Talk
BRO. BO SANCHEZ:
We’re reading The Gospel of John. And I want
to preach this Word for you: I want you to see Jesus — that He is healing you.
How many of you need physical healing? How many of you need relationship healing? How many of you need financial healing? Most of all, how many of you need spiritual healing?
I want you to know that Jesus is here. Jesus is in your life. He really wants you to see Him.
In the Gospel of John, there are seven miracles and we’ve been going through them Sunday after Sunday after Sunday. John did not call them miracles.
He called them signs because signs are important– but they point to something more important.
We’ve been talking about five signs already:
- Turning water into wine at Cana
- Healing of the official’s son in Cana
- Healing of the paralyzed man in Bethesda
- Feeding of the 5,000 in Galilee
- Healing of the blind man
Today, we’re going to talk about the healing of the blind man. This is one of the most fascinating stories.
They’re all signs. A sign is important–but it points to something even more important.
The FEAST FAMILY October 27, 2024 15
The Sign
What John was saying is that sometimes, we’re so caught up in miracles.
What Fr. Albert Garong was talking about is that we’re so caught up with the answer to our prayer that we forget about something. It’s just a sign and it points to something more.
Way back, 29 years ago, we built Anawim Home for Abandoned Elderly.
Way back, 29 years ago, there was no running water there. There was no electricity there.
It was all in the boondocks.
It was surrounded by nothing else but grass.
And people were having a hard time going there. So, what we did was we put signboards that showed directions on how to go to Anawim.
Now, I want you to humor me for a while and I want you to imagine the preposterous– that you’re driving to Anawim during that time, 29 years ago… As you’re driving there, you see something peculiar. You see a bunch of people beneath a signboard, sitting around it, having a picnic, sipping their coffee, roasting their marshmallows.
You stop by, you go down the car, and you ask them, “What are you doing?”
Then, somebody says, “Oh, we were going to Anawim, but then, we love the signs so much that we decided to linger and stay here.”
You tell them, “No, this is just a sign going there!” Then they say, “Yeah, but we love it here.”
It was like John saying, “This is a sign. It’s a great sign. It’s a great miracle.” How many of you like it when God answers your prayer? We love it, right?
How many of you love it when there’s a miracle that happens in your life? You love it, right?
But what John, the Gospel writer, was saying is to not get caught up with that and to not stick around it– because the sign points to the One whose name is Jesus, the Miracle Worker, who will bless you. He is not just wanting to answer your prayer. He just not wants to give you a miracle. He wants to give you Himself, the Miracle Worker, to be the center of your life– where you give your whole life to Jesus, and you live for Him for all eternity.
Why We Suffer
So, this is what I want to do: I’m going to be reading just a bit of the Gospel:
This is a very important question. When we suffer, when we go through problems, we ask that question.
A lot of people come up to me and say:
“Brother Bo, why did I lose my job? Is God punishing me? Why is my wife going through cancer? Maybe, I sinned against God and He’s angry at me. Why did my house catch fire? Why did this catastrophe happen? Why did the disaster happen? Is God angry at me?”
This Gospel story is something like that. Why is this man blind from birth?
It’s very important why it’s stated “from birth”. Did He commit a sin that he deserved to be blind? The answer is no. He was born blind. Maybe, his parents sinned against God and so he deserved to be blind.
People believed that all suffering was caused by sin. That was their belief at that time– and even until today.
Yes, it happens. Sometimes, we suffer the consequences of our actions.
For example, I met a man who would drink two liters of Coke every day.
He was doing it for decades. No joke. He was not in a very good place when I met him. He was sick.
I guess partly some of our suffering come from our own sin, or from our own mistakes, or from our own failures– but not all of them.
In the Old Testament, we have the Book of Proverbs which represents that paradigm.
It’s very black and white: “You reap what you sow.”
You harvest what you plant. Whatever you do in your 20s, you will probably harvest it in your 40s.
But then, there is another book in the Old Testament, the Book of Job. We also have the Book of Ecclesiastes. These books give you the other paradigm– that not all suffering come from the sins that you commit. There are some incidents that happen– and they’re not your consequences.
Punishment… Or Purpose?
Here’s my point: Sometimes, good things come because you did some good things. It’s true.
As Julie Andrews sings (in the movie Sound of Music): I must have done something good…
Yet it’s not true.
Did the sun shine this morning because you were good? No! It rose and you had nothing to do with it.
