Some spit, some mud and voila!

John 9. 1-41 NIV   courtesy of www.biblegateway.com

¹ As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. ² His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
   ³ “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. ⁴ As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. ⁵ While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
 ⁶ After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. ⁷ “Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means “Sent”). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.
 ⁸ His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, “Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?” ⁹ Some claimed that he was.
   Others said, “No, he only looks like him.”
   But he himself insisted, “I am the man.”
 ¹⁰ “How then were your eyes opened?” they asked.
 ¹¹ 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.”
 ¹² “Where is this man?” they asked him.
   “I don’t know,” he said.

I will divide this week's text into sections because of its length.    Let's start with v 1-12.  We open with a discussion about sin and this man born blind.  Notice how often the phrase 'born blind' or 'blind from birth' occur in this story.  It is critical to interpretation on all levels: the metaphoric/spiritual and the literal level of interpretation.

A man who came into this world blind - broken - was understood to have been the result of someone's sin.  Sin and illness were joined in folks' religious constructs.  Jesus immediately shifts the conversation to God's plan in his discussion of night (when no work can be done: even the work of God) and Jesus who is the light of the world.  Using this image of Jesus as light creates a contrast with a man trapped in darkness.

Jesus as 'spiritual' light won't help this man see where he is going, so Jesus takes the practical step and heals the man.  We might not be surprised at this, but I assure you, someone blind from birth rarely recovered any sight - the cause of the onlookers exclamations.

Notice how folks don't recognize him once he can see again.  What is that all about?  Could we be blind to the real person behind the begging bowl?  Do we really see what we think we see? 

Notice the man gives no spiritual explanation for his healing.  He did what Jesus told him to do and now 'he is the man' who can see.


John 9.13-23
¹³ They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. ¹⁴ Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man’s eyes was a Sabbath. ¹⁵ 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.”
 ¹⁶ Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.”
   But others asked, “How can a sinner perform such signs?” So they were divided.
 ¹⁷ Then they turned again to the blind man, “What have you to say about him? It was your eyes he opened.”
   The man replied, “He is a prophet.”
 ¹⁸ They still did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they sent for the man’s parents. ¹⁹ “Is this your son?” they asked. “Is this the one you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see?”
 ²⁰ “We know he is our son,” the parents answered, “and we know he was born blind. ²¹ But how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself.” ²² His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders, who already had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. ²³ That was why his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”


Now the issue is healing on the Sabbath.  Isn't it interesting that so much energy is invested in finding out what is wrong with a man who was born blind now seeing!  It appears that the 'seeing' part is unimportant in comparison with healing on the Sabbath.  He's not from God!!

So the pressure is on the formerly blind man.  What do you say?  Well, he'll only go so far.  'He's a prophet' is a fairly safe response even to the Pharisees.  But notice the turn of conversation.....they didn't believe he had been blind!  I can sympathise with them; it really is hard to believe that this has happened.

So the pressure turns to the parents.  If you haven't read to the end of the story you'd find it hard to understand their 'non-response'.  He was born blind, more than that, ask him.  But notice, there was a threat that followers of Jesus would be put out of the synagogue.

Here history is a help.  This mention of conflict within synagogues around followers of Jesus is an indicator that this gospel was written later than some of the others because this level of conflict took years to develop after Jesus' death.  Remember that Jesus was a Jew claiming to be the Messiah.  It was Jews who had prophesied the coming of a Messiah; this is a Jewish story from their story of faith.  Not everyone agreed that Jesus was the Messiah, and in time, conflict arose within synagogues (local to each community) and eventually, followers of Jesus were put out of the synagogue.  This was painful on a religious, social and community level.  You'd have to be fairly firm in your faith in Jesus to take on the sacrifices that went with being ex-communicated from your local synagogue.

So while we are in the presence of an amazing miracle, everyone wants to talk about other issues!


Look to my second post today for the finale!

But the basic question for this story is.....Who exactly is the blind one(s) in this story?  What does it mean to be blind?  Does this give you some insight on why is it so important that the man has been 'blind from birth'?  Does that make him more culpable or less?

On to the next post