John 9 (ESV) As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 And his disciples asked him, c ‚ÄúRabbi, d who sinned, e this man or f his parents, that he was born blind?‚Äù 3 Jesus answered, ‚ÄúIt was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but g that the works of God might be displayed in him. 4 We must h work the works of him who sent me i while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, j I am the light of the world.‚Äù 6 Having said these things, k he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva. l Then he anointed the man’s eyes with the mud 7 and said to him, ‚ÄúGo, wash in m the pool of Siloam‚Äù (which means Sent). So he went and washed and n came back seeing.
Last night I told this story to the boys for their bedtime story and I realized that this man was blind for YEARS and lived a hard life for YEARS just so that the glory of God could be displayed in his life at this moment. We talk in our culture about “Experiencing God” and all sorts of feelings and events, but what if only one thing happened in your whole lifetime? Would you still follow Him? Our relationship with God should not be one like a dad trying to take a picture of his baby son. The dad makes a million noises and jumps around just to keep the baby looking at the camera, and the minute the dad is silent, the baby turns and crawls away. We should not be so with God.
This man had struggled through life as a blind beggar and God knew every moment of it. He knew the pain frustration of the blind man’s parents, and every blaming conversation they had with each other as all the other kids learned to read the Torah and help their parents with housework. Regardless of cause or origin, God saw all of that and on this day when the man was ‘of age’ as his bitter parents say later, God made His Son walk past Him with the power to heal.
One note that I saw mentioned a man in recent time that was born blind and had an operation as an adult that restored his sight. He had great difficulty for a while, because had to be taught a lot about color and vocabulary, since all his life he had heard, touched, smelled, and tasted things without seeing them. The note said that Jesus did even more than give the man sight, but did something to his mind to comprehend everything that he could suddenly see. That would fit right with the lame people being able to instantly walk and dance without a slow rehab process. It just goes to show that when Jesus heals, He does it completely.
