Blind at Birth - The Gospels - Bible in a Year with Jack Graham

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Let us pray. And he answered and said, whether he
be a sinner or no, I know not one thing.
I know that whereas I was blind, now I see
John nine twenty five. Jesus, As you move in my life,

(00:21):
I understand that there are people who are bent on
trying to hold me to my past condition. However, because
it is you who has healed me and transformed me,
I will stand boldly and proclaim your truth, even if
it means I may be thrown out of certain circles
and relationships. I declare that you came so that the

(00:44):
blind can see and receive new life, so that those
who are focused on traditions will be silenced because you
value faith than a humble in contrite, heart before pride,
and thank you for opening my eyes, Jesus. Thank you

(01:05):
for taking the time to sit and talk with me
when I felt so thrown out and abandoned by those
close to me. Through your power, Jesus, I now walk
with a new vision and a new outlook on life.
I once was blind, but now I see. Then I

(01:29):
have you to thank for Lord in Jesus name. Amen,
Listening to these daily prayers strengthens your relationship with God.
Continue hearing from the Lord by listening to today's Bible
in a Year, brought to you by Bible in a
Year dot com.

Speaker 2 (02:00):
At Birth. In our last story, Jesus defended a woman
caught in adultery from being stoned to death. She was
drug out into the public half naked for all to
shame her. Yet Jesus stood up to the religious leaders
and proclaimed that whoever was without sin could throw the
first stone. Since none of them had a rebuttal for Jesus,

(02:23):
they left and the woman was forgiven. Now we see
Jesus exposing the wicked hearts of the religious elite by
giving sight to a blind man. This young man would
be caught in the crossfires of the legalistic Pharisees and
the compassionate Christ. Inspired by the Gospels.

Speaker 3 (02:43):
Hello, and welcome to another edition of the Bible in
a Year podcast. Once again, this is Jack Graham. In
our previous episode, we heard how Jesus frustrated the plans
of religious leaders who wanted to trap him with a
choice to either follow the law of the Left of
the Law or simply ignore what was written in the
Law of Moses. Instead of playing their game, he challenged

(03:06):
them to evaluate their own sinfulness, and he exposed their
sin and then extended grace and forgiveness to a woman
caught in the act of adultery. Today we'll hear how
Jesus lovingly corrects the misconceptions of the disciples who seek
to understand why a young man was born blind. And
we'll see once again how the legalists attempt to trap Jesus,

(03:29):
but in doing so, they exposed their own heartlessness and
lack of love and compassion for people in need. Let's
listen now to the reading of God's word.

Speaker 2 (03:40):
The town of Capernium was bustling with life. Vendors set
up their shops in the marketplace streets. Men and women
went to and from their homes with their children. Jesus
looked at them with fatherly affection. Though not all of
them knew him, he knew all of them by name.
He knew their fears, dreams, and personality. It was his

(04:01):
absolute joy to serve them and ultimately die for them.
As Jesus and his disciples were passing through the streets,
they passed by a man who had been blind from birth.
He sat on a blanket on the side of the road,
holding out his hands for any form of kindness from strangers.
The disciples looked at the man with concern. Teacher, who

(04:22):
sinned to make this man born blind? Was it him
or his parents? Jesus stopped walking and turned to them.
He was upset at their question, for it revealed a
poor understanding of God's character. Neither he or his parents
have done anything wrong, Jesus answered. He turned to the
blind man and knelt down to him. This man is blind,

(04:45):
so that God's compassion might be displayed, he said. Jesus
picked up some dirt beside the man and spat in it.
He began to form clay out of the spit and dust.
As he was doing this, he spoke to the disciples.
Night is coming. In that time nobody will be able
to do the will of God. But for now it
is day, and we must use that time to help others.

(05:07):
As long as I am in the world, I will
be a light for all. Jesus finished molding the clay
in his hands. He took it and spreaded across the
man's eyes. Jesus helped the man to his feet and whispered,
go and wash your eyes at the pool of Siloam.
So the man went a few yards east and began
washing the mud out of his eyes. As he was

(05:27):
wiping his face, light emerged from the darkness. The all
consuming blackness was replaced with marvelous colors and shapes. The
man was healed from his blindness. The man passed right
by Jesus and walked away, since he did not know
the sight of him from before. As he was walking
the city streets taking in all the new images, people

