DAY SIXTY-THREE:
Healing A Blind Man
Today we come to one of my very favorite passages. We find in it an important key for understanding God's work in our lives, punctuated with some of the best humor in the entire Bible.
Jesus' answer: "It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him." Job's friends assumed that he must have sinned for all that misfortune to befall him. But like this blind man, Job lost everything not because of his sin, but so that God would be glorified. We will see that this man was born blind so that God would be glorified when Jesus healed him. This man has a part in something far bigger than just himself. Jesus said, "We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world." Just as the blind man would see light, so everyone would see Jesus, the light of the world, through this miracle.
Jesus spit on the ground and made some mud with his saliva. That sounds disgusting to us, but people used saliva as a medicine in those days (and there's some validity to that). Jesus put the mud on the man's eyes and told him to go and wash it off in the nearby Pool of Siloam. The man staggered there in blindness, walked away seeing for the first time in his life! Everyone was amazed. Some thought that this can't be the beggar we saw every day- this man just looks like him. They asked what happened, and the man told them "The man called Jesus made mud and anointed my eyes and said to me, 'Go to Siloam and wash.' So I went and washed and received my sight." They asked where Jesus was, but the man didn't know.
Nothing escaped the attention of the religious authorities, especially when Jesus was involved. In the previous chapter Jesus engaged in a heated debate with them which ended when they were ready to stone Him for his claim "Before Abraham was, I am." Now Jesus once again healed on the Sabbath, thereby breaking their rules. They had to get ahead of this before the news spread all over Jerusalem. They brought the man in for questioning. These learned scholars of the Law of Moses thought they would bully this illiterate into denouncing Jesus. It didn't work out that way.
Under questioning the man said that Jesus made mud and put it on his eyes. Then He told him to wash it off in the Pool of Siloam. Aha! Not only did Jesus heal this man on the Sabbath, but He also made mud. TWO violations of the Law! This man desecrates God's holy day, and therefore He cannot be of God. Yet some of the Pharisees were beginning to wonder. How could a man do something like this if God is not with Him? So the hard-liners went at the man again, and he stuck to his story. They even brought in the man's parents, who affirmed that he was born blind. They didn't want any trouble, though, so they told the Pharisees that their son was of age and he can answer for himself.
They called the blind man back in and started a full-court press. This man is a sinner! The man replied, "Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see." When asked again how he came to see he said I already told you. Are you asking because you want to become Jesus' disciples? This enraged the Pharisees. They were Moses' disciples, not followers of this man Jesus. But the formerly blind man's logic is unassailable: "We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing." Check and mate! This unlearned man had confounded the experts. The Pharisees had no answer, but couldn't tolerate the thought that this man was right and they were wrong. So they did the only thing they could do if they wanted to continue in their beliefs. They kicked him out!
Jesus heard what had happened and tracked the man down. He asked, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" Remember, this man has never seen Jesus- he was still blind when Jesus sent him to wash off the mud. He replied, "And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?" Jesus said you're looking at Him. The man fell down before Jesus and worshipped Him. He was forever grateful not only for the gift of sight but for the mercy that the Son of Man had shown him.
Jesus commented, "For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind." Some Pharisees overheard and were offended. Is Jesus saying that they are blind? Jesus answered, "If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, 'We see,' your guilt remains." The Pharisees were not physically blind, but were willfully blind when it came to the things of God. Jesus is the light of the world, but they refused to welcome that light because it revealed their own sins.
Life is full of hard and unanswerable questions. Why did my child get sick and die? Why am I confined to a wheelchair? Why are so many people starving in this world? Sometimes we can see the consequences of specific sins. In many cases people are starving because it's politically expedient to starve one's enemies. Sometimes people bear the consequences of their own sins, like an armed robber who is shot while committing a crime. But why are children born with things like spina bidfida, cerebral palsy, autism and all kinds of maladies? Why does someone in the prime of life suffer from Lou Gehrig's Disease? Why does God allow evil things, like child molestation?
We don't like it when life doesn't make sense. So we try to make sense of it. We tell grieving parents who have lost a child things like "God must have wanted another angel in heaven." We feel like we have to say something, but when we do it's usually the wrong thing. Job's friends were true friends when they shared his misery in silence for seven days. It was when they opened their mouths that they became Job's tormentors by trying to explain what had happened to him. There are no magic words. If there were, I'm sure they would have taught them to me in seminary.
Jesus said that the man was born blind so that the glory of God might be shown in him. That's true of every one of us, regardless of our health. God, in His wise Providence, determined the course of your life and mine before He created the universe. (Ephesians 1:3-6) He created us to glorify Him with the good works He prepared beforehand for us to do. (Ephesians 2:8-10) When we were discussing the life of Joseph and the terrible injustices that he endured, I recommended a classic book, The Crook in the Lot, by Thomas Boston. This book also speaks to the questions we face today. We may not like the difficulties that God has allowed into our lives, but He loves us and will use those circumstances to bring glory to Himself and blessings to us and others.
What about healing? You can see evangelists on TV who have healing lines at their services. People come to the stage with all kinds of problems. The evangelist prays and the people stagger and sometimes fall. But then they show signs of being healed. Is this for real? I'm not so sure. Some of this is outright deceit (the evangelist Peter Popoff was caught receiving prompts via a small receiver in his ear from his wife, who had interviewed the people and knew of their needs). Other times it's a case of the person wanting to be healed so badly that they believe they are. I have no doubt that there are genuine healings. God can do anything, and He loves to surprise us. Most of what God does, however, He can accomplish through Providence (His control of all things under the laws He has established). He gives us doctors as instruments of healing. Sometimes God allows our diseases and infirmities to run their course. He calls us to glorify Him and bless others in this life, despite our ailments. He promises us perfect healing with Him in heaven.
I can't think of anyone better to give us a word of encouragement than Joni Eareckson Tada. She suffered a spinal cord injury in a diving accident when she was 17 years old. She has spent the last 47 years as a quadriplegic. This is a clip from an interview ten years ago with Larry King.
No comments:
Post a Comment