Light of the World

John 9

July 7, 1974 a woman pregnant with her second child had a vivid dream she would not be able to find her husband when she gave birth and that the child would be born with a heart problem, which there was no reason for her to believe.  On July 8th she did go into labor and as you might have guessed, by the fact that I shared this story, her husband was not found.  Thus when she was told by the doctors that her newborn girl would need heart surgery, her comfort came from that dream, that vision.  God was with her during such a hard time.

In this chapter, Jesus, is asked about the man born blind, if it was the man’s parents or his sin that caused him to be born blind.  Jesus clearly answers them “Neither.” Which is also confirmed by his statement in Luke 13:2-3:

He asked them, ‘Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did.

Jesus is clear that an ailment or suffering is necessarily connected to sin of a individual or their family.  I could not imagine my God would punish children because of their parents or grandparents, nor can I believe newborn know sin.  Yet within the Old Testament there are many times that the writers did attribute a military loss or the exile as a punishment from God.  Thus they seemed to believe that sins could cause punishment for others. 

Many of the prophets do talk about punishment for the entire chosen people for living in sin, however they do begin to understand that it is not about passing sin, but an individual.  A great example of this is when Ezekiel is warning that a punishment is coming and he says (14:14) “even if Noah, Daniel, and Job, these three, were in it, they would save only their own lives by their righteousness, says the Lord God.”  Showing that only an individual can save themselves, and Jeremiah goes on in chapter 31 to talk of a new covenant that will be on our individual hearts. 

The Pharisees don’t interpret sin as Ezekiel and Jeremiah are trying to demonstrate.  Their interpretation is rule oriented.  They call Jesus a sinner, because He healed on the Sabbath, not because of the miracle or even his identity claims.  They are concerned only about the rules for to them it is about the societal order not the relationship with God.  When Moses brought the covenant down to the people it was in response to their liberation that the people would follow the covenant with God.  Once powers and principalities got involved it became follow the rules to prove your in relationship with God.

One could follow exacting directions to get through a pitch black room or field, but it is much easier with light.  Jesus defines sin as not having a relationship with the one “who sent me.”  And that while it is day Jesus is the light of the world.  Jesus made it clear that ailments and suffering are not directly because of sin, but rather allow God’s work and glory may be known in the healing and comfort God provides.  For my mom in 1974 with that vision that comforted her and the miracle of the surgeons working on my sister with Jesus’ guidance and the miracle of the man being able to see because of Jesus opening his eyes, are signs of Jesus as the light.  If you are in relationship with Jesus you will be able to see the righteous path (no creed or rules as the only compass) but using only the rules of the power and principalities as your light one may say “we see,” and Jesus says “your sin remains” (v. 41). 

We need Jesus as our Vision, our Dream!

Confession

Psalm 32

If Jesus died for our sins why do we or should we confess our sins?  Is the question before us today.

To begin with we should look at forgiveness and I believe the best story of Jesus’ forgiveness and His authority to forgive sins is contained in Mark 2:1-12.  I will share you the scripture with some commentary. 

When he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. So many gathered around that there was no longer room for them, not even in front of the door; and he was speaking the word to them. Then some people came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. And when they could not bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him; and after having dug through it, they let down the mat on which the paralytic lay. (vv. 1-4)

Now this paralyzed man we assume wanted to be healed, and we are not sure if the man asked these four friends to bring him or if it was their idea.  I can even imagine that when they discovered the crowd, the paralyzed man was not the one to suggest trying the roof.  He probably asked to wait, but these four wanted to bring their friend to the great healer, and the surprise for them, When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, ‘Son, your sins are forgiven.’ Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, ‘Why does this fellow speak in this way? It is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God alone?’ At once Jesus perceived in his spirit that they were discussing these questions among themselves; and he said to them, ‘Why do you raise such questions in your hearts?was that Jesus forgave his sins

When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, ‘Son, your sins are forgiven.’ Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, ‘Why does this fellow speak in this way? It is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God alone?’ At once Jesus perceived in his spirit that they were discussing these questions among themselves; and he said to them, ‘Why do you raise such questions in your hearts? (vv. 5-8)

And this was especially shocking to the scribes, not because Jesus did not heal the man but because only God has the authority to forgive sins.  To be clear, Jesus does not relate the healing to his forgiveness of sins, for He separates the forgiveness from the healing.  Jesus even uses this separation to make His major point, He has the authority to forgive sins.  Which the scribes understood as an authority of God’s alone, but of course Jesus is of the Divine.

Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, “Your sins are forgiven”, or to say, “Stand up and take your mat and walk”? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins’—he said to the paralytic— ‘I say to you, stand up, take your mat and go to your home.’ And he stood up, and immediately took the mat and went out before all of them; so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, ‘We have never seen anything like this!’ (vv 9-12)

Jesus asks a great rhetorical question of the scribes.  Can you heal someone or say someone’s sins are forgiven.  And He demonstrates the healing to acknowledge His authority to forgive.  Jesus does hint that we can also say to someone your sins are forgiven, for we know God does.  God had in the Jewish religion as a yearly act, and Jesus does with His death and resurrection.

So we have established that God forgives, and since we are as the church the Body of Christ, we are to say on behalf of God that others are forgiven, but we still have not explored why we need to confess if Jesus died for all our sins.  I will share with you a chaplaincy experience that I believe helped me to understand the need of confession.  I was visiting a man who was hospitalized for days, and on the second visit he was sharing more about himself and his family.  He told me he had three children and the youngest was a “surprise.”  This youngest also has Downs Syndrome and he shared with me that this child had taught him so much about life, love, and living.  He emphasized how great it is to have her as a daughter for him.  He could have have simply shared it this way as a positive and hinting at his change of heart.  However, he started by telling me how much he had sinned as a man, as a father, prior to this child.  He was confessing to this to me as a representative of the church and thus God.  It was clearly a confession.  He though was already closer to all his children and his wife, active in his church, he was living a righteous life.  The confession was not needed to change his life, it was to accept greater the grace of forgiveness he already knew.

Jesus saved us all from sin, and forgave us all from the cross as He states, “Forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34).  We don’t confess to receive forgiving grace, we confess because it allows us to accept the grace as the Psalmist writes:

Then I acknowledged my sin to you,
   and I did not hide my iniquity;
I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord’,
   and you forgave the guilt of my sin. (Psalm 32:5)