Jesus and the man born blind

Today’s gospel teaches us about one characteristic of our Lord Jesus Christ, that he is a healer. This story is about Jesus and the man born blind. You can find it in John 9:1-41 (9:1, 6-9. 13:17,34-38.)

“1 As [Jesus] [assed by he saw a man blind from birth. 6 He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva, and smeared the clay on his eyes, 7 and said to him, “Go wash in the Pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went and washed, and came back able to see. 8 His neighbors and those who had seen him earlier as a beggar said, “Isn’t this the one who used to sit and beg?” 9 Some said, “It is,” but others said, “No, he just looks like him.” He said, “I am.” 12 They brought the one who was once blind to the Pharisees.

14 Now Jesus had made clay and opened his eyes on a Sabbath. 15 So then the Pharisees also asked him how he was able to see. He said to them, “He put clay on my eyes and I washed, and now I can see.” 16 So some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God because he does not keep the Sabbath. [But] others said, “How can a sinful man do such signs?”

And there was a division among them. 17 So they said to the blind man again, “What do you have to say about him, since he opened your eyes?” He said, “He is a prophet.” 34 They answered and said to him, “You were born totally in sin, and are you trying to teach us? Then they threw him out.

35 When Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, he found him and said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” 36 He answered and said, “Who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” 37 Jesus said to him, “You have seen him and the one speaking with you is he.” 38 He said, “I do believe, Lord.” And he worshiped him.”

In ancient times, any major illness that befalls upon unfortunate souls is considered a punishment by God. In the case of the man born blind, his parents must have offended God to have a child born blind. In those days, God was blamed for any misfortune that fell upon people.

Hence the case of the man born blind was really a great event because this man had no chance to be healed. Others, whose eyes got only hurt still have a chance to get healed. But the man born blind encountered our Lord Jesus Christ. Notice that he didn’t even beg Jesus to heal him. So Jesus immediately spat on the ground with his saliva and with the clay he made, he smeared it over the eyes of the blind man and then told the man to wash in the Pool of Siloam. Then the blind man could see.

To a modern day doctor, what the Lord Jesus Christ did was quite unsanitary; he used his saliva and he spat on dirty soil to make clay and put it in the eyes of the blind. So was it the clay that healed the blind or was it the waters from the pool of Siloam? Actually, our Lord Jesus Christ could just have said a word and the blind would have been healed. However, his act of making clay and curing the blind on the Sabbath was in direct challenge to the Pharisees and their minions who saw all this.

Hence the followers of the Pharisees brought the blind man before them to interrogate him. Some even dared to say that he only looked like the man born blind. When asked a direct question, how he could now see, the man replied, ”He put clay on my eyes and I washed, and now I can see.” This incensed the Pharisees for making clay during the Sabbath is a violation of the Jewish law, which also includes healing people. Yes, in ancient Israel even doctors keep the Sabbath Holy.

But even in the ranks of the Pharisees, there were dissenting opinions. The hardliners would insist that Jesus was not a man from God because he does not keep the Sabbath. Others argue saying ”How can a sinful man do such signs?” They finally asked the man what he thought of the man who opened his eyes? The man said, ”He is a prophet!” The Pharisees then told him, ”You were born totally in sin, and are you trying to teach us?” So they threw him out onto the streets. They were really scared of the truth!

The Pharisees in those days were supposed to be the guardian of Jewish law and if anyone should say that this person is a prophet, it should only be the Pharisees who could make this claim. Yet the man born blind was granted a miracle by Jesus, hence he told the Pharisees that the man who cured him was a prophet. This disgusted the Pharisees and threw him out. But in reality, the Pharisees could not fathom the reality before them, that this blind man would know that Jesus was a prophet.

This brings us to the question, who was really blind in this story? That even the blind could recognize the presence of divinity, yet the Pharisees could not see that Jesus was a prophet? Indeed, blindness doesn’t have to be physical. We who can see clearly could be totally blinded by materialism and the poverty around us. But with Jesus we can see everything!