Worship is for Sinners

John 9:24 So for the second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, “Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.” 25 He answered, “Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” 26 They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” 27 He answered them, “I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?” 28 And they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. 29 We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.” 30 The man answered, “Why, this is an amazing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. 31 We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. 32 Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” 34 They answered him, “You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?” And they cast him out. 35 Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” 36 He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” 37 Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.” 38 He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him. 39 Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.” 40 Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?” 41 Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.

This account all begins when Jesus' disciples ask about this blind man: "Who sinned?", they asked, that this man was born blind.  Everything Jesus does and says plays off from that question. We are all sinners, plain and clear. The question really is: "Do we see that we are blind and sinful? Will we admit to it?" Jesus was (and is) not sinful, though he was called such by those who would not admit that they were.  The blind man admitted his need, and his sin, and trusted in the only One Who could take care of both. Spiritual blindness is in the eye of the beholder - if you think you are not, you are; if you admit you are, you have taken your first step to sight.  

All of this took place on the Sabbath, the day of worship.  The self-righteous thought they were worshiping, and criticized Jesus, and the healed blind man, for their worship day activities. (How dare you be healed on the Sabbath!) But in the end, it is the one who admitted his blindness who really worshiped that day.  That describes well how we too should come to worship - as needy, blind sinners coming to the only One Who can handle it all.