Moments to Ponder

Episode 132: Embracing Transformation: Jesus Heals a Blind Man (John 9)

• Betsy Marvin • Season 15 • Episode 132

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What if the hardships in your life were not punishments, but opportunities for divine glory? Join me, Betsy Marvin, as we uncover the powerful story of Jesus healing a man born blind, found in the Gospel of John, chapter 9.  Explore how Jesus uses mud and saliva in a miracle that goes beyond physical healing to reveal deeper spiritual truths. 

As we journey through this narrative, we'll reflect on choosing light over fear amidst varying reactions—skepticism from neighbors, criticism from Pharisees, and the silence of fearful parents. These responses highlight the courage it takes to embrace transformation, much like the healed man does. With insights from theologian N.T. Wright, this episode encourages you to confront fear with truth and let the light of Jesus guide you. By doing so, you can welcome transformative change in your life, dispelling fear and illuminating your path forward.

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Speaker 1:

Hi friends, welcome to Moments to Ponder. This is a podcast designed to help you spend a few moments in God's Word, gain fresh perspectives and find meaningful takeaways to ponder throughout your week. I'm Betsy Marvin and this is episode 132. Have you ever had a really long day and think how much more can happen? It's like the day just piles up and you wish it was bedtime at four in the afternoon. I feel like that's where we are.

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As John 9 begins, we get the impression that Jesus has just left the temple. It's the Sabbath, the end of the Feast of Tabernacles. Jesus has spent the day talking about living water, even though the altar was dry. He's spoken for a woman who was poorly used by the Pharisees in the temple court, and he's had an argument making it clear that God is his father. And as John 8 ended, we read that the people were thinking of stoning him, but Jesus was hidden from them and left the temple.

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John 9 begins this way, as Jesus was walking along. So we get the impression that all of this has happened at the temple. And now he is walking along, headed home, and he saw a man who had been blind from birth. Rabbi, his disciples asked him why was this man born blind? Was it because of his own sins or his parents' sins? I get the impression that the disciples are feeling the tension of the interaction with the Pharisees and the people, so they ask a question to change the subject. Uh hey, why is this man born blind? Like who sinned? But Jesus answers in a unique way. He said it was not because of his sins or his parents' sins. This happened so the power of God could be seen in him. We must quickly carry out the tasks assigned to us by the one who sent us. The night is coming and then no one can work. But while I am here in the world, I am the light of the world. To be clear, jesus isn't saying that God deliberately caused the man to be born blind so that all of these years later, god's glory would be displayed through healing. That wouldn't be in God's character. But it does mean that God can overrule this blindness and that, by recovering his sight, the man would see the glory of God in Jesus and in seeing through the miracle, it would turn him toward the light of the world.

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So often we want explanations to illnesses or situations that just don't have one. Well, other than that we live in a fallen world. Cancer accidents, childhood illnesses they occur. Nt Wright puts it this way. He says our world isn't a moral slot machine where people put in a coin of good acts or bad ones and then get out a result either reward or punishment. Yes, actions do have consequences, but so many times the situation isn't results of anything good or bad, it just is, and that's what makes it so hard to deal with. I've been learning to ask in these situations what can I learn, what can God do? In this? I find that asking why leads to well not knowing. But I can learn Anyway.

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Verse 6. Then he Jesus. Then he spit on the ground, made mud with the saliva and spread the mud over the blind man's eyes. He told him go wash yourself in the pool of Siloam Siloam means scent. So the man went and washed and came back seeing.

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We've read a few different healings in this book of John. There was the man who picked up his mat and walked, the son who was healed from a long distance away, son who was healed from a long distance away. And now Jesus uses his spit and dirt. He's definitely creative and although this seems weird to us, it would not have seemed weird to the disciples. Saliva was seen as a healing agent. So after spreading the mud over his eyes, jesus tells him to go and wash.

