John 9-10: Not a lack of evidence

We read John 9 and John 10 and track how a clear miracle turns into a courtroom-style interrogation and a line-in-the-sand choice about who Jesus is. We end by challenging the modern demand for proof and asking whether the real barrier is missing evidence or an unwilling heart. 
• John’s purpose for writing: knowing and believing Jesus is the Son of God 
• The disciples’ question about suffering and Jesus reframing it around God’s work 
• The healing of the man born blind and the simple power of firsthand testimony 
• Sabbath controversy and how rule keeping can block compassion 
• Fear of being cast out and the social cost of confessing Christ 
• Spiritual sight versus spiritual blindness and Jesus’ blunt diagnosis of pride 
• Jesus as the door and the good shepherd, abundant life and real protection 
• “My sheep hear my voice” and what it means to belong to Jesus 
• A practical question for skeptics: evidence problem or heart problem 
• Resources to explore Christianity more deeply: The Case For Christ and Mere Christianity 

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Transcript

Jesus Heals A Man Born Blind

Neighbors And Pharisees Investigate

SPEAKER_00 0:11

Hey, this is the Out Loud Bible Project Podcast, and this is Mike. We're reading through the book of John. Do you like the book of John? Every book, and I'm not just talking about books of the Bible, but every book has a reason that it's written, right? Like the author wants to communicate something or or have you, the reader, get something from it, right? They have some goal in mind, and John's goal in writing this book is that you know who Jesus is. So John includes a lot of unique stories and conversations that the other gospel writers don't include, and a lot of them serve the purpose of trying to explain or prove that Jesus is the Son of God. Whether it's Jesus in a conversation with some religious leaders where he's kind of debating them and proving that he is the Son of God, uh, not in the proofs that they want, but in all the proofs they need, frankly, uh, or other people's testimonies, whether it's John the Baptist or a man born blind here, as we're going to read in today's section. So uh really great study, the book of John. If you wanna, if you want some real proof, if you want some real substance as to like who is Jesus and and how how is Jesus God, what does that what does that even mean? And we can't understand to the fullest, but this book is here so that you may understand, so that you may believe that Jesus is the Son of God. So let's keep reading John chapter 9 and chapter 10 today in the New English Translation. Now as Jesus was passing by, he saw a man who had been blind from birth, and his disciples asked him, Rabbi, who committed the sin that caused him to be born blind, this man or his parents? Jesus answered, No, neither this man nor his parents sinned, but he was born blind, so that the acts of God may be revealed through what happens to him. We must perform the deeds of the one who sent me as long as it's daytime. Night is coming when no one can work, and as long as I'm in the world, I am the light of the world. And having said this, he spat on the ground and made some mud with saliva. He smeared the mud on the blind man's eyes and said to him, Go wash in the pool of siloum, which is translated sent. So the blind man went away and washed and came back seeing. Then the neighbors and the people who had seen him previously as a beggar began saying, Is this not the man who used to sit and beg? Some people said this is the man, while others said no, but it looks like him. The man himself kept insisting, I am the one. So they asked him, Well, how then were you made to see? He replied, Well this man called Jesus made mud, smeared it on my eyes, and told me go to Saloam and wash. So I went and washed, and I was able to see. And they said to him, Where is that man? He replied, I don't know. They brought the man who used to be blind to the Pharisees. Now, that day on which Jesus made the mud and caused him to see was a Sabbath, so the Pharisees asked him again how he had gained his sight, and he replied, He put mud on my eyes, and I washed, and now I'm able to see. Well then some of the Pharisees began to say, Well, this man is not from God because he doesn't observe the Sabbath. But others said, Well, how can a man who's a sinner perform such miraculous signs? And thus there was a division among them. So again they asked the man who used to be blind, What do you say about him since he caused you to see? Uh he's a prophet, the man replied. Well now, the Jewish religious leaders refused to believe that he had really been blind and had gained his sight, until at last they summoned the parents of the man who had become able to see, and they asked his parents, Is this your son whom you say was born blind? Then how does he now see? So his parents replied, We know that this is our son and that he was born blind, but we don't know how he's now able to see, nor do we know who caused him to see. Ask him, he's a mature adult, he'll speak for himself. His parents said these things because they were afraid of the Jewish religious leaders, for the Jewish leaders had already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus to be the Christ would be put out of the synagogue, and for this reason his parents said he's a mature adult, ask him. Then they summoned the man who used to be blind a second time and said to him, Promise before God to tell the truth. We know that this man's a sinner. He replied, I don't know whether he's a sinner. I do know one thing, that although I was blind, now I can see. Then they said to him, What did he do to you? How did he cause you to see? He answered, I told you already and you didn't listen. Why do you want to hear it again? You people don't want to become his disciples do, do you? And they heaped insults on him, saying, You're his disciple, we're disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, we don't know where this man comes from. Well the man replied, Well, this is a remarkable thing that you don't know where he comes from, and yet he caused me to see.

unknown 5:31

Hm.

