John 9:1 As Yeshua passed along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His talmidim asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned — this man or his parents — to cause him to be born blind?” 3 Yeshua answered, “His blindness is due neither to his sin nor to that of his parents; it happened so that God’s power might be seen at work in him. 4 As long as it is day, we must keep doing the work of the One who sent me; the night is coming, when no one can work. 5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
6 Having said this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, put the mud on the man’s eyes, 7 and said to him, “Go, wash off in the Pool of Shiloach!” (The name means “sent.”) So he went and washed and came away seeing.
8 His neighbors and those who previously had seen him begging said, “Isn’t this the man who used to sit and beg?” 9 Some said, “Yes, he’s the one”; while others said, “No, but he looks like him.” However, he himself said, “I’m the one.” 10 “How were your eyes opened?” they asked him. 11 He answered, “The man called Yeshua made mud, put it on my eyes, and told me, ‘Go to Shiloach and wash!’ So I went; and as soon as I had washed, I could see.” 12 They said to him, “Where is he?” and he replied, “I don’t know.”
13 They took the man who had been blind to the P’rushim. 14 Now the day on which Yeshua had made the mud and opened his eyes was Shabbat. 15 So the P’rushim asked him again how he had become able to see; and he told them, “He put mud on my eyes, then I washed, and now I can see.” 16 At this, some of the P’rushim said, “This man is not from God, because he doesn’t keep Shabbat.” But others said, “How could a man who is a sinner do miracles like these?” And there was a split among them. 17 So once more they spoke to the blind man: “Since you’re the one whose eyes he opened, what do you say about him?” He replied: “He is a prophet.”
18 The Judeans, however, were unwilling to believe that he had formerly been blind, but now could see, until they had summoned the man’s parents. 19 They asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see?” 20 His parents answered, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind; 21 but how it is that he can see now, we don’t know; nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him — he’s old enough, he can speak for himself!” 22 The parents said this because they were afraid of the Judeans, for the Judeans had already agreed that anyone who acknowledged Yeshua as the Messiah would be banned from the synagogue. 23 This is why his parents said, “He’s old enough, ask him.”
24 So a second time they called the man who had been blind; and they said to him, “Swear to God that you will tell the truth! We know that this man is a sinner.” 25 He answered, “Whether he’s a sinner or not I don’t know. One thing I do know: I was blind, now I see.” 26 So they said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” 27 “I already told you,” he answered, “and you didn’t listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Maybe you too want to become his talmidim?” 28 Then they railed at him. “You may be his talmid,” they said, “but we are talmidim of Moshe! 29 We know that God has spoken to Moshe, but as for this fellow — we don’t know where he’s from!” 30 “What a strange thing,” the man answered, “that you don’t know where he’s from — considering that he opened my eyes! 31 We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners; but if anyone fears God and does his will, God does listen to him. 32 In all history no one has ever heard of someone’s opening the eyes of a man born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he couldn’t do a thing!” 34 “Why, you mamzer!” they retorted, “Are you lecturing us?” And they threw him out.
35 Yeshua heard that they had thrown the man out. He found him and said, “Do you trust in the Son of Man?” 36 “Sir,” he answered, “tell me who he is, so that I can trust in him.” 37 Yeshua said to him, “You have seen him. In fact, he’s the one speaking with you now.” 38 “Lord, I trust!” he said, and he kneeled down in front of him.
39 Yeshua said, “It is to judge that I came into this world, so that those who do not see might see, and those who do see might become blind.” 40 Some of the P’rushim nearby heard this and said to him, “So we’re blind too, are we?” 41 Yeshua answered them, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin. But since you still say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.
Confirmed: He has a spitting problem.
And yeah, I know this is all of John 9 but we need it all. Getting healed is common to us now so we are no longer amazed or surprised when He does it. Besides, this is spitting episode #3 so what more can be gleaned from the miracle itself, right? (Oops! Let’s not be like the people of Bethsaida.)
The past issues we’ve seen with people were not clearly defined as them “being born that way”. Here, however, we are told exactly that.