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We learn from this passage that he at this point doesn't even know who Jesus is, but he obeys him and receives healing. The pool of Siloam, which is the place where the water was drawn for the water ceremony for the Feast of Tabernacles, is a pool. That meant sent. Jesus sent the man. He gave him a way to act in faith and because he did, he received healing. I recently heard Daniel Strickland speak on this. She noted that the word apostle also means sent. Here Jesus sends the man, blind, face covered in mud, wearing beggar's rags. He sends him. He's the first one Jesus sends. He's the first apostle sent to reveal the work of God. And kind of an interesting thought that Jesus can use anyone, right, he can use us to reveal his light in the world. Now I can't even imagine from total darkness to light and color, the sky and people, faces and trees. He must have been looking everywhere, trying to take it all in. The things he had only heard and touched are now in full color. He would have drawn some attention. Verse 8.

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His neighbors and others who knew him as a blind beggar asked each other Isn't this the man who used to sit and beg? Some said he was and others said, no, he just looks like him. But the beggar kept saying yes, I'm the same one. They asked who healed you? What happened? He told them the man they called Jesus made mud and spread it over my eyes and told me go to the pool of Siloam and wash yourself. So I went and washed and now I can see when is he now. They asked I don't know. He replied when we know the past of someone and then they declare that they've changed, that a transformation has happened, it can be really hard to believe. We want proof. Are they really different? We doubt that they have changed. Yet we know with Christ, all things are possible. Can someone who used to lie, steal cheat, become someone who is truthful, wholesome and wise? Yeah, can someone that was an addict become clean? Yeah, can someone that was blind? See yes, verse 13.

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Then they took the man who had been blind to the Pharisees, because it was on the Sabbath that Jesus had made mud and healed him. The Pharisees asked the man all about it. So he told them he put the mud over my eyes and when I washed it away I could see. Some of the Pharisees said this man, jesus, is not from God, for he's working on the Sabbath. Others said but how could an ordinary sinner do such miraculous signs? So there was deep division of opinion among them. Then the Pharisees again questioned the man who had been blind and demanded what's your opinion about this man who healed you? The man replied I think he must be a prophet, since they don't know where Jesus is or who he is. The neighbors bring their friend to the Pharisees, all because of mud.

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On the Sabbath, the simple act of mixing spit and dirt was seen as work Rather than be in awe of a man born blind, being able to see. They haul him to the church leaders. As in, born blind being able to see, they haul them to the church leaders. As in you might be able to see. But this Jesus, whoever he is, he broke a major rule. Isn't it interesting, the division that has come just because of a healing. Honestly, you've probably seen this kind of thing before.

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Something good happens and some people are concerned about how it happened, others about why it happened and still others about when it happened, and they lose complete sight of the good thing that happened. The friends don't celebrate that this man conceived for the first time in his life. And the Pharisees, what do they do? They argue, some are caught up in the rule breaking on the Sabbath, while others are aware that Jesus just can't be an ordinary man but can't quite jump to the fact that he's the son of God. And in all of this they're missing prophecies. Psalm 146.8 says the Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord lifts up those who are weighed down. And Isaiah 35.5, which says and when he comes, he will open the eyes of the blind and unplug the ears of the deaf Verse 18.

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The Jewish leaders still refused to believe that the man had been blind and could now see. So they called in his parents and they asked them Is this your son? Was he born blind? If so, how can he now see? His parents replied. His parents replied we know this is our son and that he was born blind, but we don't know how he can see or who healed him. Ask him, he's old enough to speak for himself. His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders who had announced that anyone saying Jesus was the Messiah would be expelled from the synagogue. That's why they said he's old enough, ask him. The Jewish leaders are now even questioning if he was ever blind. So they bring in the parents Now.

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Prior to their coming, the Pharisees made it very clear that anyone saying Jesus was the Messiah would be excommunicated. This was a serious deal. It meant being cut off from your community, unable to attend church. It could bring financial ruin, loss of friendships. It could even bring the loss of their lives. So as the parents come in, they're already intimidated and fearful. Thankfully they do claim he's their son, but they dodge the question by pushing the attention back to their son.

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So for the second time they, the leaders, call in the man who had been blind and told him god should get the glory for this, because we know this man, jesus, is a sinner. I don't know whether he's a sinner. The man replied, but I know this. I was blind and now I see Such a powerful statement. I was blind. Now I see.

