First, let’s take a look at the event where Jesus made clay of the spittle, and healed a man who was born blind. The scripture clearly states at the beginning that what happened to him was not because of his or his parents’ sins, but to demonstrate the deeds of God through Jesus did to him. Jesus clearly said that He is the light of the world. When the darkness came, He taught by examples rather than by words. We also see the faith of the blind man. By the way, Jesus healed blind men in various ways. He didn’t just use spittle and clay every time. Second, we discussed the Pharisees’ conversation with him and his parents, and saw that his parents were afraid of being kicked out of the synagogue and did not dare to say that Jesus was the Christ. Third, we see the blind man speaking to the Pharisees the second time in his faith. Finally, we see that in this special case, Jesus clearly stated that he was the Son of God and told that the Pharisees were truly blind.
1. The event about Jesus making clay of the spittle to heal the man who was born blind
“As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him. We must work the works of Him who sent Me as long as it is day; night is coming when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the Light of the world.” When He had said this, He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and applied the clay to his eyes, and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated, Sent). So he went away and washed, and came back seeing. Therefore the neighbors, and those who previously saw him as a beggar, were saying, “Is not this the one who used to sit and beg?” Others were saying, “This is he,” still others were saying, “No, but he is like him.” He kept saying, “I am the one.” So they were saying to him, “How then were your eyes opened?” He answered, “The man who is called Jesus made clay, and anointed my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash’; so I went away and washed, and I received sight.” They said to him, “Where is He?” He said, “I do not know.””(John 9:1-12)
Many people generally think that those who experience illness or suffering must have committed sins. This is clearly stated at the beginning that this is not necessarily true. It is also clearly stated that God the Father asked Jesus to do the work through the Holy Spirit, “…for He (God) gives the Spirit without measure.”(John 3:34) God’s works were displayed through Jesus’ works on the blind man!
Another example is the suffering suffered by Job was recorded in the Book of Job. From a human perspective, he has done very well and therefore has self-righteousness. We see that God wants to bless him, but he has to go through so much. Only through suffering can he truly realize his self-righteousness. Therefore, as soon as God told him something in the whirlwind, he knew and said, ““Behold, I am insignificant; what can I reply to You? I lay my hand on my mouth. “Once I have spoken, and I will not answer; Even twice, and I will add nothing more.””(Job 40:4-5) In the end, he repented, “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; But now my eye sees You; Therefore I retract, And I repent in dust and ashes.”(Job 42:5-6) God also blessed him, ” The LORD restored the fortunes of Job when he prayed for his friends, and the LORD increased all that Job had twofold.”(Job 42:10)
It is very clear that He must work during the day and cannot work at night! He has clearly said that He is the light of the world, so when will the dark night come? When Jesus was arrested, He said very clearly, “While I was with you daily in the temple, you did not lay hands on Me; but this hour and the power of darkness are yours.”(Luke 22:53) After He was arrested, He could no longer do such work. What he could no longer do also included other preaching and miracles that He had done. We see that when He went to the cross, He taught by example rather than by words. The scriptures make it very clear that ” Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”(Philippians 2:8) He was truly crucified for us.
After the objective facts I experienced (see “2123 God uses objective facts to show others to see His existence”), someone said to me that even if there were objective facts, that was different from what I thought. She said that I would not believe it, so I didn’t even want to see it for myself. People’s hearts are really hard! So when Jesus said, “In their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says, ‘You will keep on hearing, but will not understand; You will keep on seeing, but will not perceive; For the heart of this people has become dull, With their ears they scarcely hear, And they have closed their eyes, Otherwise they would see with their eyes, Hear with their ears, And understand with their heart and return, And I would heal them.’”⁰(Matthew 13:14-15) It is not that the Trinity God is afraid of their conversion, but that the Jews themselves are hard-hearted and will not convert. On the contrary, the triune God “…is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.”(2 Peter 3:9) Once converted, He will heal them.
Jesus healed blind men in various ways. This time, He anointed the blind man’s eyes with spittle and mud and asked him to wash in the pool of Siloam. He knew that it was Jesus who opened his eyes, but he had not seen Jesus because he was blind when he saw Jesus, so he would say I don’t know where that person is. According to what God tells us through the Bible is consistent, Jesus at that time would not directly reveal who He was in order to gain a good reputation. Although the Bible does not clearly say how he knew it was Jesus who healed him, it is reasonable to guess that it is human nature. After he was healed, he returned to the place where he wanted to know who healed him. When he returned, Jesus should have been gone. Probably someone nearby told him that Jesus healed him. If we look at the following scriptures, we will know that this is the case, “Jesus heard that they had put him out, and finding him, He said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” He answered, “Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?” Jesus said to him, “You have both seen Him, and He is the one who is talking with you.” And he said, “Lord, I believe.” And he worshiped Him.””(John 9:35-38) Before this, he did not know that Jesus was the Son of God. You will know this when you see his conversation with the Pharisees in John 9:13-34, which we are about to discuss.
