Sunday Sermon Manuscript – March 15

Who Is Jesus? And What Kind of Church Are We?

Text: John 9:1–41

The Beginning of the Question: “Who Is Jesus?”

1. The passage we read together today, John chapter 9, is a very long story. It begins with the healing of a man who was blind from birth, but the center of this text is not simply about the healing itself.

2. There is one question that carries the entire story forward: “Who is Jesus?” When this event occurs, people begin asking questions from their own perspectives.

3. The neighbors ask, “Is this really the same man?” The religious leaders ask, “Who did this?” The Pharisees debate, “Is this man from God?”

4. Even the parents are summoned and interrogated. At the center of all these conversations and conflicts lies one question: Who is Jesus?

5. John chapter 9 does not declare the answer to that question in a single statement. Instead, the answer unfolds gradually through the transformation of one person and the reactions of many others.

6. At first, the man who received his sight does not know much about Jesus. He simply says, “The man called Jesus made mud and opened my eyes.” But as the story progresses, his confession becomes deeper. He calls Jesus a “prophet,” and finally, at the end of the story, he says, “Lord, I believe,” and worships Him.

7. In other words, this passage is not merely the story of a blind man who came to see. It is the story of a person who gradually comes to know and believe in Jesus more deeply. As his physical eyes open, his spiritual eyes are also opened.

8. In one of her essays, Helen Keller wrote, “If I had three days to see, the first person I would want to look upon for a long time would be my teacher, Anne Sullivan.” For her, seeing was not merely recognizing objects but confirming the reality of love that opened a new world to her.

9. In the same way, the blind man in today’s passage begins a spiritual journey the moment his eyes are opened—seeking to understand who this “Jesus” is who healed him.

God’s New Work: “Something Never Heard Before”

10. One of the most important verses in this passage is verse 32. The man who received his sight says before the Pharisees,“Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind.”This is not merely an expression of amazement. It is a powerful testimony about who Jesus is. What he is saying is clear:“What has happened to me is something completely new—something never heard of before.”

11. Jesus did not come simply to maintain the existing order. He came to begin God’s new work, something no one had imagined.

12. Forty years ago, when this church first began, it must also have felt like something new and unfamiliar to many people. God often works by breaking the limits of what is familiar to us.

The Conflict Between Law and Life: “Tradition or Compassion?”

13. Yet whenever something new happens, it often creates conflict because new things collide with the existing order. In John chapter 9, the Pharisees stand at the center of this conflict. But they should not simply be portrayed as bad people or those who oppose everything.

14. They believed they were protecting the will of God and safeguarding the traditions and order of their community.

15. The Sabbath regulations were extremely important to them. So their question was:“How can such a thing be done on the Sabbath?” But the question Jesus held onto was different:“Has this man been restored? Has he received life? Can he now see?”

16. The Pharisees saw the rule first; Jesus saw the person first.The Pharisees protected the boundaries of tradition; Jesus revealed the power of God’s compassion and restoration. And here lies the essential conflict between Jesus and the religious leaders.

The Paradox of Sight: “The Blind and Those Who See”

17. This passage is deeply paradoxical. At first glance, there appears to be only one blind person in the story. But by the end of the narrative, it becomes clear who the ones truly unable to see are. The man who was blind gradually comes to see who Jesus is, while the Pharisees refuse to see from beginning to end.

18. Here we see the fundamental difference between those who believe in Jesus and those who do not. It is not simply a difference in information. Those who desire to see will see, but those who believe they already know everything will remain blind.

19. In the Korean novel Toji (The Land) by Park Kyung-ni, many characters appear, but the author values those who show “respect for life,” not those who merely possess outward success.

20. Park Kyung-ni once said, “Literature is the work of helping people see what is invisible.”

21. In the novel, some characters possess wealth and status yet remain spiritually blind because of their greed. Meanwhile, those who endure suffering eventually learn to see the pain of others.

Likewise, the Pharisees in John 9 wore the glasses of the law but could not see Jesus. The blind man, however, responded to the voice of the Lord in darkness, and the eyes of his soul were opened. To truly see begins not with knowledge but with a humble attitude toward life.