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The Pharisees can't deny that the man can see, but they continue to believe that Jesus broke the Sabbath, which made him a sinner. Yet they want to give God the glory for this, not realizing that Jesus is God and should receive the glory for this. So they continue. But what did he do? They asked how did he heal you? Look, the man exclaimed. I told you once Didn't you listen? Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples too? Then they cursed him and said you are his, his disciple, but we are disciples of moses. We know god spoke to moses, but we don't even know where this man comes from, why. That's very strange. The man replied he healed my eyes and yet you don't know where he comes from. We know that god doesn't listen to sinners, but he is ready to hear those who worship him and do his will.

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Ever since the world began, no one has been able to open the eyes of someone born blind. If this man were not from God, he couldn't have done it. You were born a total sinner. They answered Are you trying to teach us? And they threw him out of the synagogue. We can see how much these leaders are completely afraid and struggling with the idea of Jesus. They act like they haven't heard Jesus speak of his father or even of the prophecies being fulfilled. Instead, they treat this man who has done nothing but be healed and testify to that fact. They treat him horribly, they insult him and reject him, throwing him out of the synagogue. We're beginning to see the price that following Jesus can bring. And this man didn't even fully know Jesus, but he will. Verse 35.

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When Jesus heard what had happened, he found the man and asked Do you believe in the Son of man? The man answered who is he, sir? I want to believe in him. You have seen him. Jesus said, and he is speaking to you. Yes, lord, I believe. The man said, and he worshipped Jesus. Then Jesus told him I entered this world to render judgment, to give sight to the blind and to show those who think they see that they are blind. Some Pharisees who were standing nearby heard him and asked Are you saying we're blind? If you were blind, you wouldn't be guilty. Jesus replied but you remain guilty because you claim you can see.

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The Pharisees always seem to be standing by, don't they? These spiritual leaders who claim to have spiritual sight can't see the truth of what's right in front of them. They refuse, and it keeps them blind to the one who could actually help them see. It can be so hard to be open to hearing or listening to something when you truly think that you're right about something else. Yet when we open our mind to truly listen and when we allow ourselves to dig in a bit, we can find truth and discover if we really were right. Or we may have to admit that we were wrong. And for the Pharisees? They can't go there. So what can we apply? One thing might be to ask ourselves if we allow ourselves to be wrong now and then, are we missing what's right in front of us, because we always have to be right?

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Another application comes from the four different reactions to Jesus that we see in this passage. First, the neighbors. They're surprised and a bit skeptical and they just want to know. So, prove it, where is he? And because he isn't there, they hold on to the fact that this happened on the Sabbath and they take him to the Pharisees. Then we have the Pharisees' reaction, which is all pushback and disbelief, challenge and judgment. It's almost as if the idea that he can see is no big deal. They're so much more concerned with being right and not acknowledging who Jesus is. Then we have the parents, whose reaction is fear. They're so afraid of the Jewish leaders that they can't even stand with their son, so they choose to plead the fifth. And then we have the man who gets more and more confident and vocal as the time goes on. He doesn't even actually know Jesus completely, but he knows he can see that Jesus is from God and when he comes to the point of realizing that, it gets him kicked out of the synagogue. So ponder that for a moment.

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Which reaction do you tend towards when you're faced with the work of Jesus in someone else's life? Are you like the neighbors, kind of skeptical and think I'm going to watch and see if this is real? They got to prove it. Or are you like the Pharisees, seeing all the issues around it rather than the transformation in the person themselves? Or maybe you're like the parents you say nothing in support of this change in someone else, afraid of being rejected or judged because of them. Or you're like the man leaning in and standing in what you know to be true, no matter what you face, I sadly can say I've been in all of those reactions at some point, and the one that convicts me the most right now is the parent reaction.

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Fear can be a silencer. There have been times I've stayed silent because of fear and rejection, more times than I care to admit, because of fear and rejection, more times than I care to admit. Thankfully, there's also been times when I've spoken up, even though I knew it would have a price. Fear, fear loves the darkness. We see this in the Pharisees and the parents as they challenge or stay silent. Yet the healed man chose the light. He chose Jesus, and I know those times when I have chosen the light in the face of fear. I know fear loses its power. Oh, dear one, nt Wright shares that Jesus divides the world into those who come to the light and allow it to change, heal and direct their lives and those who resist the light and choose to remain in darkness, even while sometimes they are proclaiming that they actually can see. May you allow his light to change and heal you. May he direct your life and refresh you with His living water. May His light shine on your path, dispelling all fear. Amen.