In the same way, some bad things happened, and you had nothing to do with them, either.
The Book of Job and the Book of Ecclesiastes
express that:
Are you going through some suffering, challenge, struggle, problem, crisis right now? If you are, I want you to believe there is a purpose behind that.
Put your hand over your chest. Everybody say:
“Jesus, come. Empower me. Bless me. Speak to me. I am here not by accident, not by any chance. This is a divine appointment. You want me to be here because You want to speak to me. Change what needs to be changed. Heal what needs to be healed. I want to see You more. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.”
This whole idea that when bad things happen it is for punishment, is not always true. It’s very possible that the bad situation is for a purpose.
Corny Story, Good Lesson
May I be corny here? May I actually gross you out? Is that okay? I shouldn’t be talking about these gross things on stage and in front of thousands of people.
But I don’t care about myself so I might as well embarrass myself.
I’m going to talk about my teeth here — so it’s gross. Many years ago, there was this space between my molar three and molar four, upper right hand of my mouth. It was a perfect space for food particles just to squeeze in. They loved that space. Every time I ate, food particles went there. They would crowd there. It was almost like there was this secret Airbnb (Air Bed and Breakfast) website of spaces between teeth.
The past food particles that entered that space left glowing reviews– like five-star reviews. So, all the food, they liked it there and they stayed there for good. No toothpick would make me dislodge that place. It was that kind of space.
I was so frustrated. I was so irritated. So, I went to my dentist.
But the dentist said, “No. I don’t want to touch that. You just have to get a floss.”
So, every day, after every meal, I would just use floss. I have a specimen right here. I always put floss in my pocket.
My wife Marowe and I spent some time in Europe visiting our Feasts there. They’re enormous. They’re amazing. They’re beautiful. I’ll talk more about them later.
Before I left for Europe, I went to the dentist. I was lying down. This was a new dentist.
The dentist said, “No cavities. It’s great! Are you flossing every day?” I said, “No. I floss after every meal. I have no choice.”
As I was going home, I realized my irritation turned out to be a blessing. I’ve got good teeth. I know it’s a micro example and that’s crazy to talk about among thousands of people here.
But I really believe that sometimes, the problem that we have, if we just have a good attitude towards it, it turns out to be a benefit.
A Recreation Story
But let me go serious about it… Like, when you go to the most difficult problems of our lives… Why is it that my wife and I experienced three miscarriages? How can you explain that?
I’ve served the Lord all my life, ever since I was a teenager– and this is how God repays us? That we experience three deaths. Even now, I cannot explain that to you. Preachers have no answers.
But what we can do is say: “Lord, I surrender.
I’m going to trust you. I’m going to believe that there is a purpose behind this.”
Hold someone’s hand and tell that person: “Trust in the purpose.” And then the fascinating part in the story is in John 9:6-7:
This is weird. When Jesus heals people, He would just usually say, “Be healed” or “Walk.”
Why the theatrical moves? Why the spitting on the ground and making of the clay with His saliva?
Because John was a Bible nerd. He loved the Book of Genesis. He was pointing to something that happened in Creation. Let me read it to you:
The Bible is deeper than we think it is. I’m telling you: That one moment when Jesus healed this blind man, John was saying that God created the world.Guess what? God is still recreating you. You are not a finished product. God is still working in your life. This isn’t just a healing story. This is a recreation story.
Redefining the Sabbath
Parents, how many of you sometimes shout at your kids? How many of you have said to yourself that you won’t do it because it’s bad for you– and then you do it, and you’re frustrated at yourself.
My message to you is that God is still in your life recreating you.
He’s not finished with you yet.
Tell somebody beside you: “Don’t be too hard on yourself.”
God is doing something powerful in your life. John 9:8-11 says:
This is very important. Put your thumb here as we move on…
We talked about this a while ago. The reason Jesus healed on a Sabbath– even if “it was not allowed by the leaders”– was He was trying to redefine Sabbath.
Progression of the Man’s Replies
The man’s first reply was: “I don’t know.” The second was: “He’s a prophet.”
Do you see a progression?
We go on…
And the man replied:
This is the comedy part of the story.
He asked the Pharisees, “Do you want to become His disciples too?”
I really believe that when God heals your spiritual eyesight, you start to see the wisdom of God, but you also see the foolishness of the enemy. You see the beauty of God’s ways and the ugliness of evil.