One Certain Confession: “Now I See”

22. In this sense, the confession of the healed man is very important. He cannot answer every theological question. But he says one thing clearly:

“One thing I do know. I was blind, but now I see.”

23. This simple statement is powerful. This is the confession of faith. Faith does not begin with the ability to explain everything. It begins with recognizing that my life before meeting Jesus and after meeting Jesus is different.

24. The neuroscientist Oliver Sacks once recorded stories of people who regained sight through surgery after being blind their entire lives.

25. Many of them did not immediately understand the world once their eyes were opened. At first, what they saw felt like a chaotic mass of light.

26. The moment they truly began to “see” was not when their eyes were opened, but when they held the hand of someone they loved and gradually recognized shapes and meanings. The same is true for the blind man in today’s passage. The restoration of sight was only the beginning. When he came to recognize Jesus as “Lord” and entered into a personal relationship with Him, his world was finally complete. When he says, “Now I see,” he is not simply saying his eyesight returned. He is saying he has come to know who Jesus truly is.

The Invitation to Worship: “You Have Seen Him”

27. The final scene of the passage is therefore very important. Jesus meets the man again and asks,“Do you believe in the Son of Man?” The man answers,“Who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” Jesus says,“You have seen him. The one speaking with you is he.”

    At that moment, the man declares,“Lord, I believe,” and worships Jesus.

28. John chapter 9 does not end with the excitement of healing but with worship. The purpose of Jesus opening our eyes is not merely so we can see the world, but so that we may ultimately see Jesus and worship Him.

Yeolin Church’s 40th Anniversary: “What Kind of Church Are We?”

29. Dear brothers and sisters, this passage speaks to us in a very special way today. Today we gather to remember and celebrate the 40th anniversary of our church.

30. At first, the church began meeting in a home. Later it worshiped in the sanctuary of Berkeley Epworth United Methodist Church, and then in the building of Oakland Rockridge United Methodist Church until 2024.

31. Beginning in the second week of September 2024, we started worshiping here in Orinda. Through many transitions, God has graciously led Yeolin Church to this moment where we now celebrate forty years.

32. Many people who passed through this church will come to your mind. Many of you have witnessed how God guided this community through various situations.

33. As we ask the question from today’s text—“Who is Jesus?”—we must also ask another question:“What kind of church is Yeolin Church?”

34. Are we a church that merely repeats what is familiar? Or are we a church that opens our eyes again and expects God’s new work?

35. I have been with this church for six of those forty years, and what I have seen is a church that continually faces new challenges and prepares for the future.

36. Let the gratitude of the past forty years become a firm foundation. A foundation is not a place to remain, but a base from which we build higher and go further. When we encounter things we have never done before, we can have expectation rather than fear, because the same God who made a way in the wilderness forty years ago is still with us today.

37. The novelist Park Kyung-ni once said that when she filled her manuscript pages, “each letter was my life.” Over the past forty years, God has been writing a story of love on the manuscript of Yeolin Church with the tears and prayers of its members as the ink.

38. Just as the blind man gradually came to know Jesus after his eyes were opened, I believe that through Yeolin Church we will continue to grow in knowing Jesus more deeply and becoming more like Him.

39. Today we also appoint six new Kwonsa and four new Deacons. These are not positions given merely to mark the 40th anniversary, but servants who will work in God’s church in the years ahead.

40. Just as the blind man came to know Jesus more deeply, our faith has grown through fellowship and shared life in this church community.

41. Those who receive new roles today are not stepping into a burden of responsibility, but into a journey of knowing Jesus more deeply and revealing what kind of church Yeolin Church is.

Conclusion: “Lord, I Believe”

42. Dear brothers and sisters, tradition is precious. But tradition must serve life, not become a wall that blocks it. Yeolin Church must remember the grace of the past without becoming trapped in it. We must remain open to new acts of obedience.

43. My prayer is that all of us today may receive new eyes before the Lord. May we see again what familiarity has hidden from us, and rediscover the path of obedience we once avoided out of fear. And may Yeolin Church, in the next forty years, joyfully participate in the new work of God. Like the man whose eyes were opened, let us confess together: “Lord, I believe.”