God's concern.
As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. . . [Jesus] spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man's eyes with the mud and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam.” John 9:1-7
Have you ever re-thought a decision or a specific action, wondering if this was the correct choice or simply a fool’s errand? Have you ever second guessed what you were doing at some particular moment or changed your course of action right in the middle of a life change? As I look at this man’s story, it becomes apparent to me that he would have had enough time to second guess what it was he was doing. Jesus had just put mud on this man’s eyes and then had instructed him to go to the pool of Siloam and wash.
The mud and the call to wash were slightly unusual, but what was a larger encouragement toward second guessing was the fact that there were closer places to go and wash. At the Southern steps of the Temple, there were mikvahs (large outdoor baths) and this man would have passed them on his way to the pool of Siloam. This blind man could have stopped at any of those baths and whisked away the mud. But Jesus had told him to go to the pool of Siloam. “[Jesus] said to him, ‘Go, wash in the pool of Siloam’ (which means Sent). So he went” (John 9:7).
Why the pool of Siloam? It was close to a kilometer away from where the blind man had been sitting in the temple. This was his (and other invalids’) typical place to sit and wait for the generosity of the worshipers going to the temple - this location was probably the Golden Gate or the Gate called Beautiful on the east side of the Temple.
Let’s look further at the text to gain insight. The opening words of John 9 tell us this: “As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 And his disciples asked him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’ “ (John 9:1-2). Jesus saw a man. Jesus saw a flesh and blood, living, breathing, thinking, and feeling man who just happened to be blind also. Jesus sees you, also.
Jewish practices treated this man in a kindly fashion - he was not a pariah like the lepers of Jewish culture. But Jewish religious customs and traditions assigned his debility to some sin - either his or his parents’ actual sin. One Jewish thought held that if a pregnant woman was strolling through an idol-grove (a place of pagan idols) then her child would directly suffer from some issue later in life. Even Jewish Rabbis would ask the lame and the invalids how or by what sin had this ailment crept into their life. They believed so heavily in a false narrative; they held tightly to an unproven concept that illness, blindness, leprosy, paralysis, etc. were a result of specific sins committed by specific individuals. The disciples clearly held to this thought also.
To be sure, distinct maladies can erupt from certain sinful traits. Too much sugar in my diet will lead to diabetes. Too much sun on my skin can lead to melanoma. It’s wrong to poke things in your eye and such actions have the potential to blind you. But not all ailments have a direct connection to a set sin. Many of our ills are simply the result of living in a world that is broken by the presence of sin; they are not necessarily linked to a specific sin.
Jesus quickly dismisses such faulty theology: this man was born blind “. . . that the works of God might be displayed in him.” (John 9:3). Jesus was going to display some of God’s grace-filled work in the healing of this blindness. God was going to show his devoted care for this man by reversing his broken eyes. This miracle means that God treasures human creatures as his own dear children.
So with that in mind, let’s imagine ourselves to be this man, taking the trek from the Temple to the pool of Siloam. Blindness will inhibit the speed of this man’s walking. The distance from this part of the Temple to the pool of Siloam is approaching 1 kilometer. Yet in the long trek there was an opportunity which would give glory to Jesus in this miracle.
Here is where the mind gets to engage in the miracle that is about to happen. He has heard Jesus say, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him” (John 9:3). That in itself must have caused him to have a higher regard for Jesus and for himself. Every other Rabbi would have thought [and even said] that there was guilt attached to his blindness. That just makes you feel dirty through and through. It makes a person sense that they are sub-par; that they are less than human. Jesus would not and does not view broken humans in that way. I seriously wonder if the long hike was designed to let the man think about Jesus’ kind words so that his very soul felt love’s touch.
Jesus, in that one statement from John 9:32, reversed a lifetime of self-loathing. Jesus created a broad horizon of hope for this man. God has targeted “my life” in which to display his goodness. YES! And now he is ambling his way toward Siloam, energized by Jesus’ heralding. He can feel the tangible mud on his eyes. It is dripping down and caking his eyelids. He must know how foolish this looks to anyone who is watching. He must know and even hear others saying, “you’ve got mud on your eyes.” But now his attention rises above the clamour of all spectators. His focus is to follow the directive of this man, Jesus, who has connected God’s providence to him. He still does not know the outcome of washing but he must suspect something grand.
What about you and I? How often have we heard the truth about our sinfulness and felt the worthlessness of sin’s infection on our attempts at life? How often do we leave our worth in that locale? How continuous is the hum of dull discontent, knowing that every action of ours is debilitated by our own sin. How often have we wanted to chuck the whole process of sanctified living because sinful thoughts and doubting ideas nudge us back to our truly broken mind and inept souls? Honestly, it must be present in our thoughts because brokenness is our reality. We are broken creatures with broken minds and hearts dulled to goodness. We live in a world that is a collection of fragmented attempts at greatness. We have all collapsed far short of God’s intended finish line for humanity - the glory of God; we have all sinned (Romans 3:23 paraphrase).
Broken is not the end. God has never simply been on the sidelines. He has been active. The God of love and faithfulness is known for his purchases. He finds joy in buying back his own creation from a self-chosen (but often hidden) disaster. He pays for all the necessary repairs. He puts his own collateral down for all the spiritual debts we accumulate. He sets up a heavenly Roth-IRA that cannot be lost in a bearish market (1 Peter 1:3-4).
This man’s blindness is not the end. This man was not forgotten. He was not refuse or disposable material. This man has worth because God put his worth into humanity. Jesus’ action of spitting in the dirt to create mud, calls our attention to the first time in Scriptures that God played in the mud (Genesis 2). God, the divine and eternal King, has no qualms about getting his hands dirty. The first man, Adam, was a result of his personal shaping of clay into a special creature. A chunk of dirt became God’s recipient of divine breath. God’s mouth and muddy nostrils met - God breathed his life into dirt. This gave dirt its vibrancy as well as its worth.
God still breathes life into men and women today. Each new life has both brokenness and promise. The brokenness is inherent (mom and dad give us the brokenness) but the promise of God to reverse this all must come through loud and clear. This is why Jesus stopped to see the man. This is why Jesus halts to see you. He sees you sitting in that armchair, wondering if God has forgotten you in the midst of a year-long pandemic. He sees you squirming under the weight of an uncertain future. He knows that your own heart beats feebly at times - worried about the next months.
This and all of Jesus’ miracles are meant to display God’s glory. God is at work in your life and in my life. We all need to know that. Ephesians 2:8-9 has these words: “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” God’s heart caused an enormous gift of grace that created faith in our hearts and saved us. It’s the next phase, the ongoing work of God, which is seen in verse 10 that tells us God is continuing his gracious actions in our life: “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10).
In a sense, we are all like the blind beggar at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple. We are all on a journey toward healing. The journey is more than a kilometer; it is a life of walking on planet earth. But in that walk, we are drawn back to our Creator’s unending concern to restore all that is broken in us. At some point along the journey, we might wonder about his care or second guess his provision. Hang on! The healing will come. For 100% of all believers healing will come. It will be there in heaven’s eternity to bring relief to our eyes, to help and restore our aching insides, to unfetter our agility, to equip us to push past any failed attempts from the past, and to restore us completely to perfection.
God’s concern for this man is evident. God’s concern for you is also evident because the cross displays how far Jesus will go to restore us. The agony of Good Friday will once again restore our eyes to keep focusing on Jesus. Stay the course. Fix your eyes. Your heart will melt under his unbending love.
Peace to you in Christ Jesus!
Pastor Al