Signs that Show the Way - John 9:1-16

Signs that Show the Way - John 9:1-16

 Introduction

 As I said the other week: to get to Paris you follow the signs pointing to Paris. Following signs for Bordeaux will lead you in the wrong direction. Of course, following the signs for Paris from here as opposed to say from Lyon will take you on a completely different route altogether, but, you'll arrive in the same place. 

Of course, you may never had wanted to go to Paris until someone told you of a sight that made you think, I would really like to see that, and so, you go and you follow the signs. 

Also, on any route from say A to B there are different routes to be taken - motorway / main roads / back roads. Again, following the right signs will get you there - in the end! 

Similar, and I stress similar, is true in coming to encounter God in and through the Lord Jesus who is the Way the Truth and the Life and that no one can come to the Father except through him! He is the sign we have to ultimately follow to get to the right place! 

Some amongst us may never have had a time when they didn't have a faith in God through Jesus. Others, may have been total disbelievers with no intention or desire to know God and not even sure he exited - until - something happened that caused a change of direction in their lives. 

Then there all those who are in-between. 

Being in Christ and knowing God as Father in full assurance of all he has for us because of the completed and perfect work of Jesus is the important point for a life that should be being lived in Godly and holy living. 

From there we become increasingly his fruit bearing children and servants. 

I'm aware that many people only see Jesus as a man albeit special in some way or other and so I have been focussing very much on His divinity, although I hope I haven't under stressed his humanity. 

I have also stressed his victory through death and resurrection and the Kingly role he has and has fulfilled - he is the Christ / Messiah / King and rules now on the throne. 

I have felt this especially important given our current circumstances - we need to focus on 'who' is in charge and 'who' has the last say!!

 Jesus, of course, does not have two parts to him - one God, the other human. The two are indivisible. In other words he is a complete and whole person who is both God and in the image of God (Hebrews 1:3)

 As we journey to, and then celebrate, his birth there will be a change of direction - starting next week, whereby we look a little more at his humanity and see something of how he shares fully in what we are. Today I want to look, briefly, at the seven 'signs' John has chosen to highlight from the many Jesus did. 

We have only read one of these today, the sixth, but we have already, in looking at the 'I am' sayings touched on others and last week I used the first to lead us to see how Jesus brought the best wine and rocked the rest of the established order of old wine! 

So, we are treading a slightly different path to Christmas with some different scenery. You can decide if I have chosen a motorway or a back road - perhaps it even seems a bit like a cart track!!!

1. Recap - the Seven I am Sayings alongside the Seven Signs

 1. “I AM the Bread of life” (6:35, 41, 48, 51) 

2. “I AM the Light of the world” (8:12).

3. “I AM the Door of the sheep” (10:7, 9). 

4. “I AM the Good Shepherd” (10:11, 14).

 5. “I AM the Resurrection and the Life” (11:25).

 6. “I AM the Way, the Truth, the Life” (14:6). 

7. “I AM the true Vine” (15:1, 5) 

These are all printed in my notes, and now I look at the seven Signs which are also in the notes: 

1. Water Turned to Wine (John 2:1-11) 

2. Healing of the (Nobleman’s) Son Near Death (John 4:46-54)

3. Healing of the Lame Man at the Pool (John 5:1-17)

4. Feeding of the Five Thousand (John 6:1-15) - cp I am number 1 

5. Walking on the Water (John 6:16-21)

6. Healing of the Man Born Blind (John 9:1-41) 

7. Raising of Lazarus from the Dead (John 11:1-47) cp I am number 5 We note that most, and maybe all, of the 7 I am sayings tie into actions of the Lord God in the OT and so invite us to see that in Jesus God is acting in ways consistent with what God has done in the past. 

Beginning with this emphatic 'I am', clear in the Greek, he is linking to the great I am of Exodus 3:14 to Moses - the Lord revealing his name - YHWH. Jesus is not beating about the bush and the 'I am sayings' say who he is and in that we see he is mirroring the image and work of God - back to Hebrews 1:3. 

2. The Point of the Signs 

By contrast, the signs in fulfilling their purposes as signs, show who he is. They still point to the fact that Jesus is the great I am. 

