Blind from Birth
At the time, the Jewish people understood that it was one thing to heal someone who simply had gone blind, but to heal someone born blind, required a creation they knew only God could do. This is precisely what Yeshua did. This is what prompted the healed man to say in Vs.32, Since the world began it has been unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of one who was born blind. They had never seen such a miracle in history, and this created an upheaval in Jerusalem.
But see the way Yeshua performed this miracle. The whole chapter is not only powerful but also comical as many tried to deny what had happened.
John 9 opens with the words: As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. This is when they brought this man to Jesus and what He does is very strange: we read in vs. 6, He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and applied the clay to his eyes. Then He told the man to go down to the pool of Siloam and wash. But why send him to Siloam? This is where the priest went to take the water and bring it back up to the altar to reenact the prophecy of Ezekiel. The path between the Temple and the Pool was so crowded because there were hundreds of people walking along this line.
We remember that Sukkot is one of the three feasts when all Jews were summoned to Jerusalem and so it was very crowded. In normal times the population was about 200,000 people, including the outlying vicinities, but at Sukkoth, according to Josephus, there were over one million people there to celebrate the feast.
Imagine now, as the blind man walked the same route as the crowd which was led by the priests. Surely, he bumped into all who were on his path. But once at the pool, this man washed the clay from his eyes and for the first time, he saw. Imagine the joy, and the Bible speaks of the surprise of those all around.
The people as well as the priests understood that this man was a doomed blind beggar as he was born this way, and when they saw him healed, they could not believe it; we read in vs.8-9, Therefore the neighbors and those who previously had seen that he was blind said, “Is not this he who sat and begged?” Some said, “This is he. “Others said, “He is like him.” He said, “I am he.”
It was the first time in Israel that a man born blind was healed because the Messiah had come to the Land. This is the miracle of Sukkoth, a miracle when the blind see, a miracle still available to anyone who does not have Yeshua as his or personal Savior.
What happened next is tragicomic: that means it was sad and funny. That could have been the moment Jesus would have been recognized as the Messiah, but see what happened instead. The people were so irrational that they tried to dismiss this great miracle by saying in vs. 16, This man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath. Do we see how they judged the Messiah of Israel? As if God did not perform miracles on the Sabbath. Did they forget that the priests at the Temple did not take a break on the Sabbath? Besides, Yeshua never transgressed the Sabbath laws of the Lord, but He did transgress the pharisaical sabbath laws which they created.
Realizing the futility of their own argument, the next thing they decided to do was to call the parents and confirm whether this healed man was indeed born blind: in vs.19 they asked, and then the parents answered, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind”. What where they to do now? They decided to call back the healed man one more time and try to have him renounce this miracle. This is what they said to him in vs.24, Give glory to God; we know that this man is a sinner. As if to say, it was all an accident, we have to find a solution elsewhere.
Isn’t this the same thing people tell us when we share with them how the Lord has impacted our own lives? But see how the healed blind man answered them in vs.30, Well, here is an amazing thing, that you do not know where He is from, and yet He opened my eyes. They would never be able to take away this joy, this transformation from this man. Neither should the world ever take our joy or our own growth in sanctification away from us. This is an answer we ought to remember for this is one of the greatest proofs of the truth of Yeshua: He changed my life. This joy is ongoing. It is miracle that is renewable every single day.
What happened next? This is when they excommunicated him. Incredible to believe they would do this, but he was too powerful a testimony.
But let us go back to the miracle itself. Why did Yeshua did it this way? He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. Then He said in verse 7, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam”. He could have just said the words, “Be healed”, and the man would have been cured right on the spot. However, Yeshua made clay and applied it on the eyes of the blind man. Why did He do it this way? The reason for the clay could very well have been that because man was made from the dust of the earth, so the Creator of the world, here, made clay and recreated the eyesight of this man.
This is an affirmation of His deity, for no one could perform this miracle. It was indeed a miracle of creation. Time was running out and He wanted so much for them to see who He really is. Sadly, the healed man was both persecuted and excommunicated simply because he was blessed, but what a powerful message that our Good Shepherd always cares for the broken and those who are broken-hearted. Let us remember that the blind man never saw Jesus before… this would be the first time he now sees Him: this reunion is moving.
As Jesus met him we read from John 9: 35-37 Jesus heard that they had cast him out (the that is they excommunicated the healed man) ; and when He, Yeshua, had found him, He said to him, “Do you believe in the Son of God?” He answered and said, “Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?” He never saw Yeshua before – And Jesus said to him, “You have both seen Him and it is He who is talking with you.”
See what the man answered in vs.38, Then he said, “Lord, I believe!” And he worshiped Him. He worshiped Him because he knew that only God can perform such a miracle of creation: and Yeshua accepted His worship because He is the Word incarnate. Notice how He calls Himself the Son of God in vs.35.
In Proverbs 30, Solomon asks us if we know God and if we know His Son’s name? John 9 with a backdrop of Sukkot answers this question. His name is Yeshua. His name means salvation.