Lovers of God

Jesus heals a man born blind by spitting in his eyes

Jn 9:1-5 1 As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. 2 And His disciples asked Him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?" 3 Jesus answered, "It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him. 4 "We must work the works of Him who sent Me as long as it is day; night is coming when no one can work. 5 "While I am in the world, I am the Light of the world."

Some people are born handicapped. Why does God allow it? It is not necessarily because those people, or their parents, did some great sin. Rather, it is because it gives God an opportunity to display His works through them. So let us not be quick to judge people in such situations.

There is a time when we can do God’s work, and a time when can’t. Therefore, when the time is right, we should make the most of the opportunity and not tarry. If God is calling you to bless others, don’t shy away from it for any reason whatsoever.

Jesus was the Light of the world when He was on earth as man. As the Light of the world, He was able to show people the truth about God. Now we are His representatives, and it is our responsibility to do the same.

Jn 9:6-41 When He had said this, He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and applied the clay to his eyes, 7 and said to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam " (which is translated, Sent). So he went away and washed, and came back seeing. 8 Therefore the neighbors, and those who previously saw him as a beggar, were saying, "Is not this the one who used to sit and beg?" 9 Others were saying, "This is he," still others were saying, "No, but he is like him." He kept saying, "I am the one." 10 So they were saying to him, "How then were your eyes opened?" 11 He answered, "The man who is called Jesus made clay, and anointed my eyes, and said to me, 'Go to Siloam and wash '; so I went away and washed, and I received sight." 12 They said to him, "Where is He?" He said, "I do not know."

13 They brought to the Pharisees the man who was formerly blind. 14 Now it was a Sabbath on the day when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. 15 Then the Pharisees also were asking him again how he received his sight. And he said to them, "He applied clay to my eyes, and I washed, and I see." 16 Therefore some of the Pharisees were saying, "This man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath." But others were saying, "How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?" And there was a division among them. 17 So they said to the blind man again, "What do you say about Him, since He opened your eyes?" And he said, "He is a prophet." 18 The Jews then did not believe it of him, that he had been blind and had received sight, until they called the parents of the very one who had received his sight, 19 and questioned them, saying, "Is this your son, who you say was born blind? Then how does he now see?" 20 His parents answered them and said, "We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; 21 but how he now sees, we do not know; or who opened his eyes, we do not know. Ask him; he is of age, he will speak for himself." 22 His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone confessed Him to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue. 23 For this reason his parents said, "He is of age; ask him." 24 So a 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 then answered, "Whether He is a sinner, I do not know; one thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see." 26 So they said to him, "What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?" 27 He answered them, "I told you already and you did not listen; why do you want to hear it again? You do not want to become His disciples too, do you?" 28 They reviled him and said, "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 is from." 30 The man answered and said to them, "Well, here is an amazing thing, that you do not know where He is from, and yet He opened my eyes. 31 "We know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is God-fearing and does His will, He hears him. 32 "Since the beginning of time it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. 33 "If this man were not from God, He could do nothing." 34 They answered him, "You were born entirely in sins, and are you teaching us?" So they put him out.

35 Jesus heard that they had put him out, and finding him, He said, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" 36 He answered, "Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?" 37 Jesus said to him, "You have both seen Him, and He is the one who is talking with you." 38 And he said, "Lord, I believe." And he worshiped Him. 39 And Jesus said, "For judgment I came into this world, so that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind." 40 Those of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these things and said to Him, "We are not blind too, are we?" 41 Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would have no sin; but since you say, 'We see,' your sin remains.

In this story, Jesus ties physical blindness with spiritual blindness, thus indicating that the miracles He did were not merely miracles of physical healing, but they were also symbolic of greater spiritual truth.

When you are blind to something, it is there, but you just don’t see it. The Pharisees were blind to the fact that Jesus was the Son of God. Most people today, even among professing Christians, are blind to certain theological truths.

In my experience, it is rare for someone who believes something strongly for a long time to change his position on it, for it requires great humility to acknowledge that one is wrong about something. It is even rarer for someone who has been teaching something for a long time to change his position on it, for it requires even greater humility to do so.

The Pharisees assumed that they knew the truth, but they were wrong – so very wrong! They compounded their error by persecuting those who knew the truth.

The same thing can also happen to you and me – we may think that we know the truth, but we could be very wrong. That is why we have to be careful not to persecute those think differently from us, for they could be right and we could be wrong.

I like the steadfastness of the healed blind man. The Pharisees didn’t faze him at all. His logic was impeccable and he ran circles around the Pharisees. They didn’t like that one bit, and they put him out – and he didn’t care one bit.

Notice what happened when the enemies of God put him out – Jesus met with him. That’s what happens to us too when evil people persecute us because of Jesus – Jesus fellowships with us.

Notice how the Pharisees concluded that Jesus was a sinner – they reasoned that He was a sinner because He didn’t keep the Sabbath. They didn’t realize that Jesus did keep the Sabbath in its true meaning rather than keep it merely in its external form.

Admitting that you are blind is good because sin is not imputed to those who are unable to discern between right and wrong. On the other hand, if you insist that you are right when you are wrong, then you are accountable for your sin even though you don’t know that you are sinning.

When the healed blind man worshiped Jesus, Jesus accepted the worship, thus affirming that He believed Himself to be divine – which of course is what we believe too.