4/16

John 9:6-7

⁶Having said these things, he spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man's eyes with the mud ⁷and said to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing.

Jesus and His disciples were probably just outside the temple when they noticed a man who had been blind from birth begging for alms. The disciples asked whose sin cause his blindness, his or his parents. Jews believed a baby could sin in the womb before he or she was born. Jesus said it was neither, but that this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. Jesus was illustrating the fact that He is the light of the world (John 8:12), a declaration He had just announced.

Jesus put mud on the man's eyes and sent him to wash it off in the pool of Siloam. When workers were excavating a sewer line in Jerusalem recently, they discovered that same pool. They also discovered a wide stairway with a drainage ditch beneath it that led up to the Water Gate of the temple. The blind man would have gone down those very stairs. When the blind man washed the mud off, he could see. The physical connection of light stimulating the cells in his eyes, along with the optic nerve taking the image to the brain, and even the understanding of the images was all made instantly whole by Jesus. This illustrated what Jesus does for the spiritual vision of those who come to Him.

The people referred to this as another sign (John 9:16). They believed that only the Messiah could heal the eyes of one who was born blind. The Pharisees had to find fault with Jesus because they did not want to believe He was the Messiah. With the evidence staring them in the face (now that the formerly blind man can see), they decided to not believe and used the excuse that Jesus had healed the man on the Sabbath to reject Jesus' sign.

Consider: If one does not want to believe, he or she will find an excuse even when the evidence is clear. Do your eyes see?