Forth Sunday of Lent

Sermon outline

Text: John 9:1-41

Title: The way to Siloam

Introduction: a story

Long time ago, a blind woman married a blind man. A young girl was working at their house. A blind woman was very curious about her husband's appearance and often asked a young girl how her husband looks like. Even though her husband was so ugly, a young girl could not disappoint the woman. So, she lied. She described her husband as the most hansom man in the world. And the blind woman was very happy. A blind man did same thing. The girl lied. So, the man was very happy, too. One day God listened to their prayer. They opened their eyes and could see each other. And they were not happy any more.

Transitional sentence:

Opening eyes does not mean always good. Sometime we cannot see the most crucial fact just because we see too many, or too much. In the text, a man is found who had seen nothing ever since he was born, but opened his spiritual eyes as well as his physical sight when he met Jesus. How could that miracle happen?

Text:

Jesus met the man born blind.

He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and applied the clay to his eyes, and said, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam."

Why did he say like that? He could heal his blindness immediately without saying and asking anything.

First, certainly, Jesus intended to break the Sabbath.

V14: Now it was a Sabbath on the day when Jesus made the clay, and opened his eyes.

The purpose of breaking the Sabbath might be to enlighten the Jews spiritually.

Giving peace to the born blind man revealed the true meaning of the Sabbath.

Second, the journey to the pool of Siloam meant the journey to the one who was sent by God to gain the light.

We can easily imagine how difficult it is for the born blind man to get to the pool of Siloam, where he never saw and maybe went to.

He had to ask for the way so many times. Especially when he made his way out of Jerusalem, the whole situation could become worse. He might fall and slip down many times. However, when he got there in obedience, he truly opened his eyes:

V7: And so he went away and washed, and came back seeing.

V38: And he said, "Lord, I believe." And he worshiped Him.

Application and conclusion

Many of us are still on our way to Siloam.

Sometime we lose the track and go astray. Sometimes we fall and slip down.

It is not easy journey to get to the place where we open our spiritual eyes.

However, let us think about this: many who think that their eyes are open do not take a journey.