Jesus has the power to do the unexplainable to overcome suffering...

Last week, we were looking at a section of an account of Jesus life that is recorded for us in the Bible called the gospel of John. Friday, we looked on as a man who had never read the Bible, theologically schooled those who considered themselves experts in the Bible. We looked on while the self righteous religious people were interested in doctrinal debates and aligning themselves with Moses, the man who was born blind was more focused on what Jesus had done that was otherwise unexplainable apart from God. Today, we will jump back into this section of the gospel of John and see how the self righteous religious people responded to being schooled in John 9:34:

 They answered him, "You were born entirely in sins, and are you teaching us?" So they put him out.

John tells us that the self righteous religious people, who were now embarrassed after being theologically schooled by an uneducated blind man, attacked the man as being blind as a result of being someone who, like Jesus, did not measure up to God’s standards and was an outsider who was opposed to God.

You see, just like the disciples earlier, these self righteous religious people assumed that bad things happened to bad people. And as a result of that assumption, John tells us that they kicked the man that had been miraculously healed by the Son of God out of the church that was supposed to point people to God. Because that is what self righteous religious people do, isn't it? We see how Jesus responded to what had happened in verse 35:

 Jesus heard that they had put him out, and finding him, He said, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" He answered, "Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?" Jesus said to him, "You have both seen Him, and He is the one who is talking with you." And he said, "Lord, I believe." And he worshiped Him. And Jesus said, "For judgment I came into this world, so that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind."

John tells us that Jesus, after hearing that the man that he had healed had been kicked out of the church that was supposed to point people to Him, responded by once again taking the initiative in order to pursue Him. Upon finding him, Jesus asked the man who had been born blind a simple but powerful question: "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" In other words, Jesus is asking this man if He had placed his trust in God’s promise that one day a rescuer, a deliverer, a Messiah, would come to bring the Jewish people back to God and back to prominence in the world.

Notice the man’s response: "Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?" Remember, at this point this man had not seen Jesus. He had heard Jesus voice; he had felt Jesus hands upon his face, but he had not seen Jesus. But this man wanted to trust in the man that God had promised to send. This man wanted to trust in the man that he had not yet seen but that had done the unexplainable to him.

And then this man who had been blind heard the following: "You have both seen Him, and He is the one who is talking with you." John tells us that the man who had been healed from his physical blindness responded by basically saying “I trust in you” and then fell to the ground in worship of God in a bod, who unexplainably brought rescue and healing from a lifetime of suffering.

Jesus then proclaimed to the crowds that had gathered around Him that this was the reason why He came to humanity. Jesus proclaimed that He came to humanity so that God would be revealed and proclaimed to those who had not previously been able to see God because they were spiritually blind. And Jesus came to humanity so that those who thought that they were insiders with God through their own religious activity and had rejected Jesus would be revealed as being blind to the things of God. John then concludes this section of his letter by revealing the response of the self righteous religious people in verse 41:

Those of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these things and said to Him, "We are not blind too, are we?" Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would have no sin; but since you say, 'We see,' your sin remains.

John tells us that the self righteous religious people responded to Jesus explanation for His entry into humanity with a defensive question: "We are not blind too, are we?" They basically asked Jesus “so are you saying that we are spiritually blind?”

 Jesus response to their question, if communicated in the language we use in our culture today would have sounded like this: “If you had been previously blind to the things of God, you would be without sin because would have received the forgiveness of sin as a result of trusting in Me. But because you claim to have spiritual sight when it comes to God but reject Me, you reveal that you are actually spiritually blind and remain in sin”.

Jesus point is that those who claim to have spiritual sight apart from Jesus will be shown up for the blind people that they are, while those who are spiritually blind to their selfishness and sin and need for forgiveness, will through Jesus receive the ability to see their need for forgiveness and the relationship with God that they were created for.

And it is in this event from history that that we see revealed for us a timeless truth when it comes to Jesus. And that timeless truth is this: Jesus has the power to do the unexplainable to overcome suffering. Just as it was with this unexplainable activity involving a man who had suffered his entire life without sight, just as it has been throughout history, Jesus has the power to do the unexplainable to overcome suffering.

You see Jesus, in doing the unexplainable, was providing a sign that was designed to reveal and point people to something significant about who He is and what He came to earth to do. And that sign was that Jesus has power as God to intervene and act in a way that overcomes suffering. Jesus has the power as God to alleviate suffering, both physical and spiritual.  Jesus provides the sight that helps people see God and their need for Him. And Jesus works through suffering, and our response to suffering, to make much of Him and point people to Him.

So here is a question to consider: Do you assume that bad things always happen to bad people and good things always happen to good people? Do you believe that Jesus has the power to do the unexplainable to overcome suffering? Because as we have seen this morning, Jesus has the power to overcome suffering and Jesus uses suffering and our response to suffering to point people to Him.