“I See,” Said the Blind Man – March 15, 2026, the Fourth Sunday in Lent

Isaiah 42:1-13, John 9:1-34
March 15, 2026

As I begin, let me explain this sermon title.  “‘I See,’ said the Blind Man.”  It’s sort of a pun.  But it actually comes from a slightly longer pun, which goes, “‘I see!’ said the blind man, as he picked up his hammer and saw.”  It’s one of those little “play on words” like, “I dropped the toothpaste” he said crestfallen.  Or my personal favorite.  “Accidents will happen,” said Captain Hook offhandedly!

Ok, now that I’ve distracted you completely from our story in John, let’s get back to it!  And as we do, let me point out that this story is yet another one that’s told only by John.  Or at least one that’s told only by John in the form of a complete story.  Here again, it’s an entire chapter!  John tends to give us his stories in entire chapters!  But this wasn’t the only time Jesus gave sight to the blind.  And, by the way, that’s another thing attributed to the Messiah in prophecy!  Isaiah wrote, “Then the eyes of the blind shall be open, and the ears of the deaf unstopped.” (Isaiah 35:5)

Well, in this story, Jesus gave sight to a man who was not just blind, but who was blind from birth!  This man had never been able to see.  (Close your eyes for a moment.)  It’s hard for us to imagine what that would be like, living always in a darkened world, with no reference to anything visual, not even knowing what visual looks like!  And then suddenly, being able to see!

As I’ve said it before, I think sight is the most amazing and miraculous of all the senses!  The retina of the eye is the thinnest of membranes.  If you could hold one in your hand, it would feel like a thin, fragile piece of cellophane.  Yet that thin membrane is responsible for the miracle of sight!  And I think it is a miracle!  It’s proof of God’s creation!

We all take pictures now with our cell phones.  And we do so without even thinking about the tiny sensors in the little cameras that pick up the images and convert them to something we can see and store – like our retinas.  Maybe that gives us a little better sense of what God created within us that gives us the ability to see!

And that’s a good thing,  because we depend on sight more than any of our other senses.  I once heard it said that something like 80% of all the inputs to our brains come through our eyes.  That’s why our memories are so visual.  They’re like that picture “library” on our phones!  As you know, I’m always asking you about your “mental images!”  And I’m always trying to get you to “tweak” them!

I know I talk about this a lot, but I love thinking about it!  Because as you know, I’m a “poster boy” for Lasik surgery!  It’s one of the things that makes me believe that there are such things as “medical miracles.”  I’ll never forget that day.  I couldn’t see a thing afterwards.  The next morning, I could see a little, but everything was still very fuzzy.  But then, as the day went on, my vision started to clear.  And it got sharper and sharper!

That’s what I think about as I read again this story from John.  Here was this man who had never seen, had never experienced the sense of sight at all, and then Jesus gave that to him!  But of course, it didn’t end there.  Because, in performing this great miracle, Jesus found himself at odds with the pharisees –again!  The animosity between them was growing worse!

The paragraph heading in my Bible says, “The Pharisees Investigate the Healing.”  And that they did.  Because it was their job.  They were supposed to figure out and interpret any unusual things for the people.  But of course there was that animosity with Jesus!  And so, as incredible as it seems to us, they took offense at this great miracle!

So, they “investigated.”  They asked the “formerly blind man” what had happened.  He’d already told the neighbors.  And it was so incredible that some of them refused to believe it!  Now he told the Pharisees what happened.  And notice, it was a simple answer he gave them.  “He put clay on my eyes, I washed, and now I see.”  Simple, factual – “Here’s what happened.”

But it wasn’t so simple.  Because it was the Sabbath, and in making clay to put on the man’s eyes, Jesus was doing “work,” and therefore he was breaking the Sabbath law!  And as incredible as it is for us, that they took offense at this miracle, it’s even more incredible that their offense is centered around, what we might see, as a “nothing” of an action!

But let me ask you – and I’ve always wondered this about this.  Did Jesus have to spit on the ground and make clay in order to heal this man?  Think about it.  We know that Jesus healed sick people from a distance!  We know he gave sight to others with just a touch!  So, did he have to make the clay at all?  I don’t think so!  So, why did he?

Well, maybe Jesus was trying to heal more than one kind of blindness that day.  Maybe he was trying to heal the Pharisees’ blindness, too!  Maybe he was trying to heal their understanding of the law that they so vigorously enforced.  It had become ridiculous how they had meticulously interpreted and enforced that law among the people.  And Jesus pointed that out.  One of my favorite statements he made about that, was when he accused them of “straining a gnat and swallowing a camel!”  Do you remember that?  Anybody know any camel swallowers?  Well, he says a lot more about them here, which we’ll see in a minute.

