Scripture tells us quite a bit about the setting in which Christ and His Disciples found themselves on this occasion...
At that time, In that part of the world, and even today it's not uncommon to see blind people wondering the streets begging for food or money.
According to Mosaic law those who were crippled, blind or disfigured in any way were regarded as a result of theirs or their parents sin. The reasoning seemed to have been, God would never create anything incorrectly, wrongly, or badly, nor would He have an accident, or make a mistake. Therefore, if there is a fault, man must have caused it.
Everyone knew this man, he had been sitting there for over thirty years, so there was no form of sympathy or “how can we help these people” just a simple question, from the disciples “Whose sin was it that this man was born this way” but it gave Jesus an opening, to once again show who He was. Often in normal conversation we too get openings or opportunities to say who Jesus is and we let them pass, we shouldn’t let that happen (seize the moment and watch the Holy Spirit lead you).
Jesus could and did tell them the plain truth, “It wasn't his parents nor his own sin that this man was born like this” but for a very special reason. “So that the works of God could be seen in him” Like Esther or Joshua or Mary (Christ's Mother) “So as the light of God can be seen in Him. While I am in the World, I am the Light of the World.” (v5) This is the first time Jesus refers to Himself as I AM (God) and the light of the world refers to His all knowing character.
Nobody is born just to have a good time here and then die and go straight to glory, No, we are all here for a reason and are expected to pray and find out what that reason is (read the parable about the talents) we've all been given talents and gifts and although our salvation does not depends on our giftings, Paul does say we should “Work out our salvation with fear and trembling.” That means, one day we are going to have to give an account to God for the talents and giftings He has given us. Being baptised in the Spirit doesn't mean we have a free ride to Heaven, on the contrary, because we have been baptised in the Holy Spirit there is a bigger responsibility on us to practise them so the Glory of God can be seen. I believe this is the bases of this chapter through which we should run our lives (So that the Glory of God can be seen).
Jesus then made reference to Himself as the “Light of the World, as long as it's day I must do the works of Him who sent me.” As long as we have Jesus the Light of the World in us, we must do the works of Him who sent Jesus. Because while Jesus was in the world, He was the Light of the World, but soon he was to die and WE have been given that responsibility to carry the Light of the World which is Jesus in us, and do the works that the Father gave Jesus to do. One of the best ways we can do that is to use the talents and gifts He has given us so that we can show His Light in the World...
It's interesting to note that this man never asked to be healed. He didn't see Jesus making the paste to put on his eyes, but may have heard at least some of the conversation. Jesus put the paste on his eyes and told him to go and wash in the pool of Siloam which means “sent.” Jesus was sent as the Light of the World to open the eyes of the blind. There's no record of words of healing mentioned by Jesus. This man went to the pool blind, I understand, a distance of about 3 kilometres, that would not have been easy or quickly achieved, but he washed and came back seeing.
Imagine how he felt seeing his Mother for the first time, looking into her eyes and clutching those arms that held him so close and out of danger for all those years, matching his father's face to the voice he'd heard for so long, what must all their feelings have been. The goodness of God is something to think about.
Something else I get from this miracle is that this man whose name is not recorded, never saw Jesus but he felt Him when He put the paste on his eyes. The world tells us to believe only in things we can see, hear, touch or taste but our faith should tell us differently, we don’t know how much faith this man had, but it must have been enough for him to walk all that way blind to the pool of Siloam and find his way back. Was his faith as big as a Mustard Seed?
Later when the man was asked, by the Pharisees all he knew was the name of Jesus, what He did and what He said. I wonder if that could be enough for us, just to know the name of Jesus, what He says and what He will do?. Would we be obedient to His word?, I’m sure if we were, we too would see the Glory of God and experience the miraculous in our lives, just as this man did.
I have found like Jesus did, the hardest people to convince are the Religious, the law abider and our families, if you don’t meet their criteria, whatever you have to say doesn’t hold much water. These Religious leaders had a problem with Jesus healing a blind man on the Sabbath... The Law, The Law, The Law!!!
That’s what made them regard the healing as sinful and call Jesus a sinner. In spite of the evidence right in front of them, they refused to believe and the man was thrown out of the temple. A word of caution here, we all know people like that, they wont believe, just because they don’t want to for whatever reason. So don’t waste your time or energy on them, The Lord called it “casting pearls before swine.”
It’s interesting that Jesus did meet and reveal Himself to the man He had healed, and brought him to faith too, I wonder if that was to make sure no one else could claim the miracle, and maybe also to remove any disgrace that was inflicted on his parents by the Pharisees. Just a thought!!!
Spiritual blindness is something we all have to guard against, so it pays to probe, delve and check with Scripture, thus giving The Word of God first place in our queries.
Thank you for reading this, I hope we all get something from what God is speaking to us about through it.
God bless and guide you through His Word.
Phaline
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