In today’s age, it is quite common for people to claim their life is the way it is because they were “born that way”. I’d argue that some of those are choices but let's give it the benefit of the doubt and assume they were born that way. What does that mean? Well, if it’s true then:
it happened so that God’s power might be seen at work in them
This should make you very uncomfortable. People are living in a form of bondage they’ve had since birth, and they are patiently waiting for God’s power to be seen at work in them. Who’s going to do it?
Sounds like you now have a responsibility to call that forth, huh?
But it’s too embarrassing for us to facilitate so we’ll just let them stew for a bit longer. Maybe someone that isn’t as busy as we are can step up and do God’s work, right?
Before, the disciples had no reason to ask why the people were struggling because they “knew” it had a root cause based on someone’s decisions. This one being from birth, however, can’t possibly fit that mold so they are seeking clarity.
It’s not really possible for the man himself to have sinned in the womb so the next best choice would be the parents. But Yeshua gives them a remarkable response (that we saw before):
“it happened so that God’s power might be seen at work in him”
Hold on. What if Yeshua wasn’t on the scene? Would this man be destined to remain blind?
“Ah, but He knew when and where to be because He is the Messiah”
Ok, I’ll give you that one. But what about all those people that lived before Him that were born blind? Were they born that way for God’s power to be seen at work in them? Did anyone know that? What about all of the people alive today that have issues from birth? Are they waiting on God’s people to do God’s work? Are you one of God’s people?
Uncomfortable, huh?
An interesting thing happened here: the disciples put the man and his parents on trial with their inquiry assuming their guilt is the cause of his deteriorated condition. Then the Pharisees put the man and his parents on trial with their inquiry assuming Yeshua’s guilt is the cause of his improved condition.
Is it possible the disciples spoke this into existence? Is that even a thing? Can their casual judgment of someone stir up this much trouble? The simple answer: yes.
Also, can you really be found guilty of healing someone? The simple answer: again, yes.
We all know how powerful your words can be. They can build someone up and make them better, or tear them down and destroy their lives.
Or they can create a twisted web that keeps people held in bondage.
It seems our words carry far more weight than we give them credit. During our “honest analysis” of a situation we tend to set in motion things that were reserved for the “possibility” something may happen. Then when what we speak comes to pass, we pat ourselves on the back and give ourselves an “atta boy” for our incredibly wise insight.
But we may have been the cause of the outcome. A self-fulfilling prophecy. If we aren’t careful with this, we can use it to feed our ego.
You know the feeling. The satisfaction you get when your discernment was spot on is both warm and fuzzy. Sure, we “hate” that there is a negative or challenging outcome for someone, but they clearly deserve it, right? Besides, your judgment turned out to be right and true. Win-win.
Unless, of course, it’s your judgment that sparks a negative or challenging outcome for someone.
We can then look at this man’s excommunication in one of two ways:
Practically, it is probably a combination of both of these.
Yeshua could be a little bit of a troublemaker but it’s only troublesome for the religious establishment. Shaking up their false belief structure is an important feature to His ministry because they were putting a burden on people that needed to be removed.
What’s interesting is that He could have easily arrived a day earlier or a day later and found this man at that time. I’m sure He knew what all the fuss would be when a professional beggar is healed.
The people in the area knew the guy well enough to recognize him so it was just a matter of time before the story spread. And they weren’t in a small village out in the country, they were in Times Square.
They were in the Temple courts as John 8 came to a close and here we see that He saw this man “As He passed along…”. He saw the blind man then the disciples made their high-brow observation. Attention had been drawn so Yeshua “went to work” healing the man. As we have seen, He could have just spoken and the man would have been able to see.
But He forces this man to go and wash in order to see. And he couldn’t just stop by the nearest restroom, he had to go into the most high profile place available.
The Pool of Siloam (i.e., the Pool of Sent) is in the lower right corner.
“During the Second Temple period, the Pool of Siloam was centrally located in the Jerusalem suburb of Acra (Hebrew: חקרא), also known as the Lower City.
