Introduction

• This calls to mind for me a story about another beggar, who was sitting across the street from an artist’s studio. The artist saw him and thought he would make an interesting portrait study. So from a distance he painted this man, sitting by the road with a discouraged look, downcast eyes, a sad almost defeated look on his face. When he was finished, he took the portrait over to the beggar so he could look at it. “Who is that?” the beggar questioned. The portrait faintly resembled him, but it showed a person of dignity, sitting upright, bright eyes, a determined look on his face. The beggar said to the artist, “Is that me? I don’t look like that.” But the artist replied, “but that is the person I see in you.”
• Do you believe that Jesus sees soething greater in you than you can even see yourself?
  • I do, Jesus loves you. He created you and he is with you now by the power of the Holy Spirit
  • Today’s Gospel lesson is al abouyt sight, isnt’ it?
    • The man regains his sight while opeople with sight are shown to be rather blind to what’s really going on, don’t they?
  • Let’s get into this passage
    • This occurs in the chapter following the woman caught in adultery that we talked about two weeks ago,
      • During that discourse, Jesus calls himself the Light of the World and now he’s going to show it to be the truth,
    • John 9K1-2 – “As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. ² His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
      • This attitude reflected the belief that blindness was directly caused by sin, either of the parents or of the person hiself
        • You can imagine how this would;ve set someone up to live their entire lfie in shame, for either them or their parents were definitely sinners.
      • Jesus answers in ““Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.
        • Romans 8:28 – “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose”
        • Were going to get another story just like this in a few weeks, with the raising of Lazarus.
      • Jesus wants us to know that we don’t’ like in a world with karma at it’s core.
        • Karma is a a HINDU Doctrine that works like this – You get what’s coming to you
          • Good or bad, you determine
        • Christans believe in Grace
          • God chooses to forgive you for the bad things that you’ve done through the sacrifice of JEsud Christ on the Cross.
          • We don’t’ believe in karma as much as we’d like to.
          • The Bible is pretty clear about this
            • Sometimes sinners profit and the righteous get rained on.
            • Jesus Christ himself tells us that in the Gospel of Matthew.
          • So put karma oout of your mind.
            • Karma says: “You get what you deserve.”
            • Christianity says: “Jesus got what you deserve so you could get what you never earned.”

Return to the Story God Meets us in our Mess

• Jesus puts mud on the man’s face and gives him some direction
  • After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. ⁷ “Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means “Sent”). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.
    • The mud is an allusion to Genesis
      • We are formed from the mud, so to speak, Jesus is “recreating from scratch”
      • The pool name (sent) means that the man is now on aa mission whether he’s aware of it or not
    • A miracle, another sign that points to Jesus being exactly who he said he was, the light of the world
    • God often works in ways we don’t expect—through messy, uncomfortable means.
      • Jesus here was working with a man’s blindness, he’d been blind from birth
        • But now he’s doing something truly amazing
      • Your mess might actually be His method
        • Reflection:What mess in your life might be the starting point for a miracle?
          • PATTI M. STORY About getting MS and finding a whole new life ahead of her.