Healing A Man Born Blind

WHEN the Jews try to stone Jesus, he does not leave Jerusalem. Later, on the Sabbath, he and his disciples are walking in the city when they see a man who has been blind from birth. The disciples ask Jesus: "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, so that he was born blind?" Perhaps the disciples believe, as some rabbis do,that a person can sin in his mother's womb. But Jesus answers: "Neither this man sinned nor his parent, but it was in order that the works of God might be made manifest in his case." The man's blindness is not the consequence of a specific error or sin committed by either the man or his parent. The sin of the fist man Adam resulted in all humans' being imperfect, and thus subject to defects such as being born blind. This defect in the man now furnishes an opportunity for Jesus to make manifest the works of God.

Jesus stresses an urgency in doing these works. "We must work the works of him that sent me while it is day," he says. "The night is coming when no man can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the world's light." Soon Jesus' death will plunge him into the darkness of the grave where he can not longer do anything. In the meantime, he is a source of enlightenment to the world.

After saying these things, Jesus spits on the ground and with the saliva makes some clay. He puts this on the blind man's eyes and say: "Go wash in the pool of Siloam." The man obeys and when he does, he can see! how he rejoices on his return seeing for the first time in his life!

Neighbors and others who know him are amazed. "This is the man that used to sit and bet, is it not?" They ask. "This is he, some answer. But others cannot believe it: "Not at all, but he is like him." Yet the man says: "I am he." "How, then, were your eyes opened?" The people want to know. "The man called Jesus made a clay and smeared it on my eyes and said to me. 'Go to Siloam and wash.' I therefore went and washed and gained sight." 'Where is that man?" They ask. "I do not know," he answers.

Next time: Conclusion of Healing A Man Born Blind

The Greatest Man Who Ever Lived, 1991