He Opens Our Eyes!

John 9:1-17

A Man Born Blind Receives Sight

1 Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. 2 And His disciples asked Him, saying, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"

3 Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. 4 I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world."

6 When He had said these things, He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. 7 And He said to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which is translated, Sent). So he went and washed, and came back seeing.

8 Therefore the neighbors and those who previously had seen that he was blind said, "Is not this he who sat and begged?"

9 Some said, "This is he." Others said, "He is like him."  He said, "I am he."  10 Therefore they said to him, "How were your eyes opened?"

11 He answered and said, "A Man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, 'Go to the pool of Siloam and wash.' So I went and washed, and I received sight."

12 Then they said to him, "Where is He?" He said, "I do not know."

The Pharisees Excommunicate the Healed Man

13 They brought him who formerly was blind to the Pharisees. 14 Now it was a Sabbath when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. 15 Then the Pharisees also asked him again how he had received his sight. He said to them, "He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and I see."

16 Therefore some of the Pharisees said, "This Man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath."  Others said, "How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?" And there was a division among them.

17 They said to the blind man again, "What do you say about Him because He opened your eyes?"  He said, "He is a prophet."

Jesus and the disciples walked by a blind man begging along the way and the first thing they asked was if the ailment was because he sinned or if he inherited the disease from His parents due to their sin.  How often we see sickness and infirmities as a result of specific personal sins instead of the corruption that the original sin in Eden’s Garden brought into all creation (Romans 8:22) and begin seeking to make amends by good deeds to earn healing!  The Lord made it clear that neither this blind man nor his parents sinned to cause this condition, but that the works of God should be demonstrated in healing him as a testimony to God’s power and grace in delivering us from our sin-filled and ruled nature.  He worked the divine work of healing to restore the man’s body as a prelude to making his soul whole by the gospel message forgiveness and reconciliation in Christ (Isaiah 53:5-6, 1 Peter 2:24).  As the light of the world (John 1:4-5), Jesus Christ came to illuminate our spirits through making the body and soul whole in deliverance from the penalty of sin by His work and righteousness and not our own.  He then proceeded to take some dust of the earth of which mankind was formed (Genesis 2:7) and added His divine saliva to make healing holy mud to rebuild the damaged eyes just as God originally breathed life into the dust of man He had created.  As God, Jesus had the power to reenact this creation process with saliva and dust to make new eyes for the man to see as originally designed but marred by sin.  He was to wash in the waters of Siloam after Jesus applied this holy mud to the malformed eyes and then regain his sight as a parallel or picture of the Spirit of God as living water to bring that renewed life to his incomplete body.  When afterwards asked if he was the beggar who was born blind and not someone else, they asked who healed him and the man told them he did not know who He was.  Therefore they took him before the religious leaders to ascertain whether this healing was of God or not because any healing on the Sabbath was a religious violation of their law.  When they asked again how his eyes had been opened he replied clearly and truthfully, “He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.”  Because Jesus had not kept the Sabbath as they demanded, they automatically declared Jesus as not from God, not realizing that He was the Lord of the Sabbath (Mark 2:28, Hebrews 4:4-5, 9-10) which was made to give rest to man and not rule him for punishment.  The man given sight told these religious leaders that if the one who healed him was not from God or was a sinner because He had violated the Sabbath.  They so accused Jesus and then the man told them that He would not be able to heal him so miraculously unless He was from God as a prophet sent from Him.  Meanwhile the Pharisees argued among themselves how a sinner could do such wonders unless He was of God while others ignored this and focused only on the violation of their interpretation of the Law.  Certainly, wisdom is justified by her children who witness and experience His marvelous works of grace!  He opens our eyes by making them whole from the blindness of sin we are born in and shows us wholeness in body and soul as a testimony to the power of the transformative gospel of grace according to His mercy, forgiveness, and righteousness.