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by Sandy Shaw
Jesus anoints the eyes of a blind man with a little ointment He has manufactured using mud and saliva and He tells him to go down to the pool of Siloam and wash. We read of this incident in John Chapter 9.
Jesus is testing the man. Go down to the pool and wash in that water. Jesus is giving him something to do to demonstrate his co-operation, and to show his willingness to co-operate with Christ, and obey Jesus.
To co-operate with Jesus can heal you in all kinds of ways – physically – mentally – emotionally – spiritually. Co-operating with Jesus Christ, in obedience to His word can produce a whole variety of remarkable and wonderful consequences.
Don’t argue with Jesus. Don’t just want to debate or discuss, but do whatever He tells you. Obeying Jesus helps you to begin to become a whole person. As soon as this blind man washed, he was able to see, but he did not see Jesus.
Jesus was in hiding. Jesus couldn’t risk being pointed out at this time and on this occasion. This was all done so quietly so that they blind man would not endanger Jesus. There is such drama in these few verses.
Next on the scene we have some nosey neighbours, who are so full of questions.
“Is this that man? No, it isn’t the man you are thinking of. It is someone else.
It only looks like him.”
When a blind man’s eyes are opened his whole personality changes. When a person is healed by Jesus that person is different. This is why they are unsure as to who it is.
He says so clearly, and insists, “I am the man.”
They wanted to know all the details. How? Who? Where is he?
Nobody said, “This is wonderful”. What is not said is sometimes as important as what is said.
Verse 13. We meet the Pharisees again. They are always hovering around looking for something critical to say. They are interested in do’s and don’ts. They had drawn up a list of over 1,000 things which you were not allowed to do on the Sabbath, and one of them was making ointment.
They interview the man who has been healed, and he replies – verse 17 – He is a prophet.
The Pharisees cannot accept this, nor can they believe that this man was born blind, so they send for his parents. Still nobody says, “This is wonderful!” It does not matter what Jesus says or does, there are always some people who are not pleased.
Not only be pleased, but rejoice in what Jesus says and does!
They are hoping that when they talk with the parents, it can all be easily explained away. When the parents come it appears that their main interest is safety. Yes, that is our son. Yes, he was born blind. Don’t ask us any more. Don’t get us involved. Ask him! Why are they behaving so cautiously?
Verse 22. They are afraid of being put out of the local place of worship, by the leaders of the church of the day. Jesus has healed their son and fear seems to paralyse them. Fear can paralyse. If people followed Jesus too closely, or even appreciated Jesus, there was that threat that they might be excluded from the local synagogue. What a way to behave.
These parents are afraid because of the appalling attitude of the religious leaders of the day and they are unable to appreciate the amazing miracle which the Son of God has performed on their son, who was blind, but who now can see.
Our attitude can profoundly influence the emotions of others much more than we sometimes realise.
Alexander 'Sandy' Shaw is pastor of Nairn Christian Fellowship in Nairn, Scotland. Nairn is 17 miles east of Inverness - on the Moray Firth Coast - not far from the Loch Ness Monster!
Gifted as a Biblical teacher, Sandy is firmly committed to making sure that his teachings are firmly grounded in the Word.
Sandy has a weekly radio talk which can be heard via the Internet on Saturday at 11:40am, New Orleans time, at wsho.com.
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