2026 03 15 - It’s All About Relationship - Hoffman

This morning, as we look at the story of the healing of the blind pain, I found it interesting that yes, it is about question of sin, but I think there's a more important issue in sin. That issue is what is our or anyone's relationship to God. Now I'd like to propose a slightly different way of looking at that in three different ways. That that relationship with our Lord is physical. That that relationship with our Lord involves our mind, our intellect, our knowledge.

And that that relationship with the Lord involves the very depth of our soul, our spirit with God. Now, why do I say that? Well, think about this for a moment and we'll talk more about it. Did not Jesus interact in all of those ways with the blind man? Don't we see how seemingly without faith it proved to confess Jesus as Lord?

I think that's what God really wants us to understand. Is this about relationship with him? So our text this morning is from the Gospel lesson. I'm not going to reread that. You just all heard it.

Excuse me. And hopefully you have it in your bulletin if you have that in front of you as well. So what I do want to focus on are a couple things. First of all, a reminder that the man was born blind from birth.

And then Jesus interacts with him in a physical manner. Made mud, put it on his eyes and told him to go wash. And when he did, his eyes were open and he could see.

And then he was questioned about that. And as he continued to be questioned about dad, he came to realize something, that it was amazing what had happened and that he began to believe that this is not an ordinary event. And it is like one of the prophets. He concludes by seeing Jesus again, actually seeing Jesus and confessing being his word. Let's pray.

Oh God, three times you help the blind man grow in relationship in your covenant of love. You repeatedly invite us to follow you and help us grow in our bodies, in our minds, and in our souls. So by your Holy Spirit, O Lord, empower us to be in complete relationship with you and with our whole being and both you and others through Christ. Amen.

Now I'd like to suggest, even though this for some may be a stretch, that our relationship with Jesus is as it was for the blind man, a physical relationship. You might say, okay, but I don't really. No, I have not touched. I have not seen Jesus. Well, just think about it for a moment.

The not seeing part was true for the blind man as well, was it not? He couldn't see, but Jesus touched him. Jesus directed him and instructed him to go and to wash and to be cleansed. Now, many commentators say that in that act it is a reminder that God is giving to us about our baptism. Remember that we as good Lutherans, understand that part of our sacrament is something of an earthly element.

So in your baptism, Jesus touches him.

In a little while, he will touch us again. Sharing of the body and blood of Jesus and the bread and the wine. And so there is that relationship here that is physical, even if we don't see it or feel it all the time. And it happened to the blind man. Now, I know.

I realize that John's Gospel focuses on sin. I get that, and I think you get that too. You see that because he repeatedly talks about it.

And that's the problem, isn't it? Sin? Did the blind man sin before being born? No. Was something his parents did that caused him to be blind?

No. All those. There certainly was credence to think that with the Jews. Why? Because God had instructed after giving the Ten Commandments, that the sins of the parents would be upon the third and fourth generation of each other.

But that's not what really God's talking about. He's talking about sin that we commit that we are part of. And he's talking about how we alone takes care of that sin in the relationship that we have. So I find it interesting that going through all of this and being questioned about it, the man finally says, the man they called Jesus made mud and spread it over my eyes and told me to go to the Hula Salome and wash yourself. So I went and washed, and now I can see.

He identifies Jesus as the man relationship has started. Now here's something else that I found interesting. Jesus interacts with this blind man, and then what kind of disappears, doesn't it? Where is it? What happens?

And in the interim, we have this continuing dialogue of the blind man with the people who saw him with the Pharisees, the leaders of the temple, and kind of coincidentally and side by side with his parents, although it doesn't appear that the blind man and his parents were together. Now, as we think about that, the blind man is brought before the Pharisees, and they asked him very carefully how all this happened, how did all this take place? And the blind man very carefully recounts to them what has happened, and he lets them know that Jesus has done all of this. But then the whole issue of sin comes into the discussion, and the blind man says, look at a man of sin. Do such things.

Raises the whole issue that this is God, not something else, not One else. And he proposes that before the Pharisees, they're not happy with that. And there becomes a division. And as you heard and as I saw, that division is this as we pick it up in verses 16 and 17, some of the Pharisees said, this man Jesus is not from God, for he's working on the Sabbath. Another said, but how could an ordinary sinner do such miraculous signs?

So there was a deep division of opinion among them. Then the Pharisees again questioned the man who had been blind and demanded, what's your upbringing about this man who happened to. Now, remember, he already said the one who happened was the man Jesus. Now listen to what he says.

The man replied, I think he must have been prophet.

And because of that statement, they eventually crawl over to temple. Now, what's happening with this relationship? What's happening with our relationship? What's happening is happening is very simple. It's growing, and it's growing totally and completely in the man, the blind man.

And then Tony isn't. Doesn't our relationship with Jesus grow as we learn, as we study, as we listen, as we read? And so Jesus comes to this man, not just physically, but now in his mind. And God comes to us too, in that way as well. What he gives to us is knowledge, knowledge about him and the saving grace.

He gives that to this blind man who now is beginning to realize that there's more to what happened than just being able to see.

So, as I said, as we continue with the story, the blind man, now he's thrown out of the synagogue, which in that day was considered excommunication. Now, I want you to think about this for a moment.

How often was that blind man actually in the temple?

How much faith did that blind man really ask?

I find it fascinating that they pick him out of something that he had not really been a part of.

And yet that's what happens. And how does that work in our lives? What works like this?

We know who Jesus is. And as we learn and grow, we come to realize the power and the mighty work that God does in our lives. Some of us can sit here and give examples of how that has happened in truly miraculous ways. And so as we go through this, we see that this relationship between the blind man and Jesus is changed. And so now Jesus comes back.

He hears that he's been kicked out and finds it. This is what happens in the dialogue between them. Jesus said, do you believe in the Son of Man? The man answered, who is he, sir? I want to believe in him.

You have seen Him, Jesus said, and he is speaking to you. Yes, Lord, I believe the man said, and he worshiped Jesus.

Now how do we live this relationship with God?

By reaffirming our baptism. By sharing in the body of the brother, by worshiping and praising, by also by sharing. As Jesus shared with the blind man. So we share with those and not get caught up in all of the Sabbath laws that by the way, were put into place between the time of the testaments by the rabbis, not from God's Word and share what God can do and does for us. So that now the body, the mind and the the soul are completely engaged in this significant relationship that Jesus not only gives to the blind man, but he gives to us and to all whom he calls and come to listen.

Amen. The peace of our God that is beyond our understanding keep us in accordance life everlasting. Amen. Word continues at this time as we confess our faith in the words of the Apostles Creed, let us rise and speak.

I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried. He ascended into heaven. The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty. From thence he will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Lord.