The Good Shepherd And The Door

Leaders Demand A Clear Claim

Proof Versus Heart Check

SPEAKER_00 5:32

We know that God doesn't listen to sinners, but if anyone's devout and does his will, God listens to him. Never before has anyone heard of someone causing a man born blind to see. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing. They replied, You were born completely in sinfulness, and yet you presume to teach us So they threw him out. Well Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, so he found the man and said to him, Do you believe in the Son of Man? The man replied And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him? Jesus told him, You've seen him. He's the one speaking to you. He said, Lord, I believe and he worshipped him. And Jesus said, For judgment I've come into this world, so that those who do not see may gain their sight, and the ones who see may become blind. Some of the Pharisees who were with him heard this and asked him, We're not blind too, are we? Jesus replied, If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin, but now because you claim that you can see, your guilt remains. I tell you the solemn truth, the one who doesn't enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs in some other way, is a thief and a robber. The one who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. The doorkeeper opens the door for him, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out, and when he's brought all his own sheep out, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they recognize his voice. They'll never follow a stranger, but will run away from him because they don't recognize the stranger's voice. Jesus told them this parable, but they didn't understand what he was saying to them. So Jesus said again, I tell you the solemn truth. I am the door for the sheep. All who came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep didn't listen to them. I'm the door. If anyone enters through me, he'll be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I've come so that they may have life, may have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand, who's not a shepherd and doesn't own sheep, sees the wolf coming and abandons the sheep and runs away. So the wolf attacks the sheep and scatters them. Because he's a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep, he runs away. I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and my own know me, just as the Father knows me, and I know the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that do not come from this sheepfold. I must bring them to, and they'll listen to my voice, so that there will be one flock and one shepherd. That's why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life so that I may take it back again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own free will. I have the authority to lay it down, and I have the authority to take it back again. This commandment I received from my father. Another sharp division took place among the Jewish people because of these words, and many of them were saying, He's possessed by a demon and has lost his mind. Why do you listen to him? Others said, These aren't the words of someone possessed by a demon. A demon can't cause the blind to see, can it? Then came the feast of the dedication in Jerusalem, and it was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple area and Solomon's portico. The Jewish leaders surrounded him and asked, How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly. Jesus replied, I told you, and you don't believe. The deeds I do in my Father's name testify about me, but you refuse to believe because you're not my sheep. My sheep listen to my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them from my hand. My father who's given them to me is greater than all, and no one can snatch them from my father's hand. The Father and I are one. The Jewish leaders picked up rocks again to stone him to death, and Jesus said to them, I've shown you many good deeds from the Father, so for which one of them are you gonna stone me, hmm? The Jewish leaders replied, We're not gonna stone you for a good deed, but for blasphemy, because you, a man, are claiming to be God. Jesus answered, Is it not written in your law I said you are gods? Well, if those people to whom the word of God came were called gods, and the scripture cannot be broken, do you say about the one whom the Father set apart and sent into the world your blaspheming? Because I said I am the Son of God? If I don't perform the deeds of my Father, don't believe me. But if I do them, even if you don't believe me, believe the deeds, so that you may come to know and understand that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me. Then they attempted again to seize him, but he escaped their clutches. Jesus went back across the Jordan River again to the place where John had been baptizing at an earlier time, and he stayed there. Many came to him and began to say, John performed no miraculous sign, but everything John said about this man was true, and many believed in Jesus there. There's a lot of people even today who would say, Well, look, just show me proof, show me some evidence that Jesus is real, or the Bible is real, or God is real, or whatever they want evidence or proof for. And we can kind of get into this feeling like, well, oh gosh, I don't know how to prove it, I don't I don't know how to I don't know how to prove anything. Well, let's just take a note from Jesus. Because the proof's already out there. What we can do is we can respond with, if I could provide compelling proof or reasonable evidence that Christianity is true, would you become a Christian? That could be your answer. And then that reveals where the person's heart is. If they say, Well, no, I don't want to be a Christian, I wouldn't be a Christian, well then they don't have an evidence problem, they have a heart problem. And that's exactly what Jesus was identifying with the religious leaders here. He's like, you don't have an evidence problem. There's not a lack of evidence here. I've given you plenty of evidence and proof that what I'm saying about myself being the son of God is true. Now, if you don't want to believe that, that's something else. You're not lacking proof, you're lacking faith, you're lacking a desire to see what's true. You only want to see what you want to see, and I can't help you with that. Now look, if the person says, Well, yeah, if you provided compelling evidence that Christianity is true, then yeah, I I I would at least very seriously consider being a Christian. Okay, well, that's something else entirely. Then we can walk through this. We can walk through some books like A Case for Christ is a great one, uh, or Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. Um, there there are ways that we can walk through this. We could walk through the book of John even. But Jesus didn't get roped into trying to show more evidence and more proof and trying to prove more and more that he is who he says he is. No, he already provided what he needed to know, just like people today have all the evidence they need to know. It's out there. We don't need more signs, we don't need more proofs, we don't need more evidence, we need to do a heart check. If someone's struggling to believe and you care about this process that they're going through and this wrestling with the truth that they're going through, help them recognize what they're really struggling with. Is it a lack of evidence, or is it they just are bitter against God for some hurtful reason in their past? Or maybe this is a call to do a heart check for yourself. Do you really need God to do something to prove to you that he's good or that he's watching or that he cares? Do you need more evidence, or if you look back and you can see that you know what, he has actually been here all along. I just didn't want to see it. What has Jesus already done? That's the thinking out loud thought for the day.