Seven Miracles - Pt 19

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”) For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. (John 1:14-18 ESV).

Jesus has himself done the works of God. John gives us this hint of the message in this gospel in the first chapter. Our reading today is from that portion of the book revealing this for us. That’s what the blind man saw. That’s what the Pharisees did not see, which is why this chapter ends with blindness just like it began, only of a worse kind. You certainly don’t need to wear religious robes to have this kind of blindness! The common phrase “the blind leading the blind” comes to mind at this point. We have much of that in our current culture. We see it plainly as things unfold toward blasphemy and worship. One of the keys is how Jesus uses mud to heal the blind man. There are two reasons for this. One is explicit in the text, and the other seems implied. First, Jesus did it because it was against the law to do it on the Sabbath, at least against the Pharisee’s understanding of the law; and, he meant to unleash the controversy that would bring out both the blasphemy and the worship (cf. 1 Corinthians 11:19). The mud-making is explicitly connected with the Sabbath and the Pharisees. They had developed many applications of the prohibition of work on the Sabbath, and one of them was the kneading of dough. And the word for mud or clay here is the same as the word of dough. Jesus had broken the law against kneading dough, or clay, or mud. I believe Jesus is being very intentional. He is undeniably showing that he was “Lord of the Sabbath” (cf. Matthew 12:8). He defines the Sabbath. To show what the point of Sabbath rest is. The point of Sabbath rest is healing. The whole point of Sabbath rest is that we are helpless and God creates, God sustains, God heals, we don’t. What day could be better for God incarnate to find a broken man and heal him, to give this man and his parents rest from all the struggles of blindness? The purpose of the Sabbath is to give God-exalting blessing to broken and weary humans. And he did it on the Sabbath to trigger this controversy that goes on for 41 verses. Hearts are exposed in this controversy. And not just exposed. Hearts are shaped. Faith doesn’t just get revealed; faith gets strengthened. This blind man becomes clearer and clearer about who Jesus is. And he becomes stronger and stronger in his courage in defending Jesus against very dangerous adversaries. That’s the first reason for the mud. It was on the Sabbath and would unleash a firestorm for the sake of truth and faith and worship. We would do well to listen to that and imitate this genuine worship. Determine to stop following “the crowd.” Follow Jesus!