(05:48):
began to notice him. Isn't that the blind beggar, they
asked themselves. No, it can't be, they replied. The man
heard them and said, you are right. I was the
blind beggar that sat by the road. The people were astonished.
How were your eyes opened? They asked. The man replied,
the man called Jesus made mud and anointed my eyes

(06:09):
with it. He asked me to wash it off by
the pool, and then my eyes were given sight. Where
is Jesus? They asked, How would I know? The man replied,
I did not see him before my sight was given
to me. Some of the skeptics brought the man to
the Pharisees, who had made themselves the enemies of Jesus.
The man stood before them, wondering why he was being

(06:29):
judged for being healed. However, it was the Sabbath, and
the religious leaders had made many laws preventing people from
doing any sort of work good or bad. That day.
The Pharisees lifted their noses high and asked, how did
you come by your new sight? The man sighed, as
I have said before, Jesus put mud in my eyes

(06:49):
and asked me to wash them off. When I did,
my sight was given to me. The Pharisees scoffed. They
argued amongst themselves whether Jesus had done anything good at
all since he healed the man on the Sabbath. They
turned to the man and asked, what do you think
about Jesus? Is he a sinner or a savior? I

(07:09):
believe he could be a prophet, the man said, without thinking.
This answer displeased the Pharisees. They did not want to
believe Jesus would do something so kind. They wanted to
villainize him, so they brought up the man's parents to
validate that he was indeed born blind. Was your son
in fact born blind? They asked the parents. Both the

(07:31):
mother and the father feared the Pharisees. They did not
want to answer, since they were known to throw disagreeing
people out of the synagogues. Our son is of age,
they said, you may ask him yourself. So the Pharisees
asked the young man again what he believed about Jesus.
The man paused for a moment and considered the question.

(07:52):
He closed his eyes to remove distraction. A single tear
fell from his face as he smiled. He looked up
to the Pharisees and said, all I know is that
I was born blind, but now I can see. The
Pharisees shook in their seats. What did he do to you?
They yelled, How did he open your eyes? The young

(08:12):
man was beginning to grow tired of their questions. He
answered and said to them, why do you keep asking me?
I have told you what he did. Do you ask
me because you want to be like him or become
his disciples. The Pharisees stood to their feet and scoffed.
Of course not, they exclaimed, we are disciples of Moses.

(08:32):
Only Jesus is a stranger. The man shook his head.
This is outrageous, he replied. You say he is a stranger,
yet he opened my eyes. You and I both know
that God does not do this sort of thing through
evil men. Never have you or I ever heard of
a mere man opening the eyes of someone born blind.
Yet here I stand before you. If Jesus was not

(08:55):
of God, I would not be here. You are a
mud born from hell. Well, the Pharisees yelled. They called
for the temple guards to seize him, and the man
was cast out from the courts. The young man was
tossed out of the synagogue into the stone streets. He
slowly raised to his feet and brushed the dust off
his clothes. He was happy to have sight, yet sad

(09:17):
at what he had seen. Even his own parents would
not defend him. He walked to the old curb where
he used to sit and beg. He watched the people
pass by him, wondering if all people looked different. Of course,
he did not know, since he had been born blind.
As he let his mind wander, a stranger sat beside him.
He looked at the young man with a warm smile.

(09:39):
In fact, it was probably the first smile he had
seen in his life. Do you believe in the Son
of God? The stranger asked, I wonder who he is.
I would like to believe in him. The young man answered.
The stranger nodded, you have seen him. It is he
who is speaking to you. The young man turned his
head quickly and observe the stranger's face. It was him, Jesus,

(10:04):
the man who had healed his blindness, the one and
only begotten son of God Lord, I believe. And the
young man fell at Jesus's feet and worshiped him. Jesus
propped him up and embraced him. I have come that
those who are blind might see, Jesus said, and those
that can see will become blind. Some of the Pharisees

(10:28):
passed by as Jesus spoke these words. They were riled
up by his statement and interrupted, saying, are we the
blind ones? They asked. Jesus did not answer for a moment.
He could see the concern lying behind their tough exterior.
If you were blind, you would not feel the inner
guilt you are feeling right now. But since you feel

(10:49):
the need to tell me of your sight, your blindness
obviously remains.