…
According to the Jerusalem Talmud (Hagigah), the Pool of Siloam was the starting point for pilgrims who made the annual pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and where they ascended by foot to the inner court of the Temple Mount to bring an offertory to the Temple Court. The Pool of Siloam (perhaps referring to the Lower Pool) was used by pilgrims for ritual purification before visiting the Temple enclosure.
…
The pool remained in use during the time of Jesus. According to the Gospel of John, Jesus sent "a man blind from birth" to the pool in order to complete his healing. As a freshwater reservoir, the pool would have been a major gathering place for ancient Jews making religious pilgrimages to the city. Some scholars, influenced by Jesus commanding the blind man to wash in the pool, suggest that it was probably used as a mikvah (ritual bath).”
This man was sent to wash himself in the pool that was used for immersion. Now, immersion (baptism) is indicative of being born again (this argument is beyond our scope here but let’s just go with it).
He was born in the flesh blind, but was born again with the ability to see. Absolutely incredible! His life was greatly improved and when all of the people that knew him saw it, they got really excited and took him to church! And you know what they did at church?
They threw him out.
Why?
Imagine that. You’ve been blind your entire life and you miraculously gain sight. Then God rejects you. Well, at least those that are representing God reject you.
What did he do to warrant getting kicked out?
To answer that we need to check the Doctrinal Position Statement put forth by the Church of the Pharisees.
They didn’t believe the man was blind to begin with so they called in his parents to prove someone was lying. In order to maintain their standing in the community, his parents decided the best course of action was to defer back to their son.
Think about this. The fear that had been imparted into these people was so great they couldn't even rejoice with God’s people the fact that their son could see. For the first time in his life, he was able to look at his parents and see their faces. And here they were, terrified -- IN CHURCH!
So they invoked their 5th amendment right and passed the questioning off to their son. Were they just weak people? Was this a bad decision? Not at all.
The parents said this because they were afraid of the Judeans, for the Judeans had already agreed that anyone who acknowledged Yeshua as the Messiah would be banned from the synagogue.
Keep in mind what this meant. It isn’t like it is today with 25,000 churches to choose from in your hometown. There was one. And if they are kicked out, how on earth could they hear the Word? What would they do on Shabbat? What would they do during the feasts?
Getting kicked out meant they would be forced to live in disobedience to the Torah. That only has one outcome -- eternal death. So no, they weren’t weak people. Their salvation was in the balance. Or at least so they thought.
But their son? He could see what they couldn’t. And the power of God within him was far greater than the fear of what these men could do to him.
Don’t you wish you had this much courage?
Pharisees: “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”
Former Blind Man: “I already told you and you didn’t listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Maybe you too want to become his talmidim?”
Pharisees: “You may be his talmid, but we are talmidim of Moshe! We know that God has spoken to Moshe, but as for this fellow — we don’t know where he’s from!”
Former Blind Man: “What a strange thing that you don’t know where he’s from — considering that he opened my eyes! We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners; but if anyone fears God and does his will, God does listen to him. In all history no one has ever heard of someone’s opening the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he couldn’t do a thing!”
Pharisees: “Why, you mamzer! Are you lecturing us?”
And they threw him out.
This unlearned man just gave them a logical lesson for the ages. And how do they respond? Name calling. Seriously?
“Oh, yeah? Well, your mama goes to school!”
Pathetic. The cream of the crop when it comes to Biblical understanding just got it handed to them from some beggar. And a mamzer? Really? They just spoke with his parents -- who attended synagogue! Nothing illegitimate there. So yeah, name calling -- sad.
But I suppose that once you get to the place in an argument where points are no longer being made and character bashing begins, that’s when you know you’ve won. Very important life lesson there.
This guy 100% doesn’t care that he can’t go to the synagogue. He realizes attendance in this broken system in no way diminishes his relationship with Abba. In fact, his personal life experience with Yeshua supersedes the structure that has been established through many years of layering burdens over people’s lives.
Likely knowing how all of this would play out, Yeshua finds him
Yeshua heard that they had thrown the man out. He found him and said, “Do you trust in the Son of Man?”
Sure. But what other choice does he really have? Better said, what other choice would he really want?