Today we have a story of miraculous healing by Jesus. Today, I’ll tell you this story as if it is the words of the man who was healed. As I tell you the story, let your imagination roam. Imagine that it is 20 years later, and this man is speaking to you in your home or synagogue.
Ephesians 1:18-19:
I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.
Let me tell you a story that happened to me when I was a young man in Jerusalem back at the time of Jesus the Messiah. It was how I met Him, the Son of Man.
I was sitting on my corner, begging like I usually did. You see, I was born blind, I grew up blind, and by the time I was five years old, my parents asked me to help them out by sitting on a corner near the Temple and begging for money. Most days I was blessed to collect a couple of copper pieces, but during the big festivals, I could collect enough money to buy food for a couple of months.
My world at that time was dark. Everything was dark, every noise a potential danger. Although I could tell when the sun was out by its warmth, I had never seen any light at all. Everything near me was something to stumble against and take me down. For me the world was a dark and dangerous place.
Haven’t you met people that have great physical sight, but to whom everything is dark with potential danger all around. Although they can feel the light when someone does something nice for them, they never have seen spiritual light. Everything in the world seems to conspire against them to take them down. They are very sad, for they have good, functioning eyes. It is their hearts that don’t see.
As for my situation, try putting on a blindfold and wearing it for just an hour or two and you’ll find out what I mean. Try going through a normal day for you, even a Sabbath day with no sight and see how difficult it is to walk, to eat, to cook, to pour water, to walk around inside your house. Can you imagine what it’s like to walk outside like I had to do every day to beg enough money to live on? Can you imagine life as the spiritually blind, always in darkness?
My world was a lonely place, too. People ignore beggars. People don’t talk with us. And those of us that weren’t quite whole were ignored even more than the rest, because people don’t know how to talk to people who are hurting, damaged, not like them. They assume that if you can’t see, you can’t hear, also.
So one day during the fall festival of Tabernacles, I heard a group of men near me. A couple of them said words to this effect: “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” They were talking about me right in front of me!
“Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” the Rabbi said, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.
And then, the Rabbi said something odd.
As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
And then, he called me over to him. He said, “I am going to help you see.” Well, if he thought he could make me see, I was willing! He apparently spit on some dirt and made mud from it and put it on my eyes. Then he told me to go to the Pool of Siloam and wash.
Well, I stumbled over there with my staff and I washed my face. And then, I could see! I could see the world the way it really was – there was a beautiful blue sky, green trees, yellow-brown ground, white buildings, brown people, a wonderful yellow sun! And there were flowers and fruits in all the different colors! The world wasn’t dark and dangerous after all, it was bright and beautiful and full of blessings!
I walked home and saw the place for the first time. For the first time I saw roses!
People who had walked by me everyday and some neighbors came over…they noticed I wasn’t using my staff to walk and I was looking all around. Some of them thought I was a different man, but others recognized me as the same guy that had begged all those years. You see, they had not talked to me…I guess they had thought that since I was blind I couldn’t hear or talk…or they had thought I was so damaged I wasn’t really human. People get that way around people who are different, you know. They don’t treat us as human. Before, I was lonely. Now, everybody wanted to talk to me!
Well, I told them I was the same guy, and they asked me how I had managed to see. I told them. “This rabbi named Jesus spit into some dust and put the mud on my eyes and then had me wash in the Pool of Siloam and then I could see!”
“Where is this Rabbi Jesus?” they asked. And, of course, I had no idea since I’d never seen him and I couldn’t hear him talking anywhere close by.
Well, it was a Sabbath day, so they took me to the synagogue to see some Pharisees to show me off. They looked fine in their blue robes. I never knew they wore blue before – and it was a pretty shade of blue! They asked me what had happened and I told them.
“He put mud on my eyes, and I washed, and now I see.”
Some of the Pharisees said, “This Jesus is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath, healing people on a Sabbath!”
But others asked, “How can a sinner perform such signs?” So they were divided. In fact, they got into a big argument. After a while, they turned to me...
“What do you think about him? It was you whose eyes he opened!”
Why ask me? I’m no theologian. But he had opened my eyes, so I said, “He is a prophet!”
Well, now in their argument they began to wonder if I’d ever been able to see before – and of course, I’d never ever seen anything before, but they didn’t believe me. They thought I might be trying to pull one over on them, so they sent for Mom and Dad and asked them if I’d been blind. Poor Mom, she was so worried at first, then she was excited because I could see, but they started to question my parents from all sides before we could really talk.
“Is this your son?” they asked. “Is this the one you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see?”
“We know he is our son,” Mom and Dad answered, “and we know he was born blind. But how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself.”
My parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders, who already had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. That was why my parents said, “He is of age; ask him.” They didn’t want to get in trouble. So the Pharisees called me back over.
