and His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?And his disciples asked him, saying, Rabbi, who sinned, this man, or his parents, that he should be born blind?
10 sermons cite this verse
… But follow along with me in this incredible chapter of the Word of God. Now, as Jesus passed by, he saw a man who was blind from birth, and his disciples asked him, saying, Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. I must work the works of him who sent me while it is day. The night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. When he had said these things, he spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva. And he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. And he said to him, go, wash in the pool of Siloam, which is translated scent. So he went and washed and came back seeing. Therefore the neighbors and those who previously had seen that he was blind said, Is not this he who sat and begged? …
… bondage and God was about to make him free. But I want us to see what happens for us to be made free and what we need to do. I want you to go to John chapter nine, verse one through seven. I'm going to read the whole thing. And then I'm going to preach this word from my heart because I believe it's going to set some people free in this building. The title of this is Jesus heals a man born blind. He says, as Jesus was walking along, he saw a man who had been blind from birth. Rabbi, his disciples asked him, why was this man born blind? Was it because of his own sins or his parents' sins? It's got to be one of them. Jesus said it was not because of the sins of his parents or his sins. This happened so the power of God could be seen in him. We must quickly carry out the task assigned to us by the one who sent us. The night is coming and then no one, no one can work. He said, but while I am here in the world, I am the light of the world. Then he spit on the ground, made mud with saliva and spread the mud over the blind man's eyes. He told him, go wash yourself in the pool of Siloam. Siloam means sin. So the man went and washed and came back seeing. …
… As he walked alone, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, Rabbi, who sinned? This man or his parents that he was born blind? Jesus answered, Neither this man nor his parents sinned. He was born blind so that God's works might be revealed in him. We must work the works of him who has sent me while it is day because night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. and when he had said this he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man's eyes saying go wash in the pool of salome which means scent and then he went and washed and came back able to see the neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar began to ask is this not the man who used to sit and beg some were saying it is he others were saying no but it is someone like him he kept saying i am the man but they kept asking him then when then how were your eyes opened and he answered the man called jesus made mud spread it on my eyes and said go to salome and wash then i went and washed and received my sight the word of the lord for the people of god thanks be unto god come on somebody ought to give god praise for the word hallelujah but look before these three moments that are yours and mine i …
… And the disciples see him and they say, well, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? And Jesus says, it was not that he sinned or that his parents sinned, but that the works of God might be manifest in him. Same setup, right? Only there it was blindness. Here it's Lazarus is going to die. This is not sickness. This is death. So John underlines now For the third time The love of Jesus for this family Verse 5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus So John evidently really wants us to see I'm talking to you about the love of Jesus Galatians 2.20, you can see with the connection in my own mind. I love to be loved by Jesus. I want to know what it looks like, feels like. And John is telling me this is about the love of Jesus. So verse 2, this woman is the one who anointed Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. …
… from birth. And the disciples look at him and they ask Jesus a question, who sinned? Who sinned, this man or his parents that he was born blind? It's an interesting question. You mean to say you guys think that you can actually sin in the womb to be born blind? That was the question. who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind. Well, you'll be surprised to know that is exactly what they thought. They believed in something called prenatal sin. You can transgress in the womb. I don't know what you did in the womb. Maybe you kicked too much, but now look. It was nuts. Or, more typically, they thought their parents did something to deserve their child's condition. And that was just a wrong view of a text in Exodus chapter 20, where God said that he would visit the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation. They took that out of context, and they thought, well, that's what happened. …
So our 23rd president, 23rd president of the United States is a man named Warren G. Harding. He was president, sorry, 29th president of the United States. It was Warren G. Harding, president from 1921 to 1923. And apparently Warren G. Harding was a decent human being. but at the same time in the years since he's since he was president he has been consistently on the list of worst presidents that we've ever had and and apparently Warren G. Harding even thought this about himself there's a quote that he he said about himself he said I am not fit for this office and never should have been here so how did Warren G. Harding get elected if he wasn't fit for the office. He wasn't competent for the office. And even he said, I'm not competent for the office. How did he get elected? So Malcolm Gladwell wrote a book about the, well, he wrote a book a number of years ago called Blink. And in it, he tells the story. And this is his perspective. …
… It says, Jesus passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. So his disciples asked him, Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents? Listen now to the answer of Jesus. Neither he nor his parents sinned. It is so that the works of God might be made visible through him. Let me just say something brief about this. I think it's so important. Not many days ago, I was watching a replay of the movie Jackie, which is about Jackie Kennedy in the wake of the assassination of her husband. and it's a good kind of heart-aching movie. But she's in dialogue in the course of this movie with an elderly priest played by the great John Hurt, the English actor. And she's suffering, of course. Why did this happen? How could God have possibly allowed this horrible thing to happen to my husband, to me, to our family? And the old priest says, let me share a parable with you. And he tells this story, and he gives that answer of Jesus. …
… Here's a man blind from birth. The disciples say, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? And Jesus answers, it wasn't that this man sinned or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed. so with that sentence we make a transition to what's God doing with all of this pervasive providence. What's he doing? What's the goal? What's he up to? Why'd he make the world? Why is he running the world? And that text says, this man's blindness is to display the glory of God. That's what it says. That is the answer that the whole Bible gives more than any other answer. that the works of God might be displayed, that the glory of God might shine throughout the whole Bible. He planned that from before the creation. Ephesians 4, I mean 1, 4 to 6. God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world. He predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will. …
… through 25. And I'm reading from the New King James Version. It reads like this. Now, as Jesus passed by, he saw a man who was blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, saying, Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. I must work the works of him who sent me while it is day. The night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. When he said these things, he spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva. And he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. And he said to him, go wash in the pool of Siloam, which is translated scent. So he went and washed and came back seeing. Therefore, the neighbors and those who previously had seen that he was blind said, Is not this he who sat and begged? …
… So I'd ask the congregation to stand during the reading of the Word of God. Now, as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth, and His disciples asked Him, saying, Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? And Jesus answered, Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. I must work the works of him who sent me while it is day. The night is coming when no one can work, but as long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. And when he had said these things, he spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. And he said to him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, which is translated, scent. And so he went and washed and came back seeing. And therefore the neighbors and those who previously had seen that he was blind said, Is not this he who sat and begged? …