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1 As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3 “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. 4 As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. 5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 6 After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. 7 “Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means “Sent”). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing. 8 His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, “Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?” 9 Some claimed that he was. Others said, “No, he only looks like him.” But he himself insisted, “I am the man.” 10 “How then were your eyes opened?” they asked. 11 He replied, “The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see.” 12 “Where is this man?” they asked him. “I don’t know,” he said. ~ John 9:1-12
We come to the story of the healed blind man which teaches us that suffering is not always directly traceable to personal sin. According to v.1, this man was born blind. In response to the disciples question in v.2 about what caused this man to be born blind, the Lord Jesus said, "this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him."
According to the Lord Jesus' words in v.3, God sometimes permits the unwanted into our lives in order to show His glory through our experience with Him for the benefit of others.
Recently our middle son went through a very difficult time. He flatlined three times and the doctors were amazed that he lived. I, too, was amazed, but I quickly recognized that the Lord was up to something and He chose to use my Son to be a means of communicating with others. I know of three different people who made a profession of faith in the Lord Jesus as a result. And, I am still learning much from what I experienced.
In v.4-5 the Lord Jesus tells us why He was sent by the Father: to be the light of the world. He came to show us that the only way into a personal relationship with God is through His perfectly lived life and His death on the cross. Of course, it was at the cross that God removed the barrier that kept us from a personal relationship with Him.
In v.6-7, John writes, "6 After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. 7 “Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means “Sent”). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing."
There are many things in our lives that are irritating, and yet, it is through the most irritating that we see the Lord best at work in our lives. How irritating it must have been for this blind man to have mud put on his eyes. Sometimes, God has to irritate us in order for us to gain a focus on what is most important in our lives.
John points out the meaning of the name of this pool, Siloam, to which the Lord Jesus sent this man (he says it means "Sent"). John is obviously highlighting that these actions of the Lord Jesus are a symbolic, teaching something deeper than the mere opening of the eyes of the blind man. There is something deeper to be discovered here.
This pool was called Sent because the water in the pool was sent there from a distant spring. Perhaps, the Lord Jesus is highlighting a comparison between the pool called “Sent” and Himself as the One “sent” from the Father as the living water.
If that’s right, then the water signifies not just cleansing, and not just healing, but life. In John 4, Jesus gives the woman at the well “living water", the water of life. When we met the Lord Jesus and received Him into our lives, we begin to live, we begin to see, and we began to be healed, and will continue to be healed completely when He comes for us at the resurrection. All our seeing and all our healing is based upon this new life that comes from the Lord Jesus, the Sent One.
The Lord Jesus used mud or clay to bring sight to this man who had been blind for a long time. Clay is malleable and weak. All through Scripture, clay is used as a symbol of the weakness and fragility of mankind. We are all made of clay. We are clay pots. Some of us are even a little cracked!
When our Lord smeared clay over this man's eyes He is saying that there was something hindering the man's spiritual sight, not only his physical sight, but his spiritual sight. It is the clay of his humanity. Our fallen human nature is our hindrance to seeing spiritual truth and reality.
For physical eyes to be opened is one thing, but to open spiritual eyes, now that is something much greater. And, yet that is the point of this passage. Only as we come to the place where we begin to see who the Lord Jesus is do we really begin to experience real life. This is the story of the remaining verses of this chapter. It is a story of the resistance that this man met, the obstacles to faith that he overcame, and the gradual insight that he gained as he learned more and more about the Lord Jesus.
According to v.8-9, we read 8 His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, “Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?” 9 Some claimed that he was. Others said, “No, he only looks like him.” But he himself insisted, “I am the man.”
There was question among the people whether this was the same man they knew, but they didn't refute the miracle. Of course, the man speaks for himself to have experienced a miracle at the hands of the Lord Jesus.
According to v.10-12, we learn, "10 “How then were your eyes opened?” they asked. 11 He replied, “The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see.” 12 “Where is this man?” they asked him. “I don’t know,” he said.
Finally, v.10-12 clearly shows there is no question that the Lord Jesus healed this man. Do you remember the day your eyes were opened to the truth? I remember that day, it wasn't all that clear to me on the day that I was given spiritual sight. The following days, I noticed I had an appetite for the word of God. So, I read it, almost daily. And, I discovered that which was darkness to my understanding was becoming light to my soul. God will always lead and empower us through His word. And, He has given us His Spirit to lap up that which is essential to our spiritual well-being.
