April
22nd John
9
Sign 6 The Lord & Blind. (Light)
1:
And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth.
2: And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this
man, or his parents, that he was born blind? 3: Jesus answered,
Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of
God should be made manifest in him. 4: I must work the works of him
that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can
work. 5: As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.
6: When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of
the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay,
7: And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by
interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and
came seeing. 8: The neighbours therefore, and they which before had
seen him that he was blind, said, Is not this he that sat and begged?
9: Some said, This is he: others said, He is like him: but he said, I
am he. 10: Therefore said they unto him, How were thine eyes opened?
11: He answered and said, A man that is called Jesus made clay, and
anointed mine eyes, and said unto me, Go to the pool of Siloam, and
wash: and I went and washed, and I received sight. 12: Then said they
unto him, Where is he? He said, I know not.
This
miracle is a Messianic sign, because the Jews understood that only
the Messiah himself would be able to give sight to one who had never
seen. In the Jewish mind sickness and disease were linked to a
person’s spiritual state by covenant. The Covenant was very clear
that if Israel kept the Law then they would be free from ill health.
However this case confused them because this man had been blind from
birth. Had he sinned as an unborn baby or was this blindness the
result of his parent’s sin. They could not work it out in their
minds. Christ does not give a general rule he just states that in
this particular case this man is innocent but that he has been born
like this so that the work of God might be demonstrated in his life.
Then he goes on to describe himself as the one who does the works of
God. Then Jesus cured him but he did it in a way that to us would
appear to be more likely to blind a man. He made a paste of dirt and
dust and applied it to his eyes. And then he told him to go to the
pool of Siloam. When he washed he found he could see. Spittle in the
east was symbolic of a person’s most essential nature. Christ by
touching him with his spittle was associating himself with the man at
the most basic human level. Those who had previously known the man
were amazed at his transformation but others doubted that he was the
same man. They asked him what had happened to him and he gave his
simple testimony.
- Why was this man born blind?
- How did Christ heal him?
- Why did he heal him?
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