Jesus Heals A Man Born Blind (J36)

Did He recall making that very dust,
With which He formed mud, the blindness to heal,
Of the beggar, so born? His parents must
Have sinned, or he, to hand him such a deal!
“No,” said Jesus, to His men; “for God’s glory,
Did this be, so the world might come to see
The Son’s good news, and believe His story;
We work while there’s light, and the Light is Me!”
On a Sabbath day, the healing was done;
To some, the healer had committed wrong,
And, since the healer was Jesus, God’s Son,
He was trying to teach Jews a new song!
“Work in the light, for with darkness work’s dead;
I am the light of the world,” Jesus said!

Scripture Quoted: John 9:1-7 (NIV)
“As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’ ‘Neither this man nor his parents sinned,’ said Jesus, ‘but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. As long as it is day, we must do the work 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.’ Having said this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with his saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. ‘Go,’ he told him, ‘wash in the pool of Siloam’ (this word means Sent). So the man went and washed and came home seeing.”

Commentary on: John 9:1-12 (NIV)

The Jews had a superstition that handicapped persons had gotten that way because of sin committed by them or their parents. This is not a truth of the Bible. In this instance, Jesus said the man’s handicap happened so that the work of God could be displayed in his life to the world. The Bible does indicate that, even to this day, people may be healed or blessed to display God’s mercy and grace. Jesus saw in the poor man an opportunity to show mercy as well as the opportunity to carry on the mission for which He was sent. By its being on the Sabbath He knew it would provide another confrontation with the self-righteous Pharisees, an opportunity to teach them more of their mistakes in interpreting God’s words given to Moses.

Jesus added another spiritual attribute of Himself and the gospel witness by declaring, “I am the light of the world/” By this He meant that the race of mankind was lost, condemned to eternal life in hell, before He entered the world to die to pay the wages of all the sins of men. Therefore, He was “light” in the sense that when men, who were groping blindly through sinfulness to an inevitable condemnation, became aware that by repentance or remorse for their sins, called upon Him for forgiveness, they came out of darkness into light. This “light of the world” would leave very shortly when He did, thus darkness was returning soon. He probably was thinking of the end of time by “darkness” since He planned to leave the “light” in the world when He returned to heaven in the hands of His followers, who would go into all the world telling people about the fact they could be saved by belief in the name of Jesus (See Matthew 28:18-20). An individual has only the time left in physical life to believe; after he or she dies, the chance for salvation for him or her is lost. Jesus knew this Sabbath healing would bring on another confrontation with the angry Pharisees, and He welcomed it.

“That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9)