Fourth Sunday in Lent (A)
March 15, 2026
Text:
John 9:1-41
“Some of the Pharisees… said to
him, ‘Are we also blind?’ Jesus said to
them, ‘If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, “We
see,” your guilt remains.’” (John 9:40-41; ESV).
I’ve always been struck by the irony
of this truth. If you know you are
blind, you see clearly. If you think you
can see, you are in utter darkness. It
reminds me of something C. S. Lewis said in Mere Christianity, about the
Great Sin (pride): “If anyone would like to acquire humility, I can, I think,
tell him the first step. The first step
is to realize that one is proud… If you
think you are not conceited, it means you are very conceited indeed.”[1]
If you think you are not
blind, it means you are very blind indeed.
That is the lesson the Pharisees had to learn. And us, too.
It’s striking, isn’t it? And it
bugs me. Because, how do I know whether,
at any particular moment, I’m blind, or I’m seeing? If I think I’m seeing, I’m blind. If I know I’m blind, I can see. But if I think I know that I’m blind,
and therefore see, I’m really blind, am I not? Now, I realize this gets silly rather
fast. But it's good that I’m
bugged about this. And you should
be, too. Because here’s the
point: As long as my eyes are on me (curved in on the self), whether
thinking about how relatively righteous I am as compared to others (the
Pharisees), or despairing that I can ever be righteous… as long as my eyes
are on me, I am totally blind. Ah,
but what happens when the Lord Jesus lifts my gaze from off of myself, and
onto Him? Yes. Now I see. My eyes have been refashioned. My blindness is healed in His
light. And so, I see that He is
my righteousness. He is my
salvation, my health, my life, my all.
Now, that reminds me of a quote often attributed to Martin Luther. I don’t think he actually said it… at least
not in these words (I can’t find the citation, anyway), but it makes for a good
internet meme, and it is beautiful, nonetheless: “When I look at myself, I
don't see how I can be saved. When I
look at Christ, I don't see how I can be lost.”
What does Jesus do for us in our
Holy Gospel? That, by the way, is a
clue for how to read the Bible profitably every time. Always be on the lookout, always be asking, what
is Jesus doing for me in this text? Well,
He does one kind of thing for me in His Law, holding before me His
righteous Commandments, His holy will, like a mirror, showing me what to do and
not to do, and how far I fall short of that, and so how hopeless is my
condition. And He does another kind
of thing for me in His Gospel (Gospel, not as in the Gospel of John, or
Matthew, Mark, and Luke, but in the narrow sense, Gospel as opposed to Law),
where He shows me what He does to rescue me from death and hell, pay my debt,
forgive my sins, credit me with His own righteousness, and give me health,
life, wholeness, and every blessing besides.
What is the Law in this
text? You are blind. And you don’t even know it. Not unless Jesus opens your eyes to it. That is what He does for the blind man. The man is physically blind, but in
this way, he is a picture of the spiritual condition of every one of us… As a side note to the Law of this text, the
disciples are blind to the fact that, when a person is physically blind, that
isn't because they committed some horrendous sin, or their parents committed
some horrendous sin, and now God is punishing them for it. As it happens, quite the contrary in this
case. And look how blind the disciples
are to their own pride when they ask this question (“Rabbi, who sinned, this
man or his parents, that he was born blind?” [John 9:2]). The implication is, “We weren’t born
blind, so we haven’t sinned as bad as this guy must have!” Lord, have mercy!... But the Pharisees think that, too. And we are tempted to think it, and
often do think it, even if not out loud.
About our own suffering, or that of others. Must be because of some sin. And so, what does Jesus do for the
Pharisees, and for us, by His Law preaching? He kills that self-righteous,
judgmental attitude in us. He kills
our pride. If you think this man
is physically blind, because he is a sinner, but you have your
physical sight intact, because you are more righteous than he… or more
to the point, if you think that this man must be spiritually blind, on
account of his sins, but you can see just fine, as evidenced by your
righteous life… it is clear that you can’t see a thing. Utter darkness. You are utterly blind. That is a jarring surprise to Pharisees and
good Christian folk alike, who are ever eager to remove specks from the eyes
of their neighbors, but have no clue about the beam protruding from
their own pupil. That is a description
of every last one of us. And Jesus
graciously kills that here in this text.