“Give glory to God by telling the truth,” they said. And then they said to each other and the crowd: “We know this man Jesus is a sinner.”
I just answered them “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”
Then they asked me, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”
Now enough was enough. I’d already told them and everybody else three or four times. So I answered, “I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again?
Then it struck me that they really wanted to know. “Do you want to become his disciples too?”
Well, I guess not. They hurled insults at me and said, “You are this fellow’s disciple! We are disciples of Moses!” Then they turned again to the crowd and said, “We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow Jesus, we don’t even know where he comes from.”
Now just because I’d been blind didn’t make me stupid. It is amazing what you can learn when all you can do is listen.
I answered them, “Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will.Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”
To this they replied, “You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!” And they threw me out, which was just as well because I was about ready to deck them for insulting my parents!
So I began to walk home. They'd made me angry, but I could see! I could see, and the world would never be the same dreary place again!
Jesus heard that they had thrown me out and came searching for me. Of course, I didn’t recognize him since I’d never seen him before. When he found me, he said to me, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”
The Son of Man? In Psalm 80, the Son of Man would sit at God’s right hand. Ezekiel had spoke of the Son of Man repeatedly, the great prophet and Messiah who would speak against the faults of the leaders of Jerusalem.
“Who is he, sir?” I asked the Rabbi in front of me. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.”
Jesus, the Rabbi, said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.”
Then I said, “Lord, I believe,” and I bent down clear to the ground and worshiped him.
Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”
Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we blind too?”
Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.
Those Pharisees thought that worshiping God was a matter of rigidly following rules of behavior – Do this, Do that, Don’t do this, Don’t do that. Jesus showed some of them that day that worshiping God means helping people become whole, putting back into their hearts that connection with God that we all lost through Adam and the Garden. That day, when I saw what Jesus could do, I worshiped Him because clearly He had been sent by God. And over the next year, I understood that not only was He the Son of Man, but he was also the Son of God.
I became a follower of Jesus that day. And I was there the next spring during the Passover festival the morning after they arrested him and I saw him crucified. And I was there the evening He came back from the dead and appeared to all of us. I was there when He went to Heaven and I helped with the baptisms on the Day of Pentecost during the Festival of First Fruits when the Holy Spirit came upon us all and Peter preached and taught us that we must believe and be baptized to be saved from God’s wrath.
That day, you see, I helped other people who had been blind in their hearts, walking in a dark, dangerous world. I helped them see that light and beauty had indeed come into the world. For I once was blind, but now I see.
If you are blind, you can see too. But seeing takes meeting with Jesus or His Holy Spirit. The eyes of your heart must be washed with the water of baptism, just as my eyes had to be washed at the Pool of Siloam. You must be made whole by the Son of Man who is also the Son of God.
…
In the original languages, the word “heal” means to “make whole”. While you may not be physically blind, you may be spiritually hurting, physically hurting, damaged by work, by other people, by the world around us. The Pharisees were right in one respect – indeed, this blind man was born in a condition of sin, the condition of rebellion that Adam led us into. But there was no particular sinful action by the blind man or his parents that caused his blindness. What the Pharisees did not understand is that all humans are born in a condition of sin and need to be healed, to be made whole. Our very rebellion to God leaves a gaping hole in our heart that blinds the eyes of our heart to the love of God and others.
In the 5th chapter of the Book of James, James tells us:
Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
Healing, making whole, doesn’t mean the removal of scars. Scars are badges of remembrance, a stronger spot which protects us from similar hurts. I pray that you will be healed and that the eyes of your heart will be fully opened. The scars will remain, but you will begin to heal.
Try this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Gvt__r9EU0
Father,
Thank you for your healing grace. Thank you for your touch through godly men and women. Thank you that you established your church to make the world whole through your Son Jesus Christ. And thank you that your Son sacrificed Himself on the Cross, allowing our relationship to be healed, for that is the basis of all healing. Amen.
Well, I told them I was the same guy, and they asked me how I had managed to see. I told them. “This rabbi named Jesus spit into some dust and put the mud on my eyes and then had me wash in the Pool of Siloam and then I could see!”
“Where is this Rabbi Jesus?” they asked. And, of course, I had no idea since I’d never seen him and I couldn’t hear him talking anywhere close by.
Well, it was a Sabbath day, so they took me to the synagogue to see some Pharisees to show me off. They looked fine in their blue robes. I never knew they wore blue before – and it was a pretty shade of blue! They asked me what had happened and I told them.
“He put mud on my eyes, and I washed, and now I see.”
Some of the Pharisees said, “This Jesus is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath, healing people on a Sabbath!”
But others asked, “How can a sinner perform such signs?” So they were divided. In fact, they got into a big argument. After a while, they turned to me...