Here we’ll talk about the blind man’s faith. Jesus anointed the blind man’s eyes with spittle and clay, and told him that he could see if he washed them. Do you think most people would believe it? But he obediently washed it and was cured. Looking again at his conversation with the Pharisees in the passage we are about to look at, we see that he believed Jesus was a prophet because of the healing he experienced. Finally, there is the paragraph mentioned above. He could immediately believe that Jesus was the Son of God and behave accordingly. No wonder God would choose him and show God’s deeds in him. Here, we see again that “What God tells us through the Bible is consistent.” Because the Bible is inspired by God, if we do not believe this, we will definitely interpret the Bible forcefully, especially when encountering obviously contradictory inspirations, one would not know what God wants to tell us through such revelation!
We just mentioned that Jesus healed the blind man in different ways, so let’s just mention this by the way. In Matthew 9:27-31, it was because of the blind men’s faith, “Then He touched their eyes, saying, “It shall be done to you according to your faith.””(Matthew 9:29) In Jericho, almost the same method was used. At this time, “Moved with compassion, Jesus touched their eyes; and immediately they regained their sight and followed Him.”
(Matthew 20:34)
When in Bethsaida, a completely different approach was adopted, “And they came to Bethsaida. And they brought a blind man to Jesus and implored Him to touch him. Taking the blind man by the hand, He brought him out of the village; and after spitting on his eyes and laying His hands on him, He asked him, “Do you see anything?” And he looked up and said, “I see men, for I see them like trees, walking around.” Then again He laid His hands on his eyes; and he looked intently and was restored, and began to see everything clearly. And He sent him to his home, saying, “Do not even enter the village.””(Mark 8:22-26) At this time, it was divided into two steps. He went outside the village and told him afterwards that he did not want to enter this village. So, although the Bible does not explicitly say that there is a big problem in this village, we can see this through logical deduction. Therefore, logic originated from God is very important. One for spiritual matters should use use logic only with the premise of believing in God. Without such a premise, one will deduce agnosticism, so Christians must use logical deduction on this premise. In Mark 10:46-52 and Luke 18:35-43, He healed the blind man simply by His Word, “And Jesus said to him, “Go; your faith has made you well.” Immediately he regained his sight and began following Him on the road.”(Mark 10:52)
I mention this by the way, because if I remember correctly, there was a man who told others in public that he was inspired by the Holy Spirit to heal certain people, claiming that he had the gift of healing. I can only say that I don’t really believe that he really has the gift that he claims, because it is sometimes right, but probably sometimes it is not right. Similar ways, at least one person testified that the same is true with prayer. Sometimes what happens is exactly the same as the result of prayer, and sometimes it is just the opposite. How could this be? What comes from God will definitely come true. “When a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which the LORD has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.”(Deuteronomy 18:22) I think God wants this person to learn discernment through this kind of prayer. Unfortunately, so far, I don’t know if this person realizes this.
Going back to the man who claimed to have gifts, he once said that the way to heal was for women, and I felt the same way as a man. After asking him, he could only tell me that God probably wanted to heal me too, and I didn’t get treatment this time. Really need to discern! In a biography of Watchman Nee, it was mentioned that one person under him had such the gift. Then one people, who had no problem and was in the Communist Party, pretended to be a patient. When that person prayed for treatment for this man, the Communist Party claimed that praying for treatment was a lie. Of course, we know this was a frame-up, but we really have to discern!
2. Dialogue between the blind man, his parents and the Pharisees
“They brought to the Pharisees the man who was formerly blind. Now it was a Sabbath on the day when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. Then the Pharisees also were asking him again how he received his sight. And he said to them, “He applied clay to my eyes, and I washed, and I see.” Therefore some of the Pharisees were saying, “This man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath.” But others were saying, “How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?” And there was a division among them. So they said to the blind man again, “What do you say about Him, since He opened your eyes?” And he said, “He is a prophet.” The Jews then did not believe it of him, that he had been blind and had received sight, until they called the parents of the very one who had received his sight, and questioned them, saying, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? Then how does he now see?” His parents answered them and said, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; but how he now sees, we do not know; or who opened his eyes, we do not know. Ask him; he is of age, he will speak for himself.” His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone confessed Him to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue. For this reason his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.””(John 9:13-23)
We have talked several times about how Jesus kept the true meaning of the Sabbath, not the literal Sabbath time. He wanted the Sabbath as an example to tell us how to understand the true meaning of the Law. When Jesus said, “For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished.”(Matthew 5:18) This is saying that what you have to keep is the true meaning of the Law, like keeping the Sabbath, otherwise you can find obvious contradictions. The Pharisees did not understand this, so it is no wonder that they had disputes, because from a human perspective, of course it would be like this.