Let Him. Thank Him for
that. And repent. The Pharisees don’t repent. They hang on to their blind
self-righteousness all the way to death and hell. Let that not be you. Lose yourself in the Word of Jesus. Die to yourself. That you may find yourself in Christ, and
live.
What does Jesus do for us, though,
in the Gospel of this text? What
He does for the blind man, physically and spiritually, He also does for us…,
first spiritually, already now (born spiritually blind… original sin… now
baptized into Christ, created anew, eyes opened)… and then physically, and
perfectly, and completely on the Day of Resurrection. So, what does He do?
First of all, let it not be lost on
you that, as the Light of the world, He dawns on the man. He approaches the man in his blindness and
need. And what do we have, but this very
strange thing where Jesus spits on the ground, making mud with His saliva, and
smearing it on the man’s eyes. In fact,
the text says, He anoints the man’s eyes. He Christens them. Two things about that. First, see how our Lord uses means to
do His gracious work. That which
proceeds from His mouth, His saliva, which calls to mind His Word. And then also earthly elements, the
mud, which calls to mind His use of water, bread, wine, parents, pastors, and
other Christians… the means He uses for His gracious work on us. And secondly, what is this dirt work, applied
to the eyes, but a re-creation of what sin has deformed? He is redoing Adam, here. Just as the healing and restoration He
performs on us is really His work of New Creation.
Then, He sends the man to a
pool named Siloam. There is a
play on words, here. He sends the
man to Siloam, which means sent.
And there, the man is to wash, and be cleansed, and so see. And it is a Baptism, isn’t it? That is where Jesus brings us
to rebirth and regeneration. At the pool. At the font. That is where He pours out His enlightening Spirit
upon us, so that we see.
And then, the catechesis. Not just Catechism class, but the whole
life of the baptized Christian, pictured in the things that happen to this
man. That is, he grows in faith,
and in the knowledge of what has happened to him. At first, he doesn’t even know who Jesus is,
really. A prophet. Okay.
He just knows the facts of what happened. The Man, Jesus. The mud.
The sending. And behold, he who was
blind, now sees. But then, as he
meditates on what happened… particularly as he suffers some really terrible
things: The skepticism of the crowds, the questioning and abuse from the
Pharisees, and his own parents distancing themselves from his newfound healing
and faith (not to mention his expulsion from the synagogue, his home
congregation)… he grows to understand, and confess with his own lips, this
Man is from God. That faith and
confession is a gift to him. And
that is the gift we receive from Jesus, as we grow in the Word, and in
understanding, and in suffering. We confess
Him. And we endure in our
Christian faith.
And then, in the lowest moment, cast
out, rejected… there is Jesus.
With the man. Speaking to the
man. “Do you believe in the Son of
Man?” (v. 35)… “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you”
(v. 37). Yes… “Lord, I believe”
(v. 38). And so, the gift of clear
sight. A firm faith. A true confession. A new home with Jesus and the people
of God. And worship… “he worshiped
him.”
What does Jesus do for you in
this Holy Gospel of the man born blind? He
gives you to see your own blindness (the Law). And confess it. And repent of it. And He opens your eyes to focus on Him
(the Gospel). His love for you. His mercy upon you. His death for you. His resurrection and life for you. His continual coming to you in His Words,
united to earthly things. His washing
you. His feeding you. His re-creating you. His pouring out His Spirit upon you. His bringing you before His Father, righteous
and pure, healed and whole. Loved and
belonging. As God’s own child. If your eyes are anywhere but on
Jesus, you are utterly blind. But here,
Jesus lifts your gaze to Himself. And
you see! It’s a miracle. That is what He does for you in this text. In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X,
and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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