In the meantime, they continued to “investigate.”  They went to the man’s parents, and asked them what happened.  And John tells us that they were intimidated!  They were frightened!  They didn’t want to get involved because they were afraid of being “put out of the synagogue.”  That’s what it says here.  And that was a big thing!  So they deflected the Pharisees’ question.  They said, “He is of age, ask him.”

So they do!  They go back to the man.  And notice, when they do, they start trying to take Jesus out of the picture.  Look what they say to the man.  “Give God the praise.  We know this man Jesus is a sinner.”  In other words, “God did this for you!  Don’t try to say it was Jesus!”  And again, the man keeps his response simple and factual.  “I don’t know if he is a sinner or not.  All I know is this.  I was blind, now I see!”

Do we sometimes complicate faith?  Do we sometimes have that lack of vision like the Pharisees’?  Do we sometimes step away from, or explain away, simple belief – because it’s uncomfortable to us?  Many people in our world do.  Sometimes the simplest statement of faith can have the most profound impact on our lives.  “All I know is this.  I was blind, now I see.”  This man wasn’t intimidated.  He was so overjoyed with being able to see, that the Pharisees and their law and their feelings about Jesus didn’t matter to him.

Well, of course the Pharisees couldn’t leave it at that.  And by the way, doesn’t it now seem like this story is more about them than the man born blind?  I think it does.  And I love this next part!  They ask the man again, “What did he do?  How did he open your eyes?”  Maybe they were trying to drive home their point about him breaking the Sabbath law.  “Tell us what he did!”  Maybe now the man would understand.  Maybe now he would see what Jesus did wrong!  But the man counters.  He says this.  “I’ve told you already and you wouldn’t listen.  Do you want to hear it again?  Do you too want to become his disciples?”  Can you imagine us saying that to people who enforce the law in our world?

Now it gets good!  The Pharisees shoot back, “You are his disciple.  We are disciples of Moses!”  “And we know God worked through Moses.  But we don’t know where this man is from.  We don’t know where he gets his power!”  In other words, “We do not believe this man has come from God!”  So then the man gets in the real zinger here!  “This is a marvel!” he said.  “You – the religious leaders of Israel – don’t know where he comes from or where he gets his power, yet he opened my eyes!  He gave me sight!”  And while they were probably seething over that one, the man finished.  “No one has ever heard of a man born blind receiving sight.  If this man were not from God, there’s no way he could have done this!”   Once again, his answer is simple, factual, and very logical!  And how did they respond?  They gave him one of their lovely condemning statements!  They said (probably yelled!) “You were born in utter sin, and yet you would teach us?”  And they cast him out!

Well, that’s when Jesus steps back in.  He finds the man and he asks him, “Do you believe?”  and the man says, “Yes, Lord, I believe.”  And here Jesus makes this statement about the Pharisees.  He says, “For this I came into the world, that those who are blind may see, and those who see may become blind.”  What a fitting and powerful comparison between this man and the Pharisees.  And they heard what he was saying!  And they ask, “So, are we blind?”  And Jesus answers, “If you were blind you would have no guilt in this.  But since you say ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.”  And the paragraph heading in my Bible says, “Spiritual blindness.” 

As I said, Jesus made the clay in an attempt to heal, not just this man’s blindness, but the Pharisees’ blindness as well.  But as it turns out, the only thing he was able to do with them is to point out their blindness.  And he would talk about that a number of times in the Gospels, my favorite of which was when he accused them of being “the blind leading the blind.”

So what about us?  Where do we find ourselves in this story?  There are lots of characters here that we can identify with!  Are we like the neighbors, who knew this blind man all their lives, who saw him begging, because that was his only means of survival?  But do we believe the miracle?  Or are we skeptical?  Are we like the parents?  We’d like to believe, but we’re intimidated by the pressure and the judgment of the world around us.  Or are we like the Pharisees?  Do we overcomplicate the faith, and shy away from the simple and profound beliefs about Jesus?  As it’s been said, there are none so blind as those who refuse to see!

As we move through Lent toward the cross, may we remember that Jesus didn’t just open blind eyes.  He opened the way for us to see God’s grace and love!  So let’s keep thinking about this story, as we think about the love and salvation Jesus has brought us.  And let us maybe get back to that simple, practical, and powerful faith.  Maybe let us remember the old song that says, “We once were lost, now we’re found; we were blind but now we see; we were dead, but now we live!”

Prayer

Eternal God, help us to see with your eyes.  Help us to remember all that you have done for us.  And help us to have the joy of a simple, yet profound faith in Jesus, who you sent so that we can see your truth, and that we may have life in his name.  For this we pray in his name, Amen.