550 --> 00:14:43,200 That this man was the one that they all knew to be blind. 250 00:14:43,200 --> 00:14:44,400 He's now healed. 251 00:14:44,400 --> 00:14:49,216 With that now settled, they move on to by what powers 252 00:14:49,216 --> 00:14:52,850 this Jesus doing this because he's clearly not doing it from God's power. 253 00:14:52,850 --> 00:14:57,500 They move on to the next thing that needs sort of sought after. 254 00:14:57,500 --> 00:14:58,166 And I think 255 00:14:58,166 --> 00:15:03,466 what's really telling about that is they deny the physical reality itself. 256 00:15:03,466 --> 00:15:04,016 And I think that's 257 00:15:04,016 --> 00:15:07,016 what makes his statement here in verse three so powerful, clinched. 258 00:15:07,200 --> 00:15:10,200 And yet he opened my eyes. 259 00:15:10,200 --> 00:15:15,600 It is that simple for a book that's all about metaphor and complex 260 00:15:15,600 --> 00:15:19,700 theology and and all of these nuances which we say over and over again, 261 00:15:20,183 --> 00:15:23,366 this book is also unbelievably simple. 262 00:15:23,366 --> 00:15:25,433 It's human. It's flesh and blood. 263 00:15:25,433 --> 00:15:30,150 This man, you can you can just imagine this moment where this man says, guys, 264 00:15:30,383 --> 00:15:33,383 I'm not here to debate theology with people. 265 00:15:33,466 --> 00:15:35,666 I'm here to tell you what happened to me. 266 00:15:35,666 --> 00:15:37,016 That's all I've got to say. 267 00:15:37,016 --> 00:15:41,850 I was blind now I see and by the way, the moment he does 268 00:15:41,850 --> 00:15:46,916 that simple reflection of what has happened to him, he's witnessing. 269 00:15:46,966 --> 00:15:48,450 He's discipling. 270 00:15:48,450 --> 00:15:50,450 He's inviting these Pharisees 271 00:15:50,450 --> 00:15:53,450 to question the assumption that they're coming to him with. 272 00:15:53,600 --> 00:15:56,633 I think that that's exactly what John wants us to see 273 00:15:56,633 --> 00:16:00,116 is that evangelism, sharing the faith, 274 00:16:00,316 --> 00:16:04,316 witnessing to what God has done in our life is not some complicated, 275 00:16:04,316 --> 00:16:08,366 messy, scientific process that you need to have a PhD to do. 276 00:16:08,450 --> 00:16:13,250 Now, it's very simply you seeing in your own life 277 00:16:13,250 --> 00:16:18,500 the things that God has done or is doing, and then you simply giving voice to that 278 00:16:18,500 --> 00:16:21,950 to other people as an invitation for them to see the same in their own life. 279 00:16:22,316 --> 00:16:23,216 That's it. 280 00:16:23,216 --> 00:16:26,750 John's not looking here in all of its nuances. 281 00:16:26,750 --> 00:16:29,750 John's not looking to make this more complicated. 282 00:16:29,750 --> 00:16:31,966 That is, I was blind. 283 00:16:31,966 --> 00:16:35,116 Now I see the character of the person 284 00:16:35,116 --> 00:16:38,700 who can make the world right when it's broken is enough for me. 285 00:16:38,966 --> 00:16:41,400 And and that's all that there is to it. 286 00:16:41,400 --> 00:16:43,283 Would you like to be his disciple, too? 287 00:16:43,283 --> 00:16:44,633 Or is this all in jest? 288 00:16:44,633 --> 00:16:47,150 Are you just after chasing windmills? 289 00:16:47,150 --> 00:16:52,400 And that's the question that the Pharisees will quite frankly not answer correctly. 290 00:16:52,616 --> 00:16:55,766 And the same question that we're tempted to answer the same way. 291 00:16:56,850 --> 00:16:57,800 Yeah, 292 00:16:57,800 --> 00:17:00,950 there is I mean, I think one of the takeaways here is that 293 00:17:00,950 --> 00:17:03,950 there is an obviousness to this story. 294 00:17:06,316 --> 00:17:07,966 There's oddness in it. 295 00:17:07,966 --> 00:17:12,533 Jesus makes mud for whatever that may be meant. 