November 27, 2023 – Does the Bible Say…?

“Does the bible say Jesus can heal blindness with only mud?”

“As he walked 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?” Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man’s eyes, saying to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see. The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar began to ask, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” Some were saying, “It is he.” Others were saying, “No, but it is someone like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.” But they kept asking him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ Then I went and washed and received my sight.” They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.”  John 9:1ff

 Imagine, if you can, what it would be like to be born blind. I don’t know that we can. When I was in college, my class had the assignment of spending a weekend without one of our senses: seeing, hearing, smelling, or tasting. Realistically this was hard to produce – at least some of them. I decided to try to spend the weekend by trying to go without hearing. It was not easy – but it was enlightening. But it was nearly impossible to create a “deaf” experience.

The man born blind was given a great, great miracle. He received his sight. And we must assume he received his complete sight. It must have been so confusing. For you see, to be able to see, your mind must process the information that your eyes take in. And the ability of the mind to process visual information grows as we grow and develop from the moment we are born. It is believed that a newborn will begin to recognize the faces of caregivers beginning at about two weeks after birth. As such, we can assume that it would have taken the blind man at least a few weeks to be able to make sense of what he was seeing.

There was another blind man Jesus healed in the Gospels. This story comes in the Gospel of Mark: “Some people brought a blind man to him and begged him to touch him. He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village; and when he had put saliva on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, “Can you see anything?” And the man looked up and said, “I can see people, but they look like trees, walking.” Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he looked intently and his sight was restored…” (Mark 8:22-26)

When his sight was restored the first time, he said people looked like trees, walking. It took another healing for his sight to be restored completely. We marvel of course that Jesus can heal with earthly elements like mud and spit. It doesn’t take a long and spectacular show of power and mysticism – Jesus takes what is easily available and heals in profound ways. Just as there are difficult stories from the Old Testament that make us stop and consider the often strange and wonderous workings of the Lord – the New Testament presents us the same. What a strange and wonderful G-d we have.

Pastor Dave