Pastor's Sermon - March 15th, 2026 - The Fourth Sunday of Lent
John 9:1-7, 13-17, 34-39
Jesus encounters a man who was born blind. The disciples take the natural human approach to understanding the sufferings of this world and seek to find the blameable cause. “Who sinned that this man would be born blind? Was it him or his parents?” Now, we know that the only person that ever lived without sin was Jesus Christ, so surely the man and his parents sinned. However, Jesus rejects the assumption that the man’s suffering, specifically his blindness, is a direct punishment for a specific sin.
It would be easy in our worldly way of thinking to look at pains and afflictions in such a direct manner. As if to say, so-and-so took the Name of the Lord in vain, therefore, he was struck blind. Or, so-and-so broke one of the Ten Commandments, that’s why he’s in the hospital now, or that’s why he’s struggling financially, or that’s why he’s so burdened. God has gotten His righteous revenge on the sinner! God has dished out the one-for-one punishment for so-and-so’s sin.
After all, that Hammurabi’s code, right? That’s the way of the world. An eye for an eye. You do the crime; you do the time.
But it is not so with God. Jesus reveals a deeper truth to His disciples: this man’s blindness exists within a fallen world- in that sense it is the result of sin- but it is not the direct punishment from God for sins committed. Rather, this affliction is an extension of the world’s darkness from sin. And Christ promises, it is not for the man’s punishment. Rather, it is so that the glory of the Lord would be made manifest. It would be into this darkness of sin and death- into the blindness- that Christ’s Light- the light of the world- has come.
This blindness, which is so confusing to the disciples, is used clearly for Christ’s purposes and for the man’s good. This isn’t to say that the man’s suffering was pleasant. No suffering is pleasant. But the blindness would serve God’s purposes and show the man his inability to help himself. His inability to save himself. He would have to rely on Christ.
Our afflictions are the same. They aren’t ours because God has decided to punish us directly for sins committed. The punishment for our sins has already been paid in full. That was Jesus Christ on the cross. When God the Father forsook His Son to die on the cross, that was the direct punishment for sin. The cup of wrath was poured entirely out upon Christ. There’s no wrath left within the heart of God for Him to pour out, not even a drop, upon you or me. Instead, the sufferings of this dark and blind world are no longer to our harm, but for our good. God has worked good out of all things. Even the bad.
The Law shows us, through our sins, that we are in desperate need of salvation. Any delusion that we would have that we could save ourselves is only our spiritual blindness speaking. Fortunately, as we see in the case of this blind man, God does not leave us in our spiritual blindness. Rather, He asserts His Word- His righteous Law- which reveals plainly for us that we are doomed on our own and are needful of a savior. That Savior is the very Word of God made flesh. It is the very man who is speaking to the blind man.
Christ spits on the ground and merciful uses earthly means, combined with His powerful Word, to cure this man’s blindness. No doctor could explain this away. No rational man could come up with a reproduceable explanation. This is God at work. The healing is entirely Christ’s work and the man has nothing to offer toward it or for it.
Praise God that we can see ourselves in this blind man. Yes, we the ugly side reflects to us, too. In our sin, we are naturally blind. But the good side, the part that leads a man to go wild in rejoicing, is ours too! Christ comes to us in our blindness. We can’t earn His love or attention, we can’t compensate Him for it. But He comes nonetheless. And He uses earthly means to rescue us sinners as well. He combines His Word with water and with bread and wine for our forgiveness and salvation. He places His Word upon our simple tongues and within our ears. And by these means, we have our blindness lifted. No longer are we blind or ignorant to our God, but we have been called by the Gospel by the Holy Spirit, and we are now made to see. Our eyes are fixed on one Savior and one alone. Jesus Christ.
The world may mock us for our “blind faith.” But our faith is not blind. We see clearly. As the religious authorities revealed in the Gospel text. It is not the believers of Christ that are blind. It is the world. In their sight, they find themselves truly blind. And, by faith, it is us who have been pulled out of the blinding darkness, that actually see.
We are the ones, like the man, who seek out Christ. Why? So that we may believe in Him and worship Him. And in this worship, God comes to us with an enduring gift: life everlasting with our Lord. All for the sake of Jesus.
In Christ’s Name,
Amen.