296 00:17:12,650 --> 00:17:17,066 And, and perhaps we're not sure any longer what it did or didn't mean. 297 00:17:17,450 --> 00:17:19,583 So we guess at that. 298 00:17:19,583 --> 00:17:22,050 But when it comes term to when it comes 299 00:17:22,050 --> 00:17:25,050 to the act itself, 300 00:17:25,166 --> 00:17:28,050 Jesus encounters a man 301 00:17:28,050 --> 00:17:32,933 who sin is blamed for his condition, and Jesus frees him of that condition 302 00:17:33,350 --> 00:17:37,333 while simultaneously declaring that it was not a sin, 303 00:17:37,950 --> 00:17:41,750 but that he, his life and and the moment 304 00:17:41,750 --> 00:17:45,266 he's in is an opportunity for the glory of God to be seen. 305 00:17:45,833 --> 00:17:47,933 And who can't see it? 306 00:17:47,933 --> 00:17:50,516 The self-righteous. 307 00:17:50,516 --> 00:17:52,366 Everyone else can see it. 308 00:17:52,366 --> 00:17:54,050 Even the blind man can see it. 309 00:17:55,816 --> 00:17:58,816 I know that he's from God, right? 310 00:17:59,366 --> 00:18:01,700 But those who refuse. 311 00:18:01,700 --> 00:18:07,466 And tomorrow, as this story comes to the conclusion, we're going to hear this 312 00:18:07,950 --> 00:18:12,616 pronouncement against blindness, and John will bring it all to kind of ahead 313 00:18:13,066 --> 00:18:16,066 as we see what it really means to see 314 00:18:16,100 --> 00:18:18,950 and and what it means to remain blind. 315 00:18:18,950 --> 00:18:22,700 Well, I just think this is a the I this may be my favorite chapter 316 00:18:22,700 --> 00:18:23,333 in the book of John. 317 00:18:23,333 --> 00:18:24,383 I think it probably is. 318 00:18:24,383 --> 00:18:27,316 It's an important word to make sure 319 00:18:27,316 --> 00:18:31,400 that you join us tomorrow, because it does come to a head. 320 00:18:31,400 --> 00:18:35,150 And that's not just a saying that you make. 321 00:18:35,550 --> 00:18:40,000 That's the reality of what John is trying to do is point us to the head. 322 00:18:40,166 --> 00:18:41,550 He's been taking us somewhere. 323 00:18:41,550 --> 00:18:42,316 Exactly right. 324 00:18:42,316 --> 00:18:44,866 And and the culmination of this story 325 00:18:45,950 --> 00:18:48,916 in a human sense, could simply be. 326 00:18:48,916 --> 00:18:51,833 And we might be tempted to think it's the human aspect. 327 00:18:51,833 --> 00:18:54,016 Like, look at this man who's got his sight back. 328 00:18:54,016 --> 00:18:56,700 Look at this man who's being mistreated by these Pharisees. 329 00:18:56,700 --> 00:18:58,350 I mean, these are real things. 330 00:18:58,350 --> 00:19:02,233 But John wants to show us and make sure to join us tomorrow 331 00:19:02,466 --> 00:19:06,050 to see how this comes together, because John wants us to see that 332 00:19:06,050 --> 00:19:10,733 this all rises and falls upon who Jesus is. 333 00:19:11,066 --> 00:19:14,066 And and your response to who Jesus is 334 00:19:14,400 --> 00:19:18,566 is 100% related to this massive turn 335 00:19:18,566 --> 00:19:22,433 that all of history has taken when God entered reality, 336 00:19:22,650 --> 00:19:25,950 when the light comes into darkness, 337 00:19:26,100 --> 00:19:29,933 the darkness is in its nature transform. 338 00:19:29,966 --> 00:19:32,100 It's change is chased away. 339 00:19:32,100 --> 00:19:34,966 And we're going to discover how that is lived out, 340 00:19:34,966 --> 00:19:39,150 not in theological, grandiose terms in real human lives. 341 00:19:39,150 --> 00:19:44,066 What happens when light and when darkness encounters the light? 342 00:19:44,066 --> 00:19:46,733 When the light comes into it, everything changes. 343 00:19:46,733 --> 00:19:48,833 And John is going to show us that. 344 00:19:48,833 --> 00:19:50,850 Don't miss it tomorrow. Yeah. Hope you can be with us.