The Courage of Being Touched by Jesus
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With all of the examples of Jesus healing the blind, there is one that shows both the weakness of man and the courage that comes from following Jesus.
Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
After all the time following Jesus, it seems His disciples still fall back on old habits.
They see a blind man, and they assume this was a punishment from God.
With that assumption, they ask what appeared to them to be a reasonable question.
Who sinned?
Was it him or his parents?
After all, someone must have sinned for this man to be blind.
It reminds me of Job’s “friends”.
They assumed that Job must have sinned for all of the bad those bad things to happen to him.
And they spend the rest of the book trying to find out what Job had done wrong...
That is until God shows up and sets everyone straight.
Similarly, Jesus sets everyone straight.
Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.
Wait, this man has suffered blindness his entire life just to reveal the works of God?
That’s what Jesus said.
Rather than showing God to be cruel, after all he made this man suffer blindness for his entire life, this man lived blind for more than just to show the power of God. He suffered to show the WORKS of God.
Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” When He had said these things, He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. And He said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated, Sent). So he went and washed, and came back seeing.
Jesus has work to do,
So he made some clay,
And for anyone creeped out by Jesus making clay out of spit, how many mothers have used saliva to clean their children’s faces?
Then, he tells that man to go wash in the pool of Siloam.
I’m frequently intrigued by the different ways Jesus heals.
Why the clay?
Why the washing?
And why that pool?
If I may speculate, I believe Jesus used this method for this healing specifically to set the man up to show the works of God.
After all, Jesus was just passing by when they saw this blind man.
Sending him to the pool of Siloam meant he had to go to Jerusalem,
Where the other actors in this drama would appear.
Therefore the neighbors and those who previously had seen that he was blind said, “Is not this he who sat and begged?” Some said, “This is he.” Others said, “He is like him.” He said, “I am he.”
Wait, wasn’t this that blind begger?
And the argument started...
Some say he is, others say it’s someone else.
When he admits to being the blind begger, one question immediately comes to mind.
Therefore they said to him, “How were your eyes opened?” He answered and said, “A Man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to the pool of Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed, and I received sight.”
How did this happen?
You won’t believe it. Some guy named Jesus put clay on my eyes and told be to wash at the pool of Siloam, and POOF, I could see.
Pretty neat, eh?
Which, of course, leads to the next question
Then they said to him, “Where is He?” He said, “I do not know.”
Could this be another reason why Jesus healed this blind man the way that he did?
First, it got him to Jerusalem.
Plus, he could not identify Jesus, because he never saw Him.
I think the big reason why Jesus healed him this way comes next.
They brought him who formerly was blind to the Pharisees. Now it was a Sabbath when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. Then the Pharisees also asked him again how he had received his sight. He said to them, “He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.”