“What do you think about him? It was you whose eyes he opened!”
Why ask me? I’m no theologian. But he had opened my eyes, so I said, “He is a prophet!”
Well, now in their argument they began to wonder if I’d ever been able to see before – and of course, I’d never ever seen anything before, but they didn’t believe me. They thought I might be trying to pull one over on them, so they sent for Mom and Dad and asked them if I’d been blind. Poor Mom, she was so worried at first, then she was excited because I could see, but they started to question my parents from all sides before we could really talk.
“Is this your son?” they asked. “Is this the one you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see?”
“We know he is our son,” Mom and Dad answered, “and we know he was born blind. But how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself.”
My parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders, who already had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. That was why my parents said, “He is of age; ask him.” They didn’t want to get in trouble. So the Pharisees called me back over.
“Give glory to God by telling the truth,” they said. And then they said to each other and the crowd: “We know this man Jesus is a sinner.”
I just answered them “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”
Then they asked me, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”
Now enough was enough. I’d already told them and everybody else three or four times. So I answered, “I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again?
Then it struck me that they really wanted to know. “Do you want to become his disciples too?”
Well, I guess not. They hurled insults at me and said, “You are this fellow’s disciple! We are disciples of Moses!” Then they turned again to the crowd and said, “We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow Jesus, we don’t even know where he comes from.”
Now just because I’d been blind didn’t make me stupid. It is amazing what you can learn when all you can do is listen.
I answered them, “Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will.Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”
To this they replied, “You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!” And they threw me out, which was just as well because I was about ready to deck them for insulting my parents!
So I began to walk home. They'd made me angry, but I could see! I could see, and the world would never be the same dreary place again!
Jesus heard that they had thrown me out and came searching for me. Of course, I didn’t recognize him since I’d never seen him before. When he found me, he said to me, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”
The Son of Man? In Psalm 80, the Son of Man would sit at God’s right hand. Ezekiel had spoke of the Son of Man repeatedly, the great prophet and Messiah who would speak against the faults of the leaders of Jerusalem.
“Who is he, sir?” I asked the Rabbi in front of me. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.”
Jesus, the Rabbi, said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.”
Then I said, “Lord, I believe,” and I bent down clear to the ground and worshiped him.
Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”
Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we blind too?”
Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.
Those Pharisees thought that worshiping God was a matter of rigidly following rules of behavior – Do this, Do that, Don’t do this, Don’t do that. Jesus showed some of them that day that worshiping God means helping people become whole, putting back into their hearts that connection with God that we all lost through Adam and the Garden. That day, when I saw what Jesus could do, I worshiped Him because clearly He had been sent by God. And over the next year, I understood that not only was He the Son of Man, but he was also the Son of God.
I became a follower of Jesus that day. And I was there the next spring during the Passover festival the morning after they arrested him and I saw him crucified. And I was there the evening He came back from the dead and appeared to all of us. I was there when He went to Heaven and I helped with the baptisms on the Day of Pentecost during the Festival of First Fruits when the Holy Spirit came upon us all and Peter preached and taught us that we must believe and be baptized to be saved from God’s wrath.
That day, you see, I helped other people who had been blind in their hearts, walking in a dark, dangerous world. I helped them see that light and beauty had indeed come into the world. For I once was blind, but now I see.
If you are blind, you can see too. But seeing takes meeting with Jesus or His Holy Spirit. The eyes of your heart must be washed with the water of baptism, just as my eyes had to be washed at the Pool of Siloam. You must be made whole by the Son of Man who is also the Son of God.
…
In the original languages, the word “heal” means to “make whole”. While you may not be physically blind, you may be spiritually hurting, physically hurting, damaged by work, by other people, by the world around us. The Pharisees were right in one respect – indeed, this blind man was born in a condition of sin, the condition of rebellion that Adam led us into. But there was no particular sinful action by the blind man or his parents that caused his blindness. What the Pharisees did not understand is that all humans are born in a condition of sin and need to be healed, to be made whole. Our very rebellion to God leaves a gaping hole in our heart that blinds the eyes of our heart to the love of God and others.
In the 5th chapter of the Book of James, James tells us:
Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
Healing, making whole, doesn’t mean the removal of scars. Scars are badges of remembrance, a stronger spot which protects us from similar hurts. I pray that you will be healed and that the eyes of your heart will be fully opened. The scars will remain, but you will begin to heal.
Try this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Gvt__r9EU0
Father,
Thank you for your healing grace. Thank you for your touch through godly men and women. Thank you that you established your church to make the world whole through your Son Jesus Christ. And thank you that your Son sacrificed Himself on the Cross, allowing our relationship to be healed, for that is the basis of all healing. Amen.
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