Speaker 3 (10:57):
Today's scripture begins in the public market, just as our
last episode did. This time, Jesus was with his disciples
walking through the streets on the Sabbath. They come upon
a young man who has been blind since birth. Seeing him,
the disciples pose a question to Jesus. But their question
is different from the pharisees. They are seeking to understand

(11:19):
and to find wisdom, not to trap the teacher, but
to truly understand why this man was in his condition.
They asked whose sin to cause this man to be
born blind, because this was the prevailing idea of the time,
sickness and disability happened as a direct result of some
sin or wrongdoing, as punishment from God for bad behavior.

(11:42):
The question of these men was sincere, but it revealed
a deep understanding of the true loving nature of God.
So Jesus gently corrected them, saying his parents had done
nothing wrong. He didn't mean that they were without sin,
of course, only that the blindness this man's blindness was
not a result of punishment for anyone's sins. In fact,

(12:04):
difficult as it was for this man, his blindness had
a purpose to show God's power and his compassion. The
truth is, we often can't answer the why question, why
something is happening, why something bad happens to bad people
or good people. We can understand, maybe why bad things
happen to bad people but why does it happen to

(12:26):
so called innocent people? When we face a why question,
something that we cannot answer, we should really begin to
ask the what question, God, What are you doing in
this situation? What is your purpose? What is your plan?
Jesus then spat on some dirt and rubbed it in
the man's eyes and told him to go wash in

(12:47):
the pool of Saloam. For the first time ever, this
man could see the world around him, a world that
up to that point had been filled only with darkness.
Just think how incredible, how amazing this would be to
see for them the very first time, a whole new
world it opened to this man. And when those who
knew him saw this man, they were incredulous. How could

(13:08):
this man born blind, who begged in the streets so
long now see? But he insisted, yes, it was him,
A man called Jesus cured his blindness. He had never
had a chance to see Jesus, though, so he could
not point him out to anyone. This man's story was
so amazing that they took him before the Pharisees, who,
rather than praise God for the healing of a man

(13:30):
in need, immediately began to find fault the man had
been healed on the Sabbath, and in their limited vision
of God, they believed that this was somehow against God's law.
The Pharisees could not agree, however, if this man named
Jesus was good or a sinner. So they asked the
beggar what he thought, and he told them he believed

(13:52):
Jesus was a prophet. This didn't help matters. They still
weren't satisfied, so they asked the man's parents if he
was true born blind. The parents refused to get involved,
for what reason we don't know. But in this moment,
the blind man found himself standing alone, being questioned by
these religious authorities. What was meant to be a joyous

(14:13):
day for him has somehow now become a battle, a
burden because of the lack of insight and compassion of
the legalists. But he stayed with his story because he
knew it was true, saying that all he knew was
once he was blind, and now he could see. What
a powerful testimony, and it was Jesus who gave him

(14:35):
his sight. So the Pharisees angrily sent him away, refusing
to believe in Jesus or this man, who to them
was nothing but a worthless sinner. Jesus then shows up.
He spoke to the man who did not know him yet,
since he had never seen his healer. Jesus asked him
a simple question, do you believe in the Son of Man?

(14:58):
We hear the man's response of eagerness to believe, as
he asked, where is this man that I might believe
in him? And Jesus reveals himself to the man, whose
response found in John nine point thirty eight, reflects perfectly
what our response should be to Jesus, and he said, Lord,
I believe, and he worshiped him. When we believe in Jesus,

(15:21):
we bow before him and give our lives to him.
When Jesus opens our blind eyes, our response is to say, yes, Lord,
I believe and I worship you. As for the religious crowd,
Jesus spoke to them saying that they were not blind
to their own sin. They knew it very clearly. Their
blindness was spiritual, a blindness that, though they failed to

(15:44):
realize it, Jesus was and is the only one who
can heal. Dear God, thank you for today's scripture and
the power of Jesus to open our eyes that we
may see you. Thank you that you came to this
earth to heal ours our spiritual blindness, because you are
the light of the world. In Jesus' name. Amen, thank

(16:08):
you for listening to today's Bible in a Year podcast.
I'm Jack Graham of Dallas, Texas. You can download the
Prey dot com app and make prayer and Bible study
the priority of your life. And if you enjoyed this podcast,
tell someone about it, pass it on. Let others know
because it is our desire to get God's word to
as many people as possible, as fast as possible. And

(16:31):
if you want to know more about what it means
to be a Christ's follower, what it means to be
a disciple of Jesus, then go to Jack Graham dot
org Jack Graham dot org and we have many resources
that are available for you there. God bless you.

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Blind at Birth - The Gospels

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Jack Graham

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