At one and the same time they echo OT prophecies about what the Lord would do when he arrived and we read a short part of Isaiah 61 and all of Isaiah 35. 

From Isaiah 61: to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, 

From Isaiah 35: [5] Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. [6] Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy. 

    These are the 'sort of things' the Messiah was expected to do from a bible standpoint and these are the sort of things we see Jesus doing, and the healing of the blind man, in John 9, is one example which also indicates in its wider context the need for all eyes to be opened to see Jesus. In fact, the anomaly, which becomes clear later on in the passage, is that the Pharisees are the ones who remain blind as to the true identity of Jesus whilst the man who was blind sees and worships Jesus as the Son of Man / Messiah (9:38)! 

But of course, there is more: He brings the best - water to wine - and therefore supersedes the old which cannot be contained by the new! People are set free from captivity - illness - the nobleman's son, is a very interesting healing as it is without Jesus going to his house and with Jesus challenging people about wanting to see signs and wonders! 

Then there is the man at the pool who is healed and also released from some form of mental captivity. The Lord fed the Israelites in the wilderness with manna (bread from heaven) and Jesus fed a crowd on a deserted hillside - then soon, he declares 'I am the bread of life'. 

The raising of Lazarus, the final sign and which anticipates his and our resurrection, is again linked, as we considered, to the I am saying of the resurrection and the life. 

Because I only want to summarise all this I think it is helpful to see how Jesus answers John the Baptist when he sent his disciples to Jesus because of a lack of clarity in his mind as to whether he had got it right about Jesus as the Messiah: 

Matthew 11:2-6

[2] When John, who was in prison, heard about the deeds of the Messiah, he sent his disciples [3] to ask him, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?” [4] Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: [5] The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. [6] Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.” 

For some reason, perhaps he was a bit caught up with current ideas that the Messiah would free the Jews from Roman rule, John couldn't quite get his head around what Jesus was, and what he was doing and saying, it didn't quite square with what he expected of the Messiah, so, he did the sensible thing and asked! Excellent! 

When we don't understand we can ask for our eyes to be opened! Which is just what Jesus does, he invites him to look and see him from scripture. Jesus' reply, which echoes our two OT passages, invites John to see that this is what should have been expected of the Lord's anointed, the Messiah, and that it is exactly what he is doing - and what's more, he is doing more!! 

He fulfils and exceeds all expectations. Do you allow him to do the same for you, do we as churches and chaplaincies, do the same? Expect him to do more? 

His action, summed in John's seven signs, point to who he is - the Messiah and also the Lord who is to come. John the Baptist, in picking up Isaiah 40 accepted the theme of preparing a highway for who? The Lord - YHWY. Jesus is saying, 'you got it right John (the Baptist), look and see, it's OK'. Well done! Task complete. 

One sign stands out and apart - walking on the water which can be linked to the stilling of the storm. The Jews were not mariners, some were fishermen, but they didn't like big open seas or even rough little seas! In the OT, it is the Lord who rides the storms and is supreme over all violent and rough elements in the natural world. It is the spirit of God who hovers over the unformed world's waters in Genesis 1 before the full act of the variety of creation comes into being. When God speaks to Job (38ff) he points to his sovereignty over the winds, the seas and the snow - as well as so much more. 

There are many references in the Psalms to the Lord and winds and rain and waters and waves and that He is over them all, as indeed, He is 'overall' whether people like it or not. Agreed? 

The reality is, there is no chaos in the created order for the Lord - and Jesus shows the same when he walked on water and stilled a storm - it is part of His domain! He is the Lord. 

The other signs point to other areas of his overall sovereignty as Lord. 

Conclusion

As we close a few things to consider: 

• The Lord's sovereignty over your / my life and all aspects of it! Your permission and submission to his sovereignty and will. Hmm? Actually, this is not a little thing, but is central to being a disciple and follower of Jesus. 

• By extension, when we go to our Father in prayer in the name of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit do we see ourselves as in and relying on the King of creation?

 • How we and the church might be 'downgrading' Jesus and the Christian message and so be pulling the teeth of the gospel, which in fact is the whole bible account.

 • How we look at Jesus, the baby, as we approach sharing the celebration of His birth. Too many miss the dynamic of what is happening and what God is doing! To that, we will return but, not this week!