Blinded by the Light
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We’ve all had the experience of a light shining so brightly in our eyes that we can’t see. Turn that light off! Movie theater, Pepperdine plaza, etc. John tells the story of a man who has literally walked in darkness all of his life.
As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. “Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means “Sent”). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing. His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, “Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?” Some claimed that he was. Others said, “No, he only looks like him.” But he himself insisted, “I am the man.” “How then were your eyes opened?” they asked. 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.” “Where is this man?” they asked him. “I don’t know,” he said.
As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. “Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means “Sent”). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing. His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, “Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?” Some claimed that he was. Others said, “No, he only looks like him.” But he himself insisted, “I am the man.” “How then were your eyes opened?” they asked. 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.” “Where is this man?” they asked him. “I don’t know,” he said.
Like most Jews of the day, the disciples assume that sin is the culprit for this man’s condition. (e.g. when a pregnant woman worships in a pagan temple her unborn fetus was regarded as participating in the pagan rite, Canticles Rabbah 1, 6, § 3). Not entirely untrue. Sin and guilt’s effects are suffering and death. This world is fallen. We don’t live in paradise yet. Yet scripture doesn’t teach a direct correlation between an individual’s sin and that person’s physical condition. Jesus explains that works of God will be displayed in the blind man’s life.
The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The Gospel according to John a. The Sign (9:1–12)
judging by the Old Testament and by later Jewish tradition, Palestinian Jews, like people in many other cultures around the world, believed that human excreta (including urine, breast milk, saliva, menstrual flow, etc.). were all forms of (ceremonial) pollutant, ‘dirt’
The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The Gospel according to John a. The Sign (9:1–12)
judging by the Old Testament and by later Jewish tradition, Palestinian Jews, like people in many other cultures around the world, believed that human excreta (including urine, breast milk, saliva, menstrual flow, etc.). were all forms of (ceremonial) pollutant, ‘dirt’. In such tribes, under certain conditions that same ‘dirt’, in the hands of people authorized with the appropriate power, could be transformed into an instrument of blessing. Thus blood and saliva pollute, but in the right context blood cleanses and saliva cures. Certainly uncleanness in the Old Testament can be conveyed by saliva (Lv. 15:8). If the reversal of the taboos also applies (and here the evidence is admittedly scanty), then by using spittle as part of his treatment Jesus is making a claim to have religious authority. The situation is not entirely unlike the healing of a man with leprosy: by touching him Jesus does not contract the leper’s uncleanness, but heals the leper of his disease (Mt. 8:1–4).
Not entirely untrue. Sin and guilt’s effects are suffering and death. This world is fallen. We don’t live in paradise yet. Yet scripture doesn’t teach a direct correlation between an individual’s sin and that person’s physical condition. Jesus explains that works of God will be displayed in the blind man’s life.
and both contain references to spit causing uncleanliness. Could it be that as in so many other areas of his life (talking with women openly, hanging out with tax collectors, “eating and drinking,” touching lepers) that Jesus is merely breaking another social/cultural/religious taboo?
Not sure, but the Pharisees certainly are interested in “how” the blind man was healed (vs. 15, 19).
Jesus tells the man to wash in the waters of the pool of Siloam, the same pool from which they would draw water for the pouring rituals for the Feast of Tabernacles which is the feast that serves as the setting for this story (ch. 8). John wants his readers to understand that Siloam means “sent.” Earlier, in his answer to the disciples about who sinned, Jesus tells his disciples now is the time (still day) to do the works of him who sent me. Jesus is the sent one. Sent to do God’s works, fulfill God’s plans, represent God in the fullest and most complete way. And Jesus sends:
But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.
Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”
Jesus is sent by God, sends the Spirit, sends the disciples and now sends the blind man to go wash and be healed. He went back to his home with his sight restored. When he gets all the gossip starts, “hey is that the guy”? So begins a process of understanding or seeing who Jesus actually is.
Isn’t that the guy? Yeah, that’s the guy. No, it only looks like the guy. “I’m the guy.”