The Pharisees said, “You were born totally in sin! Are you trying to teach us? Then they threw him out.
When Jesus heard that they had thrown him, He found him.
This is one of those healing stories where Jesus had to meet him twice. Usually, the healing is just once. In this story, Jesus met him a second time. Jesus looked for him because in the next chapter, Jesus is the Good Shepherd– and that’s what good shepherds do.
When Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, He found him and said,
“Do you believe in the son of man?”
He answered, “Who is he, Sir, that I may believe in him?”
Jesus said to him, “You have seen Him. The one speaking with you is He.”
He said, “I do believe, Lord.”
From “I don’t know” to “He is a prophet” to “I do believe, Lord.” And what did he do? He worshiped.
The Journey
While I was in the Grand Feast in Europe, there were beautiful bunch of people.
And there was this one woman who approached me. She told me her story and it was amazing. Her work was cleaning houses. I think she was working in Spain.
She said, “Brother Bo, do you know that nine years ago, I was desperate? I had a loan of P4,000,000. I wanted to give up on life. What I did was I would watch your video on the phone,
and it would give me hope. I would pray with you every day.”
That was nine years ago. Today, she’s one of our leaders at The Feast.
She said, “Brother Bo, I’m debt-free. I apply your financial teachings. It was a struggle. It was a back-and-forth thing. It took a long time, but I was able to finally pay my debt.
Can everybody say this: “I’m on a journey. I haven’t reached my destination yet. This is still unfinished work.”
Maybe you are like that woman. You are in debt and it’s like sometimes you’re moving forward and sometimes you’re moving backward. Maybe your struggle is your relationship with your son or with your daughter and you think it’s improving one day and then after a while, it’s back to struggling.
We are in this journey. We are in this state of in-between. When we are waiting for finally being able to be in Stage 3. When the debt is paid or when the relationship is so much better. But we’re not yet there and it is so frustrating.
But here is my message to you: I want you to be where you are and believe that God is in that place. To see Jesus. This is what it is.
John was writing this about a man who’s physically blind– but he was telling everybody that we’re all spiritually blind. Many times, we do not see Jesus in the journey because we’re complaining that we’re here and not there.
The life that you are complaining about is that stage in your life where Jesus is beside you, but you do not see Him. The life that you are complaining about is a life that may not be perfect, but it has so much of God’s grace and blessing.
You do not see it. You are not grateful. You do not see Jesus in that stage because you just want to go somewhere else.
You will go there. You really will. Jesus will bring you there. But right now, you’re here. You’ve got to accept that at this season in your life, you must be here.
If you really begin to think about it, the life that you’re complaining about is just really the dream of many people. They want to go to where you are now– the very place that you’re complaining about. You’re already there and all you see are the bad things.
Surrender
What I’m here trying to tell you is that Jesus is where you are right now.
He’s healing you. He’s molding you. If you can only see the Jesus that’s working in your life.
Father in Heaven, we are reporting for duty. Forgive us for not seeing You.
Please open our eyes. We want to see you.
Father, show me that You’re working through my struggles. Show me that You’re working through my frustrations. Show me that You are here. You’re Present. I believe that in this journey, You will never leave me. You will never abandon me. You will always be present. In Jesus’ Name.
You cannot do it on your own. If you’re in Stage 1 or in Stage 2. You cannot move to Stage 3 on your own.
Maybe you feel like you already know Jesus. You studied in a Catholic school.
You pray every day.
But you wonder, “Will I really obey Him for the rest of my life? I don’t know if I can. I’m confused right now.”
Hey, it’s okay if you’re in that place.
All you must do is say: “Lord on my own, I cannot do it. But I’m going to surrender to You. You’re going to do it for me. I cannot open my own eyes, but You can. I cannot heal whatever is wrong in me spiritually, but You are the Healer. You can heal what needs to be healed in me.
Come, Holy Spirit. Come do Your thing. Do what You do best. I’m opening myself to You.”
My dear friends, I invite you to say it boldly. For all of us who need to renew our decision to follow Jesus, even if we know we cannot do it on our own, we’re going to say it boldly.
Everybody say: “Jesus, I can’t do this on my own. I can’t heal myself. You’re the Healer. I’m weak but You’re strong. Jesus, Thank You that You will heal me on this day. By Your power, I surrender my whole life to You — past, present, and future.
Do your work in me. Heal me. Change me. Bless me. Empower me. I Surrender.
Amen.
