GOOD NEWS FROM ST. JOHN
Meditations in the Gospel of St. John
St. John 9:1-7
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IN considering this miracle of the healing of the man born blind, we are looking at one of the particular signs which Jesus performed in order to make a specific and important revelation concerning himself. The revelation which we have here is concerning Jesus as the Light of the world (v.5), which Jesus began to speak about in the previous chapter, but which we also have revealed to us in the prologue of the Gospel - John 1:4,5 “In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.”

Jesus heals this man who was blind from birth. His life has been lived, up to the moment Jesus healed him, in total darkness. He had not been able to see the beauties of the world, or enjoy them. Jesus mixed some mud with his saliva, anoints the eyes of the man with this mud. Jesus then tells the man to wash in the pool of Siloam, which he did, and his sight was given to him.

We can’t imagine what it must have been like for this man to suddenly see all the myriad things all around him, but it must have been a new lease of life for him. He could see.

All this was done in the context of the question of the disciples in verse 2 - “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind.” Jesus’ answer showed that the disciples had got their understanding all muddled up. Jesus told them that this man had not been born blind because of any sin on the part of himself or his parents. It could not have been on account of any sin on the man’s part, because he was born blind. He was blind before he had had a chance to sin. Jesus says that he had been born blind so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.

The work of God was the work which Jesus came to do, and Jesus speaks of this in the context of him being the light of the world. Jesus was sent by God to bring light in the darkness of this world, and the giving of physical sight was illustrative of this work.

Although it was no particular sin on the part of the man or his parents, the problem of this birth disorder and all disorders in the world, is due to sin which entered the world when Adam sinned and disobeyed God. The world has dwelt in darkness ever since that fateful day. The darkness is caused by Satan, and is due to Adam’s sin. All of us are born into the world in spiritual darkness and separated from God and from the life and light of God. Further the world is full of sicknesses and problems, due to the malice of Satan, and the disorder he has brought to God’s original creation. In a word the darkness we are in is to be separated from the light of God, and the perfection and blessing of God.

Jesus showed in this act of physical healing, that he had come to bring light to the world in a much deeper and more important way than simply physical disability. He came to right many of the disorders we human beings suffer under because of sin in the world, and his healing ministry showed this and performed this.

But the healing of the blindness of this man is a revelation of the whole work of Jesus as the Light of the world. He came to bring us out of darkness - the darkness of sin and Satan’s domination, into light - the light of God, and the light which comes from the life of God given back to us.

Jesus performed this great work of providing the light of life, through his death and resurrection, when he gave his life a ransom for the sins of his people. Having paid the price of our sin, he removed the sentence of death upon us, so that we are raised to the life God originally meant for us, and so back into the light of God.

When Jesus healed this man of his physical blindness, he made mud and anointed his eyes. The mud had no healing properties in it, but the man was told to go and wash. By this command Jesus called for faith on the part of the man. The man would have had no confidence in the mud itself, he had to have faith and confidence in Jesus. His going and washing was his act of faith. Obeying in this way, his faith made him whole. The power of Jesus performed the healing.

So it is with us and our need of spiritual sight and the light of life. Jesus has died, and he tells us to believe on him, and trust our lives to him in commitment and obedience. We are called to believe that through Jesus’ death for us, our sins are forgiven, and blotted out of the sight of God, and that our lives are safe in the arms of Jesus. So faith is faith in the work of Jesus for us, and the Lordship of Jesus over us. We live for him by faith.

Jesus came to save this world from darkness. He came to take away the spiritual darkness which keeps humanity in bondage to Satan, and in darkness concerning God and his love. When we believe in Jesus, then we are brought into this seeing which opens a new world to us, which is wonderful, just as the blind man had a new world opened to him when his eyes could see.