Yeah,
Well then how can you see? The guys narrates exactly what happened. “Well where is this guy Jesus”? “I don’t know.”
Yeah,
We see in this discourse and in the conversations to come a similar pattern of conversations in John’s Gospel between Jesus and people who are trying to figure out who he is or what he’s talking about. Nicodemus, Woman at the Well
Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, and so the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.” But he replied, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’ ” So they asked him, “Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?” The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there. Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” The man went away and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him well.
Not entirely untrue. Sin and guilt’s effects are suffering and death. This world is fallen. We don’t live in paradise yet. Yet scripture doesn’t teach a direct correlation between an individual’s sin and that person’s physical condition. Jesus explains that works of God will be displayed in the blind man’s life.
Our story continues
They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man’s eyes was a Sabbath. Therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. “He put mud on my eyes,” the man replied, “and I washed, and now I see.”
Now the Big Guns get involved. This whole healing thing needs to be inspected closer, verified and vetted by the religious standards committee. There’s an orthodoxy that needs to be followed closely, and only those approved regulators are able to give their stamp of approval on God’s work, ensuring its legitimacy. So a discussion ensues about who Jesus is whether he’s from God or a sinner. The formerly blind man describes him this way” “prophet.”
The religious referees aren’t convinced. The whole thing is too unbelievable. More investigation is necessary. Let’s get the parents in here. Now Johns says the parents are scared of the head honchos of religion so they wash their hands of the whole deal. Yep, that’s our son, yep he was born blind, but we don’t know who, what and where. No clue how this all happened. He’s old enough to speak for himself.
Back to the man: tell us the truth this time, we know this guy is a sinner.
Man: “Sinner or not I know one thing. I was blind but now I see.”
Pharisees: What did he do? How did he open your eyes?
Man: I told you the story already! You didn’t listen the first time! Do you want to follow him too? Oh now this is too far. What an insult. Us follow him? “We don’t even know where he comes from.” Remember how we opened this study of John’s Gospel? Can you recall a few weeks back?
The New International Version Chapter 1
10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God
From my notes a few weeks ago:
“Knowing” is a better term likely than “recognize” that the NIV uses. The sad irony John is telling us is that people don’t have a relationship with their creator. Not that they don’t recognize someone that they do know. We’re going to see this throughout John’s Gospel. People who know him and receive him, believe in him, obey him and people who don’t know him, don’t understand him, reject him.
The very people who should know who Jesus is don’t, but to anyone who receives him God will empower to become his child. Here in our story the Pharisees come right out and say it. “We don’t even know where this guy comes from” ()
The New International Version Chapter 9
30 The man answered, “Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. 31 We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will. 32 Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”
Boy that’s quite a statement. A random “guy born blind.” Doesn’t even have a name except Outcast, Sinner, Beggar. He preaches a short yet powerful sermon to the religious inspectors. You don’t know him but he did an amazing thing, and we know God wouldn’t be working through a sinner. God is in with the folks who do his will. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing. That probably sounds familiar. Jesus would say later in similar things to us. He is the vine and we are the branches.
All these conversations reveal a great irony displayed once again in John: people refuse to see this healing for what it is, a testament to God’s glory. The authorities have a script that must be followed, there’s an orthodoxy that must be kept pure. Because this story doesn’t follow the script, they reduce the man to only a blind beggar and Jesus to a sinner. The man is discredited, scorned, and ultimately thrown out. Jesus likewise is derided and doubted. But they, because they refuse to see, are the real sinners themselves.
The Pharisees are blinded by the light. ()
This passage starts with the disciples asking Jesus why a man was born blind. Is it because of sin.
Do we recognize the work of God? Do we have certain presumptions that may be blinding us from reality?
Jesus said that the purpose of this man’s blindness was ultimately to bring glory to God. How exactly? By him and those around him seeing—not just physically seeing but understanding and seeing Jesus for who he is. Knowing him and accepting him like it’s discussed in : to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. That’s giving glory to God.
Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” “Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.” Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.” Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him. Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”
Let’s be counted among those who have been blind but now know and accept Jesus for who he is. The one sent from God to do his work.