The scripture clearly describes the conversation with the Pharisees. At that time, the blind man only knew that Jesus was a prophet. It is obvious that his parents had already believed that Jesus was the Christ after seeing what Jesus did for their son. Otherwise, the scripture would not say this, “His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone confessed Him to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue.”(John 9:22) They were afraid of being expelled from the synagogue, so how could they dare to say that Jesus was the Christ! Some people think his parents were lying to protect themselves when they saw the phrase “…he will speak for himself.”(John 9:21). In fact, his parents were very wise in saying this, because he truly could speak for himself. The Scriptures show this: “He answered, “The man who is called Jesus made clay, and anointed my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash’; so I went away and washed, and I received sight.””(John 9:11). Although he didn’t see it with his own eyes at the time, because he could only see after washing while blind, he knew it was Jesus. Either someone who saw Him told him, or Jesus Himself said it. He knew what was happening to him was a miracle, so he thought Jesus was a prophet at the time. Only later did he realize that Jesus was the Son of God.
3. The blind man spoke to the Pharisees for the second time with his faith
“So a second time they called the man who had been blind, and said to him, “Give glory to God; we know that this man is a sinner.” He then answered, “Whether He is a sinner, I do not know; one thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” So they said to him, “What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?” He answered them, “I told you already and you did not listen; why do you want to hear it again? You do not want to become His disciples too, do you?” They reviled him and said, “You are His disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where He is from.” The man answered and said to them, “Well, here is an amazing thing, that you do not know where He is from, and yet He opened my eyes. We know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is God-fearing and does His will, He hears him. Since the beginning of time it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, He could do nothing.” They answered him, “You were born entirely in sins, and are you teaching us?” So they put him out.”(John 9:24-34)
The Pharisees were really dissatisfied when looking at things from a human perspective, and finally drove him out. The Pharisees did not know that the Lord Jesus kept the true meaning of the Sabbath. When they saw Him not keeping the Sabbath time, they thought He was a sinner! However, they thought they were disciples of Moses, but they did not know that “For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise is not from men, but from God.”(Romans 2:28-29) They didn’t know it, but they were not the true disciples of Moses. As Jeremiah said, “The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick;
Who can understand it?”(Jeremiah 17:9) People will deceive themselves! This blind man saw very clearly that only one who came from God could do the things He did, and his eyes, which were born blind, were opened.
4. Jesus declared clearly that He was the Son of God
“Jesus heard that they had put him out, and finding him, He said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” He answered, “Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?” Jesus said to him, “You have both seen Him, and He is the one who is talking with you.” And he said, “Lord, I believe.” And he worshiped Him. And Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, so that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind.” Those of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these things and said to Him, “We are not blind too, are we?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but since you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.”(John 9:35-41)
Jesus knew very well that He was the Son of God. Let’s just give two examples among others. Didn’t God the Father Himself say it when He was baptized? “and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.””(Matthew 3:17) Isn’t it the same on the Mount of Transfiguration? “While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the cloud said, “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him!””(Matthew 17: 5) Because “Jesus answered, “…it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him.”(John 9:3) Jesus then declared clearly that he was the Son of God. The blind man believed him and worshiped him. We have discussed before that Jesus always kept a low profile before His time came. This time He clearly stated that He was the Son of God because this was a special case to show the deeds of God. Discerning between general situations and special cases is very important!
The blind man knew that he was born blind, but was healed by Jesus. His faith increased even more. He could believe immediately that Jesus was the Son of God and the Christ. He could really see now. On the contrary, the Pharisees were truly spiritually blind. They did not know that true faith involves an inner change and an outward manifestation. “You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also.”(Matthew 23:26) There is life within, which can then be manifested outside. Life cannot be pretended, and it can only come from God. “I (Paul) planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth.”(1 Corinthians 3:6-7) So Paul said, “And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it. …”(1 Corinthians 3:1-2) “until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.”(Ephesians 4:13) “But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.”(Hebrews 5:14) Therefore, life must grow slowly. It has not been happened that a person becomes an adult as soon as he is baptized, so he must be patient.
(Verses refer to those in NASB95 unless otherwise specified.)
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